Northern Rights

An article in The Economist looks at the rapidly changing Canadian Arctic and the plight of its inhabitants (according to the story, 104,000 of Canada's 33 million people live north of the 60th parallel), who find that climate change is bringing both terrible hardship and (double-edged) opportunity -- in terms of increased shipping, mining, and oil and gas exploration -- to the region. As the article points out, residents of the far north have been warning of climate change for decades, and many are now miffed to see more concern focused on wildlife than them. Says Inuit leader Mary Simon, "It's not about polar bears. It's about people."