Part II: The State of Our Ocean With Sheila (Siila) Watt-Cloutier

Homeownership is the largest source of wealth for most American families, and obtaining a safe, traditional 15-to-30-year mortgage is a key step toward achieving financial security. But outdated housing policies and financial regulations have made small mortgages—those for homes priced under $150,000—expensive for lenders and unavailable for millions of qualified and creditworthy borrowers, especially Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous households and those in rural communities. With limited access to small mortgages, many of these families turn to alternative financing arrangements, which often involve financial risks and lack many of the protections traditional mortgages offer.

Stat: 3 times: The Arctic is warming three times faster than the planet as a whole.

Story: The ocean is important for the health of the planet, and coastal communities around the world rely on it for their way of life. In Part II of “The State of Our Ocean,” we speak with Sheila (Siila) Watt-Cloutier, an environmental, cultural, and human rights advocate, about the value of the ocean to the Inuit in the Arctic and how challenges such as climate change and rising tides affect her community and its traditional ways of life. “What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic,” says Watt-Cloutier. Many of the threats emerging in her people’s culture from climate change are reflected across the world in other coastal towns.

Related resources:

Arctic Oasis Sustains Northernmost Inuit Communities—and Marine Mammals

Upirngasaq (Arctic Spring)

Arctic Climate Change Update 2021: Key Trends and Impacts

Arctic Human Development Report (PDF)