Climate Change and the Inuit of the Artic ( 3°A)
Documents adapted from “Water for Life” by Bernard Smith
PART -I-
(in French first)
Le Groenland fait partie du continent Nord Américain et est juridiquement rattaché à l’Europe en tant que territoire indépendant du Danemark. Il a obtenu son autonomie politique depuis 1978. Il y a 56 000 habitants, et en 1982 il y a eu un référendum qui est entré en vigueur en 1985, et donc le Groenland ne fait plus maintenant partie de l’Union Européenne. Alors que le Danemark fait partie de U.E. depuis 1973.
Les territoires et pays Nord-Américains font aussi partie de notre programme d’anglais en 4° année.
Le contenu du document :
Les usines, les voitures, les avions provoquent un réchauffement climatique ce qui entraîne la fonte des glaces. A cause de nous les Inuits en ressentent les conséquences. Plusieurs villages se retrouvent sous l’eau, leurs conditions de vie se dégradent et deviennent déplorables. Dans ce texte, ce qui nous a touché le plus était c’était que au lieu que ça soit un journaliste qui raconte c’est un Inuit qui le fait ( Paul Karetak). Il nous dit que si nous nous pensons à nos problèmes dans 50 ans, eux vivent une situation dramatique MAINTENANT ! Et qu’il faut AGIR, avant qu’il ne soit trop tard ! Il nous met en garde vis à vis de l’urgence du problème!
IN ENGLISH :
Greenland is located on the North-American Continent, but in terms of laws depends on Europe as an independent territory that used to belong to Denmark. It got its political independence in 1978. There are 16 000 inhabitants and In 1982 they had a referendum organized which actually allowed from 1985 Greenland not to belong to the U.E anymore. Whereras Denmark has entered the U.E. as soon as 1973.
The North American Territories and Countries and their respective civilizations are part of our syllabus in English in 4th year (in junior secondary school).
The contents of the document:
Factories, cars, planes provoke a global warming that cause the melting of ice or icebergs, and consequently the level of the sea or of the ocean rises. Because of the rest of the world the Inuit people are suffering from those consequences. Several villages are now under the water. Their living conditions have been going down and have become pitiful.
In this text, what moved us most was the fact that instead of reading a journalist’s report, it was an Inuit ( Paul Karetak) who did it and he tells us that if we speak about the problems we’ll have in 50 years, they are living NOW a dramatic situation , and we need to act before it’s too LATE! Warning us about the emergency of the issue!
By Anaïs Ducasse, Damien Pinaquy and Louis Touya
PART- II-
THE INUIT IN CANADA
(from a press article adapted from the magazine ‘I love English’- issue n°45 of December 2003)
Since 1999, the Inuit of Canada have their own territory, called in their language ‘Nunavut’( the land that belongs to them). Paul is 11 years old, and tells us about his life. He makes us discover this extraordinary country where the temperature can get as low as -50 °C!
Today, the Inuit do not live in igloos but normal houses. They love playing outside. In winter they can stay until the temperature is about -50°C, because they wear caribou fur traditional Inuit clothes. At school the Inuit speak English and Inuktitut, and so they use Inuktitut signs, not the Roman alphabet. They like riding their snowmobiles to go to school or visit friends. The Inuit,just like us, enjoy listening to pop music, parctising sport and having some fast food…and watching TV a lot in winter. It is most often light 24 hours a day in their land!
By Audrey Castets, Alisson Bertin and Marjorie Legros.