Author: Justin Lentz

Justin Lentz is a Guest Service Agent at The Mandarin Oriental hotel in Washington, DC. He has been a Rehabilitation and Education Officer at Seal Rescue Ireland (SRI), and a digital content writer for The Shipyard, which is a digital marketing firm in Columbus, Ohio. Also, Justin has a Master of Environmental Law & Policy (MELP) from Vermont Law School, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Justin focuses his independent research on climate change and food production.
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Anthropogenic Climate Change, and Survivals of Members of Alaska Native Communities

Since more than approximately 400,000 years ago, on Earth, levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), and greenhouse gases (GHGs), which are collectively referred to as CO2 equivalents (CO2-eq), that are not CO2 have, in the atmosphere, varied in tandem with glacial cycles that have occurred; during warm, interglacial periods that have been parts of glacial cycles, levels of CO2 and CO2-eq have significantly risen above historical levels, and also, during cool, glacial periods that have been parts of glacial cycles, levels of CO2 and CO2-eq have significantly fallen below historical levels.[1]

Increases and decreases in concentrations in Earth’s atmosphere of CO2 and/or CO2-eq that are related to glacial cycles through which Earth has, over more than approximately the last 400,000 years, gone have significantly contributed to alterations, which are positive feedbacks, to global average surface temperatures of our planet. They have amplified changes to global average surface temperatures that are caused by long-term shifts in Earth’s orbit, and have also, throughout the history of our planet that spanned the period of approximately 400,000 years ago to approximately the middle of the 19th century of Western human history, contributed to variations of concentrations of CO2 and/or CO2-eq that have been in Earth’s atmosphere that are within a range of approximately 180 parts per million by volume (ppmv) to 300 ppmv.

Consequently, and throughout the period of approximately 400,000 years ago to approximately the middle of the 19th century of Western human history, naturally occurring, Earth-based, and Earth-bound glacial cycles significantly contributed to, on our planet, recessions of, and advancements of, amounts of existing sea ice; alterations to states of marine ecosystems, and freshwater ecosystems; erosions of, and accretions of, coasts and/or coastal entities; increases in frequencies, sizes, and abundances, and decreases in frequencies, sizes, and abundances, of glaciers; alterations to ocean circulation patterns; alterations to fisheries; sea level rise; sea level decline; thawings of, and freezings of, permafrost; increases in frequencies, sizes, and abundances, and decreases in frequencies, sizes, and abundances, of dry landscapes; increases in frequencies, sizes, and abundances, and decreases in frequencies, sizes, and abundances, of wet landscapes; and increases in frequencies, sizes, and abundances, and decreases in frequencies, sizes, and abundances, of wildfires, alterations to wildlife habitats, releases of GHGs into the atmosphere, alterations to global average ocean temperatures, alterations to chemistries of oceans, and storms, and/or storm surges.[2]

At a time in Western human history that was temporally proximal to the year 1750, humans initiated the Industrial Revolution, which involved emissions by humans, and/or by human-created entities, of GHGs into Earth’s atmosphere at capacities, and/or in amounts, that significantly exceeded capacities at which, and/or amounts of which, humans theretofore had emitted GHGs into the atmosphere of the Earth.[3] The human Industrial Revolution involved, in addition to things that are mentioned in the sentence that precedes this sentence, burnings, by humans, of significant amounts of fossil fuels; significant increases in the greenhouse effect on our planet; and significant increases in, on Earth, amounts of changes in climate, and/or rates at which changes in climate occurred.

As a result of things that are mentioned in the paragraph that is above this paragraph, the U.S. state of Alaska faced, between the years of 2010 and 2016, average surface temperatures that were 2.2 °C higher than average surface temperatures that Alaska faced between the years of 1981 and 2010, and also, as a result of things that are mentioned in the paragraph that is above this paragraph, the U.S. state of Alaska has, since the year 1965, faced average surface temperatures that have increased at a rate that is twice as fast as the rate at which global average surface temperatures have, since the year 1965, increased; 2016 was the warmest on-record year in Alaska, and also, average surface temperatures in the state of Alaska will, by the year 2050, increase by approximately between 1 °C and 3 °C, and by the year 2100, increase by approximately between 3 °C and 7.5 °C.[4]

For reasons that are mentioned in the two paragraphs that are directly above this paragraph, in Alaska, and since at least the year 1979, amounts of sea ice have significantly decreased in frequency, abundance, and size; flooding has significantly increased; erosions of coasts, and of coastal entities that are parts of Alaskan communities, have significantly increased; storms, and storm surges, have significantly increased in frequency, abundance, and size; naturally occurring barriers that protect members of communities from adverse effects of storms, and/or storm surges, have significantly decreased in frequency, abundance, and size; infrastructure entities that include schools, power plants, health clinics, and airports, have, relative to sea level, significantly sunk below levels at which the infrastructure entities have, for more than at least three decades, resided, and also, structural integrities of infrastructure entities that have existed for at least three decades have been significantly compromised; sizes, abundances, and distributions, of populations of wildlife have significantly decreased; traditional, and non-traditional, subsistence foods on which members of Alaska Native communities depend have significantly decreased in availabilities, abundances, and distributions, and also, sources, which include bowhead whales, beluga whales, ringed seals, bearded seals, walruses, polar bears, and different breeds of fish, of subsistence foods on which members of Alaska Native communities depend have significantly decreased in availabilities, abundances, and distributions; alterations to vegetations have increased; adverse alterations to migratory patterns of mammals, birds, and fish, have increased; compromises of health and/or safeties of members of Alaska Native communities have significantly increased; sufferings among members of Alaska Native communities from water-borne diseases, insect bites, and/or allergies, have significantly increased; and challenges to assessments of environmental conditions that affect travel and/or safety, and/or timings and/or locations for harvests, by members of Alaska Native communities, of subsistence-related resources, that keepers of indigenous knowledge face have significantly increased in difficulties, abundances, and distributions, and also, difficulties determining culturally-informed strategies for adaptation to adverse effects of climate change that keepers of indigenous knowledge face have significantly increased in severities, abundances, and distributions.

Larga seals resting on floating, Arctic ice

Things that are mentioned in the paragraph that is directly above this paragraph significantly contribute to developments of, and/or severities of, needs that members of Alaska Native communities have to adapt to, and/or mitigate, adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change. Adaptations to, and/or mitigations of, by members of Alaska Native communities, adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change involve integrations of members of Alaska Native communities into Western communities, cultures, manners of living, economies, and/or modes of operations (MOs); developments by members of Alaska Native communities of protection in place (PIP) strategies; development by members of Alaska Native communities of a Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD); and/or developments by members of Alaska Native communities of community-led relocation (CLR) strategies and/or processes, and/or long-term disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies.

In Alaska there are at least 229 native tribes that are recognized by the U.S. federal government, and that have members that currently adapt to, and/or mitigate, adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change.[5] Also, members of the 229 native tribes that are mentioned in the sentence that precedes this sentence often, if not always, exist in settlements that were established by the United States Department of the Interior (DOI), and/or by agencies that are parts of the U.S. federal government, and that are also not the DOI, for, in at least many cases, location-based, barge access-related reasons.[6] Additionally, and for reasons that are mentioned in the sentence that precedes this sentence, members of many, if not all, of the at least 229 native tribes that currently are in Alaska, and that are recognized by the U.S. federal government, depend on guidance and/or resources from the U.S. federal government in order for the members to adequately adapt to, and/or mitigate, adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change.

Regardless of different scenarios and/or circumstances under which members of Alaska Native communities find themselves, financial costs of anthropogenic climate change-induced damages to geographical regions that are within borders of the State of Alaska will, by the year 2100, reach up to $5.5 billion.[7] Consequently, members of Alaska Native communities will have funds and/or resources that are insufficient for the members of Alaska Native communities to adequately integrate into Western communities, cultures, manners of living, economies, and/or MOs; develop and/or execute PIP strategies; develop a PDD; develop and/or execute CLR strategies; and/or develop and/or execute DRR strategies. In order for members of Alaska Native communities to have funds and/or resources that are sufficient for the members of Alaska Native communities to adequately do things that are mentioned in the sentence that precedes this sentence, the members of Alaska Native communities can, from the President of the United States (POTUS), and with input from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), directly request disaster declarations for specific, catastrophic events, and/or multi-year events that include mounting damages;[8] support, advocate for, and/or compel individuals and/or groups of different kinds to ensure, passages, in the Alaska State legislature, of pieces of legislation that are identical to, or similar to, Alaska House Bill (HB) 173, and/or Alaska House Bill (HB) 169;[9] meaningfully contribute to a design, or designs, of federal, state-based, and/or municipal governance frameworks for CLRs, and/or CLR strategies, by, among other things, participating in the Alaska Institute for Justice (AIJ) project;[10] affirm members’ of Alaska Native communities rights to self-determinations; ensure that members’ of Alaska Native communities social and/or cultural rights are, before, during, and/or after occurrences of CLRs, protected; support, advocate for, and/or compel individuals and/or groups of different kinds to create, and/or help proliferate, collaborative, multidisciplinary, and intergovernmental, work groups that identify needs of communities that are in Alaska, and that are threatened by adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change, and that are also similar to, or identical to, the Alaska Immediate Action Work Group (IAWG), and/or work groups that are similar to, or identical to, the Alaska Climate Change Sub-Cabinet (ACCSC); support, advocate for, and/or compel individuals and/or groups of different kinds to create, and/or help proliferate, programs that address needs of communities that are in Alaska, and that face displacement that results from adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change, and that also are similar to, or identical to, the Alaska Climate Change Mitigation Program (ACCMP); support, advocate for, and/or compel individuals and/or groups of different kinds to create, and/or help proliferate, programs that provide funds that contribute to organizations of inter-agency working groups that develop strategic plans in responses to threats to members of Alaska Native communities that are related to adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change, and that are similar to, or identical to, the Alaska Division of Community and Regional Affairs (DCRA); support, advocate for, and/or compel individuals and/or groups of different kinds to create, and/or help proliferate, agencies that coordinate federal, state-based, and/or tribal entities, in order to help members of Alaska Native communities develop, and implement, short-term, and long-term, solutions to adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change, and that are similar to, or identical to, the U.S. Denali Commission; develop, and/or implement, community-based monitoring (CBM) strategies, and/or conduct CBM; develop, and/or implement, environmental and social impact monitoring (ESIM) strategies, and/or conduct ESIM; integrate traditional knowledges (TKs) and modern science; support, advocate for, and/or compel, individuals and/or groups of different kinds to create, and/or help proliferate, state-led, consultative processes that establish protection agendas that address needs of members of Alaska Native communities that are displaced as results of adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change, and that are similar to, or identical to, the Nansen Initiative, and/or the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement.

Front entrance of the Alaska State Capitol building

In order to create governance frameworks that help enable members of Alaska Native communities to relocate for reasons that are related to adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change, members of Alaska Native communities can adequately review laws that are designed to provide responses to adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change, and to mitigate hazards that are related to adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change; assess, at individual, and different, levels of government, governmental agencies that must be parts of anthropogenic climate change adaptation efforts of members of Alaska Native communities, and must also be parts of disaster relief and response efforts of members of Alaska Native communities; develop, at individual, and different, levels of government, multi-disciplinary working groups among populations of members of Alaska Native communities, that develop, and execute, coordinated strategies that enable members of Alaska Native communities to adapt to adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change; identify communities in Alaska in which there reside members of Alaska Native communities that face imminent threats of displacements that result from adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change; integrate ESIM, and/or ESIM strategies, into lives of members of Alaska Native communities; gauge, and/or track, results of ESIM-related impacts on Alaska Native communities, and results of adverse impacts, on Alaska Native communities, of anthropogenic climate change; work with populations of members of Alaska Native communities that are negatively affected by adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change in order to identify relocation indicators that help members of Alaska Native communities make determinations of points in time when preventive relocations should be implemented; and/or identify, at all levels of governance, and also for preventive, planned relocations from existing national, regional, and donor-based programs, in order to determine financial gaps, and to develop strategies that enable fillings of financial gaps, identify potential sources of funding.

Relocations of key elements of different types of infrastructure that is a part of Alaska Native communities, and that also has been, in at least some cases, heretofore, relocated, can, per Alaska Native community, cost approximately between $80 million and $130 million.[11] In order to cover financial costs of relocations of different types of infrastructure, members of Alaska Native communities can petition oil companies, which provide 85% of revenues that are earned in the State of Alaska, and which also disrupt forms of subsistence on which members of Alaska Native communities rely, to provide; request that oil companies provide; and/or compel oil companies to provide; funds and/or financial resources that are not funds to members of Alaska Native communities for coverage of financial costs of relocations of different types of infrastructure.[12] If oil companies fail to provide to members of Alaska Native communities funds and/or financial resources that are not funds that cover financial costs of relocations of different types of infrastructure then members of Alaska Native communities can cite, in arguments to oil companies, professional responsibilities of the oil companies to provide to members of Alaska Native communities funds and/or financial resources that are not funds that cover financial costs of relocations of different types of infrastructure for oil harvesting, distributing, vending, and/or storing-related disasters that include the Exxon-Valdez spill of 1989, and the Russian spill of 1994.

Oil tanker en route to a refinery, and near Valdez, Alaska

Relocations are, in almost all cases of Alaska Native communities that face adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change, the only options that enable members of the Alaska Native communities to survive adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change.[13] Consequently, members of Alaska Native communities that face adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change must, in almost all cases, relocate. Members of Alaska Native communities that do not relocate, and that also engage in PIP activities, and/or develop, and/or execute, PIP strategies, can engage in managed retreat by, among other things, taking erosion-protection measures, and can also take PIP-related, adaptation options that include elevating evacuation roads; improving erosion controls; and encouraging utility companies to protect vulnerable elements of different types of infrastructure. However, PIP activities, PIP strategies, elevations of evacuation roads, improvements to erosion controls, and encouragements of utility companies to protect vulnerable elements of different types of infrastructure, are unproven to help enable members of Alaska Native communities survive adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change. For this reason, and for other reasons, members of Alaska Native communities that face adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change must relocate.

Currently, no U.S. federal or state government agency has a mandate to implement a relocation, or relocations, of an Alaska Native community that faces adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change, or Alaskan Native communities that face adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change, respectively, or funding that is necessary in order for a federal government agency, or a state government agency, to implement a relocation, or relocations, of an Alaska Native community that faces adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change, or Alaskan Native communities that face adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change, respectively. Therefore, members of Alaska Native communities that face adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change must support efforts that have potentials to ensure that government agencies have technical, organizational, and/or financial means to implement a relocation, or relocations, of an Alaska Native community that faces adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change, or Alaskan Native communities that face adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change, respectively, or must ensure that government agencies have technical, organizational, and/or financial means to implement a relocation, or relocations, of an Alaska Native community that faces adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change, or Alaskan Native communities that face adverse impacts of anthropogenic climate change, respectively.

Iceberg near a town, and on the Arctic Ocean
  1. Climate Change Science. Causes of Climate Change, The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2016, https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-change-science/causes-climate-change_.html (last visited August 20, 2017). ↑
  2. F. Stuart Chapin III et al., Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment: Chapter 22: Alaska. U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2014, http://www.akleg.gov/basis/get_documents.asp?session=30&docid=16373 (last visited August 20, 2017). ↑
  3. Climate Change Science. Causes of Climate Change, The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2016, https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-change-science/causes-climate-change_.html (last visited August 20, 2017). ↑
  4. Climate Change, Displacement and Community Relocation: Lessons from Alaska, The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the Alaska Institute for Justice (AIJ), 2017, https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/nrc-alaska_relocation-screen.pdf (last visited August 20, 2017). ↑
  5. Climate Change Impacts. Climate Change Impacts in Alaska, The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 2017, https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-alaska_.html (last visited August 20, 2017). ↑
  6. Climate Change, Displacement and Community Relocation: Lessons from Alaska, The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the Alaska Institute for Justice (AIJ), 2017, https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/nrc-alaska_relocation-screen.pdf (last visited August 20, 2017). ↑
  7. Erika Bolstad, Alaska Faces up to $5.5 Billion in Climate Damage by 2100, E&E News. Scientific American, 2017, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/alaska-faces-up-to-5-5-billion-in-climate-damage-by-2100/# (last visited August 20, 2017). ↑
  8. Rachel Waldholz, Alaskan Village, Citing Climate Change, Seeks Disaster Relief in Order to Relocate, National Public Radio (NPR), 2017, http://www.npr.org/2017/01/10/509176361/alaskan-village-citing-climate-change-seeks-disaster-relief-in-order-to-relocate (last visited August 20, 2017). ↑
  9. Nathaniel Herz, Alaska Legislature considers creating a Climate Change Commission – and launching Tours of Arctic Refuge for Congress, Arctic Now, 2017, https://www.arcticnow.com/politics-policy/2017/03/13/alaska-legislature-considers-creating-a-climate-change-commission-and-launching-tours-of-arctic-refuge-for-congress/ (last visited August 20, 2017). ↑
  10. Climate Change, Displacement and Community Relocation: Lessons from Alaska, The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the Alaska Institute for Justice (AIJ), 2017, https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/nrc-alaska_relocation-screen.pdf (last visited August 20, 2017). ↑
  11. Rachel Waldholz, Alaskan Village, Citing Climate Change, Seeks Disaster Relief in Order to Relocate, National Public Radio (NPR), 2017, http://www.npr.org/2017/01/10/509176361/alaskan-village-citing-climate-change-seeks-disaster-relief-in-order-to-relocate (last visited August 20, 2017). ↑
  12. United States of America – Inuit and Alaska Natives, Minority Rights Group International, 2009, http://minorityrights.org/minorities/inuit-and-alaska-natives/ (last visited August 20, 2017). ↑
  13. Climate Change, Displacement and Community Relocation: Lessons from Alaska, The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the Alaska Institute for Justice (AIJ), 2017, https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/nrc-alaska_relocation-screen.pdf (last visited August 20, 2017). ↑