Global warming isolates Canadians in far north POSTED: 10:50 a.m. EST,
November 13, 2006
*TORONTO, Ontario* (Reuters) -- Aboriginal communities in Ontario's far
north are becoming increasingly isolated as rising temperatures melt their
winter route to the outside world and impede their access to supplies.
"The ice doesn't have its solid blue color anymore," said Stan Beardy, the
grand chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which represents Ontario's remote
First Nations. "It's more like Styrofoam now, really brittle."
"With the toxic waste moving north, and global warming, we don't have that
solid ice anymore, and that's why we have problems with winter roads when
it's mild."
The 34 First Nations reservations, scattered in boreal forest across
northern Ontario, are accessible only by plane for much of the year.
During the coldest months between January and March, "winter roads" are
cleared on the frozen network of rivers and lakes to let trucks deliver bulk
supplies like fuel and building materials.
But average temperatures have risen during the past decade, weakening the
ice and shrinking the bulk-shipping season by several weeks, aboriginals
say.
Beardy said the communities he represents have lost up to a month of heavy
trucking time "because one or two degrees really makes a big difference" to
the endurance of the icy route.
About 20,000 people live in the remote reservations and rely on winter
shipments of heating oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel to power generating
stations. The fragile ice has forced them to hire more trucks to carry
lighter loads.
In the past 60 years, regional temperatures have increased by an average
of 0.8 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) in the winter, and by 1.3degrees Celsius in spring, according to Environment Canada, a federal
government body.
That change has been more pronounced in the far north, where average
winter temperatures have jumped 4.4 degrees Celsius over the same time.
Indeed, warming has speeded up since 1998, after which temperatures in
Canada have consistently been above normal, said Bob Whitewood, a
climatologist at Environment Canada.
Sea ice in Hudson Bay, Ontario's north shore, thaws and breaks up a week
earlier every 10 years.
"The changes in temperature are reflective of changes we're seeing
globally," Whitewood said. "They are also in keeping with what we would
expect with climate change -- a greater warming in winter temperatures and
in the Arctic areas."
The crimped duration of icing has added a sense of urgency to the
communities' bulk-shipping period.
"Once the hauling season opens there's a mad rush, 24 hours, because you
might only have four or five weeks," Beardy said.