Module V

How are climate, cultures and oceans all connected?

EXPLAIN: Cultures are dictated by their environment. According to Clay's intro to this module, 50% of all people live within a 50 miles of a coast. These people will lead radically different lives than people who are landlocked. This would have been especially true before the modern era. Oceans provided the bulk of food for the subsistence lifestyle of Alaskan Natives. The Inuit utilized whale and seal, the Aleuts the sea birds and sea lions, and the Athabaskans and Tlingits the salmon.

Climate also dictates culture. Due to the differences between the equatorial seasons and light absorption, I'm not going to be wearing shorts and tank tops as often as someone who lives in Costa Rica. The summer season in Alaska is much shorter, dictating the necessity for warmer clothing, housing, and food storage.

EXTEND: The cultural resources present in Southcentral Alaska include salmon in rivers like the Susitna and Russian, clamming, and various terrestrial animals, like moose, brown and black bears. I like to think life in Southcentral is much easier than life in much of the rest of Alaska. I don't think I could handle 50 degrees below zero like Fairbanks or even colder up on the North Slope.

However, after talking to several Alaskans, including some that have been here since the 1964 earthquake, I do think there have been serious climate changes in Alaska over the last 50 years. There is evidence of that in the coastal erosion of Western Alaskan villages, the lack of sea ice up North, and the melting of permafrost in Interior Alaska. There are also mysterious changes in sea animal populations- a decrease in King salmon, beluga whales in Cook Inlet, and sea otters in the Southeast. The video Warmer Oceans Affect Food Web discussed the decrease of sea birds (like kittiwakes) and sea lions due to the lack of food availability, especially little tiny food fish. This could be due to the changes in temperature in the ocean, a warming period that started in the 70's.

EVALUATE: I wasn't sure how ocean systems and thermal energy would relate to Alaska's cultures until I watched the video on Dolly Garza. Then it all became crystal clear. Thank goodness for Teacher's Domain!

Alaska Natives are often the only group of people able to utilize a particular animal for subsistence hunting. This is true of sea otters and whaling. It would be critical for Alaska Natives to monitor the health of the ocean and animal population to ensure that this resources is available for future generations. In her interview, Garza stated that, "Alaska Natives need to be kept at the forefront of policies and resources allocation... to protect historic uses." It is important to have Native Alaskans working as biologists for the state and Native corporations to ensure that their interests are being represented. If salmon, otter, or whale populations decrease, as many have in recent years, it's critical to find the reason why. Then, if human involvement is the culprit, those issues need to be addressed and remedied. Otherwise, the subsistence lifestyle of Alaskan Natives is at danger.

Photo from Environment News Service