All language subtitles for The.Polar.Sea.S01E10.720p.WEB.x264-CRiMSON Eng

PINSENT: Last time
on The Polar Sea,

arctic hitchhiker
Richard Tegner

is aboard
the Swiss yacht Libellule
as she sprints West,

trying to exit
the Northwest Passage
before the ocean freezes.

On the Alaskan coast
the oil industry
dominates everything

and nobody believes
in climate change.

I think that's just
one of the biggest hoaxes
that's been perpetrated on us.

PINSENT: The oil industry
hopes to expand
across the melting Arctic,

even as scientists gather
more evidence
of environmental disaster.

Albedo is a positive feedback
loop for adding heat.

GEORGE DIVOKY: There has been
certainly a decrease in black
guillemots in this region.

I mean, you just can't
look away but at the same ways

you can't look away
from a train wreck.

TEGNER: If a tanker
breaks down here,

it would be
terrible catastrophe.

(WIND BLOWING)

TEGNER: We rounded Cape Barrow
coming from the Beaufort Sea.

The smell of the air
is different.

Now I can feel

the smell of
pine trees little bit.

PINSENT: Libellule is
on the final stretch
of the Northwest Passage.

It will exit the passage
through the Bering Strait

but not be safe
until it reaches Dutch Harbor

in the Aleutian Islands.

It will be the first
recreational catamaran
to complete the passage,

which is one of few records
still to be broken here.

And that is a fact
that would amaze the man
for whom Barrow is named.

John Barrow commanded
the British admiralty
in Victorian times.

He was obsessed
with finding the
Northwest Passage

and sent more than
20 missions on that quest.

None succeeded
and many ended
with ships destroyed

and sailors perished.

Much of the fault
lay in Barrow's methods.

He insisted captains follow
his strict sailing orders.

But his routes were based
on bad information
and whimsical theories.

The worst was Barrow's belief
in an open Polar Sea
at the top of the world.

He thought sea ice
was just a fringe
surrounding open water

that connected
the world's oceans.

But the Polar Sea
did not exist
in Barrow's time.

It was created
by the industrial age.

Burning fossil fuels
warmed the air,
melted the ice

and made an open sea
that even little boats
can sail.

TEGNER: In the distance
we have walruses
blowing in the water.

We can feel
their fishy breath.

It smells like
a can of sardines,
well used.

And there are several of them
and we're heading towards
the island here

see how close we can get
before they dive
into the water.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

(WALRUS BELLOWING)

PINSENT: The spectacle
of the big walrus herd

is actually a sign
of climate change.

Walrus normally spread out
across sea ice.

They raise their young there
and forage under the ice.

Since ice moves
with the ocean currents,

they always have fresh food.

Without ice,
walruses are forced to crowd
rocks and beaches.

They quickly exhaust
the nearby food

and their young are often
crushed by the crowd.

On the Alaskan coast,
the decline of walrus

is also a loss
to the Inupiat culture.

Inupiat have always survived
by hunting marine mammals.

People here still have
a deep attachment to hunting.

However, many are
reluctant to believe

that it is undermined
by climate change.

Barrow's main business is UIC,
the Inupiat owned corporation

that was built with money
the community got in exchange

for giving up
its oil rich land.

EDWARDSEN: We have our
own engineering firm,

we have our construction firm

and oil field services
that Umiak.

We have our bowhead
transportation and
barge delivery.

And then we have our
Bowhead technical services

that are government
contracting

and, um, we also have
our foundation.

Our engineering firm
has done an outstanding job

doing logistic works
for oil field services

when it comes to
ConocoPhillips, Shell,
Exxon Mobil.

We have our fingers
in the jar.

PINSENT: UIC has some
40 subsidiaries.

But the work that excites
Anthony is whale hunting.

One of our very successful
whaling captains.

And you can see all
these pictures of
these whales he's got,

he's got dates on them.

Good eating.

His dad taught him
about whaling and
he kept that in his heart.

That's what it's all about
we keep it in our heart
and when it comes to family

it's, it's in us already.

It's very important to us.

It's our way of life.

Our culture

and we try
and pass it down from
generations to generation.

It's all about family.

This is our boardroom.

Yeah, that's a traditional
Umiak right there.

With this Ugruk skin.

Ugruk is bearded seal.

This one's a six skinner.

Matter of fact that's my boat.

The white fish, the caribou,

and you know that's just like
our, the beef that you have.

Caribou is our main
source of meat.

Then we catch the geese,

polar bear, the ptarmigan,

the walrus,
and the main course is
our bowhead whale.

PINSENT: The bowhead is
a true Arctic whale.

It has no dorsal fin

so it moves easily under ice
and can break through
with its massive head.

(WHALE SNORTING)

It can live for 200 years.

Alaska's bowheads were
nearly wiped out
by commercial whaling.

Now, they're threatened
by the burning
of fossil fuels,

which makes sea water acidic

and weakens the crustaceans
that bowhead eat.

Inuit are the only people
still allowed to hunt bowhead.

The seasonal hunts in Barrow

are big community events.

TEGNER: It's our way of life.

We provide food to people
that cannot go out

and go to the store and buy.

PINSENT: But Anthony
doesn't worry that
burning fossil fuels

will harm the whales,
nor does he believe
it is warming the Arctic.

EDWARDSEN: I don't know
if the industry's causing
the climate change.

My oldest boy
you know he would do
a lot of research on

the climate change
and he said,

"Dad you know what,
when the axis tilted so much,

"it can only go so much,

"and then it's gonna
suddenly go back
to where it was.

That's when that
catastrophic event happened."

And I think that's
what's happening
it's just tilting so much.

And it's only going to go
so far then when it has to,

when it goes all back to...

And that catastrophic event
will happen.

PINSENT: One of UIC's most
active companies is Umiak.

The company is named
after Umiak boats,

which are made
from walrus skins
and used for hunting whales.

Umiak supplies
logistic support
on the Alaskan coast.

Most of its business
comes from oil companies

or from scientists
studying climate change.

Anne Jensen is Alaska's
most prominent archeologist.

She works on the
eroding beaches
outside Barrow,

where every storm washes up
more walrus and carries away
more history.

Anne's team is trying
to salvage an ancient
Inupiat house

that is being destroyed
by the thawing permafrost
and raging ocean.

JENSON: We're at a site
that's known as Walakpa.

People have lived here
for about 3,500 years.

Uh, and it's been used
for camping up until
more or less the present day.

It was first excavated at

in 1968-1969
and it was very stable.

The bluff actually sloped out,

you know it was a normal
coast flow but it went out
to about here.

There was a storm
and it came all the way
back to here,

it took out all that.

Just, you know,
gone over night essentially.

And you know, so if we had
another storm like that

and it got up to there
it would pull out
a lot of this.

So here we are trying to do
some salvage immediately.

MALE ASSISTANT 1:
It's pretty interesting.

There's a lot more
to it than what I thought.

You know, you envision
them living like
such simple existence.

I always thought
they were just up here,

people were up here
just freezing their asses off.

You know, all the time.

I don't think it was like that
I think they were pretty warm.

Living in pretty
decent houses,

and I'm sure at times
it was feast or famine

but you know at times
they were living
pretty good I think.

That's baleen right there.

Just thrown out, frozen,
and it stayed that way
for a long time.

PINSENT: Most of Anne's
young team are amateurs

who spend half their time
working with oil companies

and half with
climate scientists.

MALE ASSISTANT 2:
We all work for Umiak

and that's
our native corporation.

And then once
one project's done

usually they bring us
to another project

so, this is the
second project.

PINSENT: They are learning
from professional
archeological technicians.

Tango, elephant,
lima, India, zulu.

PINSENT: Their cultural roots
show in their phonetics.

U is for Ulu,
an Inuit knife.

Or U is for umbrella.

Ulu, ulu, ulu.

Ralph.

(ON DEVICE) Umbrella,
roger that.

(CHUCKLING)
Oh, umbrella, that's it.

JENSON: There's a layer that
has fox skulls in there

and that's probably
from like the 20's.

But then you got a layer
with a lot of baleen

in it underneath that
and that's probably

prewhaling so more or less
precontact here.

But contact is really 1850.

You can see all
the bones in there,
you guys see all that?

Stacks of bones.

JENSON: There's actually
whole bunch of fox skulls
have fallen out.

Because after whaling
collapsed a lot of people

did to earn cash money
was fox trapping.

Because at that time
Arctic fox furs
were really valuable.

Obviously this stuff
has been frozen

until very, very recently
because they're
in beautiful shape.

Between the erosion
and the permafrost melting.

I actually am starting
to think there would be

a fairly good idea
to just spend money

on digging and conserving
stuff because it's just not
gonna be there in 50 years.

There's buildings that have
managed to endure

and as the climate gets
warmer and wetter
a new bacteria or whatever

show up then
they start to rot faster.

It's a real problem.

It's affecting the heritage
of pretty much anyone
whose lived in the Arctic.

The preservation of it.

People are losing
massive amounts
of their heritage daily.

They're important places
that are getting eaten up
by the ocean.

PINSENT: As climate change
erases history,

it writes a new future.

(SPEAKING FRENCH)

(SPEAKING FRENCH)

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

PINSENT: They sail toward
the Bering Strait,

where the passage ends
in overlapping,
invisible finish lines

the border between
America and Russia,

the International dateline
and the Arctic Circle.

More than 30 yachts
attempted the passage
this summer.

Only five succeeded.

Libellule will claim
a victory that eluded
the world's greatest navies

for centuries,
at the cost of many men.

TEGNER: Here we are
in the Bering Strait.

We are closing up
on the Diomede Islands.

This side we have the USA

and on the other side here,
we have Russia.

That was an
interesting experience

just passing between
these huge political forces.

Russia on one side,
and USA on the other side.

You can almost stretch out
your hand and touch
these islands.

On board Libellule
we celebrated when
we passed Diomedes,

because that's
more obvious than

the just a theoretical line
in the middle of the sea.

(SHOUTING)

I'm not the one to
look for publicity but
I posted a press release

to two of the biggest
newspaper in Stockholm,
in Sweden.

"I hitchhiked through
the Northwest Passage,"

but I have not
got any answer.

I don't know
if they really took it in.

But it occurred to me
it's some sort of record

being the first one aboard
a catamaran doing
the Northwest Passage.

That's something. But it...

I was just lucky being there,
at the right moment.

PINSENT: The journey
has taken Richard
almost 10,000 kilometers

from its start in Iceland.

PINSENT: He began
as a reluctant sailor

urged on
by his adventurous
friend Martin,

who was forced to abandon
the quest when his boat
broke down.

TEGNER: Martin invited
me here

and now he has returned home.

I'm grateful to him.

For him it was to
achieve something

that he had done
with his own hands.

I was wondering
about that, if,

if I, if this just sort of
came to me like a,

like a huge gift.

Or if I have

accomplished something

by struggling and...

(EXHALES)
I'm not sure about that.

We are just entering
Nome, Alaska.

The hub of this
part of Alaska.

So here we will stop
for refueling.

Philipp and his uncle, Michael

will leave the boat here
and go home.

PINSENT: Libellule's captain,
financier Philipp Cottier

is pleased with her success,

but not convinced
that it means
much for shipping

through the
North West Passage.

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

American French Fries!

MAN 1: Hey Richard what do
you think of this trip?

Ah, well at least the
beer was nice at the end.

(MAN 1 LAUGHING)

At least the beer was nice!

# The sun it shines on
Baffin Bay

# My turn is over now

# Our course is straight
on, Westward ho

# Say hello to Canada #

(ALL CHEERING)

Thank you very much!

PINSENT: The remaining
crew of Libellule make
for Dutch Harbor,

a safe port to overwinter.

And the sailors reflect
on their voyage.

They saw more ice this season
than last year's sailors did.

But the trend is unmistakable.

(SPEAKING FRENCH)

PINSENT: The voyage has
taught them that ice can be
a barrier or a guardian.

The open polar sea that
allowed them passage

is a menace to people on
the shores they pass.

Nowhere is that so
obvious as Kivalina,

a sandy island reachable only
by ice road, plane or boat.

SWAN: Ice is very
important to us.

We are not able to adapt
as we'd like to because

we are dealing with the
effects of a changing climate.

When we're out hunting
for whales we need to
be out on the ice.

That's where we set up camps.

And we used to able to
spend weeks out there.

Now, we're lucky to if we're
able to even spend the night

out on the ice when
we're out whaling.

PINSENT: Twenty years ago
seasonal ice began melting
earlier and freezing later,

making hunting harder.

SWAN: Whatever survives
in the Arctic is what helps
us to survive.

And it's been really hard
because the migration
of the birds,

the seals, the caribou,
it seems like they're
confused a lot.

PINSENT: Community
leader Colleen Swan has
spent her adult life

advocating for Kivalina.

SWAN: This used to be
a seasonal hunting ground.

The federal government came,
built a school on this island

and forced the people
to move here.

They were threatened
if they didn't bring their
children to school,

that they would either be
fined or sent to prison.

There are some records
from 1911 when a
meeting was held

and some elders voiced
their concerns about
this particular site.

They had concerns about
the, um, fall storms and

you know, flooding, erosion.

Back when my great grandmother
was 14 years old, she
said there was a flood.

She did tell a story.

I guess when you grow up in
this environment it's just
normal to you.

But what wasn't normal is what
happened in 2004.

There was no ice to protect us
from the storm surges.
We get them every fall.

It's just that we didn't have
the ice anymore.

One of the elders came up to
me and said he had never seen,

the storms this bad and
the water that high
in his lifetime.

There was nothing that our
people could do to stop it.

They threw everything they
could at it but the ocean
surge was so strong that

it was just sucking everything
into the ocean.

The land just started
falling apart.

It's the corner of the house.

We had already decided that
we're going to move this
village for more

economic development
opportunities, for more
residential homes.

You know, because we're
overcrowded here in
the first place.

Erosion was at the bottom
of the, of the list of
reasons to move.

But since 2004 it's
now at the top.

PINSENT: Austin Swan
is the mayor of Kivalina.

The rock revetment that
was put in to

prevent erosion on the beach.

When we have all the
storms this, all this
stuff gets washed away.

The grass is what basically
holds it together.

PINSENT: The American
government response to
Kivalina's plight

was to build a rock barrier.

AUSTIN: It's working now,
I don't know how much
longer it'll work.

They say at least
15 years.

If it takes that long to
start relocating well,

we'll probably will stay
here 15 years.

Might, maybe even longer the
way things are going.

(SINGING IN OTHER LANGUAGE)

PINSENT: People here feel
they are facing climate
change alone.

They're terrified of a storm
surge that they won't be
able to escape.

With hunting bad,
good food is scarce.

And authorities seem
paralyzed to help them.

We hear a lot of that.
We're not going to spend any
more money on this island

because you're talking
about moving.

And then they're not giving us
the money to move, which
doesn't make sense.

SWAN: We need to have
the money to move.

They're telling us it's going
to cost too much to move
the entire village.

It's not going to be
a benefit nationally.

It's just going to benefit
like, 400 people.

Four hundred people,
whose lives are
in imminent danger.

We can't just move
to the next town.

People try, but they
always come back.

This is who we are.

PINSENT: It's not the place,
but the community itself that
is home to the people here.

They won't move unless
they can move together.

So, they are stuck
in overcrowded homes
with no services,

except for power and TV.

SWAN: By Western
standards, we're economically
disadvantaged.

We're a very poor community.

We don't have a cash economy.

We have no modern
sewer services.

And that's one of the things
that they really want to have,
is water and sewer services.

(BIRDS SQUAWKING)

JOSEPH: We have a problem
with fecal in the lagoon.

The dump gets compromised
during floods.

PINSENT: A frozen ocean
fed the people of Kivalina
for generations.

The open Polar Sea
now imprisons them.

In Alaska, where
their story is known,

some argue governments
won't move the village

because native relocations
have always gone badly.

Others say they don't want
to set a precedent.

In Kivalina, people suspect

that authorities are
overwhelmed by unleashed
forces they can't control.

SWAN: Why isn't this
getting the attention
that it needs.

This problem with the ocean.

They're afraid to look
at that problem.

And they don't know
what to do with it.

Even with the long term

suggestions, you know which is
to reduce carbon emissions.

I think we're at that point
where it's, it's too late to,

I mean we're too far gone,

that we really are
at that 11th hour.

That things will only get
worse before they get better.

I mean it's been going
on for too long.

That it may take longer
to bring it down, to
reduce the damage.

SWAN: How it relates to the
rest of the world I think, is
where we really need to focus.

What does it mean
you know when,

when you have a
community like Kivanlina

experiencing these things.
What does it mean to the
rest of the world?

I think people have to
get that themselves.

Otherwise it's just
another story.

TEGNER: I've heard stories
about how climate change is
affecting people's lives here.

But these things have become
more profound since I have
witnesses on the trip.

You can see very clear
examples of climate change
in the glaciers.

There is a lot of ice melting.

Millions and millions of
square kilometers.

Some places there are less
animals like caribou.

There were hundreds of
thousands on Baffin Island,

now there are just
a couple of thousand.

Also polar bears get affected
by climate change

their, their way of
seeking their food.

Most people you meet here
they sort of accept,

what can you do about it,
that's the way it is.

Local people have a tradition.
A culture.

Thousands of years back that
they have learned to deal with

uh, natural problems that
occur, coming their way.

Nature behaves that way,
suddenly it changes

and maybe take longer time
for some things to change

but now it's the climate
change and the temperature
is rising. It's...

If you live in the nature,
you have to adapt.

That's the way to survive.

PINSENT: Climate change
is not just a story.

It's a journey, through
uncharted seas,

with nothing to guide
us except what we learn
by sailing them.

TEGNER: It's like when
you go on a vacation

and you think you can
conserve this feeling
and take it with you home.

And after you have to
return home things turn
out a little bit different.

The things you have
experienced they
sort of fade out.

Usually it does.

I think and I hope,

that the feeling will remain.

And I think it has
humbled me a lot.