Canada should swallow its pride and realize it needs help to protect the Arctic from the effects of climate change and industrial development, says the author of a new book.
In "The Big Thaw: Travels in the Melting North ," naturalist-turned-journalist Ed Struzik explores how the Arctic is changing, and how its human and animal populations can be protected.
He took 11 separate trips to the region while researching the book, travelling on everything from dogsleds to snowmobiles, skis and kayaks to get a clear picture of the effects of climate change.
In the book, Struzik explores why polar bear populations are shrinking and how new insects and animal species -- even diseases -- are moving north into areas where they've never previously existed.
"I think it's pretty clear that climate change is one factor," Struzik said.
"But the really interesting story is that it's not just climate change, it's the industrialization of the North, it's a lot of habitat displacement that's occurring, so you can't just look at climate change in isolation."
He said the challenges facing the region are so vast that it's ridiculous that Arctic nations such as Canada insist on acting unilaterally to try and solve them.
"I don't think we have to give up our sovereignty to do it, but I think the Arctic is too big a place for Canada to manage on its own," he said.
"What happens in Alaska is important to what happens in Canada and what happens in northern Russia is also important and what happens in Norway."
Solutions will only come, he said, if circumpolar nations come together to acknowledge that changes are happening quickly, and "we just don't have a plan."
From disappearing populations of animals that rely on ice to survive, to the struggles of Arctic people groups, to pollution from industries that are new to the north such as oil and natural gas -- the hurdles are huge.
"We forget that the Arctic is covered in ice for most of the year and that most of the marine mammals are tied to this ice and so are the Innuit," Struzik told CTV's Canada AM.
"And when the ice disintegrates and collapses like it has been doing, that habitat disappears and those animals that are tied to that world really are lost."
