Facing Climate Change

Reindeer husbandry has supported civilization across the Eurasian Arctic and Subarctic for thousands of years. As the semi-nomadic Sámi herdsmen of northern Norway face irreversible impacts from global warming.

1 Sámi Reindeer Herdsmen

The herders of District 33T chase small groups of reindeer down the steep bank to the beach and onto the boat, which can hold 600 animals. It is 3 a.m. and raining. These reindeer will be transported for six hours because of development on their traditional pasturelands and migration route.

2 Sámi Reindeer Herdsmen

After the fall migration, herders in Finnmark gather their reindeer to separate the herds, mark new calves and cull animals for slaughter. When these reindeer are released, they will graze lichen mats where warmer temperatures can create impenetrable crusts of ice over winter pastures.

3 Sámi Reindeer Herdsmen

Britt Marie Labba Paivio mends fence while her village waits for enough snow to gather their reindeer by snowmobile. In addition to snow, mobility is also impacted by changes in vegetation.

4 Sámi Reindeer Herdsmen

“The lasso ring is northern people’s most important invention, because if you don’t have a lasso ring, you can’t use a lasso. And when you have a lasso, you extend your arm in a way that you can actually capture and domesticate reindeer.

5 Sámi Reindeer Herdsmen

Ellen Karin, 19, just started her second year of a two-year practicum with reindeer husbandry. The experience is designed to teach young people herding and corral management skills, along with traditional cooking and sewing technique.

6 Sámi Reindeer Herdsmen

“Confidence building locally is the critical thing for adaptation to global warming in the Arctic. Reindeer husbandry could be the paradigm for how people understand that traditional knowledge has value.

7 Sámi Reindeer Herdsmen

There have been glaciers in Iceland for millions of years, but by the end of next century they all could be gone. This loss is essentially one of cultural identity for members of the Icelandic Glaciological Society, a group of volunteers that observe and document Iceland’s melting namesake.

8 Volunteer Glacier Monitors in Iceland

Sheepherder Indriði Aðalsteinsson has volunteered with the Icelandic Glaciological Society for 23 years. Before that, his father monitored the Kaldalón glacier for 49 years.

9 Volunteer Glacier Monitors in Iceland

Hannes Jónsson took over monitoring Skeiðarárjökull from his uncle in 1995. That year he built a new rock cairn because the ice had retreated so far from the ones his uncle and grandfather had used as measuring points.

10 Volunteer Glacier Monitors in Iceland

Jonas leans over the side of his boat to let down an enormous sinker. Warming impacts the productivity and distribution of marine resources.

11 Fishermen of the North Atlantic

“You’re always afraid of change in this business. You don’t like change. You like what you know. You like what is certain. Half a degree of warming in the North Atlantic is a big difference. We are fishing further north than ever before.

12 Fishermen of the North Atlantic

From 1903 to 1968, the great herring adventure of Siglufjörður, Iceland permeated the country’s northernmost town. Then, in the late sixties, years of unsustainable harvest levels combined with a change in temperature and salinity to bring about a sudden and complete collapse of the herring stock.

13 Fishermen of the North Atlantic

“No town in the world was like Siglufjörður in the herring time. Now it’s so far away. The work of fisheries is getting less and less from one year to another. Everything is changing all the time. We don’t know what the next adventure will be.”

14 Fishermen of the North Atlantic

Børge Iversen Jr.’s family has fished from Lofoten's Ballstad Harbor for five generations. In recent years, fishing pressure has increased, waters have warmed and cod have not returned to this fjord to spawn.

16 Fishermen of the North Atlantic

For more than 1,000 years cod that gather to spawn around Norway’s Lofoten archipelago have been harvested, cleaned and hung from wooden racks during the cold, dry months of winter. Recent warm and wet winters cause the biggest fish to rot before they mature.

15 Fishermen of the North Atlantic

Jonas Heilmann hunts seal, birds, reindeer, whale or musk ox. He fishes for cod, halibut and redfish. In a place with volatile environmental and market conditions, flexibility and diversification define the success of small-scale hunters and fishermen.

17 Fishermen of the North Atlantic

Noel Lyman tries to keep cool during her city's 19th day above 90 degrees last summer. Extreme heat kills more Americans annually than all other natural disasters combined.

18 The American West / Work in progress

As Washington's lowest ski area, The Summit at Snoqualmie is especially vulnerable to higher temperatures that bring more rain and less snow. We also depend on snow in the mountains for electricity, drinking water, salmon, forests and farming.

19 The American West / Work in progress

A private contract engine crew mops up at the Jocko Lakes fire outside of Missoula, Montana. Wildland firefighters are on the frontlines as climate change combines with fire supression policies and our desire to live on the wildland urban interface to create larger, more intense and more frequent.

20 The American West / Work in progress