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magazine / oct08
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October 2008 issue |
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FEATURE
Climate change (Page 1)
CAPTION
PHOTO: Reproduced with the permission of Natural Resources Canada 2008, courtesy of the Geological Survey of Canada (Photo 2001-260 by Lynda Dredge).
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Climate Change: Slumping, sinkholes and thermosyphons
By Lisa Gregoire
Because of its location, Grise Fiord might be spared from experiencing the comprehensive effects of global warming for a few years, though
climate change models warn even the High Arctic is vulnerable. Elsewhere in Canada's North, the impacts are clear and present. Some Nunavut
buildings already require thermosyphons which remove heat from the ground to keep permafrost frozen and buildings structurally safe. When
two malfunctioned in Spring 2007 at a school in Rankin Inlet on the western shore of Hudson Bay, slumping earth caused $500,000 in damage to walls, floors and windows.
Pangnirtung, on southern Baffin Island, declared a state of emergency in June when high temperatures, unusually excessive spring rain
and meltwater flooded the Duval River and washed away formerly frozen land, leaving behind a 10-metre-long chasm down to bedrock and a spider web of
cracks and sinkholes. Two bridges spanning the river had to be closed, pending structural assessment, leaving the town severed from its water reservoir,
sewage lagoon and landfill site. The hamlet had to obtain special permission to dump raw sewage into the river. Three levels of government are still trying
to figure out how bad the situation is, what to do next and how much it will all cost. In July, Parks Canada was forced to evacuate nearby Auyuittuq National
Park when severe erosion around Crater Lake caused by rainfall and high temperatures led to fears of a flash flood.
Iqaluit, which held its first-ever climate change symposium this summer, experienced freezing rain in February for the first time in living memory.
Coupled with heavy winds, the storm prompted Nunavut's Qulliq Energy Corporation to rethink its emergency preparedness plan regarding downed power
lines and back-up generators. Increasing rainfall in Iqaluit means residents might soon have to install eavestroughing and drainage systems that
were once deemed unnecessary. Those measures might have helped save Iqaluit's Joamie school from costly damages. During reconstruction of the
elementary school, which burned down in July 2003, heavy rain washed away the soil and gravel foundation pad, causing more than $700,000 in
damages, says Ed Picco, Nunavut's Minister of Education.
"It's the possibility that change will happen with great speed that worries me most," says Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a respected Inuit leader and
Nobel Prize nominee. Having spent the past decade educating people at home and abroad about how greenhouse gas emissions are changing the northern
climate, Watt-Cloutier has concluded it's public institutions, not hunters, that are the least prepared to deal with catastrophic changes.
The officials who run those institutions, she says, "have been sitting on their hands for a long time."
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| Comments on this article | Leave a comment | What happened to the Beluga trapped in the ice was sad. The video made me feel terrible for these whales who are being killed because they can not get away. I know this was some time back but it is still a sad sight. I lived in the north when this was going on.
Having lived in Grise Fiord the portion of the article "Sunlight 24-hour daylight from May to August 24-hour darkness from October to early February" is not correct. The last sun is seen Nov 3rd and then peeks over the horizon on Feb 11th. Between these dates there is about 10 days of twilight before total darkness sets in.
Lisa Gregoire has once again provided your readers with experiences of yet another adventure. She puts you right there along with her. Well done as usual.
Stunning, beautiful photographs!
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