Sharing Inuit Youth Perspectives on Arctic Climate Change
Dec.5, 2011- Durban
The Koneks present on “Animals and Mining in the Arctic from the Perspectives of Inuit Youth” at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Digital Media Lounge in Durban South Africa
October 12, 2011
CONGRATULATIONS TO JORDAN KONEK FOR BEING RECOGNIZED IN KIVALLIQ NEWS’ “YOUTH OF THE WEEK”
Interview with my Grandpa, James Konek about Climate Change
by Curtis Konek
September 11, 2011
I Interviewed my Grandpa, James Konek about Inuit health and climate change. James has been telling me stories about his life as a young boy even before I joined this Project. He has told me some stories about how Inuit lived and survived in the Arctic. My Grandpa said that Inuit used to be healthy, but they were also hungry at times. Inuit survived by following the animals around them, mostly caribou. They also had some fishing spots where they could catch fish to survive when there were no caribou around during the winter time. When I interviewed my Grandpa, I asked him some questions about what he has noticed about the changing climate change in the Arctic. He said that he has been watching the weather. He has learned how to predict the weather, what the weather going to be like the next day. He said that Inuit used to look at the sky to see how the weather was going to be like the next day. One thing he said was that the weather is warmer now and that there are less blizzards in Arviat. Normally when there are blizzards the houses across the street are not visable and the wind becomes stronger. There would be one week of storms and it would be really cold. James said that for the last 2 years there hasn’t really been a blizzard in Arviat. He said that the weather has changed a lot and that it’s getting harder to predict the weather. Another thing he said was about the moon. The moon used to disappear at the same spot for a very long time, but now the moon is moving. It’s more oval, wider and it appears for a little bit longer. Not like how it used to be.
Hearing my Grandpa’s stories is wonderful. He has done many things in life and knows so much about Inuit Qauyimayatukagit (Inuit Traditional Knowledge). He has been teaching me and Jordan a lot of things, telling us how it was like to live on the land.
Curtis Konek with a weather vane that he made with his Grandpa
