Kivalina: Washing Away History
Saqqara Aleister
June 16, 2008
To the Eskimos the stars are not just put in the sky to give light or guide the wandering traveler. They are living things, sent by some twist of fate to roam the heavens forever, never swerving from their paths. One of these creatures who left the earth and went to live in the sky was Nanuk the bear.
One day Nanuk was waylaid by a pack of fierce Eskimo hunting dogs. Nanuk knew only too well that Eskimo dogs are not to be trifled with, and he tried to give them the slip. Faster and faster he ran over the ice, but the dogs were still at his heels. For hours the chase went on, yet he could not shake them off.
In the fury and terror of the hunt, they had come very close to the edge of the world, but neither Nanuk or his pursuers noticed. When at last they reached it, they plunged straight over into the sky and turned into stars.
Global warming is seen by some as just a nuisance, something that has happened in the past and weīll get through it and be stronger. Not so, global warming is robbing humans of their heritage, culture, land, way of life and in some cases life itself.
Kivalina, Alaska which is better known as K-Vills by itīs residents sits on an 8 mile long barrier island located between the Chukchi Sea, a lagoon and the mouth of the Kivalina river. It lies eighty miles northwest of Kotebue, Alaska. Life has become difficult in the small village since the melting permafrost- the permanently frozen subsoil- that once protected the island began melting.
Kivalina is a federally-recognized, traditional Inupiat Eskimo village whose subsistence activities, including whaling, seal, walrus, whitefish and caribou provide, most food sources.
In 2006, the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers concluded that because of global warming and the melting ice that the buildingsī failures soon would render the community uninhabitable.
As it is, drilling wells for fresh water have proven unsuccessful, water for the residents is drawn from the Wulik River by a 3-mile surface line and stored in a 700,000 gallon raw water tank. Once treated it is than stored in a 500,000 gallon tank where the residents haul water from this tank to use in bathing, washing clothes, dishes ect .
According to the United States census bureau the city has a total area of 3.9 square miles of which 1.9 square miles is land and 2.0 square miles is water. Kivalina had filed a lawsuit, claiming 24 oil, gas and electric companies are fiscally responsible for the carbon emissions that are contributing to global warming. The residents have occupied their tiny barrier reef, just a few feet above sea level, since time immemorial. They are poor yet they live in harmony with nature.
Whether the lawsuits that have been filed are an effective tool in the fight against global warming remains to be seen since the lawsuits are in appeal. Judges have thrown out these suits against companies saying global warming is a political question best left to legislatures.
The Kivalina case differs from other suits in that lawyers argue it is modeled after the suits against big tobacco in the 90īs alleging that energy companies have conspired to create a false sense of doubt about the effects of global warming.
Kivalina like Shishmaref is an Inupiat community. The original name of the village was Kivualinamut, named in 1847 by Lt. Lavrenty Zagoskin of the Russian Imperial Royal Navy. Kivalina is a usual stopping point for travelers between Arctic coastal areas and Kotzebue Sound communities. The only village where some residents still hunt the bowhead whale.
The original village was located at the north end of Kivalina Lagoon but like many villages in the area had to be relocated due to the harsh effects of global warming. In the 1900īs reindeer were introduced to the area and many villagers became reindeer herders. In 1960 an airstrip was built and in 1969 Kivalina was incorporated into a second-class city.
Then during the 1970īs Kivalina got a new school and the electrical system was constructed. But due to the strong storms Kivalina is subjected to because of global warming , severe erosion due to sea waves during the storms is eroding what little land the village is on, and, the city is hoping to once again move.
The village was to begin the move by 2006 according to the Master Plan but delays began piling up.
There came opposition from the US Army Corps of Engineers. They opposed the Kiniktuuraq site as the
new location and began to push Tatchim Isau and Imnaaquq Bluffs. The relocation project came
to a screeching halt. Issues began to pile up against the Kiniktuuraq site, including Climate
Change and the costs of gravel. As the fight progressed, a new problem developed. Kivalina
was eroding. But, moving the city seven and a half miles from the present site at an estimated cost of hundreds of millions of dollars is problematic at best.
The Red Dog Mine is located in northwestern Alaska, approximately 82 miles north of Kotzebue, and 46 miles inland from the coast of the Chukchi Sea. The mine is located on the Middle Fork of Red Dog Creek in the Delong Mountains of the western Brooks Range, in an area that is otherwise remote and undeveloped. Red Dog is a partnership between NANA and Teck Cominco Alaska. The mine is an important component of the economy of Northwest Alaska, employing approximately 450 people directly and creating an additional 150 jobs indirectly. A majority of the employees are NANA shareholders (with about ten (10) being from Kivalina). It has been operating continuously since its opening in 1989.
Kivalina is home to Red Dog Mine. Red Dog produces more than one million tons of zinc and lead concentrates annually using conventional open-pit mining, milling and flotation technologies and has petitioned the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to build and use two diesel-powered boilers at their port, which would restrict access to native hunting grounds and may harm seal gathering grounds and the migratory birds habitat as well as the migratory channels for the beluga and bowhead whales and according to some natives some areas around the port are already off limits. But most of the villagers are in a no win situation, caught between their heritage and culture and the need for the work and benefits the mine provide.
Some will look at what is going on in the oldest villages of the Americas and say, "Why should we care, itīs their choice to live there". But itīs not their choice to lose their land, heritage, and culture. We could always jump back to the 19th century and have the president sign a bill like the Indian removal act and move all the residents of the villages from their homes, what would it hurt to take away what is rightfully theirs to begin with, to strip them of their culture and heritage.
With the harsh effects of global warming showing more heartily in the villages of Alaska the residents of Kivalina are living with the daily consequences of a warming earth, they are being pushed from their native homes and losing heritage and community to something we can control. Global Warming is not only threatening the villages of Alaska with loss of heritage and community but it threatens the entire world, one village, one city, one country until we plunge over the end of the world and become the stars.
One day Nanuk was waylaid by a pack of fierce Eskimo hunting dogs. Nanuk knew only too well that Eskimo dogs are not to be trifled with, and he tried to give them the slip. Faster and faster he ran over the ice, but the dogs were still at his heels. For hours the chase went on, yet he could not shake them off.
In the fury and terror of the hunt, they had come very close to the edge of the world, but neither Nanuk or his pursuers noticed. When at last they reached it, they plunged straight over into the sky and turned into stars.
Global warming is seen by some as just a nuisance, something that has happened in the past and weīll get through it and be stronger. Not so, global warming is robbing humans of their heritage, culture, land, way of life and in some cases life itself.
Kivalina, Alaska which is better known as K-Vills by itīs residents sits on an 8 mile long barrier island located between the Chukchi Sea, a lagoon and the mouth of the Kivalina river. It lies eighty miles northwest of Kotebue, Alaska. Life has become difficult in the small village since the melting permafrost- the permanently frozen subsoil- that once protected the island began melting.
Kivalina is a federally-recognized, traditional Inupiat Eskimo village whose subsistence activities, including whaling, seal, walrus, whitefish and caribou provide, most food sources.
In 2006, the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers concluded that because of global warming and the melting ice that the buildingsī failures soon would render the community uninhabitable.
As it is, drilling wells for fresh water have proven unsuccessful, water for the residents is drawn from the Wulik River by a 3-mile surface line and stored in a 700,000 gallon raw water tank. Once treated it is than stored in a 500,000 gallon tank where the residents haul water from this tank to use in bathing, washing clothes, dishes ect .
According to the United States census bureau the city has a total area of 3.9 square miles of which 1.9 square miles is land and 2.0 square miles is water. Kivalina had filed a lawsuit, claiming 24 oil, gas and electric companies are fiscally responsible for the carbon emissions that are contributing to global warming. The residents have occupied their tiny barrier reef, just a few feet above sea level, since time immemorial. They are poor yet they live in harmony with nature.
Whether the lawsuits that have been filed are an effective tool in the fight against global warming remains to be seen since the lawsuits are in appeal. Judges have thrown out these suits against companies saying global warming is a political question best left to legislatures.
The Kivalina case differs from other suits in that lawyers argue it is modeled after the suits against big tobacco in the 90īs alleging that energy companies have conspired to create a false sense of doubt about the effects of global warming.
Kivalina like Shishmaref is an Inupiat community. The original name of the village was Kivualinamut, named in 1847 by Lt. Lavrenty Zagoskin of the Russian Imperial Royal Navy. Kivalina is a usual stopping point for travelers between Arctic coastal areas and Kotzebue Sound communities. The only village where some residents still hunt the bowhead whale.
The original village was located at the north end of Kivalina Lagoon but like many villages in the area had to be relocated due to the harsh effects of global warming. In the 1900īs reindeer were introduced to the area and many villagers became reindeer herders. In 1960 an airstrip was built and in 1969 Kivalina was incorporated into a second-class city.
Then during the 1970īs Kivalina got a new school and the electrical system was constructed. But due to the strong storms Kivalina is subjected to because of global warming , severe erosion due to sea waves during the storms is eroding what little land the village is on, and, the city is hoping to once again move.
The village was to begin the move by 2006 according to the Master Plan but delays began piling up.
There came opposition from the US Army Corps of Engineers. They opposed the Kiniktuuraq site as the
new location and began to push Tatchim Isau and Imnaaquq Bluffs. The relocation project came
to a screeching halt. Issues began to pile up against the Kiniktuuraq site, including Climate
Change and the costs of gravel. As the fight progressed, a new problem developed. Kivalina
was eroding. But, moving the city seven and a half miles from the present site at an estimated cost of hundreds of millions of dollars is problematic at best.
The Red Dog Mine is located in northwestern Alaska, approximately 82 miles north of Kotzebue, and 46 miles inland from the coast of the Chukchi Sea. The mine is located on the Middle Fork of Red Dog Creek in the Delong Mountains of the western Brooks Range, in an area that is otherwise remote and undeveloped. Red Dog is a partnership between NANA and Teck Cominco Alaska. The mine is an important component of the economy of Northwest Alaska, employing approximately 450 people directly and creating an additional 150 jobs indirectly. A majority of the employees are NANA shareholders (with about ten (10) being from Kivalina). It has been operating continuously since its opening in 1989.
Kivalina is home to Red Dog Mine. Red Dog produces more than one million tons of zinc and lead concentrates annually using conventional open-pit mining, milling and flotation technologies and has petitioned the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to build and use two diesel-powered boilers at their port, which would restrict access to native hunting grounds and may harm seal gathering grounds and the migratory birds habitat as well as the migratory channels for the beluga and bowhead whales and according to some natives some areas around the port are already off limits. But most of the villagers are in a no win situation, caught between their heritage and culture and the need for the work and benefits the mine provide.
Some will look at what is going on in the oldest villages of the Americas and say, "Why should we care, itīs their choice to live there". But itīs not their choice to lose their land, heritage, and culture. We could always jump back to the 19th century and have the president sign a bill like the Indian removal act and move all the residents of the villages from their homes, what would it hurt to take away what is rightfully theirs to begin with, to strip them of their culture and heritage.
With the harsh effects of global warming showing more heartily in the villages of Alaska the residents of Kivalina are living with the daily consequences of a warming earth, they are being pushed from their native homes and losing heritage and community to something we can control. Global Warming is not only threatening the villages of Alaska with loss of heritage and community but it threatens the entire world, one village, one city, one country until we plunge over the end of the world and become the stars.
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