Latest news with #SmartICE
CBC
20-04-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Disappearing Nunatsiavut sea ice continues as climate change dramatically alters Labrador landscape
Technology and collaboration can help keep people safe, says advocates Climate change is delaying the formation of sea ice along Labrador's north coast, forcing Inuit communities in Nunatsiavut to adapt. Sea ice in winter months is a vital part of Inuit culture. Warmer temperatures mean limited travel and hunting ability, as locals wait for the sea to freeze over. SmartICE, a social enterprise, brings technology and training to Nunatsiavut and combines it with traditional knowledge, so people can make safe decisions when travelling. Rex Holwell, an Inuk from Nain who is manager of SmartICE operations in Nunatsiavut, said none of the technology they use is meant to replace traditional knowledge. "It's data they can take, much like they do, before they go hunting or fishing," he told CBC Radio's The Signal. The threat posed by disappearing sea ice is one advocates have been sounding the alarm over for several years. CEO Carolann Harding said SmartICE provides climate change adaptation tools to communities, which can be combined with traditional and local knowledge "to be able to make more informed decisions about traveling on the ice." "We're now in 35 plus communities across Canada's north, all Indigenous communities. And it's very exciting," she said. Holwell said SmartICE trains with members of communities, looking for people with knowledge of sea ice, and teaches them how to use SmartICE equipment. They also provide safety and first aid training. "It's a bit of technical skills. It's a bit of on the land knowledge. It's a bit of public speaking. It's a bit of public relations," said Holwell. The data on ice thickness is uploaded and then shared with people by posting it in communities, including printing off maps about sea ice and posting it in places like shops, he said. 'Our highway' Holwell said sea ice enables people to travel in all directions around Nain, allowing them to travel to their hunting grounds, fishing spots and cabins. "The ice really is our highway," he said. "People are just itching to get out on the sea ice for the freedom." Embed | YouTube Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages. Ron Webb, who is with a search and rescue group, said sea ice is increasingly unpredictable and they need the available information in order to be safe when they are outdoors. "It's getting to the point where now it's more dangerous every year and unpredictable," said Webb. People have always had to adapt to the shifting environment but he said it's tough, and it takes an emotional toll when the sea ice isn't around as long because it limits their travel. "You're stuck in town a lot longer than we usually are and it doesn't go well with us," said Webb. Future plans Harding said SmartICE has expanded in the last couple of years and there is more room for growth across Canada. "What I would like to see in the next couple of years is really expanding deep within those communities," she said. She also wants to "dig" into the communities they're already present in, and train more people, create employment, and find leaders who she said will be the future of SmartICE. Impacted culture Andrew Arreak, who is also with SmartICE, said sea ice used to form in late November but this year it didn't start until December. "Sea ice is part of our identity. It's part of who we are. We travel on it to go to our hunting grounds, camping grounds, and even to travel to another community," said Arreak. Jake Kalleo said he used to be able to snowmobile ride on the ice until his birthday in June. "I'm starting to wonder now, is it better to sell my snow machine to get a boat? It's getting worse and worse every year," said Kalleo. High school student Teagan Michelin told CBC News in January that she wasn't seeing people able to engage in traditional winter activities. "It's like losing culture," she said. "If they can't do it, then their mental health will deteriorate." Michelin said the impacts of climate change is going to have a negative impact on her community and she says people move further north.
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Disappearing Nunatsiavut sea ice continues as climate change dramatically alters Labrador landscape
People in Nain have noticed sea ice is forming later in the year and melting earlier, which is impacting their culture and safety. (Adam Walsh/CBC) Climate change is delaying the formation of sea ice along Labrador's north coast, forcing Inuit communities in Nunatsiavut to adapt. Sea ice in winter months is a vital part of Inuit culture. Warmer temperatures mean limited travel and hunting ability, as locals wait for the sea to freeze over. SmartICE, a social enterprise, brings technology and training to Nunatsiavut and combines it with traditional knowledge, so people can make safe decisions when travelling. Rex Holwell, an Inuk from Nain who is manager of SmartICE operations in Nunatsiavut, said none of the technology they use is meant to replace traditional knowledge. "It's data they can take, much like they do, before they go hunting or fishing," he told CBC Radio's The Signal. The threat posed by disappearing sea ice is one advocates have been sounding the alarm over for several years. CEO Carolann Harding said SmartICE provides climate change adaptation tools to communities, which can be combined with traditional and local knowledge "to be able to make more informed decisions about traveling on the ice." "We're now in 35 plus communities across Canada's north, all Indigenous communities. And it's very exciting," she said. Rex Holwell, the manager of SmartICE operations in Nunatsiavut, says sea ice is like a highway for people in the community. (Hamlin Lampe) Holwell said SmartICE trains with members of communities, looking for people with knowledge of sea ice, and teaches them how to use SmartICE equipment. They also provide safety and first aid training. "It's a bit of technical skills. It's a bit of on the land knowledge. It's a bit of public speaking. It's a bit of public relations," said Holwell. The data on ice thickness is uploaded and then shared with people by posting it in communities, including printing off maps about sea ice and posting it in places like shops, he said. 'Our highway' Holwell said sea ice enables people to travel in all directions around Nain, allowing them to travel to their hunting grounds, fishing spots and cabins. "The ice really is our highway," he said. "People are just itching to get out on the sea ice for the freedom." Ron Webb, who is with a search and rescue group, said sea ice is increasingly unpredictable and they need the available information in order to be safe when they are outdoors. "It's getting to the point where now it's more dangerous every year and unpredictable," said Webb. People have always had to adapt to the shifting environment but he said it's tough, and it takes an emotional toll when the sea ice isn't around as long because it limits their travel. "You're stuck in town a lot longer than we usually are and it doesn't go well with us," said Webb. Future plans Harding said SmartICE has expanded in the last couple of years and there is more room for growth across Canada. "What I would like to see in the next couple of years is really expanding deep within those communities," she said. She also wants to "dig" into the communities they're already present in, and train more people, create employment, and find leaders who she said will be the future of SmartICE. Impacted culture Andrew Arreak, who is also with SmartICE, said sea ice used to form in late November but this year it didn't start until December. "Sea ice is part of our identity. It's part of who we are. We travel on it to go to our hunting grounds, camping grounds, and even to travel to another community," said Arreak. Jake Kalleo said he used to be able to snowmobile ride on the ice until his birthday in June. "I'm starting to wonder now, is it better to sell my snow machine to get a boat? It's getting worse and worse every year," said Kalleo. High school student Teagan Michelin told CBC News in January that she wasn't seeing people able to engage in traditional winter activities. "It's like losing culture," she said. "If they can't do it, then their mental health will deteriorate." Michelin said the impacts of climate change is going to have a negative impact on her community and she says people move further north. Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Click here to visit our landing page.
CBC
12-04-2025
- Science
- CBC
SmartICE teams up with locals to teach sea ice safety in Nain
SmartICE works with northern communities to pair technology with traditional knowledge — all in the name of safety. As Carolann Harding tells CBC Radio's The Signal, her team is working to develop maps and educational tools for young people on the ice.
CBC
09-03-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Sea ice is disappearing in the North. This is how Inuit are responding
For over 30 years, Reuben Flowers has been documenting the changes unfolding in the North. The Inuk life skills teacher from Hopedale has spent decades jotting down daily observations of the weather conditions and ice levels in the capital of Nunatsiavut. And his journals are proof that the climate is changing. "The ice is definitely thinning," Flowers, 57, told Unreserved host Rosanna Deerchild. "When I was a child, it was much thicker then." For many communities in the North, ice is present for six to nine months of the year, and is an integral part of the landscape. During the winter, when the ferries stop and flights could be disrupted, ice connects communities. They become roads for people to traverse and hunt for food and materials such as arctic char, seal and firewood. Climate change, says Flowers, disrupts the land and ice that have sustained Inuit people physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally since time immemorial. "We are Sikumiut," said Flowers. "It means people of the ice." As the ice continues to deteriorate, residents of Nunatsiavut, like Flowers, are being forced to adapt to a new reality. Adapting to climate change Rex Holwell, an Inuk from Nain, the northernmost community in Nunatsiavut, is tackling the problem head-on. He's the manager of SmartICE operations in Nunatsiavut, a company that combines traditional knowledge with modern technology to monitor Northern ice conditions. He says the increasing demand for their technology is bittersweet. "[It's] bad in the sense that everybody's seeing climate change that we really don't want to [see]," Holwell said. In the past, Inuit relied on traditional knowledge passed down through generations to assess ice conditions. For safety purposes, elders taught younger generations how to determine its thickness, strength and snow cover. But the weather trends used to predict ice levels are no longer the same as what had been used in their traditional knowledge, according to Holwell. The extended periods of rain and warmer temperatures in Nain are "stuff that [they've] never [seen] before," he said. In response, SmartICE works with communities to make more informed decisions before they travel on ice by retrieving and providing them with data about an area's ice conditions. One of SmartICE's tools, the "smart buoy," is a tall, tube-like sensor lowered into the ice that can measure ice thickness. Another device, the "smart qamutik," is a mobile sensor attached to a snowmobile that travels across the ice, collecting data on the ice's condition as it moves. Establishing climate resilient infrastructure Robert Way looks at the thinning of the world's ice in all its forms, such as glaciers and permafrost. Way is an associate professor and research chair at Queen's University, and is Kallunângajuk (Nunatsiavummiut) from central Labrador. He is concerned about the livelihoods of people living in the northern communities. Recognizing the types of disruptive changes that he's seen in the Arctic as a climate scientist, he says communities are not only at the peril of climate change. The ongoing housing situation in Nunatsiavut, that's been called a human rights violation, is exacerbated by the melting ice. "When you're doing this type of work, you're trying to understand climate change, [but] this is all happening in the backdrop of other issues that are at the forefront as well," he said. WATCH | Thinning sea ice is taking a toll on Nunatsiavut residents: Shrinking sea ice in northern Labrador 4 years ago Duration 1:00 Nunatsiavut residents describe the thinning sea ice, and the toll it's taking in their communities One of Way's current initiatives is to generate maps for the community of Nain that help identify areas that may be unsafe to build on due to changing permafrost conditions. "When you have a growing community that has all kinds of needs for additional housing … you don't want to be having to spend extra cost [and] time … dealing with issues associated with [safety] hazards." 'It just makes it all worth it' Flowers continues to pass down the knowledge he's gathered to the next generation. He says he takes his students out on the land, teaching them to observe and measure the ice, while also passing on traditional knowledge about how to survive in the wilderness. "It's a big part of our identity," he said. Holwell is also committed to passing on the knowledge. Through SmartICE, Holwell frequently travels to different communities to train locals on how to use and maintain the equipment. He says the most rewarding aspect of his work is interacting with elders. "When elders say to me, 'Rex, thank you for coming and thank you for reaching the people in my community on how to do this so that they're keeping people in their community safe,' it makes it worth it," he said. "At the core of it, we're doing what Inuit or Indigenous people [have] really done with anything that we've seen in life — we just adapt to it and learn to live with the situation we're in."
