Cross posted at Faithfully Liberal
According to the petition filed to the Inter-American Comission on Human Rights, the Inuit population is saying pollution is affecting their way of life.
The delegation is being led by Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a former chairwoman of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, a representative body for Inuit in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia.
Mrs Watt-Cloutier, who has been nominated alongside former US Vice President Al Gore for a Nobel Peace Prize for their work on climate change, was responsible for submitting the petition.
House about to fall into the sea (Image: ANSC) Coastal erosion and thawing permafrost threatens settlements (Image: ANSC)
The document urges the commission to recommend that the "United States adopt mandatory limits to its emissions of greenhouse gases".
It also asks for the US to work within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to "prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system".
Mrs Watt-Cloutier, and the petition's 62 other signatories, are calling on the US to work with the Arctic communities to help them adapt to the impact of unavoidable climate change.
Greenhouse gases are causing global temperature averages to rise considerably, which in the Artic area the temperatures rise twice that of the average.
Among its findings, the assessment said that increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere would "contribute to additional Arctic warming of about 4-7C (7-13F), about twice the global average, over the next 100 years".
The bottom line in the argument is that the United States current practice is enfringing on their right to live their own individual lives as their traditions have allowed them. It is destroying the ecosystem they depend upon for survival. The only other choice is to assimilate with other cultures in a timetable that they did not want nor need to assimilate into.
You can do your part by offsetting your carbon emissions at Native Energy.
Or take the more pratical as well as the tougher road by reducing your Carbon load... turn off the lights... walk or take the bus... Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!