Bruce E. Johansen

About the author: Bruce E. Johansen is the Robert T. Reilly Professor of Communications and Native American Studies at the University of Nebraska in Omaha.

He is also the author of The Global Warming Desk Reference. Global warming is having an adverse effect on the environment in the Arctic. Rising temperatures endanger populations of animals that live in an ice-based ecosystem. Polar bears, walruses, and seals, for example, are now often underweight or malnourished because higher temperatures limit their ice-based food sources and disrupt their feeding and weaning cycles. Furthermore, the native peoples of Alaska and Canada, many of whom depend on hunting and fishing for food and income, face increasing economic difficulties as Arctic game becomes more scarce.

It's another warm day in Iqaluit, capital of the new semi-sovereign Inuit nation of Nunavit in...