Alaska's Big Thaw
Climate change scientists say that Alaska is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the planet. Erosion, flooding and a drastically changing landscape is putting locals at the forefront of a global crisis.
"It's changing. The ice is getting thinner. Warming up early. Getting cold late. Summer is snowing, winter is raining." The native Alaskan community of Newtok is predicted to be underwater by 2017 and locals like Reppi Swan say it's getting harder and harder to hunt because of the rapidly disappearing ice. There are 23,000 glaciers in Alaska, and glaciologist Tad Pfeffer believes they are all shrinking. "Every day I wake up and look out my window and think, 'wow this is scary'", says Robin Bronen, a local of 25 years. As the imperative to relocate whole communities grows stronger, anxieties over lack of government funds, or action, is causing growing anger. In response locals have started filing law suits against the oil companies they hold responsible for the rising temperatures. "The government aren't dealing with the problem. Our lawsuit is going to the source", argues local resident Colleen Swan. Has Alaska already reached the tipping point?
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