Kathleen Lippa
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Sep 01/03) - Shari Fox, a Ph.D student at the University of Colorado at Boulder has been coming North since 1995 to collect stories from elders and hunters about a topic almost everyone loves to talk about -- the weather.

She discovered the weather has been acting crazy in recent years, and is affecting the way Inuit hunt and live.

On Tuesday night Fox presented her findings in a talk called "Inuit Observations of Recent Environmental Change in Nunavut" to a room of about 12 people at the Iqaluit Visitors Centre.

Fox's research concentrated on weather patterns in Iglulik, Baker Lake and Clyde River.

After 45 audio and video interviews in each community, she concluded that weather in the North is more unpredictable than it used to be, and old ways of telling what the weather was going to be like, or tried and true spots to hunt, camp and build igloos have changed.

This has meant more disasters on the land, and frustration for elders who always relied on their deep knowledge of weather patterns to assist their families when hunting.

Fox believes scientists do not value indigenous knowledge enough, and that Inuit observations can enhance scientific research on climate change in the North.

"The best information," she said near the end of the talk, "comes from combining multiple methods and sources."

A CD Rom of her work called "When the Weather is Uggianaqtuq" which features interviews with many elders and hunters, was used to illustrate her points throughout her talk, and was recently approved for high school use.

Her research was funded by the National Science Foundation.

The audience, made up of many science-minded residents, asked questions and took it all in.

"It was interesting," said Jeff Wood, manager of science and technology services at the research centre in Iqaluit.

"Half of the audience is from the research centre," he added, "I thought I'd come, and perhaps learn something."