Act Globally, Think Locally
Global climate change needs to be addressed on many fronts. Looking globally in scope, international efforts to stop or slow down global warming are essential. Communities in Alaska and around the Arctic are being impacted by bigger storm surges, thin or no ice which is impeding seal and whale hunts and creating extremely dangerous conditions for people to practice their subsistence way of life. Additionally, global warming threatens many species of wildlife including polar bears, Pacific walrus and seals. We must work together to get commitments from the US and other countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 350 parts per million, meaning greenhouse gas pollution from the United States and other developed countries should be reduced by 45% or more below 1990 levels by 2020.
In Alaska, I am lucky to work on one of the more fun and engaging fronts. I work mostly with local communities rather than Congress or the United Nations, though those efforts are extremely important and we do engage with those entities. I believe that what we need most moving forward towards a global climate change solution is to invest in local communities. We in the environmental movement need to strengthen our relationships with them, which means investing time and money in Alaska native communities, communities in Russia, China and all throughout the Pacific Rim. Building local capacity is essential. The Alaska Program is trying to do this by providing workshops in the communities so that the tribal environmental staff and leaders understand why there are endless government meetings and piles of paperwork accumulating on desks. We are also working to make sure that the communities are informed of upcoming deadlines and understand when comments are due on the multiple overlapping agency actions. Additionally, we are working with our Russia Program to facilitate intercultural exchanges where indigenous leaders and environmental leaders from Sakhalin and other parts of Russia can come together with Alaska native leaders to discuss what they have culturally in common as well as shared environmental issues they face and how each are working to address them. This is where change begins.
This brings me back to the essential message. Community work is the essential foundation when addressing global warming. And empowerment is the key to that foundation. This is the key for both communities and for environmental groups to move forward to curb greenhouse gas emissions and the concomitant effects. First, it begins with capacity building in local communities to confront local challenges. Then it moves up the spectrum to protecting and strengthening our national environmental laws; and, then ultimately bolstering international efforts to curb global emissions. It may sound trite but it is true, we need to “Think Globally, and Act Locally.”
Tags: Alaska, Arctic, Bering Sea, climate change, community partners, environment, Global Warming
