Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Staying In Place During Times Of Change In Arctic Alaska: The Implications Of Attachment,Alternatives, And Buffering, Henry P. Huntington, Philip A. Loring, Glenna Gannon, Shari Fox Gearheard, S. Craig Gerlach, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Sociology

The relationship between stability and change in social-ecological systems has received considerable attention in recent years, including the expectation that significant environmental changes will drive observable consequences for individuals, communities, and populations. Migration, as one example of response to adverse economic or environmental changes, has been observed in many places, including parts of the Far North. In Arctic Alaska, a relative lack of demographic or migratory response to rapid environmental and other changes has been observed. To understand why Arctic Alaska appears different, we draw on the literature on environmentally driven migration, focusing on three mechanisms that could account for …