Population on Alaskan Island Faces ‘Dire’ Situation

Population on Alaskan Island Faces ‘Dire’ Situation

The Alaska Native village of Shishmaref sits on the sinking barrier island Sarichef in the Chukchi Sea near the Bering Strait. The island lies between the United States and Russia, where it is increasingly threatened by the effects of climate change.

The village is home to about 600 members of the Inupiat People. They live simply, without running water and other modern technology.

Rising sea levels, flooding, increased erosion and loss of protective sea ice and land is a huge concern for the villagers. Some want to leave.

In fact, the community has voted in support of proposals to resettle elsewhere. Yet, more than six years after the last vote, Shishmaref remains¹ in place. The planned move costs more than the village can pay.

So, the community carries on toward a troubling future.

The villagers continue their traditions. They celebrate birthdays, baptisms and school graduations. Their lives center on their homes, the local school and one of the world's northernmost Christian² churches.

Aaron Silco leads the local Lutheran Church. He called the concern about the shrinking land and floods "too much of a burden" for the community. He said if the villagers think about climate change too often, it will hurt their ability to live their lives. It will take away from things such as birthday parties, funerals and sporting events.

"There is still life happening," Silco said.

Rich Stasenko agrees. He moved to Shishmaref in the 1970s. He calls the community "resourceful" and "resilient."

"I don't see victims here," he said.

The problem

In the 30 years since 1992, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric³ Association says temperatures in Alaska have gone up by 1.4 degrees Celsius⁴.

That area of the Arctic had been warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. Now it is warming three times faster.

The island already does not have much space where people can live. It is only about five kilometers long and 400 meters wide. It used to be protected by a large layer of ice that is melting. The lack of ice means more flooding and more problems from storms. The sea is reclaiming⁵ the coast. About 14 homes had to be moved inland in 2002.

There are many towns in Alaska like Shishmaref that are having problems due to warming weather. Most of the people that live in the small towns are native people who are related to the first people to live on the islands.

The U.S government's accountability office says climate change is expected to make their problems worse.

Lloyd Kiyutelluk is president of the local tribal⁶ council.

"I'm scared that we will have to move ..." he said. He does not want the government to say the situation is "an emergency ... but the way things are, we're getting storms that we've never seen before."

Government leaders warned that the island would have a problem during a storm in September. Officials said it could bring the worst flooding in 50 years. As the storm moved through the Bering Strait, it cut electricity, destroyed an important road and flooded a human waste treatment center.

Molly Snell, 35, talked about the storm. She said she hoped the village would not be forced to evacuate⁷.

"The right storm, with the right wind could take out the whole island," she said. She said the island is more "vulnerable" due to climate change.

Who is to blame?

Over time, the community has changed its ways. However, the people of Shishmaref have not contributed much to climate change. Most of the greenhouse gases to blame are produced by populations in Europe and continental⁸ North America.

Elizabeth Marino calls that situation an example of "climate injustice⁹."

Marino is an anthropologist¹⁰, or an expert on humans and their communities. She studied the people of Shishmaref and wrote a book about her findings.

Words in This Story

erosion –n. the gradual destruction of something by natural forces such as wind and water

baptism –n. a ceremony that makes a person a member of the Christian church

graduation –n. the act of receiving a diploma from a school, college or university

church –n. a building used for Christian religious services

burden –n. something difficult to manage, accept or deal with

resilient –adj. able to become strong again after something bad happens

layer –n. a piece of material that lies on top of or below something else

council –n. a group of people who are chosen to make rules, laws or decisions about something

evacuate –v. to remove someone from a dangerous place

vulnerable –adj. easily hurt or harmed

contribute- v. to help to cause something to happen

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

4 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

5 reclaiming   

v.开拓( reclaim的现在分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救

参考例句：

• People here are reclaiming land from the sea. 这儿的人们正在填海拓地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• How could such a man need reclaiming? 这么一个了不起的人怎么还需要别人拯救呢？ 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

6 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

7 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

8 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

9 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

10 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。