Still, the Inuit people who live along the southwestern coast of Banks Island are convinced their climate is changing. It provides strong support for the conclusion that climate change is not just a theory, insisted Graham Ashford, who headed the Inuit research project for the International Institute for Sustainable Development. The private group, based in Ottawa, Canada, espouses a broad range of sustainable development activities and research programs. It gets both private and government funding, although much of its Inuit project was funded by the Climate Change Action Fund, an environmental advocacy group. In interviews with researchers, she and some of the other Sachs Harbor residents described how their environment has changed.
Autumn freezes now occur a month later than the once did and spring thaws come earlier.
The winters, although harshly cold, are not as cold as they once were. There are more beetles and sand flies and mosquitoes are staying longer in the summer months. The permafrost is melting at an alarming rate, said Kuptana in a telephone interview. She described foundations of homes cracking and shifting. She also said she is worried that the community itself may one day slide into the Beaufort Sea because of moving mud that once stayed frozen solid.