Film: CHANGE AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD (Canada)

Related Content

Places
Causes

00:00:00: SOUND UP; [MUSIC PLAYS]
00:00:02: EXPLORE
00:00:06: The mission of Explore is to champion the selfless acts of others
00:00:13: Explore travelled to the Arctic on a philanthropic fact-finding mission to uncover the impact of climate change on the region’s environment and people.
00:00:24: “I see not the seagull or the jet plane / I see not the seal or the ship / I see not the caribou or the snowmobile / And I’m sitting here wondering about tomorrow.” - Jimmy Patsuaq Naumealuk from “Wondering Silence” [SHOTS OF SPECTACULAR SCENERY – SUNRISE OVER THE WATER, ICEBERGS, OCEAN, BOATS]
00:01:10: THE ARCTIC, Change at the Top of the World [SHOTS OF ICEBERGS, OCEAN, BOATS]
00:01:13: CHARLIE/NARRATOR: The Arctic is a cold, vast expanse of land, sea, and ice. Historically inhabited by a relative few, people who’ve existed for centuries in a man versus nature environment who have learned to survive in the most extreme of conditions, but who now find that their world is facing an onslaught of change. [LANDSCAPE OF MELTING ICE, VILLAGE]
00:02:11: WOMAN V/O: The most remote places now in the world are usually the most fragile and the Arctic and the Antarctic are two places that are very, very fragile.
00:02:23: MALE V/O: Arguably, global warming will bring a lot of economic activity to the Canadian Arctic. It will bring in a lot of people, ships, mineral exploration, and oil exploration. [SHOTS OF TOWN, MELTED ICE FLOW]
00:02:36: FEMALE2 V/O: There’s a spiritual sense of many people about what the land means to them. They are a part of the land and the environment.
00:02:47: FEMALE3 V/O: We are very protective of our land because everything in life has a cycle. Our animals, our berries, and that’s not so reliable anymore because of the change. [SHOTS OF FLORA]
00:03:00: [MUSIC PLAYS – SHOTS OF LARGE SHIPS, INNER WORKINGS AND BEAR FLAG]
00:03:34: CHARLIE: I’m Charles Annenberg. As Trustee of the Annenberg Foundation, I created Explore to educate, enlighten, and to inspire. I do research around the world to learn and to seek out the people and organizations making a positive difference in their communities. [CHARLES ON-BOARD SHIP]
00:03:55: CHARLIE: [SIDEWAYS SHOT] Welcome to Explore! We’re in the Arctic, one of the world’s most beautiful, yet fragile ecosystems. On this trip, we’re going learn about global warming – the past, present, and future of this region, about some of the local inhabitants, the Inuit. This one’s gonna be great! Join me. Let’s Explore.
00:04:25: CHARLIE: [MAP GRAPHIC] I began my Arctic journey flying from Los Angeles, California and landing in Resolute, Canada. My twelve-day expedition took me all the way to Greenland and ended in the city Iqaluit.
00:04:53: CHARLIE: Breaking news, news flash right now, we have a special guest this trip. I’ve been holding off, but she’s the Mayor of the largest Inuit territory. Her name is Elisapee and we’re about to meet her. There she is!
00:05:14: MAYOR: My name is Elisapee Sheutiapik. I’m the Mayor of City of the Iqaluit. Iqaluit is the capitol of a new territory called Nunavut, which became its own territory in ’99.
00:05:31: [GRAPHIC]
“Nunavut” means “Our Land”
4x the size of Texas
Population: 30,000 (85% Inuit)
Official Languages:
English, French, Inuktitut
00:05:38: ELISAPEE: The best thing about being the Mayor is I bring a local voice to the process. The second one, of course, is being the Mayor of a capitol city is having to travel and seeing the different communities. We have a beautiful territory. The more I see it, the more I’m in love with our land.
00:05:58: CHARLIE: Wow, it’s breathtaking!
00:06:03: ELISAPEE: (SPEAKS IN INUIT)
00:06:07: CHARLIE: What does that mean?
00:06:08: ELISAPEE: You’re describing the calmness of – especially when it becomes like a mirror, when it’s that calm, we call it, (INUIT PHRASE)
00:06:18: CHARLIE: Is it true your favorite hobby is fishing?
00:06:20: ELISAPEE: Yes, I love fishing – almost as much as I love chocolate! (LAUGHS) It brings me out on the land and we’re very close to the land. When you’re out there and the sun is beaming, it releases any stress I had. It’s like the sun just melts away the stress. It’s nice to see some snow. Like home in - close to the community, you don’t see snow like that anymore, where – It all melts now.
00:06:51: CHARLIE: Did you used to see snow?
00:06:53: ELISAPEE: Oh, yeah.
00:07:04: SCOTT MacPHAIL: [MAP GRAPHIC] Beechy Island was the first evidence they found of the Franklin Expedition. In 1845, [GRAPHIC – “Scott MacPhail, Arctic Historian”] Franklin was sent with a hundred and twenty-eight men to find the last piece of the puzzle of the Northwest Passage. [SHOTS OF ISLAND HISTORIC RUINS]
00:07:18: CHARLIE: [MAP GRAPHICS OF TRADE ROUTES] The Northwest Passage was named by European explorers who set out in search of shorter trade routes to Asia. Prior to the Panama Canal opening in 1914, ships had to travel all the way around Cape Horn to reach the Pacific ports. John Franklin was one of Britain’s most famous Arctic explorers.
00:07:39: SCOTT: Franklin was equipped to last three winters in the Arctic. Their orders were to go southwest after coming down Lancaster Sound, but obviously he did not find the entrance. He decided to spend his first winter here – the winter of 1845-46.
00:07:59: SCOTT: The boats of the Franklin Expedition were trapped in the ice for two years, but there was no information of what happened after that winter. They disappeared and we don’t really know why they left their ships, even though they weren’t crushed. They were still fine and they had gone in a direction no one expected. You don’t go south and try to reach Hudson’s Bay Company eight hundred miles away. You go north – It’s really a fascinating mystery and, you know, you think about the times and this was like a Mars landing to us today. The world was watching and this was just a huge expedition where the best men and the best equipment and the best technology was all there and these men just disappeared off the face of the earth.
00:08:53: CHARLIE: What would happen if Captain Franklin sailed today through the Northwest Passage?
00:08:57: SCOTT: Captain Franklin would have no problem going the route he took today. It’s clear of ice today due to global warming.
00:09:07: [GRAPHIC] GLOBAL WARMING: The warming of the planet due to the gases released into the atmosphere that cause a greenhouse effect.
00:09:17: CHARLIE: If John Franklin had used Inuit skills, would he have fared better?
00:09:23: ELISAPEE: I think they would have accomplished their goal. You have to remember that, uh, the Inuit, uh, know how to survive here. They could have taught the people on expedition how to survive. As a race of hunting without the use of guns, harpoons made with natural bones, so they survived for thousands of years and there’s a lot of people to this day that live that way – just have enough to be able to survive.
00:10:06: CHARLIE: What am I looking at here? What is this?
00:10:08: JIM HARGREAVES, Naturalist: This site has archeologically been dated for about a thousand years ago. The people that lived here were called the Tuhle. T-H-U-L-E. They were an early ancestor of modern-day Inuit. They were nomadic hunters, but they also built settlements, uh, in places which were very rich in wildlife and therefore good hunting areas. Each of their houses has a bow-head whale skull mounted in the center and one bow-head whale would keep those people supplied in food for about a year. So, the bow-head whale to them was life. Therefore, the spirit of the bow-head whale was something that they held very close to them. It’s a spiritual connection to the animal that gives them their livelihood.
00:11:14: CHARLIE: What is that?
00:11:17: ELISAPEE: An old drum.
00:11:20: CHARLIE: Well, what’s it just doing here?
00:11:24: CHARLIE: Twenty-five percent of the world’s undiscovered oil and natural resources is believed to exist right here in the Arctic and, as the sea ice melts through global warming, each country right now will be vying for this oil. It could potentially be the biggest political issue of our century, replacing the Middle East.
00:11:46: [GRAPHICS] Who Owns the Arctic? – TIME
Gold Rush under the Ice – Economist.com
Arctic Melt Opens Northwest Passage – National Geographic News
Scramble for the Arctic – Christian Science Monitor
Time Bomb Ticks in Arctic – The Times of India
00:12:04: CHARLIE: [SOUND OF TICKING] Competition for the rights to the Arctic Sea is tremendous. Under international law, nations have rights to resources up to 200 miles off their shores. However, a nation can claim territory and control beyond that 200 miles, if it can prove that the seabed below is an extension of its own continental shelf. Currently, eight countries are mapping territories in the Arctic. This will be the last land-grab on the planet.
00:12:25: [GRAPHIC OF MAP – Arctic Circle] Canada
Denmark (Greenland)
Iceland
Norway
Sweden
Finland
Russia
USA
00:12:46: ELISAPEE: From what I understand, with global warming, there’s more access to this part of our country now and, of course, with all the natural resources, it’s become a hot spot.
00:13:04: [GRAPHIC OF MAP – Arctic Bay, Nanisivik, Baffin Island]
00:13:12: CHARLIE: Hi, my name’s Charlie.
00:13:13: CAPTAIN DAVID MARTIN, Canadian Coast Guard: Captain Martin. Nice to meet you.
00:13:15: CHARLIE: This is a great honor to be on the “Terry Fox”?
00:13:18: CAPTAIN MARTIN: Yes. The Terry Fox is a Canadian Coast Guard ice-breaker. Its primary functions are escorting ships in ice, ice management in the winter months in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to make sure that areas don’t flood and then, uh, in the summer, we do Arctic re-supply.
00:13:36: CAPTAIN MARTIN: This is Nanisivik mines. There used to be a mine up here. It opened in the mid-70’s and it finally closed down a couple of years ago. We now use it for a staging area for Arctic re-supply.
00:13:48: CHARLIE: And, it’s going to be the future home of a deep sea port? [SIGN – Government of Canada, Nanisivik – Future site of Canada’s Arctic Deep Water Port]
00:13:51: CAPTAIN MARTIN: Yes, there’s gonna be a deep sea port here for, uh, the new ice-breakers that are being built for the Navy.
00:13:59: CHARLIE: People think that this area is going to be highly politically contested. Do you feel that way?
00:14:05: CAPTAIN MARTIN: It already is, really. Uh, the Americans don’t recognize our sovereignty of the Arctic as it exists now. Other nations want to be able to use the, uh, Northwest Passage the way that they want to use it without anybody telling them how and when to use it. So, it’s going to be discussed and played out for a lot of years to come.
00:14:25: CHARLIE: Is it easier now to navigate the seas with less ice?
00:14:29: CAPTAIN MARTIN: It’s a combination of easier in some places and harder in other places. The warmer weather has allowed ice bridges to melt and allow heavier ice to come down and flush through different places that normally wouldn’t get the heavy ice.
00:14:41: CHARLIE: When you say the heavier ice, is that from the polar ice caps?
00:14:44: CAPTAIN MARTIN: Polar ice caps and glacier fields and things like that.
00:14:49: [GRAPHIC – Glaciers form on land as a result of an accumulation of snow over thousands of years. When the edge of a glacier advances into the ocean, the pieces that break off are then called icebergs.]
00:14:59: CHARLIE: What would happen if the Straits opened up?
00:15:01: CAPTAIN MARTIN: When it comes down to it, time is money for shipping and it allows them to shave weeks off their sailing time, from Asia to Europe, as opposed to going down through the Panama Canal and that way. I mean, there are cruise ships regularly coming up here. When I first started coming, it was rare to even see a cruise ship in the lower Arctic. Now, there’s regularly, every summer there seems to be more and more cruise ships in the high Arctic up here.
00:15:24: CHARLIE: So, do you believe that part of the fate of the world depends on preserving this region, then?
00:15:30: CAPTAIN MARTIN: I think we should preserve what we have and look after what we have, definitely. We’ve – We’ve, you know, proven what happens when you don’t look after it and preserve it. So, we shouldn’t continue on the route we’ve taken. So, we should try and look after things a little bit – as much as we can, not a little bit, as much as we can.
00:15:53: [GRAPHIC – Arctic Bay]
00:15:57: CHARLIE: This is a great honor to be in this hummock with you ladies. Thank you. So many people where I’m from talk about the climate here. Has it changed at all?
00:16:09: WOMAN: (IN INUIT)
00:16:13: TRANSLATOR: The land is much warmer than it used to be.
00:16:18: WOMAN: (IN INUIT) [TRANSLATION GRAPHIC] Freezing doesn’t occur until November, which is much later than before. The seasonal cycle of snow and ice is different than it used to be.
00:16:32: CHARLIE: Does it concern her, for the next generation, this concept of global warming?
00:16:38: WOMAN: (IN INUIT) [TRANSLATION GRAPHIC] I’m concerned about how the warming climate affects our wildlife. Without wildlife, we cannot make the clothing that keeps the hunters warm.
00:16:57: TRANSLATOR: They’re not so much used traditionally as today, but it’s still used, especially for hunting purposes because that’s very – that’s the warmest clothing you can have. So, she worries about the effects of that.
00:17:09: CHARLIE: What are you wearing here?
00:17:11: TRANSLATOR: That’s caribou skin.
00:17:12: CHARLIE: That’s caribou skin.
00:17:14: TRANSLATOR: (OVERLAPPING) Caribou skin. Amazing sewing. Look at the sewing job on that. Unbelievable. Because they’re not used anymore, she wanted the youth to be able to see what kind of outfits they had. She produced this one specifically so that the youth could actually see that this is how they dressed back, um, before they settled into communities and use the typical clothing they use now.
00:17:40: CHARLIE: I’ve been trying to learn some, uh, local customs and traditions. The eyebrows – Can you - Does this mean, “Yes?” (THEY LAUGH) Let me see. Is that “Yes?” How about a “No?” (CHARLIE GRIMACES)
00:17:57: TRANSLATOR: No.
00:17:59: CHARLIE: Yes.
00:18:01: CHARLIE: No. All right. (THEY CONTINUE TALKING AS VOICEOVER BEGINS)
00:18:04: ELISAPEE: The elders of today lived on the land. They were our first settlers and they’ve seen so much change and they’ve gone through so much live experience in a very short time that their words are very important to us.
00:18:21: CHARLIE: What’s the key to living a happy life?
00:18:28: WOMAN: [TRANSLATION GRAPHIC] Even though I’m getting older, it’s a joy to watch the youth be happy. Watching them learn and grow brightens my spirit.
00:18:53: ARCTIC BAY HIGH SCHOOL CHOIR: [SINGING]
00:19:02: ELISAPEE: Our youth is just as important as our elders and we have a very young population and I think it’s in my time that, uh, the youth are actually looked upon, as well, for advice and ideas, uh, because they are our future.
00:19:28: [MUSIC PLAYS]
00:19:40: CHARLIE: When they talk about global warming, is the Arctic the region that heats up the fastest?
00:19:45: JACQUES SIROIS, Naturalist: It is. It has to do with albedo.
00:19:49: [GRAPHIC] albedo: the percentage of reflectivity of the sun on a surface.
00:19:56: JACQUES: Ice and snow have a high albedo. They reflect almost everything back up. As soon as there is less ice covering the ocean, in the Arctic ocean, and less snow on the land, the albedo is reduced. It gets warmer faster because there is less ice and less snow.
00:20:18: JACQUES: Much of the pollution is generated at middle latitudes, so in Southern Canada, the United States, in China, in India, goes up into the atmosphere where it’s warm, travels globally and falls over the Poles where it’s cold. The Arctic and the Antarctic and all the high mountain ranges are, in fact, chemical sinks. There’s probably three times as much mercury falling over the Poles now as there used to be before the Industrial Revolution. The fact that much of this mercury comes from coal power plants and now in China, for example, they are building one new coal plant every two weeks. You find a lot of mercury in bears, in seals, in beluga whales and this is having a huge impact on the Inuit. The Federal government has already issued health warnings. Pregnant women are advised to not to eat too much seal blubber or fish and all this comes from pollution coming from elsewhere.
00:21:41: MARY ELLEN THOMAS, Arctic Researcher, Iqaluit Research Institute: Everywhere there are humans, there is pollution. With any kind of industrial or human activity, there is going to be increased contamination. That’s a natural fact.
00:21:55: CHARLIE: I’ve heard how a lot of pollutants travel here through the air in currents.
00:21:59: MARY ELLEN: Yes, that’s called the “grasshopper effect.”
00:22:01: CHARLIE: Is that true?
00:22:02: MARY ELLEN: Yes.
00:22:06: [GRAPHIC] Toxins that pollute Nunavut wildlife, land and people, are transported by wind and ocean currents from industrial areas thousands of miles away. This is the “Grasshopper Effect.” Research has determined that toxins found in Nunavut alone have the following origins:
.02% toxins come from within Nunavut
8% from Canada
30% from Mexico
62% from the USA
00:22:30: CAPTAIN LEONIND TATARIN, Akademik Ioffe: [INSTRUMENT READINGS] Meteo Info
Temperature: 20
Pressure: 1005.0
Wind Dir.: 315
Wind Speed: 5 mls
R. humidity: 65%
00:22:37: [MAPS AND INSTRUMENTS]
00:22:: HAYLEY SHEPHARD, Akademik Ioffe Expedition Leader: Akademik Ioffe was named after Abraham Ioffe and he is a very well-to-do, um, scientist and in 1918 he created the first Russian scientific technical institute. The ship was named after him and this was built for science purposes.
00:23:03: [GRAPHIC] The Akademik Ioffe functions as a research vessel. It has an international crew representing Russia, Britain,, New Zealand, and Canada.
00:23:10: HAYLEY: I am the expedition leader. I work very closely with the Captain. He is ultimately in charge of, uh, the safety onboard of all his crew, staff, and passengers.
00:23:32: HAYLEY: We have so many opportunities to travel and we can get in the most remote places now in the world. Yet, the most remote are usually the most fragile and the Arctic and the Antarctic are two places that are very, very fragile.
00:23:47: HAYLEY: (ON WALKIE-TALKIE) Jacques, go ahead.
00:24:02: [GRPAHIC – MAP OF ARCTIC AREA]
00:24:10: [GRAPHIC] Greenland is the world’s largest island
Population: 60,000
Sled dog population: 25,000
Official Languages: Danish, Greenlandic
00:24:20: HAYLEY (VOICE-OVER): Greenland is about the people and how they live and just the beautiful communities that they live in. Greenland, because it’s an ice shelf and there’s glaciers, the largest icebergs are born in Greenland.
00:24:44: HAYLEY: So, this is interesting here, with this – This, this – It’s a stronger blue in one patch. What’s happened is that actually melted at some stage and then it freezed again.
00:24:56: CHARLIE: How long does an iceberg live?
00:24:58: HAYLEY: An iceberg can live hundreds of years travelling the coast.
00:25:06: CHARLIE: A country like America is only 250 years old. It gives you a sense of perspective, this ice. Some of it is 800 years old.
00:25:24: [GRAPHIC] The expression “tip of the iceberg” refers to the fact that 90% of an iceberg’s mass is below water – only the tip can be seen above water.
00:25:40: [GRAPHIC – Sisimiut, Greenland]
00:25:44: CHARLIE: A notable part of Explore’s Arctic mission is the opportunity to introduce Elisapee to Greenland, as well as to the Mayor of Sisimiut, Iqaluit’s sister city. This marked the first diplomatic mission in the history of Explore.
00:25:59: CHARLIE: It’s a great honor to be here. Thank you. It’s not everyday I get to speak to one Mayor, let alone two. Is there a connection between the two cities? How do you share a connection?
00:26:11: HERMANN BERTHELSEN, Mayor of Sisimiut: [GRAPHIC TRANSLATION] There was a sister city agreement signed between Sisimiut and Iqaluit in 1987. We have similarities in the way we look physically. Our native languages and the way we communicate is similar. We have lots of similarities within the culture and way of living. We can share ideas to help develop each other’s communities.
00:26:46: ELISAPEE: So, there’s all these different ways of – that we can exchange ideas when it comes to development, social issues, education and that’s why I was so excited in coming to this community because I can now firsthand see the community. I’m meeting the Mayor and the people. I’ll have a better understanding of how we can benefit from each other’s knowledge.
00:27:13: CLASSROOM – HTX Technical School
00:27:14: CHARLIE: My name’s Charlie. I’m from Los Angeles.
00:27:17: STUDENTS: Hello, Charlie.
00:27:19: ELISAPEE: [TRANSLATION GRAPHIC] I’m Elisapee Sheutiapik, the mayor of Nunavut Territory, Iqaluit.
00:27:26: STUDENT RESPONSES: “Ah!” “That’s so cool!” What is it like in Nunavut?
00:27:29: ELISAPEE: Actually, our – The land is very similar, very much. The only difference is the houses are built different.
00:27:37: CHARLIE: Since I’ve so many kids in this room, I have a quick question. Is global warming a big issue here in Greenland?
00:27:44: STUDENT: Yeah. Like, the last three years, we have had bad winters. In the middle of January, February, where it’s supposed to be very cold it’s – all the snow melts and that is a difference.
00:28:04: CHARLIE: I was curious if the Mayor has noticed the effects of global warming? I mean, does it affect the community?
00:28:09: HERMANN BETHELSEN: It is true that we are experiencing the effect of global warming here in Sisimiut. And nowadays, inside the fjords, there is no ice. This has a very big effect on the people and the community.
00:28:27: WOMAN: In the past, people that go out fishing, they go out on the ice, but today, lately over the years, there hasn’t been no ice and their fishing has been very limited.
00:29:15: [GRAPHIC – MAP FROM SISIMIUT TO IQALUIT]
00:29:22: [RESEARCH CENTRE, ARCTIC COLLEGE]
00:29:24: ANDREW MEDEIROS, Arctic Researcher, Iqaluit Research Institute: This area of the Arctic is the barometer of the nation, so what happens in Nunavut would be an indication of what will happen in other areas of the country – socially, economically, and environmentally. The Inuit of Nunavut have had a couple decades to adjust to ice that’s thinned and animals that are no longer where they’re traditionally hunting, lakes that don’t have fish in them anymore, in a couple of years versus, you know, a lifetime. So, there are serious implications for the local peoples.
00:30:03: ELISAPEE: Nunavut became its own territory in ’99. [It had] roughly 3400 in ’99. The population is now roughly 7,000. There’s a huge impact when it comes to overcrowding. Social problems. Usually, families are overcrowded. Sometimes two to three generations live in a home. When we build, these pipes are drilled in the ground and, apparently, even the developers are noticing when they dig to prepare for development, that there is a change in the ground already. That’s, uh, for me, quite scary because we have a shortage of infrastructure and it worries me that our buildings could be in jeopardy or at-risk of damage because, if the permafrost is melting, that’s going to allow these piles to move, which could damage our infrastructure.
00:30:58: [GRAPHIC] The Arctic terrain has only a few inches of viable soil, covering hundreds to thousands of feet of frozen soil, known as permafrost. This permafrost is now thawing.
00:31:13: CHARLIE: Is the thawing of the permafrost an issue here?
00:31:16: MARY ELLEN: It’s an issue everywhere in the Arctic. Twenty years ago, there was no need to put this new technology – these thermal siphons in to keep the ground frozen and now you have to use measures that will keep the permafrost frozen. Because it costs millions of dollars, suddenly your building shifts or there’s structural damage due to permafrost melt.
00:31:44: ELISAPEE: Our way of life has changed in the sense that two people have to work to make ends meet and the hunter doesn’t just hunt anymore. They, too, are working in the government system. Working nine to five makes it harder to be a true hunter.
00:32:04: CHARLIE: What is the name of your coffee shop?
00:32:05: ELISAPEE: Grind and Brew. It’s the coffee shop that’s brought me to where I am today.
00:32:12: CHARLIE: Did you see yourself having a life of politics?
00:32:15: ELISAPEE: Five years ago, no.
00:32:18: CHARLIE: What motivated you?
00:32:20: ELISAPEE: In our territory, there’s still a lot of people in (UNCLEAR) who only speak Inuktitut. They feel that they’ve got a voice now that they can actually go and speak to someone who is representing them in the community and that’s very important, to be able to communicate and I know that shortly after I was elected, there was a lot of people, especially the elders, who were quite happy.
00:32:50: CHARLIE: How has life changed today, versus when you grew up?
00:33:58: [TRANSLATION GRAPHIC] It’s a challenge to pass on words of wisdom to the youth because of the communication barrier. Some of them may understand basic Inuktitut language, but not enough for me to converse with them.
00:34:17: ELISAPEE: The one thing my mother always said was, “Never forget who you are.” She went from living on the land to settling into a community. She saw a lot of changes in a short time, but she reminded me that we will probably forever be changing. Seeing change, but not to forget who we are.
00:33:51: CHARLIE: One hundred years ago, we had one billion people on this planet. It’s a hundred years later and we have six billion and we all know that the direction we’re heading can’t sustain itself. There’s still just a finite amount of resources on this planet.
00:34:20: JACQUES: The melting of the ice in Greenland, and eventually Antarctica, will raise global sea levels. It will alter sea currents, so it will change climate here and there. It is already doing this. Hundreds of millions of people live at sea level, so it will have an impact on many people that will have to be relocated. It’s going to bring massive change.
00:34:46: CAPTAIN MARTIN: I guess if you had asked somebody fifty years ago if they thought the Northwest Passage would be open, they would say, “No” and here it is starting to open up and they’re worried about it, so, it’s very hard to say what the extent of global warming is gonna be.
00:35:01: HAYLEY: Being in the outdoors and seeing our impact in it and made me more determined that my role was to try to encourage people to explore, learn, love, understand, and protect the natural world.
00:35:20: ELISAPEE: It’s this global warming, more or less, that’s put us on the map. It’s too bad it had to be a huge impact like that to make people realize that we exist anymore.
00:35:40: [GRAPHIC] 10 ways YOU can reduce global warming…
1. Reduce, recycle, reuse
2. Use less heat and air conditioning
3. Change your light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs)
4. Drive less, drive smart…walk, bike, subway, or bus!
5. Buy energy efficient products…avoid products with excess packaging
6. Use less hot water.
7. Use the “off” switch…get power strips to make it easier.
8. Plant a tree.
9. Buy locally grown and produced foods…fresh instead of frozen and eat less meat.
10. Encourage others to conserve!
00:36:20: CHARLIE: This has been a great journey and thank you for sharing it with me.
00:36:30: Explore – Never stop learning…
00:36:44: With the support of the Annenberg Foundation, Explore has made funding possible to: The City of Iqaluit, The Iqaluit Community Greenhouse
00:36:51: To learn more: www.city.iqaluit.nu.ca
00:36:58: Director and Host Charles Annenberg Weingarten Explore Producers Tom Pollak Roger Jackson Liz Marks Story Written & Produced by Katy Garretson Edited by Katie Flinkt Director of Photography Girjashanker Vohra Composer John McCarthy Sound Recordist Lucretia Miller Photography Rob Stimpson Graphics Lachlan Westfall Lisa Rossiter Special Thanks To: Glen M. MacDonald Professor of Geography-Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, UCLA David Rumsey Historical Maps www.davidrumsey.com Subhankar Banerjee Photography www.subhankarbanerjee.org Marquette University Department of Special Collections and University Archives University of Saskatchewan Photography Archives Canadian Museum of Civilization Photo Archives Casper Inuit Archives at Armstrong Point, Northwest Territories Photo by George Wilkins, 1916, Canadian Museum Image No. 51678
00:37:41: Explore.org Made possible by the Annenberg Foundation 2008 explore Annenberg LLC
00:37:55: END OF FILM

Now Viewing: CHANGE AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD

The defining question of this century will be: how do we preserve the environment and also shareholder wealth? Is wealth nature itself or is it the treasures underneath that must be mined out? The Arctic symbolizes this conflict.

: Canada
Location:: Iqaluit, Nunavut; Croker Bay, Nunavut; Arctic Bay, Nunavut; Nanisivik, Nunavut; Radstock Bay, Nunavut
: Greenland
Location:: Sisimiut; Ilulissat
Date:: September 2007
Grants Awarded:: The Iqaluit Community Greenhouse Society ($50,000) , City of Iqaluit ($250,000)