Using dogs to adapt to global warming

The Globe and Mail featured a piece examining the Inuit, dog sleds and global warming. To cite the article:

As the country's northernmost communities face the impact of global warming, a researcher is suggesting that the Quebec Inuit should try switching back from snowmobiles to dogsleds.

Sled-pulling dogs are more adept at spotting where the ice is more dangerous, said Martin Tremblay, a geographer and environmental researcher based in Kuujjuaq, near Ungava Bay, 1,500 kilometres north of Montreal. “Dogs will sense more thinner, more unstable ice,” he said. “If the sled falls through, the dogs will pull the sled out of water.”

The idea is part of a report on the impact of warmer weather on Quebec's Inuit that a team of researchers will present to northern communities this fall.

The piece does provide some interesting tidbits on traditional Inuit culture. It does highlight the advantages of a dog sled in traveling over the winter ice floes. It also highlights the importance and advantages of traditional foods and the Inuit traditional diet. It also seems to be an interesting project that is collecting Inuit traditional knowledge and seeks to pass on this information to future generations using modern technology.

It is unfortunate that the article was marred by one unfortunate paragraph:

As the country's northernmost communities face the impact of global warming, a researcher is suggesting that the Quebec Inuit should try switching back from snowmobiles to dogsleds.

In reading this paragraph, the impression is given that the Inuit should switch to dog sleds to do their part in cutting back on carbon dioxide and global warming. This is, of course, ludicrous. Why should the Inuit abandon snowmobiles?

This is what comes out in the postings. Dallas McQuarrie from Regina writes:

Perhaps people in Canada's urban centres could also lend a hand by giving up the SUV and other other affectations of modern living that serve no useful purpose beyond ego masturbation. Just asking the Inuit to give up their gas machines will hardly dent the problem compared to all the members of the Conspicuous Consumption Club driving over sized vehicles in an attempt to compensate for under sized egos.

However, this is not what the researcher was implying. The researcher is suggesting the use of dog sleds as they are safer when traveling over thinner ice that is a consequence of global warming. The researcher is not suggesting a return to dog sleds so the Inuit will stop polluting with snowmobiles, but rather is suggesting that dog sleds are advantageous in an Arctic environment that is facing warming temperatures.