Navajo medicine men spoke of the disappearance of many herbs and medicinal plants used in important ceremonies. Many have to travel to mountains as far away as the Sierra Nevada in California to obtain medicines. More than 43 tribes in the region are concerned that population growth will overtax rivers and aquifers as demands on precious water supplies increase, thereby threatening tribal water rights and economic development opportunities for their people. In Alaska, a 30-year warming trend has affected fisheries and thawed the permafrost underlying the region. Thawing has damaged roads, buildings, railroads, and forests.
Native hunters rely upon for subsistence.
Inupiat hunters who depend on bowhead and beluga whales, walrus, seals and polar bears for food, clothing and cultural traditions say that changes in the ice pack have inhibited their ability to provide much-needed food for their rural arctic communities. In upstate New York, emissions from industrial plants in the region have polluted the air and caused acid rain to damage the ecosystem. Forests in particular have suffered from the effects of acid rain, mimicking a prophecy of the Six Nations that comprise the Iroquois Confederacy. Recent NASA satellite photos illustrate the destruction from acid rain taking place in New York and New England's maple forests. These same forests are also threatened by climate variability and their habitat may move farther north, beyond the St. Lawrence River.