Several village leaders plan to give the resolution, which ask for a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions, to members of Congress on Wednesday.

"We want to make the point that our community needs drastic changes in order for us to survive far into the future," said Tony Weyiouanna of Shishmaref, a Northwest Alaska village threatened by coastal erosion.

The resolution, representing the voices of thousands of Natives, is unprecedented because it includes input from every region of Alaska, said organizer Anna Davidson, a Yup'ik mother of three.

Supporters include the Alaska Federation of Natives -- a large statewide group -- as well as tribal governments, village corporations and regional social-service organizations, she said.

Environmentalists, members of Congress and Mayor Stanley Tocktoo of Shishmaref will be among the speakers at a rally Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol aimed at reducing the causes of climate change.

Organizers have said that thousands will attend what they call Climate Crisis Action Day, which would make it the largest demonstration held in Washington on the subject of warming global temperatures.

The Arctic is warming faster than other parts of the planet and Alaska Natives, often outdoors practicing subsistence lifestyles, arguably have more to lose from global warming than most Americans, Davidson said.

Dramatic environmental changes imperil Natives and the animals they hunt and fish, the two-page resolution says, and changes are needed quickly.

Warmer air and water have caused diseases in fish, plants and wildlife, the resolution says. Storm-bred waves are eating the ground beneath villages -- they’re less protected by shoreline ice -- forcing a handful of villages to plan for relocation. Thinning ice has made winter travel on lakes and rivers riskier because snowmachines and people can crash through.

People in Shishmaref, a village of 581, are afraid walrus will stop coming, Weyiouanna said.

Walrus hunt from the ice, diving to sea bottoms to feed. If the ice moves out too far, above sea bottoms the walrus can’t reach, they may not survive, he said.

The coastal village, built on an island in the Chukchi Sea, is eroding quickly, he said. The community is looking at new locations. It can survive another 10 to 15 years before it needs to move, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported last year.

"Considering the amount of erosion we see every summer and fall we don’t have much time," he said.

Many leading climate scientists have said the average Alaska temperature has risen 4 degrees in 40 years, and could rise another 5 to 9 degrees in the next 100 years. Late summer sea ice off the North Slope has shrunk substantially, leaving open water for longer stretches of the year.

Many scientists blame greenhouse gas emissions that come from the burning of fossils fuels, such as oil in cars and diesel in power plants.

Alaska Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski, both Republicans, have sponsored bills to improve fuel-efficiency standards and reduce petroleum use.

The measures are a good start, but not strong enough, said Deborah Williams, Alaska Conservation Solutions president. The Anchorage-based group gave Davidson’s effort money, Williams said.

The senators need to support bills that limit greenhouse gas emissions, she said.

Murkowski is considering a bill by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., that would do that, said spokesman Kevin Sweeney.

The limits are lower than in other bills before Congress, but it’s less likely to slow the economy, he said.

Murkowski has asked the state university’s Institute of Social and Economic Research to study the impacts of Bingaman's bill on Alaska's economy, Sweeney said. If it doesn’t hurt the economy too much, she may vote for it, he said.

Davidson, originally from Southwest Alaska, now lives in Anchorage. She began sending draft resolutions to Native organizations last summer after noticing that berries bloomed and bird eggs hatched earlier every year near Kwigillingok, a Southwest village she travels to every summer.

She blames warmer temperatures and said earlier hatching times could hurt chick survival if mothers can't find food, she said.

There will be more changes if Congress doesn’t act soon, she said.