This is an extremely important topic and I'd love for this book to be promoted well for an international audience. It should be required reading, and I'm very glad the author took the initiative to write from an expert perspective.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier was born and raised in Gujarat in Nunavik northern part of Quebec. At that time in Nunavik the only mean of transportation was by a dog team. She lived a very traditional life with her family in a small, close-knit community surviving primarily on fish and sea mammals such as seals and whales, caribou, and walruses. Inuit placed high value on collaboration, inclusiveness and resourcefulness.

Sheila started learning English at the age of six, at school. Sheila. At the age of ten, she left her family and community and moved in the South in order to finish school. When eight years later, she returned in the Arctic, everything had changed. These were unsettling times both for Sheila and her community in Nunavik. The sea-ice was rapidly disappearing and the local communities were encountering disturbing changes in their subsistence way of life. In addition, a growing number of outsiders were taken control over their land, transforming their isolated Inuit homeland. With so many tumultuous changes in their way of life, in just one lifetime, Inuit communities had to deal with monumental challenges, such as food insecurity, suicides (Inuit communities have the highest suicide rates in North America), and climate change.

It was the memories of her childhood that have given Sheila Watt-Cloutier the foundation upon which she built her work, nationally and internationally. She is a remarkable and courageous woman and one of the world's most recognized environmental and human rights activists. For the past few decades, she has been fighting to protect the Inuit culture and the Arctic and save the planet from climate change. In this book, she tells her story.

Little is known about the historical traumas that still impact the daily lives of the Inuit people. The forcibly relocation by the Canadian government of Inuit families from the region of Quebec to islands in Canada’s High Arctic region, in order to make sure that Canada held control over Arctic shipping lanes. The collapse of the sealskin market from, “well-intended but misguided” stances of animal rights activists and movement, which stripped away the dignity of the Inuit hunters in the 1960s and 1970s. The children, who, like Sheila, were sent away very early in their lives to be raised by strangers in the south of Canada, severed not only from their loved ones, but also from their culture and language. The appalling slaughter by the Quebec government of Inuit sled dogs in the 1960s to apparently get the communities off the land and their nomadic way of life and into homes and federal programs. All these combined had devastating effect on Inuit communities. It created all sorts of social problems, alcoholism, addictions, violence and suicides.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier brought into the world the human faces of the Inuit world, their remarkable culture, their strengths and wisdom. The Inuit culture and the ice is where the solutions lie, she says. The teachings of their ancestors, their resilience and their ingenuity can be the guide of the young people. For centuries, Inuit have maintained a close relation with ice and wildlife; Ice is a big part of their identity. But the world once again imposes a trauma to the Inuit and the planet. Today the Inuit communities live in a state of emergency on a daily basis. Contaminants that make their way into plants and animals, and ultimately people, pose a major threat to their health. Changes in sea ice thickness and distribution, thawed permafrost and extreme weather events mean more safety risks for the local communities, and less access to wildlife.

The right to be cold for Inuit, says Sheila Watt-Cloutier is a human right, the right to survive and to grow as people with a vibrant and vital culture, the right to train their children to survive in this world that changes so fast. But is also crucial for all of us to understand that what happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic. It affects the whole planet. The Arctic Ocean alone contains more methane than the rest of the world's oceans combined and warmer Arctic water and land have begun to release it. Methane is a short-lived but potent greenhouse gas. So we risk facing further global warming and even faster melting in the Arctic. The ice of the Arctic contains around ten percent of the world’s fresh water. It is also the cooling system for the planet. Arctic ice influences atmospheric circulation and, hence, weather and climate. A warming Arctic will affect not only the people of the Arctic but also the rest of the world population.

The Right to Be Cold is about the changes in Life for the Inuit People. Not only the climate change but also the Canadian Government changed the life of the Inuit in particular and the life of other Native People all over the world.
Sheila Watt-Cloutier describes what happened to the People in the Arctic Region taking her life as an example.
Climate Change is so much more than just warmer weather, it changes cultures and people. If you didn't know that the climate change for example made it impossible to hunt big wales any more as the permafrost is not strong enough any more to hold them you should read this book to find out how the Arctic is affected by climate change and how the entire world will be. Looking at the Arctic shows the rest of the world what the climate change will bring the rest of the world.
Sheila Watt-Cloutier was and still is very active in making a change. She is fighting against politicians and ignorance of human beings that deny that there is such thing as Global Warming.
Along with the story about her life you get facts about what is happening in the far north. You also get information about the history of the First Nation and how their life was not only changed by Global Warming but by politicians.
After reading this book you will probably agree that we all should do our little tribute to give the Inuit The Right to Be Cold.

Sheila Watt-Cloutier’s ‘The Right to be Cold’ is an evocative and deeply personal examination of the human face of climate change. Detailing her life growing up in a rapidly modernizing Inuit culture, she clearly makes the case for the empowering role that traditional culture plays in protecting and supporting Indigenous communities. While her transition into climate advocacy is fascinating, the book struggles under the weight of too many names and too many meetings in the middle portion (trust me: I read municipal reports and Council minutes for fun and this was still a rough time for me). This section would have been better serviced by being condensed, although I got the sense that Watt-Cloutier wanted to recognize all of the participants in her journey. Ultimately, the book’s strength lies in her ability to put a human face on the issue of climate change, while recognizing the tedium of actively working toward social change. An important read, even if one has to skim a bit during the more repetitive parts.

This is a fascinating memoir and cultural store from the author's memory of growing up as an Inuit in northern Canada, from the late 1950s.
However....
If I told a normal person in Dublin that I was going to live with a child somewhere that had no sanitation, no major hospital, no fresh fruit except when berries ripened in autumn, no sanitary pads, no pill, alcoholism was rife, a mother was so poor she had to give away one of her babies when she was expecting a third, the child would be at risk from polar bears, epidemic disease, frostbite, hypothermia and would eat freshly butchered raw seal with their fingers, I would be locked up for child cruelty.
This is like when Saddam Hussein pushed the Marsh Arabs into towns and drained the marsh. When the marshes were restored and the Arabs told they could return to their old ways of life, the kids didn't want to go, because now they had bicycles, TV, electronic games and the services of town life.

I fully agree with the author that climate change is warming the Arctic and melting sea ice, removing wildlife habitat, spreading tundra fires and making it difficult for people who want to live in traditional ways. I would say that a compromise needs to be made. Let's try to stem the carbon emissions and at the same time, let's educate the Inuit, by broadband or DVD if needed, in how to help preserve what they have... while taking the most useful parts of technology and medicine to help themselves.

The author includes a mention of the widespread, shameful abuse of children at industrial schools, especially religious-run, saying she didn't experience it herself but there was a culture of silence. How is it that the people you really want to get eaten by a polar bear, don't?

The author went back to be the X-ray technician at her hospital, when her eyes were opened to violent abuse of women by drunken men. Later she reveals that - just as we read in Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee - the means of support and transport for Inuit families, the dog teams, were removed, brutally, by the government forces. This is a heartbreaking memoir on many levels.

By the end the author was talking to commissions - the UN, COP, Inuit Circumpolar Council, of which she was elected chair - about melting permafrost and the loss of the Arctic ice, the problems for other communities. Fortunately she was able to get out to the world and explain the problems, campaign, ask for a halt to exploitation of gas and oil. Some well known names are dropped, we learn of persistent organic pollutants. However...
I agree that a cartoon of a polar bear drinking cola is disgusting, considering plastic pollution. I don't agree that slaughtering seals and whales is fine. Wildlife now makes up only two percent of all animal life on Earth. Why should Ireland protect all marine mammals (which means we have to protect the sea and land on which they live) if the Inuit (or Iceland or Japan) are going to eat them? Wanting to preserve culture is great, but don't ask Irish women to go back to being barefoot and pregnant in a cottage and cooking from one pot over a turf fire for a family of twelve.

Index and notes P 357 - 364. I counted 64 names which I could be sure were female.
My e-ARC had no photos, which would have helped. I would recommend the book to anyone who wants to be better informed in the debates on how our climate is warming. However, due to some distressing scenes, I recommend this to adults or mature teens.
I downloaded an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.

A fascinating look at the Arctic's role as a canary in a coal mine for climate change and Canada's historic mistreatment of indigenous people.

<p>Urggghghhghifadjghgh. I hate it when books are important but just not well written. The memoir parts are cloying and simplistic, the details about when and where Watt-Cloutier became in charge of what are dull, and the real meat of the argument, when she actually talks about policy, especially Indigenous resource extraction in the Arctic, where she really shines, is pushed away to the back. She says it again and again: her goal is to put a human face on climate change in the Arctic, and so, obviously, in a book about her, she (along with some family members) is the human face, but it ends up being a "and then this happened and then this happened" until she gets to her arguments in the end. Interspersing different arguments with human faces maybe would have kept my attention more.</p>

<p><i>I know you're not enjoying that book</i> Geoff says to me. <i>Because it's the fourth night you are reading it.</i></p>

<p>On one hand, you should read it because you should learn about the Arctic and climate change and bad things happening (which always gives me anxiety and makes me feel helpless because I feel helpless with all this), but on the other hand, it's kind of like lumpy oatmeal, so eat it 'cuz it's good for you but there's probably a more palatable style that the oatmeal could have been presented in.</p>

<p><A href="https://www.librarything.com/work/14116694/book/116930251">The Right To Be Cold</a> by Sheila Watt-Cloutier went on sale (in the US, it's been out awhile here in Canada) May 1, 2018.</p>

<p><small>I received a copy free from <a href="https://www.netgalley.com/">Netgalley</a> in exchange for an honest review.</small></p>

I had a hard time getting into this book. I really dislike it when authors reflect on their history, rather than just telling us about their history. Since I did not finish the book, I do not intend to publish a review.

This was the biggest whine fest I believe I’ve ever read.

On the plus side I did learn a lot about the Inuit culture and about the negative impact modernization has had globally on the farthest parts of the world. However the bulk of the book was simply personal complaints.

Perhaps the Inuits were so isolated up to the last 50 years that they knew nothing about the rest of the world. However any author should at least read about other cultures and other ways of life before making such broad comparisons as she complained about in this autobiography. She is not the only person to grow up without a father. She is not the only person to see her culture eroded with modern progress. She is definitely not the only child to have to leave home for an education.

She gave many examples of the infringement of government on the Inuit culture. At the age of 10 she was given the opportunity to live with a family in Nova Scotia and go to school there, learning English and regular school subjects. She was not alone, but was there with her best friend, another Inuit. However, she blames the government in saying that after 10 months away she was hardly able to communicate in her native tongue when she returned. Really? She and her best friend didn’t speak in the Inuit language while away? Also, was she forced to go or did her mother see the value in it? Did her mother petition for this opportunity? Maybe, maybe not, but it was an honor to be chosen and her mother had to agree to it.

Another example she gave was after 20 years away in the modern world, she returned to find her people using snow mobiles instead of dog sleds. There again, she blamed the Big Bad Canadian Government on the loss of yet another Inuit tradition. Didn’t she realize that it was the Inuits, themselves, preferring the motorized vehicles?

I could go on and on with this ridiculous catalog of her unending complaints, but I won’t. Quite frankly, I think she’s just mad that Al Gore got the Nobel Peace Prize and she didn’t. Don’t waste your time on this autobiography.

Obviously, these were my own opinions!! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Allan Lane, for this early copy.

I was excited to read this one, but was very disappointed once I did. The author was too detailed in describing meetings and committees that I felt at times like I was reading minutes from a meeting versus a book for enjoyment. The concept of the book was awesome and I think that the book would have been better if the author had focused more on her personal experience as a citizen vs writing about people and committees that I had never heard of.

I received this book through NetGalley. I was unaware of the work that Sheila Watt-Cloutier has done in the area of global warming. This book, while not an 'easy' read, is important. We are all aware of the danger and effects of global warming, however it is particularly damaging to those who who live in the Arctic. We need to be mindful that the damage to the Arctic does indeed impact the entire planet. The story is also quite informative regarding the lives of the Inuit and all of the issues they have been facing for decades. This book, told from someone who has lived with and tried to address the many problems the residents face, is quite eye-opening and one I encourage everyone to read.

A great book to serve as an eye opener for the reality of climate change and how it impacts on each and everyone of us. It serves as a reminder that climate change is real and evident and that we should really be doing everything within our grasp to ensure that it does not reach extreme detriment.
As women we are greatly influential and play a very important role in many aspects of society , it is quite refreshing that Sheila is using her voice to promote awareness on such an serious and matter of importance in regards to climate well being. The fact that Sheila is actually stepping up and doing her part as an contribution demonstrates how close to her heart this is. We need to be more conscientious and considerate of the world in which we live otherwise we will lose it for good and permanently. This is a major issue yet everyone acts so naive and ignorant to the consequences of turning a blind eye to what is really going on around them. Global warming , climate change , whats important is we get on top of things before it gets too late.
What I think would be an great idea is if Sheila was given the opportunity and platform to make a documentary to showcase in person through digital media , everything she has discussed in her book.

The Arctic is warming and the sea ice is melting. This is the undeniable and unavoidable result of climate change. On the forefront of these changes in the Arctic are its residents, the Inuit, who have lived in this environment since before recorded history. Their entire way of life and culture are at risk of being lost as the Arctic goes through these changes due to global warming. In the book, The Right to be Cold, Inuit leader and environmentalist, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, introduces readers to these concepts in depth. It’s an excellent look at the issues surrounding the changes in the Arctic climate, told from the firsthand perspective of the people who live with these changes on a daily basis.

The entire planet is warming, but the Arctic is warming at a rate twice as fast as the rest. This means drastic changes have been noticeable there for a lot longer than in the rest of the world. The Inuit depend on the sea ice for hunting and practicing their traditional way of life. Without the normal sea ice, the animals that depend on this environment are disappearing. Places that used to be permafrost are now melting, causing buckling of roads, houses, landing strips, and anything else sitting on top. Rivers that used to freeze over now run year-round with melting snow, causing difficulty in crossing them to hunt on the other side. Ice that used to be thick and would support people and snow machines now cracks and people fall through and drown in the icy water. The people of the Arctic depend on hunting to eat. There are no huge supermarkets and fast food places in the high Arctic. Their healthy diet comes from eating what the author calls “country food,” the seal and other meats that the people hunt. With so many changes affecting the ice and the animals, people ae having a tougher time making it in this already-difficult environment. The hard frozen snow that once could be used to build emergency shelters out of snow blocks is no longer available. Sea level rise is causing coastal communities to be lost as they are forced to move inland.

The Arctic also is a place where Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) concentrate. These POPs bioaccumulate in the tissues of living animals. When hunters catch these animals and people eat them. The POPs get into human bodies as well. The problem got so bad that nursing mothers were tested and found to have high concentrations of POPs in their breast milk. How would you like to feel that your own milk, that nourishes your baby, was also poison? Their milk was the most contaminated on the planet! Why? The Inuit didn’t bring this upon themselves. They do not generate these pollutants. The poisons get into the oceans by the activities of the rest of the world, but ocean currents bring them to the Arctic, where a process of evaporation and condensation deposits them. One estimate says that over 80% of those pollutants (more than 200 of them) come from elsewhere.

The author describes her childhood in this place, before the drastic changes. She describes a way of life that may now be gone forever, along with the ice and snow. She was then sent away to school in the south, where she was introduced to a new culture. When she returned north, things were beginning to change.

She became a leader and a voice for preserving the planet, as well as her culture. She has traveled the world, spoken at uncountable conferences and meetings, and has represented Canada and Inuit in the fight to stop global warming. Her story is amazing. The book begins with her childhood and follows her work as an adult, as she advocates for saving these things. The Arctic may seem far away for most of us, but it is a very important place. As the author points out, the Arctic is the air conditioner for the rest of the world. If we lose it, the consequences will be horrific. Her work is incredibly important and this book tells the story. Sheila Watt-Cloutier is a hero for the planet and her voice should be heard.

The book is engaging and fascinating. I hope that it will help open eyes to the problem we all face. Climate change is not going away. We are all in this together and we need to come up with solutions.

The Right to Be Cold is the memoir of Sheila Watt-Cloutier. The book is well-known as a selection for Canada Reads 2017 and as a book by a Nobel Prize nominated author. However, it is much more than this, as it presents a heart-felt examination of the Watt-Cloutier's personal life and professional endeavors on not only environmental issues, but also healthcare, education, and other issues relevant to Inuit people. She wanted to show the world the effects that climate change has on people by traveling the globe to share her message.

The Right To Be Cold is Sheila Watt-Clouier's biography, concentrating on her life's work to protect the Inuit culture and the Arctic. She is inspiring and courageous.

She shares her story of growing up in Nunavik, learning her people's traditional way of life, hunting and preparing 'country food'. Young people were taught how to survive in the harsh climate. Igloos were stronger than tents and offered protection from both weather and polar bears. Sled dogs were smart and capable and reliable.

Then she was sent to the 'South' for her education and was exposed to modern, Western life. She lost fluency in her native language.

Returning to her Arctic home she became involved in education. She saw how Southern colonialism was destroying her people's culture, resulting in a rise of addiction and suicides.

Sheila became an activist for her people, first in education and culture preservation, and later in environment and climate change. The warming of the Arctic, caused by Southern use of fossil fuels, also means the destruction of her people's way of life, the animals they depend upon, and the very land they live on. Her efforts to link climate change to human rights earned her consideration for the Pulitzer Prize--lost that year to Al Gore.

Sheila's childhood memories offer a great understanding of her native culture, and her early experience in the South informs readers how traditional knowledge is lost. Her chapters on her activism and achievements are detailed and sometimes overwhelming; I can't imagine how she maintained the energy and strength to do what she has done.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

I am embarrassed to admit that I was unfamiliar with the incredible work of Sheila Watt-Cloutier before coming across her memoir, but thrilled that others will now know her epic journey!