‘uggianaqtuq’
“People who still live close to the earth and its elements and begin to experience long-term or chronic change to their home environment and its climate respond in ways that reflect their intimacy with the earth. Indigenous cultures at the front line of climate change have already responded with new concepts in their language to describe the unwelcome disruptions to the patterns of life. The Inuit of the Arctic Circle, where temperatures are rising at twice the global average, have applied a word, ‘uggianaqtuq’ (pronounced OOG-gi-a-nak-took), which once was used to describe a friend who was acting strangely or in an unpredictable manner, to the way climate change is now impacting on their environment and culture. A whole traditional way of life tied to the patterns of a long-term relationship to a particular type of clime and landscape is threatened, with activities such as transport on melting ice impossible, traditional food sources disappearing, house foundations destabilised and whole landscapes transformed. For the Inuit and many other peoples of the Arctic, a fossil fuel–generated wave of change called global warming is invading the cryosphere and turning what was once reliable into uggianaqtug (Albrecht, 2008).”
From: Glenn A Albrecht (2011) Chronic Environmental Change and Mental Health, (in Weissbecker, I. (ed), Climate Change and Human Well-Being: Global Challenges and Opportunities, Springer SBM, In the International and Cultural Psychology Book Series (A. Marsella, series editor) pp. 43-56.