Kivalina, Alaska: A melting village

It would be really cool if the Alaskans would impeach their Governor for neglect and corruption while she is running for VP of the "free world", before she hits the Armageddon button for us all. Even if she doesn't get to the button, her friends in the oil business will spill and spew their way to the global warming tipping point, if we haven't gotten there already.

We can't afford to let America make this life threatening mistake.

I still have a difficult time understanding how a person from such a beautiful state couldn't support environmental policy *cough* Sarah Palin *cough*

darkhorsejim: Exactly. The changes are taking place too rapidly in order to even have time to adapt. That is not good. And these indigenous peoples have been there for hundreds of years and I am sure know better what they are living than some flatearther politician. They are losing their homeland. And yet, this isn't considered important to so many, even though it is the harbinger of what is to come as we move closer to that 'tipping point' as I am fairly sure it will come because it appears humans just don't on the whole give a damn. Proof positive to me that there may well be no God... because if we were made in his ( or her) image, then we should care about their creation. And we are seeing clearly now with Governor Palin as well, her dominionist attitude about this is evident. I am sure she then believes that climate change is "God's Will" as well... great cop out to give that excuse when you just don't care about something. We should be planning for mitigation and adaptation NOW, but of course, using this crisis as another reason to start a WAR is all governments will see.

This is a very crucial time for the regions that rely on solid polar ice caps-now melting at a rate never before seen by man. If the permafrost melts, this is the beginning of the end for all settlements that are built on it & function on it, needing the ground to stay below 32 F.

With such uncertain futures, Arctic & Antarctic settlements are at their greatest vulnerability. How can civilizations & habitats adapt quickly enough to changing conditions that took millions of years to create? This doesn’t look like it has a happy ending the way things are going.

Maybe they can give some of that water to Poland Springs.

I admit I am shocked and that is hard to do. We have stories on current about villages being wiped out by global warming, children that are chemical time bombs, other environmental and economic issues, invasions of countries that we have no business being in, and yet stories on a little boy's spending spree make the top of the news, or another Palin story to top the last 200 stories about her.

Their is so much waste....containers.... food....junk mail....it is so important to do everything you as an individual can do....it is my believe that Co2 is going to be harnessed in a way very soon....that brings it to the forefront of turning this mess around.....large companies will be able to reduce their carbon footprint with plants that love Co2 like a fire loves gasoline....also breaking down the CO2 and utilizing the carbon and the oxygen....there will never be too much oxygen.....I see a world where everyone has an oxygen backpack......if we do not do something right now.....the savior of mankind will be Nature....as always.....until the dark ages....the last one hundred years.....Golden Ruler...Will...

Virtual Will, that was a good one!

Sad that this is a story we will hear more of in the future. I don't know about your neighbor hood but here each house has a recycling bin. When I drive down the street, it makes me want to scream when I see cardboard and other items sitting waiting for the trash instead of in the recycle bin.

We need to enact a zero waste policy in every neighborhood in the US, give people tax cuts for using solar and small wind turbines. And no CO2 off set credits for large companies, no. that's crap. They need to stop or get fined period.

And good for these people suing big oil,and while they are at it they ought to bring a civil suit against the people involved in the administration who lied about global warming. Bush and Cheney ought to have enough money by now to pay for the towns move.

Seems like all the holy books ever written....left out pipelines and oil....unless you count the upcoming.... Thats Oil Folks...the rise and fall of the Bush Dynasty.............Golden Ruler......Goods........ Will...

From the article:

'Before similar charges were leveled against the tobacco companies, most people viewed smokers not as victims but as willing participants in an ill-advised pastime. As Heather Kendall-Miller, an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, puts it, "The prevalent point of view was, How can you hold tobacco companies responsible? Nobody is forcing people to smoke. But not only were tobacco companies profiting from smoking, they were making people believe it wasn't as bad as they thought."

Following that precedent, the Kivalina suit documents energy companies' support of trade associations such as the Advancement of Sound Science Coalition, which was founded by Philip Morris's PR firm to downplay the hazards of secondhand smoke and later refocused to discredit science about climate change. ExxonMobil is accused of channeling $16 million over a seven-year period to 42 organizations that promote false information on global warming. One is the George C. Marshall Institute, a think tank cofounded by the late Frederick Seitz, the former president of the National Academy of Sciences who also worked as a research adviser for R.J. Reynolds. (The academy later dissociated itself from his findings.)'

Despicable. And yet, politicians in Congress still give these liars "subsidies" while working to end tax incentives for renewable energy sources. Does anyone truly believe these subsidies will end regardless of which moneyed party is given the keys to the White House? I don't. We must break the stranglehold these industries have on our political process before we can make political changes and that will mean putting party above this. Unfortunately, for the people of Kivalina, it is more than likely already too late.

Is this more of "Gods will"?
Like a pipeline for oil.

I believe this as well Jan. Tobacco companies thought they were immune from accountability and finally they were held accountable.

I have had that fear for a very long time. It seems to be human nature in never feeling the urgency until the catastrophe is upon us. We must break that mindset, and we must do it now. That is why the suit brought against these oil companies by the Inupiat people needs to gain momentum. I do believe as with tobacco companies that oil companies and coal companies must be held accountable for deceiving Americans about the urgency of this crisis. They can't go preaching now that they care about it after they did the damage and collected their billions in profits at the expense of this planet and countless lives. Our children dying in the Middle East sand for their benefit is also one more reason why they must also be held accountable as well as any politicians continuing to call for oil exploration and more coal plants instead of alternate energy sources regardless of party affiliation.

...Water is going to be the first to go......million dollar houses without water will be worth about one hundred dollars....they will be sitting around everywhere.....houses could be made where the amount of energy consumed is minimal...and your water needs are captured by your home....instead houses made from trees are still the norm....trees take in your CO2 and give you oxygen...your best friends.....when the crime rate goes through the roof due to the economy...you will not see rich people driving motorhomes alone down highways towing a Mercedes....with a sign on their forehead....I am rich....rob me....the world will be run by irate pirates....things are going to change and drastically....and it could all be avoided....good news.....after it gets real bad....it will get real good.....so hang on.....Golden Ruler...Will.......

...want to see a great website for concrete houses..go to flyingconcrete.com....in San Miguel....Mexico.....

I sit here afraid that this story is only the beginning of the nightmare global warming is causing unless we all move towards clean energy now.

The poorest of the poor will pay a far higher price than any of us in the USA.

Sometimes I am cynical and then I give into thinking that when USA citizens can no longer buy their expensive toys, live in their 4000 sq.ft homes, drive motorhomes and ski boats, power their TV's that are in every room then they will ask, "Climate Change what can we do we cannot live this way," it will be too late.

OH, you hit the nail on the head with that one.

...Has anyone thought that a lot of the climate change is being caused by the hot air coming from politicians....it increases every four years.....and it is raging like a hurricane right now.....Golden Ruler...Will....