Viliui Sakha are native horse and cattle breeders of sub-
arctic Siberia, Russia who have adapted to an extreme climate, Russian colonization, Sovietization, and post-Soviet decentralization. Their newest challenges are the local effects of global climate change (GCC). 90% of interviewees told that GCC threatened to undermine their subsistence. Elders talk about how the climate was and how it has/is changing. Beyond once again challenging these communities’ adaptive capacity, the local effects of GCC also have clear cultural implications. Sakha daily life, world view and cosmology are founded in horse and cattle breeding. If we agree that wisdom “sits in places,” then we need to grapple with the extent to which GCC is and will increasingly transform these spaces, symbolic forms and places. Both the loss of Sakhas’ subsistence culture, their projected inability to maintain their herds if warming continues, and thereby of their symbolic culture reframe the implications of unprecedented GCC. Accordingly, GCC poses human rights offenses for Viliu Sakha including: the right to use and enjoy property, the right to life, physical integrity and security, and the right to enjoy the benefits of culture. This paper overviews Viliui Sakha elders’ testimonies about the local effects of GCC and their environmental and cultural implications, explores how those testimonies build a case for the human rights offenses of GCC for these communities, then contemplates social scientists’ role(s) in encountering these local realities and advocacy