Samueli Ammaq on Climate Change

English Transcript:

There was more water. It use to be calm and the sailboat couldn't even move on the wind. The wind is how we moved. Not like today. We never remember having the strong southeast winds that last from spring to summer, like the ones we have today. It may have occurred before but not in my memory. I also noticed the sky has changed. The sun is now hot. When it's cold, when you're traveling against the wind, it now hurts the face. It wasn't like this before. Even when we were going fast, it wasn't like that. I guess I'm not that fast. All this is different.

Back then, spring used to be hot. When we were hunting and we got our kamiks wet, if you fell asleep wearing them, the inside would be wet, but the outside would be dry. Now, we never have the hot springs anymore because we have a hole in the sky. I think there's a lot of holes in the sky. That's what's causing it.

It's different, when following the ice. This spring, the ice is soft; it's not real ice. It melted right away and that's different. It's different every year. When there's more fresh water on it, it stays longer.

Yes, the norh wind has shifted that way. Yes, that way. the north wind has moved sideways. Tongue drift, which are caused by the north wind, have also turned.

It seems to me there's hardly any tongue drifts these days. But, they're still around. North wind used to be the strongest wind when I was growing up. By my teachings, I was told to observe the ground if there's no stars. They too are different. When we're traveling in that direction we used to cross over the tongue drifts, which is different now. At night, when we'd be traveling home from a hunt, using the stars for direction, and they no longer in their proper position. Our world has changed - land, sky and environment.

I don't think the environment is warming up. I think it's the sea. I think it comes from below.

When I was a young man, not that young, about your age - I finally got a wife. I was newly wed. At that time, I had a boat and we went caribou hunting, and where we camped there used to be a glacier. When we got there, that time, it had been melting. All these glaciers have been melting, smaller-and-smaller, disappearing. You never see them around anymore. Now it's a fact, the heating is coming from below.

At that time, when we had bad weather and it rained, glaciers weren't melting. Even though the weather was warmer. The sun's rays were not as strong and they were safe to be in. Now a days, we have this warm sun, it goes right into you. Same with the cold, it also goes right into you. Today, for me, my body has changed.