Quick Bite: Climate Change Impacts on Indigenous Ways of Life

Indigenous peoples have over centuries adapted to living in the harsh and rugged Arctic. As a result, indigenous peoples have an intimate familiarity with their environment. In recent decades, Arctic indigenous communities have begun to notice and experience changes in their environment that are having significant impacts on their ways of life. 

Divide students into pairs. One student will read about Arctic indigenous peoples' ways of life (link to reading). Their partner will read about environmental changes happening in the Arctic. After completing their independent readings, each pair should share what they read with each other. Their task is to combine the information they each learned to brainstorm ways in which environmental changes happening in the Arctic could affect or change indigenous ways of life.  Challenge students to come up with at least three different ideas using what they read to support their claims. Then, discuss as a class.

Readings: Arctic indigenous peoples' ways of life and environmental changes happening in the Arctic

Youth Climate Story: Arctic Warming and Coastal Erosion in Alaska (Our Climate Our Future video)

Science Mag: What Can Indigenous People Tell Us About Climate Change?