FEMA is buying homes in this Alaskan town because of climate change

Shishmaref-home-lost-to-erosion-epa
Home lost to coastal erosion, Shismaref, Alaska. Photo source: EPA

Excerpts;

The village of Newtok, Alaska, is trying to escape catastrophic coastal erosion. Its residents have even been called America’s first climate refugees. But because traditional FEMA disaster funding doesn’t cover climate-related threats, they’ve struggled for years to find funding to relocate to a new location 9 miles away, called Mertarvik…

Read Full Article; VICE News (03-22-2018)

“It’s happening now, The village is sinking”; Guardian UK (05-15-2013)
Residents of Newtok, on the shores of the Bering Sea, Alaska, know they must evacuate as the village is rapidly losing ground to erosion, but who will pay the $130m cost of moving them?..

In doomed Alaska town, hunters turn to drones and caribou as sea ice melts; Guardian UK (03-02-2018)
Climate change is forcing indigenous people to find new ways to survive as a remote village of 600 grapples with rapid erosion…

Alaska’s thawing permafrost puts huge portions of state’s foundation at risk; CBS News (10-19-2017)

Alaskan towns at risk from rising seas sound alarm as Trump pulls federal help; Guardian UK (08-10-2017)
Communities in danger of falling into the sea say assistance from Washington has dried up: ‘It feels like a complete abdication of responsibility on climate change’…

Northern Alaska Coastal Erosion Threatens Habitat and Infrastructure, USGS (07-10-2015)
In a new study, scientists from the U.S.G.S found that the remote northern Alaska coast has some of the highest shoreline erosion rates in the world. Analyzing over half a century of shoreline change data, scientists found the pattern is extremely variable with most of the coast retreating at rates of more than 1 meter a year.

The Front Line of Climate Change: Alaska Village Must Relocate as Arctic Sea Ice Thins, by Michael Walsh (02-27-2015)

Climate Change Takes A Village, Huffington Green (12-16-2014)
As the planet warms, a remote Alaskan town shows just how unprepared we are…

Moving to Higher Ground (After 12,000 years), A Video from Great Big Story (03-11-2016)
The Quinault Indian Nation has lived in what is now Washington State for thousands of years. But, it’s time to move. The tribe lives on the coast, and climate change has caused sea levels to rise and endanger the village. As the tribe moves to higher ground, it’s bittersweet, since a new home also means moving off sacred ground…

The First Official Climate Refugees in the U.S. Race Against Time; National Geographic (03-27-2016)

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