FROM UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE FOR RELEASE: WEEK OF JANUARY 15,
1999 COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS by Patricia Gonzales and Roberto
Rodriguez NASA LOOKS TO NATIVE ELDERS TO HELP SAVE THE EARTH The
Nome Eskimo elder lamented that nowadays his homeland in winter
is too warm for the life system to sustain itself -- only 20
degrees below zero instead of 70 below. His people have learned
to live in balance with the ice and cold. But now the Bering
Strait is sick. Sea ice is forming later, affecting the animals
who breed on it. The sea pups aren't ready to leave when the ice
melts, so they die or are abandoned. The hunters say the walrus
are skinny, and they have to hunt farther into the tundra
because the caribou know the thin ice won't sustain their
weight. In the old days, the elders in Alaska could forecast the
weather by watching the stars. But now, says one Siberian Yupek
elder, "The Earth is so fast now. We can't predict the weather
anymore." Many native prophesies warned of a time when the
people would be confused