Since the mosquitoes are allegedly bigger, these people respond by letting the government put up some token wind turbines by 2011. Meanwhile, the village continues to enjoy the benefits of fossil-fueled vehicles and fossil fuel-generated power.
In tiny 'Tuk,' they man climate's front line
In tiny 'Tuk,' they man climate's front line
It's a token of irony, too: People little to blame, but feeling it most, are doing more to stop global warming than many of "you people in the south," as Gruben calls the rest of us who fill the skies with greenhouse gases.
...
"The mosquitoes got bigger," the mayor's aunt, Tootsie Lugt, 48, told a visitor to her children-filled house overlooking Tuk harbor.
...
The later fall freeze-up, earlier spring break-up and general weakening of sea ice make [fossil-fueled] snowmobile travel more perilous. A trip to the next island can end in a fatal plunge through thin ice.
...
The resilient Inuit - Eskimos - of the past simply moved on to better places. But since the mid-20th century these ex-nomads have been tied to settlements, with all the buildings, utilities, roads and trouble that represents in a warming world.
...
Like much of the western Arctic coast, the land here has been sinking for centuries, an aftereffect of the Ice Age.
...
And Tuk's vital [fossil-fueled] truck link to the south, a 180-kilometer (110-mile) "ice road" marked out each winter over the frozen sea and up the frozen Mackenzie River, will have shorter safe-driving seasons.
...
That's why he and the hamlet council agreed to the wind-power plan, a government project to test the technology in this harsh environment. Two to four turbines are expected to be operating by 2011, replacing perhaps 20 percent of Tuk's current [fossil-fueled] diesel-generated power, as this little place does its part to reduce emissions blamed for global warming.
No comments:
Post a Comment