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Climate change is causing irreversible damage to our planet. Rarely do we have the chance to meet people whose daily lives are directly tied to nature. Last week, I met with Keith Wolfe Smarch, a 60-year-old indigenous carver and hunter in the Canada’s Yukon territory.
The wise man spoke of mice. Over the last few decades, temperatures have been shifting rapidly from high to low, which causes the snow on top of it to melt and then freeze back into ice. The snow covers the mice, but they are still able to eat. Many don’t even survive. They also don’t have the Great Grey Owls that prey on mice like their predecessors. The new ice layer has made it impossible for them to hear the mice under the snow. And if they discern dinner, they can’t break the ice to serve themselves. Keith states that both the numbers of the owls as well as the mice have declined. Till five years ago, he’d hear the birds hoot all night. It is now only a few times a calendar year.
That’s only one story, but it underscores how little we listen to and amplify indigenous knowledge and observations around climate change. Science is key, but it doesn’t capture every shift. If we could learn from, respect and combine both knowledge, we would have a better chance of adapting to the climate crisis. India is fortunate to have so many communities that can share this knowledge. This is an opportunity to learn from them.
(The writer is a founder director at Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group.
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