Photo courtesy of Esau Sinnok
Photo of Essau Sinnok, left center, with Secretary Jewell, right center, and guests from the Arctic Council.
On November 30, 2015, I had the opportunity to meet with Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and members of the Arctic Council to discuss issues relating to the Arctic and climate change. As an Arctic Youth Ambassador, and a part of the Arctic Council, I was in the room to observe an important dialogue between Secretary Jewell and the Arctic Council. The Arctic Council is the U.S. division that deals with international agreements and projects that involve the Arctic and the seas surrounding it.
This meeting gave me the chance to observe what the leaders of today have to say about the issues regarding the Arctic. The Arctic is a very fragile part of the world, so it is important to talk about the issues concerning it. The majority of the population living in the Arctic depends on the land, the sea, the ice, and the animals living there.
My own community has experienced this directly. My hometown of Shishmaref, Alaska is a barrier island that has been eroding and flooding for the past 50 years, even before climate disruption was widely recognized. Within the next two decades, the whole island will erode away completely and become uninhabitable.
Each year, we lose roughly three to four meters of land on the island due to storm surges and the sea level rising, and the ice is also forming later in the year. Changes in the ice are important because, without the ice, we cannot subsistently hunt during the winter to feed and provide for our families. This is a direct result of climate change.
During the meeting, I had the opportunity to share stories about how climate change is threatening my community. After attending the meeting, I came out feeling like I had accomplished something. It is a small step in what the future of the Arctic will be and being part of that feels amazing.
As a future leader of the Arctic, this meeting with Secretary Jewell and the Arctic Council gave me a sense of what issues affect the Arctic, and how we can combat them. Moving forward, I hope that we can effectively find solutions and actions to reduce our greenhouse gasses so that Arctic communities are not harmed any more.
Being in the room at such an important meeting gave me insight into how my generation can take lead in the future, because the youth of today will become the future leaders of tomorrow. We will take the responsibility of the current leaders’ positions and carry on their legacy for a better future.