Paper Short Abstract:

While the people of Tasiilaq (East Greenland) are experiencing the effects of a changing climate, the anthropogenic causes are often questioned. This talk focuses on the challenges of translating between theory and practice in how people learn about climate change and between relational lifeworlds and science.

Paper Abstract:

Climate change is having a profound impact on Arctic communities, as the case of Tasiilaq in Tunu, on Greenland's east coast, illustrates. Drastic reductions in fjord and sea ice and glaciers, an increase in extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall, rising temperatures, and corresponding changes in flora and fauna are just some of the effects. While these climatic and environmental changes are well experienced by local people, our research shows that some of them question whether the climatic changes are indeed human-made. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research in the region, in this presentation I will focus on findings from a transdisciplinary project on precipitation change in the Tasiilaq region, involving climate scientists, anthropologists and local partners. The project revealed clashes between the scientific explanations and local understandings of climate and environmental change, between bringing together relational lifeworlds and science based on a strong nature/society divide. Drawing on climate change reception studies, I illustrate the challenges of translating between theory and practice in how people learn about climate change and provide an example of a multi-directional approach to living with climate change. The case study supports the findings of a recent Greenland-wide survey that speaks of “a widespread gap between the scientific consensus and coastal Kalaallit views of climate change” (Minor et al. 2022), which is particularly strong in Greenland’s most peripheral regions, on the east coast and in North Greenland. This gap has implications for climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as for science communication.