North Pole Scramble; the future of Inuit and Arctic nature

“Operation Nanook is one of the biggest northern operations the Canadian Forces conduct each year.” Defense Minister Peter Gordon MacKay was addressing the opening ceremony held in Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, on August of 2008. The operation was to exercise Arctic sovereignty and prepare for emergencies in the North. “The elders of our town have opposed the construction of the port for warships. They conduct this maneuver because they expect a war, don’t they? I really hate it,” An Inuit middle-aged woman who was one of the audiences said. Inuit accounts for 85 percent of the population of the northernmost territory and the economic depression is a serious problem. Therefore, there are voices which are concerned an influence on the environment and Inuit culture, while the voices that this operation will be a good opportunity for support of such problems and infrastructural development aid are getting louder. The preface to Inuit’s distress is a scramble for the sovereignty of Arctic between 8 countries including Russia, U.S. It is believed that Arctic ice will disappear in 2030 or 40 and the Arctic sea has a potential of big business chances such as oil. So, Canada’s government has also aimed for rights and interests of Arctic through Operation Nanook and some Arctic strategies. This North Pole scramble has changed the circumstance surrounding Inuit. Inuit used to set up with mostly hunting on a dog sled. However the recent melting ice disturbs their hunts and sometimes invites accidents that an Inuit hunter falls into the sea. It also deprives wild animals like a polar bear of a place to find their food. Their life is connected with nature strongly but it’s becoming difficult to live in the classic way. See the case of Inuit in Kaktovik, the city which has the largest wild life sanctuary in Alaska. The U.S. government has been exploiting the oil field and helping Inuit residents in the area economically in spite of the concession. The residents had prohibited from tapping this sanctuary but now, they have modernized their life-style and buy an air conditioner and a computer thanks to the oil money. As the expense, their culture and a once wild paradise have gone forever. On July of 2006, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, which every Inuit delegates assemble, was held in Utgiagvik, Alaska. On one hand there were anxieties about damage from the climate change; on the other hand a lot of hope of the oil money spouted out in the meeting. Eventually, they decided to join the oil exploitation like Alaska. An attendant said at the end of the meeting. “Should we get an immediate profit and destroy our culture which has been come down until now? The exploitation will end soon. Then, I’m sure that they will end up deserting us again.” But, nobody could hear his grief.

Facebook-a-holic, Find the Best Way of Communication

“You can say that I’m Facebook-a-holic. I cannot say like hours, I spend all my day on just Facebook. I turn on the switch of my cell phone and check Facebook as I take classes. Actually when I wake up, I first open my Facebook page on the cell phone before I wash my face and teeth…Sometimes I’m late for my college.” Fast growing social network, Facebook has over 100 million users in the world and the number has still been increasing day by day. Proportionately, the number of Facebook addicts has been rising up too. They use it to a pathological degree. Sometimes they prefer sending and receiving a message on Facebook rather than talking face to face. Nevertheless, some Facebook-a-holic says that it’s “the best way to communicate with people”. Khalid ALamire, a student of Columbia College, started to use this social net work two years ago when he was in Saudi Arabia at his age of 24. Surprisingly, he became addicted after he had come to Vancouver to study Computer Science. “When I was in my country, I used (Facebook) once a week or once a month but, now I’m in Vancouver. I have been living far away from my family for almost two years. So I can go to Facebook and share feelings” said ALamire “also, I made lots of friends from various countries like from Japan, HongKong, and China. Most of them went back to their country, so I don’t have any ways to connect with them except Facebook.” Current world is globalized. Friends not always live in same country or near your house. Especially in Vancouver, one of multicultural cities in the world, you can be acquainted with people from a variety of nations. They often have their own country’s social net work service like mixi (Japanese) and QQ (Chinese), or don’t have even a cell phone, but even so they have a Facebook account. Consequently ALamire takes advantage of the social network to commune together with his friend live abroad. “Last weekend, my Korean friend went back to Korea. Then she had a farewell party and posted it on Facebook and it (the party) was fun. If there wasn’t Facebook, I would have never known that party because she didn’t have cell phone.” He said. The terms like “addict” and “-aholic” sound negative. In fact, technology-based addictions are getting serious as a new addiction problem lately. Video-game addiction, for example, makes a number of Canadian youths stay indoors and tend to withdraw into their shell while, most of Facebook-a-holic became addicted because they are sociable. ALamire is also one of them and he believes that he can learn different cultures with intercultural communication on Facebook. “The most beautiful thing that I found on Facebook is (that) I learned new cultures. When I was in my country, I didn’t know much about China, Japan and this country (Canada). When I opened my Facebook page, my Japanese friend was talking about Chinese New Year, so I searched it on Google and I knew that.” “I feel like I’m bonded to my friends and become closer and together. In the class, we don’t talk too much…On Facebook we can talk and discuss many things that happened in the class, even our feelings and our future.” ALamire’s old friend, Mohammed is also a student in Vancouver and Facebook-a-holic. He says that Facebook is “like society”. Facebook is no longer just one of social networks. There may be pros and cons about Facebook-a-holic but, the definition of our relationship is certainly changing due to the new society.