Global warming: in temperate latitudes, it means a flooded earth sometime in the future, a sense that what we sow today may drown us tomorrow. In the Arctic, rapid climate change is already a reality; the frozen expanse is not as frozen as it once was. A few scientists who isolate themselves on plains of ice are working to document this, but they're not the only observers. Native populations, Inuit, Inupiat, have been living global warming for decades. The birds come earlier, the whales breach further from shore, and landslides interrupt travel. Combined, the scientific research and local knowledge deliver one message from the wilderness: global warming is happening, and the Arctic is the crystal ball for what will be, world wide.
