The Saami Parliament in Norway has released the first public version of a Saami "spell checker" and other proofing tools. This is a milestone in Saami computing history, and is part of various different efforts to ensure that indigenous languages can be used with modern computer technology. Microsoft has been developing some of its programs in indigenous languages, including Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit, and a Greenlandic spell checker has already been developed. The Saami spell checker works on Microsoft Office products on both Mac and PC.  The software is 'open source', which means it can be improved and changed by other developers. The program is available for free download at Divvun. 

by Clive Tesar The United States Government is beginning to show signs that it understands the seriousness of climate change. A new Bill in the United States Senate backs an 80% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050. The Bill, sponsored by Senator Boxer, has attracted the support of democratic presidential hopefuls Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. A senior Senate staff official told a visiting delegation of Arctic Leaders,

We hope to be in a position to do something very aggressive on global warming when we have a new President. However, we still have a lot of difficult people, including two senators from Alaska who won’t agree.

The Arctic Leaders have been visiting Senators’ offices in Washington DC, for the past three days to persuade the Senators to back urgent action on climate change. The Leaders have stressed that they are not backing any particular Bill, or any particular US political party, but simply want to see the United States take any action that will start to stabilize temperatures in the Arctic. Olav Mathis Eira of the Saami Council and Sarah James of Gwich’in Council International were joined for a day of Senate meetings by Megan Alvanna-Stimpfle, a representative of Inuit youth. She spoke of the despair in Inuit communities over the loss of culture, a despair that is driving disproportionate numbers of Inuit youth to commit suicide. Alvana-Stimple noted that climate change further threatens Inuit culture. Disappearing ice is a threat to Inuit hunting, as it makes it more difficult and dangerous for hunters to access prey species, but is also threatening the populations of those prey species, such as seals. The warming Arctic is also expected to bring more development and more people from other parts of the world. The Arctic Leaders’ message has mostly been well received by senators and their staff, both democrats and Republicans.

We must accept that climate change is real,

said Senator Mark Pryor after meeting with the Arctic Leaders.

We are trying to build consensus on what to do, although that may take us a couple of years.

Staff members from several Senators’ offices have commented that hearing directly of the impacts of climate change from Arctic Peoples has made the issue so much more real for them. The Arctic Leaders hope that this new understanding of Arctic realities will lead to real action from the US government.

by Clive Tesar Arctic leaders touring the United States with their eyewitness messages of climate change shared their stories with local Indigenous Peoples yesterday. The exchange came during a tour stop in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The audience at a public meeting in a Presbyterian church included local Anishnabe people, and also some descendants of Saami people who had come to hear Saami Council Vice President Olav Mathis Eira. Clyde Belcourt, a local Anishnabe elder, spoke of the local impacts of climate change that Indigenous Peoples in Minnesota are seeing. He mentioned a drop in water levels that is affecting the spawning beds of local fish such as walleye. Even more importantly, the low water levels are threatening the habitat of the wild rice, a traditional crop that is not only economically important to local people, but also has great cultural significance. The Saami descendants brought along copies of their newsletter, in which they feature Olav Mathis Eira, and his message of the threats climate change poses to the livelihoods of Saami reindeer herders. Eira says that the herders are important to Saami culture, that they are strong users of the Saami language and Saami traditions such as the 'yoik', a singing style that predates the coming of Christianity to Saami lands. He believes if Saami reindeer herders can no longer make a living, then the whole basis of Saami culture is at risk. The Arctic leaders continue their tour through Cleveland, Ohio, before going to Washington DC, where they will will brief Senators and officials on the impacts of Arctic climate change, and will urge the United States government to take strong action on curbing greenhouse gas emissions from the States.