ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the discourse of global climate change can complicate anthropological work that seeks to understand local change. This research was part of an interdisciplinary project investigating the relationship between fresh water, climate and humans in the Arctic. It involves in five communities in northwestern Alaska documenting, among other things, changes observed in the landscape and how those changes were perceived and understood on a local level. Surprising to people was the disconnect that existed between observations of local change and the generalizations of 'climate change'. While complex and detailed understanding of environment and change exist within local and culturally specific discourses, it founds the term climate change to be detrimental and limiting to the anthropologist and consultant alike. It shows how the words 'climate change' affected local discourse in Inupiaq villages in Alaska and how not talking about climate change proved the best method for understanding local conceptions of change.
