The Alaskan village set to disappear under water in a decade

[Lions]

I feel like Bob has mentioned this as likely somewhere in the not too distant past, but here's another article on the likely disappearance of Kivalina:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23346370

It won't be long before the Bowheads need to find a new home.

[John]

First, I must quote the opening line of this article:

Almost no one in America has heard of the Alaskan village of Kivalina.

Thank you, PEBA.

Second, I see that Colleen Swan, who featured prominently in Bob's Kivalina series of stories, is still acting as Kivalina council leader. And she's not at all happy with the government:

If we're still here in 10 years time we either wait for the flood and die, or just walk away and go someplace else. The US government imposed this Western lifestyle on us, gave us their burdens and now they expect us to pick everything up and move it ourselves. What kind of government does that?

This is a bit tricky. On one hand, Mrs. Swan is right that a Western lifestyle was imposed on the Inuit, and I think there's justification for being unhappy about that. On the other hand, I'm not sure that you can directly tie what's happening to Kivalina solely to the U.S. government. Global warming is an international crisis with international roots. It's not just Alaska's closest neighbors that are contributing to the warming trend that now causes Kivalina to be imperiled; it's every industrialized nation on Earth.

There is a lot of blame to be passed around. I'd rather see steps taken to put the brakes on global warming rather than working to determine who deserves the meatiest portion of the finger of blame pointed at them, though. It may be too late for Kivalina, and that's cruel and unfair. It will be even crueler and more unfair, though, if this problem goes unchecked and more communities succumb to rising waters. I hope nations can agree that this is a problem that must be dealt with immediately, put aside self-interests, and get busy implementing policies that will slow, halt, and ultimately reverse the global warming trend.

[Leones]

Suck it up humans!

-Polar bears