Indigenous Alaskans Face Climate Change

Background: In Alaska, the village of Newtok has been a site of drastic climate change, reflective of a phenomenon that became more pronounced and widespread across the United States and globally. Beginning around 2014, the effects eventually forced the members of the Yupik Eskimo community to relocate multiple times as water levels rose at increasing rates. They faced the impact not only of the Ninglick River’s rising water level, but also of thawing permafrost (ground that remains permanently frozen for two or more years) and loss of access to fresh water. Village elder and vice president of Newtok Village Council, George Carl, and Newtok relocation coordinator, Romy Cadiente, described the impact of these changes on their community.

George Carl (translated from the original Yupik):
In the past, when I was younger, I was told about global warming events that might happen. Back then, I didn’t realize what they were talking about. But now, with what I see in my community today – there is very little snowfall, water no longer ices over, everything is melting – I recognize climate change. It’s really happening in our community.

Permafrost in the community has caused a lot of erosion due to warming of the weather. As the temperature rises, erosion is occurring fast. It’s not rain or other things or the wind; it’s really the temperature that triggers erosion activity. When it reaches 33 degrees and higher, that’s when we see an influx of land going into the river.

It’s known that there were two elders in the past who selected the current site of Newtok. Back then, the land was high and solid… Those two elders have since passed… and over years the land has definitely changed. Now it’s now marshy and soggy and the land is much lower in elevation than it used to be.

In my younger years, where I stood in the community, I would look miles and miles away, but never see the river’s edge. Today, if you look out from my home, the edge is really just a few steps away.

Romy Cadiente:
In less than 20 steps, Newtok will lose the village’s [fresh] water source.

When it floods, the water gets into the residents’ homes and then it waterlogs the floor. Under the home, where it remains damp and cool, this becomes a perfect breeding ground for black mold – which is why Newtok has the highest incidence of influenza and respiratory ailments.

Equally troubling is the reality of relocation, or having your village labeled as a ‘non-sustainable community,’ where residents would have to abandon the place where they’ve lived for hundreds of years.

Ideally, if the stream of environmental impact statements and the language to support slow-moving disasters could be implemented, other villages whose banks are even closer than ours could avoid dislocation fears.

Source: Woodrow Wilson Center. “Fleeing Change: Relocating the Village of Newtok, Alaska.” Live panel presentation, December 6, 2017. https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/fleeing-change-relocating-the-village-newtok-alaska (accessed April 26, 2022).