Alaskan Village Threatened by Warming

March 21, 2007— -- In the westernmost reaches of Alaska, a mere 20 miles south of the Arctic Circle, the tiny village of Shishmaref sits on a spit of land along the Chukchi Sea. Home to more than 500 people -- Inupiaq Eskimos who have used the area for the past 4,000 years -- the village has become a living example of the impact climate change could one day have on other coastal communities. Temperatures in Alaska over the past 50 years have risen four times faster than the global average. And that's had dramatic consequences on a natural resource for the people of Shishmaref: ice.

The ice that forms along the coast in winter, creating a protective barrier against the storms that can rage across the sea, now forms later in the fall, breaks up earlier in the spring, and is thinner. "The ocean ice has been getting a lot thinner. It isn't as thick as it used to be. And it goes away much faster now than it did in the past when we were kids," said John Sinnock, a teacher of carving and traditional crafts at the Shishmaref School.

Without that protection, the land of Shishmaref, the very soil under the homes and other buildings, is eroding away, disappearing into the sea. "In front of my mother's house we used to look out at the gentle slope," said Sinnock. "In my life time we've probably lost about 400 feet." Almost 20 houses have had to be moved, and one was not moved in time, tumbling down the short slope to the water's edge.

The changes in the ice have also led to changes in the migration patterns of the animals and fish that the people of Shishmaref rely on for food. "We are a subsistance-based community and we have no economic development, no industry, no mining, no oil development," said Tony Weyiouanna Sr. "It makes it harder for us to go out and hunt and we've had to make adjustments to our spring and fall hunt, especially the spring when we do most of our seal hunting."

Faced with a desperate situation, the community voted in 2002 to relocate to another location, about 12 miles south and further inland. The cost of building a runway, a sewage system, a clinic -- all the things needed to create a community from scratch -- could run to $180 million. The people of Shishmaref have yet to find a way to pay for the move.

"There is probably nobody in our community who wants to move," said Weyiouanna. "We don't want to move, but we have to move. We have to try to continue our traditions as we have," he added.

"This is where I grew up," said a high school student. "I don't want to leave where I have been used to growing up. And where we usually hunt, the ocean and the land."

Another option is for the people of Shishmaref to move to established towns like Nome to the south, or Kotzbue to the north. "If we are forced to move or co-locate with another community it could have vast effects on our people. We'll lose our culture. We'll lose our traditions," said Weyiouanna.

"We wouldn't know where to hunt or live a subsistance lifestyle that we do here," said Sinnock.

The village of Shishmaref is not alone. A study by the Government Accountability Office in 2003 found that 184 out of 213 Alaska native villages were affected by erosion and flooding to some extent. A handful of those -- Shishmaref among them -- were found to be in imminent danger from the devastation.

Representatives from several Alaska native communities were in Washington, D.C., today to talk to their congressional representatives about getting assistance to protect or move their communities. Shishmaref Mayor Stanley Tocktoo invited Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ted Stevens to come to his home to see the erosion for themselves. "We've been living off the land and the sea. This is how we live … You can't put a price tag on human life and traditions, cultures and values. $180 million will be nothing because we need to find a safe spot not only for my people. I'm doing this for my kids, and their grandchildren."