Global warming: Alaskan village is falling into the sea

My friend Scott Shulman, a veteran cameraman with ABC News, just pointed me to a story he shot for the network in a small village very close to the Arctic Circle in Alaska.

This village, Shishmaref, is populated mostly by indigenous people -- about 140 houses with about 600 residents. The whole community is literally slipping into the sea, because the climate there has been gradually warming over a period of years. Some residents have already been forced to move. Here's a link to a photo slideshow, and here's the video link to the segment as it aired on ABC TV.

Update: I just spotted another interesting climate-related piece Scott shot (damn, say that 10 times fast!) -- Video Link to "Water War: How will Las Vegas' building boom stay hydrated?"

Reader comment: Lou says,

I live in Alaska and our Governor's official response to a recent proposal to list polar bears as threatened is, "global warming science is inconclusive." This is despite that Shishmaref is vanishing. Link (Username and password to access article is "juneauempire".)

posted by Xeni Jardin at 12:30:12 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

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