An Alaskan village melts into the permafrost.

NYT: The tiny town of Newtok, Alaska is being sucked into the earth as their permafrost proves to be less than permanent in the face of climate change. The Yup’ik Inuk were nomadic up until the 20th century, and spent 2,000 years ranging throughout Alaska’s west coast, protected from the ocean’s waves by the ice shelf, living atop millenia-old permafrost. Within a decade the village will be swallowed up by the waters, so its 340 residents are moving the entire town nine miles away. Or, rather, they’d like to; there are no state or federal funds available to provide the $100M. In the face of global climate change, the White House is too caught up denying its realities to do anything about it.

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »

One reply on “An Alaskan village melts into the permafrost.”

  1. A village here…a coastline there…what’s the difference when it’s for the good of this country…now excuse me while I go drive around aimlessly for the rest of the day.

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