Inquiry made into delayed polar bear decision, green groups sue 4

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1. 

   Karina Posted 7:39 am
   10 Mar 2008

   InuitI believe the proper term is Inuit, not Eskimo.

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2. 

   javaearth Posted 12:47 pm
   10 Mar 2008

   Eskimos need to shut their pie holes!Eskimos in Alaska and Canada need to shut their pie holes, and stop killing seals and polar bears!
   Infact, I don't even think it is the Eskimos/iniuts, - whatever, that are pushing for the anti polar bears, I think it is the oils companines and they need an excue so they use the Eskimos for their agenda!
   Honestly, people just stop the madness of: KILL, KILL, KILL.
   It feels like, humans are not going to be happy until they kill every single animal, and then they'll start killing their own grandmothers!

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3. 

   caniscandida Posted 4:42 pm
   10 Mar 2008

   Inuit vs. EskimoThe related Arctic peoples who for many thousands of years have lived from western Alaska to Greenland traditionally were called "Eskimo" (French, "Esquimaux") by Europeans and their American descendants.  That is not a word in their own language, however, and not the way they refer to themselves.
   "Inuit" is the name preferred especially by these peoples in Canada.  But I think it can be used for all of them generally.  "Greenland Eskimo" are culturally and linguistically distinct, so that name is still in use.  And in the far West of the region, around the mouth of the Yukon, the Yup'ik are often referred to as "Yup'ik Eskimo."  The people who live along the north and northwest coast of Alaska are called Inupiat.
   Erik Hoffner recently recommended to me a powerful and vivid novel, "Ordinary Wolves," by Seth Kantner, which I am just finishing.  It gives a depressing glimpse of the thoroughly degraded and self-destructive society of one Inupiat location, written by a man with a keen eye who has lived in that region a long time.  One aspect of the Inupiat life that he presents is how the thoroughgoing traditional reliance on constantly hunting and killing wild animals has been corrupted by the introduction of such modern technological items as snowmobiles and airplanes.  According to Kantner, these Inupiat at least are no longer living in anything that might be called a respectful balance with the wild animals around them.
   Polar bears do not figure in Kantner's book.  But my understanding is that the Inuit of Nunavut, including the settlements around Hudson Bay, have observed many polar bears concentrated near them, and wish to capitalize by encouraging a trophy hunting industry.  In fact, it seems the bears are not really more plentiful; it is just that the effects of climate change are driving them into reduced areas of their range.

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4. 

   Wolverine Posted 11:26 am
   11 Mar 2008

   Role ModelsIndigenous people living far from the tropics are not the ecologically correct people some imagine.  Humans have no fur because we evolved in the tropics, and the farther we move from those warm areas, the more environmental and ecological harm we do.  In order to live where it's so cold, people have to consume huge amounts of meat, which eventually causes kidney failure, or immense amounts of energy for artificial heat, or both.  Either way, the Inuit are not people I would hold up as being ecologically correct.

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