Fierce Climate, Sacred Ground : An Ethnography of Climate Change in Shishmaref, Alaska

With three roads and a population of just over 500 people, Shishmaref, Alaska seems like an unlikely center of the climate change debate. But the island, home to Iñupiaq Eskimos who still live off subsistence harvesting, is falling into the sea, and climate change is, at least in part, to blame. While countries sputter and stall over taking environmental action, Shishmaref is out of time. Publications from the New York Times to Esquire have covered this disappearing village, yet few have taken the time to truly show the community and the two millennia of traditions at risk. In Fierce Climate, Sacred Ground , Elizabeth Marino brings Shishmaref into sharp focus as a place where people in a close-knit, determined community are confronting the realities of our changing planet every day. She shows how physical dangers challenge lives, while the stress and uncertainty challenge culture and identity. Marino also draws on Shishmaref’s experiences to show how disasters and the outcomes of climate change often fall heaviest on those already burdened with other social risks and often to communities who have contributed least to the problem. Stirring and sobering, Fierce Climate, Sacred Ground proves that the consequences of unchecked climate change are anything but theoretical. As Issues Of Climate Change Continue To Challenge The Planet, Some Populations Are More At Risk Than Others. In This Unique Ethnographic Take On Climate Change, Elizabeth Marino Examines How Disasters And The Outcomes Of Climate Change Often Fall Heaviest On Those Already Burdened With Other Social Risks And Often To Communities Who Have Contributed Least To The Problem. She Takes As Her Subject The Low-lying Village Of Shishmaref, Alaska, A Place She S Lived In Or Visited Since 2002. The Risk To Shishmaref Is Complex: Warmer Temperatures Means Less Protective Winter Ice, Melting Permafrost Speeds Erosion, And Animal Migrations Are Disturbed. While The Physical Dangers Challenge Lives, The Stress And Uncertainty Challenge Culture And Identity. Marino Argues That The Victims Of Climate Change Are Not Random But Instead Are Determined By Historically Constructed Colonial Processes. In Fierce Climate, Sacred Ground, Marino Brings Shishmaref Into Focus As A Place Where People In A Close-knit, Determined Community Deal With The Challenges Facing Them And Considers What S At Stake In Confronting Climate Change. Fierce Climate, Sacred Ground is an ethnographic account of the impacts of climate change in Shishmaref, Alaska. In this small Iupiaq community, flooding and erosion are forcing community members to consider relocation as the only possible solution for long-term safety. However, a tangled web of policy obstacles, lack of funding, and organizational challenges leaves the community without a clear way forward, creating serious questions of how to maintain cultural identity under the new climate regime. Elizabeth Marino analyzes this unique and grounded example of a warming world as a confluence of political injustice, histories of colonialism, global climate change, and contemporary development decisions. The book merges theoretical insights from disaster studies, political analysis, and passages from field notes into an eminently readable text for a wide audience. This is an ethnography of climate change; a glimpse into the lived experiences of a global phenomenon.--(Source of description unspecified.)