Listening to the Arctic in a Time of Climate Change

Abstract: While human-induced climate change has thrown our planet into crisis, certain populations have felt its effects more acutely—and are learning to respond accordingly. Denizens of the first world would do well to listen to their experiences. This essay meditates on climate change from the perspective of the author’s recent encounters with some citizens of the Arctic region—people who are navigating economic, political, and epistemological adjustments as they grapple with the enormous contemporary changes in their environment.