Viewpoint: Global warming debate and Native Americans

In the end, I do not think it will matter whether global warming was caused by Mother Nature or mankind. The debate should be: what are we going to do with the moisture created by melting polar ice caps, and will the loss of weight on earth's poles have any effect on the earth's rotation and our civilization?

Scientists predict that the North Pole will be completely ice free by the end of the year 2012. This date has a perceptible ring to it. How much time do we have? My Native American friends tell me that water only comes in three forms; ice/snow, vapor (clouds), and water. If the ice is melting on the polar ice caps, what form will it be? Are we feeling the effects of this moisture today? All 50 states reported snow on the ground this year for the first time in our recent history.

Skeptics say that global warming is untrue and that floods, fires, tornados, tsunamis and hurricanes have always been here, nothing has changed. But something has changed - our polar ice caps are melting. The water, vapor, and ice that this event has caused has got to go somewhere. Biblical floods in Australia, tornados in Missouri, record snow on the Sierra Mountains - and that was just on New Year's Day.

Weather patterns and seasons are changing, magnetic fields are moving as well as ocean currents, plants, insects, marine life and animals; they are all feeling the effects. My Hopi friends, (whose village of Old Oraibi is the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States), tell me that when the ice melts on our North and South Poles, the loss of weight will cause the earth to vibrate like a dog getting out of the water. Many earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis will occur at this time.

Scientists say, "When the ice is removed, it appears the underlying land would rebound, and the earth's axis of rotation defined by the North and South Pole would actually shift about one-third of a mile, also affecting the sea level at various points." My Hopi friends in their creation story, tell me that the shift will be much larger and the poles will travel a much greater distance.

We can debate if global warming is real, what caused it, and who's to blame, I hope, sometimes in the future.