by Jobie Weetaluktuk

Created on: February 01, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

I can't recall when I first heard sustainable development. I know it was before an international Inuit conference, but exact the period escapes me. Inuit (Eskimos in Alaska) have been talking about sustainable development for a long time.

I knew roughly what 'sustainable' meant. I think we are all the same boat when it comes to understanding what those words mean. In northern Canada where I come from, the meaning has become somewhat blurred. It has become ethereal, cerebral catch phrase. The real meaning has become archaic. Today we talk about 1.9 hectares and carbon footprint. 1.9 hectares of land and sea is supposedly available for each living person. All things being equal, a myth is what we work with. In the self sustaining arctic, you would need considerably more than 1.9 hectares. That is especially true in the hard scrabble high arctic, where topsoil is nil and the growing season brief.

Then to prove that we are deeply concerned, we list things we do or do not do for the environment. Eat organic, don't drive, use crank flashlight, etc., etc. In some ways we have to justify and make a futile effort to be an example. Compared to other Canadians, I'm very conscientious. Or am I just like everyone else? I'll say whatever sounds good at the moment.

How much carbon products or carbon borne products do I personally use per year for instance? How big is my carbon footprint? How much do I weigh on the earth scale? How many Sri Lankans do I equal in terms of consumptions? How many Bonos' or Sir McCartneys' am I worth in carbon appetite? I can pick the stats to prove my worth.

Sustainable use to mean something for the Inuit. Sustainable use to mean we will survive. Unsustainable on the other hand use to mean death by starvation, exposure, or any natural cause. Now, Inuit import soy products from Brazil, rice from India, lamb from New Zealand. Sustainable no longer means 1.9 hectares that I can wonder through. It now includes a square metre in Brazil. It also means I import from places I will never see. It means that I can take resources from a child with big pleading eyes and never even have to see them.

Now we have learned that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has come very close to pointing the finger directly on the human inhabitants as the main culprits in catastrophic climate change. We are 6 billion strong and esteem ourselves worthy of three square meals a day, a shower and a workplace in addition to our home space. In addition, we expect medical care even for things we have inflicted on ourselves. We insist on treatments on disease caused by smoking, drinking alcoholic beverages, consuming highly processed foods, and even illegal substances.

This is the kind of animal we are dealing with. Short of dropping dead, you and I aren't doing the planet much favor. However, we can tell each other how concerned we are about how humans are causing environmental damage. We even say "humans" with enough indignation to as though we were something better.

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