Climate change at sea
November 25, 2009
These are the stories of changing climatic conditions that fuel my prayers and passion for international engagement with the vexed issue of climate change.
On the front line of climate change, the people of the Pacific Islands are desperately looking for higher ground. Adam Morton reports from Kiribati. November 21, 2009,When a coconut tree dies the decay starts at the top. The leaves fall, then the fruit. All that is left is a desiccated trunk, cut off at half-mast. In areas flooded with seawater, dead palms resemble tidal gauges, the high water mark visible on their stranded remains.They’re plentiful in Tebunginako, a tiny village on an outer island of the Pacific republic of Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas).
Over 40 years the villagers have seen the sea rise, storm surges become more frequent and spring tides more forceful. The erosion was so great that the village was abandoned. What’s left of a hundred thatched homes and a community meeting hall, or maneabe, sits 30 metres offshore.
Full article of November 21, 2009 by Adam Morton at Land of the rising sea.
See my article, Environmental stewardship: some general principles.
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