Warming, melting Arctic forces native Alaskan village to move

[raccoon]

Warming, melting Arctic forces native Alaskan village to move by Nadia Teskrat
Tue Oct 10, 9:19 AM ET



The Inupiaq of Shishmaref have lived in this island village for generations, but with the waters rising all around and ever fierce storms blasting the settlement, they are being forced to move far away from the seas they have always depended upon.

The Alaskan village's plight is a stark example of the dramatic effects of global warming as it challenges an entire community's way of life.

Winds sweep across the island from the broad, endless waters of the Chukchi sea, north of the Bering Strait and just 150 kilometers (90 miles) from Russia.

Battering waves have destroyed boats, fish reserves and storage buildings once well away from the water's threat, said an official overseeing the village's move. A house collapsed and about 20 households had to move away from the shore.

"Every year ... we agonize that the next storm will be the one that wipes us out," Luci Eningowuk, chairwoman of the Shishmaref Erosion and Relocation Coalition," told AFP.

About 600 people, mostly Inupiaq, live on the island, which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the closest Alaskan city, Nome, from where a small plane flies visitors to the island.

The village, at the tip of a 600-meter wide and five-kilometer long island, sits on frozen sand called "permafrost," which is vulnerable to erosion as temperatures rise.

(snip)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061010/ts_alt_afp/uswarmingclimateenvironment_061010131959

[roguevalley]

1. I have had friends teach there. It used to be the coldest damned

place on earth. Right now, in Southcentral AK, we have warm and chinook winds. Anyone doubt global warming anymore? Besides the entire Republican congress and the git in the white house.

[barb162]

2. It's sad and terrifying

Just wait till the waters start riding around NYC, Miami, Tampa, LA, London....

[truedelphi]

3. Heart-breaking and this year it is them

Five to ten years from now, it will be many more.

Living in a coastal region I am worried too.
it is said that within a decade or so the ocean levels will have risen 16 feet.

The US Eastern Seaboard The California coasts where I live, what will remain?

It is especially sad that these native people suffer - their culture had little to do with the problems that are creating the mess of global climate change.

[raccoon]

5. If that estimate is correct,

"it is said that within a decade or so the ocean levels will have risen 16 feet."

Imagine all the people that will have to be relocated, not just in the US, but worldwide.

The N-O flood raised to exponential levels...

[Harper_is_Bush]

4. Why isn't Global Warming the #1 issue for Dems?

Time to take hold of the most important issue facing us all.

[Jcrowley]

6. Should be

K&R

[Teaser]

7. Good. Who do they think they are?

Who died and left these people the arctic, huh? HUH?

I mean, it's not like it belongs to them.

Anyhow, their suffering is a small price to pay so I can emit as much greenhouse gas as I want to.

*farts loudly*