"Why Lost Ice Means Lost Hope for an Inuit Village"

"The only road to Rigolet, Labrador, is the ice. But climate change is making that ice vanish, and the mental health impact runs deep."

"ON SEA ICE NEAR RIGOLET, Labrador — Leaning over the handlebars with one knee up on the seat, Derrick Pottle commanded his snowmobile between rocks and sheets of gray sea ice before stopping suddenly at the mouth of a bay.

“It’s open,” Mr. Pottle said, turning off his machine. Ten yards away, the ice had cracked and opened a dark hole in the water that made it impossible to drive across the inlet.

It was Jan. 7, unusually late in the season for Mr. Pottle’s first trip to his winter cabin — a few hours drive by snowmobile from his hometown, Rigolet — over what should have been more than 60 miles of frozen trails and solid ice."

Livia Albeck-Ripka reports for the New York Times with illustrations by Heather Campbell November 25, 2017.

Source: NY Times, 11/27/2017