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Therese Mattaq of Pond Inlet on Changing Climate

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22 November 2010

5281 ḵing gan

English Transcript:

The ice is not that solid anymore and it's no longer good for spring camping. We can't get to our spring fishing place anymore. The ice wants to breakup sooner.

In the past, when the ice started to melt, the second flood was still useful because the ice was solid. Now a days, the second flood doesn't happen and we don't see whirlpools draining the ice. After the second melting of the ice, the ice rises and starts to float, and the melted ice drains to the sea below. Now a days, the winter seems to be a lot colder. In the spring time, it's supposed to be hot, but it's cold.

Now, they say, there was better weather back then. Today, it's different, and the sky is no longer blue in our community. A few years back, in the summer time, it was so hot it reminded me of the south. This happens early in the spring.

In the past, we used to have warm weather, when I was a child. It was just warm. Now a days, where the sun hits, it is warm, and your shadow is cold. In the past, it was warm all around.

Maybe our world is tilting. We're in the high Arctic, the glaciers that we see near Bylot Island are melting. I went to Pond Inlet when the glaciers were at the shore, dipping into the ocean, and they were there a long time. Not too long ago, they began melting and moving inland.

 

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