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IELTS reading passage – Climate change and the Inuit
Climate change and the Inuit
The threat posed by climate change in the Arctic and the troubles facing the Inuit people of Canada
Extraordinary events are being reported throughout the Arctic. Inuit families traveling on snowmobiles to organize summer hunting camps soon found themselves cut off from their houses by a sea of mud following the thaw. As the ice drops and cools, the igloo loses its insulating properties, the lakes drain into the sea as the permanent ice melts, and the sea ice breaks earlier than expected, carrying seals beyond the reach of hunters. Climate change may still be a brief idea for most of us, but in the Arctic, if the summer ice continues to shrink at its current rate, the Arctic Ocean will soon become almost ice-free in the summer. Knock-on effects contain warming, cloudy skies, raised rainfall, and high sea levels. Scientists are increasingly interested in finding out what is happening because they think the Arctic region to be a ‘canary in the mine’ for global warming, an alert of what awaits the rest of the world.
Inuit problem is urgent. They live in a dangerous balance in one of the most difficult environments on earth. Climate change, whatever its reasons, is a direct threat to their way of life. The Arctic and locals do not know anyone, which is why they are not satisfied with the retreat, allowing external experts to tell what is happening. In Canada, in Nunavut, the country’s new territory, the Inuit people are jealousy waiting for their autonomy, believing that their best hope for survival in this changing environment lies in combining their ancestral knowledge with modern science. This in itself is a challenge.
The Canadian Arctic is an extensive, treeless polar desert that is covered by snow for most of the year. Entering this landscape, you will get some ideas about the difficulties encountered by anyone who calls this house. Agriculture is questionable and nature offers meagre harvests. Humans first settled in the Arctic 4,500 years ago, enduring by exploiting marine mammals and fish. The atmosphere tested them to the limit, sometimes the colonialists succeeded, and sometimes they failed and disappeared. But about a thousand years ago, a group formed uniquely to deal with the Arctic environment. The Thule individuals brought kayaks, sleds, dogs, pottery, and iron tools from Alaska. They are the ancestors of today’s Inuit people.
The lives of the descendants of the Thule people are even grimmer. Nunavut is 1.9 million square kilometers of rock and ice and a few islands near the North Pole. It presently has a population of 2,500, with the exception of a few tribal Inuits. For the past 40 years, most people have abandoned their nomadic ways and settled in the area’s 28 isolated communities, but they still depend heavily on nature to offer food and clothes. Items available at local stores must be shipped to Nunavut via one of the world’s most expensive airline networks, or delivered by snow-free supply ship during the summer months. It costs about £ 7,000 a year to replace the meat a family obtains from hunting with imported meat. Economic chances are low, and for many, the only benefit is government advantages.
If hunting and trapping are reduced by climate change, although the Inuit may not actually be starving, it definitely has an effect on people’s health. Obesity, heart disease, and diabetes are starting to emerge as issues that have never been seen before. The identity crisis has arisen as traditional skills such as hunting, trapping and tanning have started to vanish. In Nunavut’s ‘Igloo and Email’ community, adults born in Igloo have kids who never come out of the ground, and there are more depressing events.
Being so endangered, Inuit is determined to play a critical part in unraveling the riddles of climate change in the Arctic. Having lived there for centuries, they think that the wealth of standard knowledge is essential to work. Western scientists have begun to draw on this wisdom, referred to as ‘Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit’ or IQ. In the earlier days, scientists ignored us when we came here to learn anything. These people do not know much, so they thought we would not ask them, ‘says John Amagolik, Inuit leader and politician. ‘But IQ has become more reliable and weighty in recent years.’ In reality, for anyone seeking permission to do analysis, it is now necessary to consult with communities to help set up a research agenda that reflects their most significant concerns. They may reject applications from scientists who think they are acting against their interests or study projects that have a greater impact on their daily lives and standard activities.
Some scientists question the importance of standard knowledge because the Arctic occupation did not go far enough back. Others, yet, point out that the first weather stations in the far north were 50 years old. There are still massive gaps in our environmental knowledge, and despite the scientific result, many predictions do not exceed the most suitable guesses. It can help narrow the IQ gap and address the greatest uncertainty about how much natural capriciousness we see and the effect of human activity.
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Climate change and the Inuit IELTS reading questions
Questions (1-5)
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A–G, below.
Write the correct letter, A-G, as your answer to each question.
1. Inuit families traveling on snowmobiles to
2. The igloo loses its insulating properties
3. If the summer ice continues to shrink at its current rate, the Arctic Ocean will
4. Inuit live in a dangerous balance in
5. Climate change is a direct threat to
A. become almost ice-free in the summer
B. during the summer months
C. organize summer hunting camps
D. their way of life for any reason
E. the rest of the world
F. due to the ice drops and cools
G. one of the most difficult environments on earth
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Questions (6 – 10)
Complete the summary below.
Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
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Inuit people are jealousy waiting for their 6 _________, believing that their best hope for 7 __________. Treeless polar desert that is covered by snow for most of the year in the 8 ____________. Agriculture is questionable and nature offers 9 ___________ harvests. A group formed uniquely to deal with the Arctic environment, almost a 10 ____________ years ago.
Questions (11 – 13)
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
11. How many people are there in Nunavut now?
12. How much does it cost per year for a family to replace imported meat with hunting meat?
13. What is IQ referred to as?
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Climate change and the Inuit IELTS reading
1. C
2. F
3. A
4. G
5. D
6. autonomy
7. survival
8. Canadian Arctic
9. meagre
10. thousand
11. 2,500
12. £ 7,000
13. Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit
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