America’s First Climate Refugees

Americans, particularly those in oil-rich and Republican-dominated states like Alaska, are very sensitive about any foreign threat to their way of life. Yet outrage wanes about the pressing need to address climate change even as Americans already lose homes to extreme weather. A series in the Guardian newspaper based in London focuses on climate change, including a warning from economist Nicholas Stern that the globe will soon confront the challenge of hundreds of millions climate refugees. In a separate article, Suzanne Goldenberg describes the plight of indigenous people of Newtok, Alaska, “living a slow-motion disaster that will end, very possibly within the next five years, with the entire village being washed away.” The US Army Corps of Engineers concludes there’s no way to protect the village in its current location – or 180 other Alaskan villages. Relocation is imminent. As extreme weather patterns persist, relocation will be more problematic for any living within 80 kilometers of the coast, and that’s nearly half the US population. – YaleGlobal