The Politics of Earth Stewardship in the Uneven Anthropocene - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 146

Box 10.3 (continued)
Subsistence activities of the Iñupiat of Wainwright on the North Slope of
Alaska at the Chukchi Sea intimately connect them to a diversity of life in
their habitat (Kassam 2009 ). The residents maintain ecological relations with
many sea mammals to meet their nutritional needs despite risks associated
with travel on open water and sea ice (Fuller and George 1999 ; Ivie and
Schneider 1988 ; Kassam and The Wainwright Traditional Council 2001 ;
Luton 1986 ; Nelson 1969 , 1982 ). The Iñupiat have therefore developed sig-
nifi cant context-dependent knowledge of sea-ice and methods for interacting
with it. Climate change is leading to increasing uncertainty in patterns of sea-
ice formation, challenging the predictive capacity of Iñupiat knowledge of
sea-ice. Therefore, climate change impacts make subsistence activities poten-
tially dangerous, because the harvests of marine mammals require calm winds
and strong ice for safe travel. The risk that climate change impacts may over-
whelm these communities is increased by other chronic stressors, including
legacies of colonialism and economic imperialism that constrain local econo-
mies. Put tersely, climate change is an additional layer of complexity on
already existing inequities (Kassam et al. 2011 ).
Box 10.4. Palm Oil Production: A Complex Global Assemblage
Fig. 10.4 Pacifi c coast settlements in Colombia where locals resist oil palm cultivation
(Photo by U. Oslender)