Climate Migration: Alaska village resists despite threats
Search online for the little town of Shishmaref and you’ll see homes perilously close to falling into the ocean, and headlines that warn that this Native community on a border island in western Alaska -- without access to main roads to the mainland or running water -- is on the verge of disappearing.
Text by Luis Andres Henao, Photos by Jae C. Hong
AP PHOTOS: Alaska village still home despite climate threat
“Home sweet home.” That’s how Helen Kakoona calls her Alaska Native village of Shishmaref when asked what it means to live on a remote barrier island near the Arctic Circle.
Her home and the traditional lifestyle kept for thousands of years is in peril, vulnerable to the effects of climate change with rising sea levels, erosion and the loss of protective sea ice.
So much has been lost over time that residents have voted twice to relocate.
Text by Luis Andres Henao, Photos by Jae C. Hong