But scientists have yet to determine whether the changes observed in the Arctic reflect the early stages of a permanent warming due to manmade, heat-trapping pollution in the atmosphere or a natural, cyclical climate blip. Still, the Inuit people who live along the southwestern coast of Banks Island are convinced their climate is changing. The private group, based in Ottawa, Canada, espouses a broad range of sustainable development activities and research programs. It gets private and government funds, 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 they 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. She described foundations of homes cracking and shifting. She is worried that the community itself may one day slide into the Beaufort Sea. Inuit hunters told researchers that a thinning of the sea ice has made it more difficult to harvest seals and hunt polar bears because both have now migrated farther away.