The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Climate change threatens Alaska's Inuit, but they're not giving up their home

2022-12-29T18:09:08.303Z


In the small village of Shishmaref, Alaska, the ice is melting and the sea level is rising – but people are sticking to their way of life. Pictures of their everyday life on the Bering Strait.


Enlarge image

Six-year-old Annsoph Nayokpuk wears a traditional Inuit parka in Shismaref, Alaska

Photo: Jae C Hong/AP

They fish, collect berries on the tundra, and support themselves without access to running water: the residents of the village of Shishmarek on a small Alaskan island defend the traditional way of life of their ancestors.

They belong to the Inupiat, a subgroup of the Inuit.

But her village is threatened by climate change.

Sea levels are rising, erosion is taking place and icebergs are melting.

The people have therefore voted twice to move the entire village with its around 600 inhabitants.

However, the move is too expensive, and so they are still here.

Some of them are happy about this, because they fear that with a change of location their culture and the millennia-old way of life of the Inupiat could also be lost.

Author Luis Andres Henao and photographer Jae C. Hong accompanied the local people.

Translation and editing: Nicola Abé

See how people live in Shishmaref here:

This contribution is part of the Global Society project

Expand areaWhat is the Global Society project?

Under the title "Global Society", reporters from

Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe

report on injustices in a globalized world, socio-political challenges and sustainable development.

The reports, analyses, photo series, videos and podcasts appear in a separate section in the foreign section of SPIEGEL.

The project is long-term and is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

A detailed FAQ with questions and answers about the project can be found here.

AreaWhat does the funding look like in concrete terms?open

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) has been supporting the project since 2019 for an initial period of three years with a total of around 2.3 million euros - around 760,000 euros per year.

In 2021, the project was extended by almost three and a half years until spring 2025 under the same conditions.

AreaIs the journalistic content independent of the foundation?open

Yes.

The editorial content is created without the influence of the Gates Foundation.

AreaDo other media also have similar projects?open

Yes.

With the support of the Gates Foundation, major European media outlets such as The Guardian and El País have set up similar sections on their news sites with Global Development and Planeta Futuro respectively.

Did SPIEGEL already have similar projects? open

In recent years, SPIEGEL has already implemented two projects with the European Journalism Center (EJC) and the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: the "OverMorgen Expedition" on global sustainability goals and the journalistic refugee project "The New Arrivals ", within the framework of which several award-winning multimedia reports on the topics of migration and flight have been created.

Expand areaWhere can I find all publications on the Global Society?

The pieces can be found at SPIEGEL on the Global Society topic page.

abe/Luis Andres Henao/AP

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-12-29

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.