How many ears must a man\u00a0have before he can hear people cry? <\/i>—<\/i>Bob Dylan<\/p>\n
Talking with someone whose country is being destroyed by climate change\u2014people and animals dying, communities swept away, future viability in doubt\u2014is quite different from having a conversation about the challenges of climate adaptation. It\u2019s emotional and visceral, not conceptual and detached. It\u2019s overwhelming, frustrating, and ultimately depressing.<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago I posted a short blog seeking information about cities that had considered \u201cmanaged retreat\u201d strategies to remove or prevent development in areas at high risk of climate disaster. Larry Falkin, head of Cincinnati\u2019s Office of the Environment and Sustainability, suggested that I connect with\u00a0Dr. Mike Roman, an American with adopted family from Kiribati (pronounced KIRR-i-bas). I had heard that the Republic of Kiribati–a South Pacific Ocean nation of 33 atolls and islands spread across a vast distance, and 110,000 citizens,\u00a0freed from British\u00a0colonial rule in 1979–had purchased land elsewhere for relocation of citizens, so I arranged\u00a0a phone call with the potential source.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/in4c.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Roman-HeadShot-Big-file-99x150.jpeg\")
Mike Roman has gotten used to telling his story and Kiribati\u2019s, because he organizes and participates in efforts to increase global awareness and response to the country\u2019s existential climate crisis. He arrived in\u00a0Kiribati in 2000 as a Peace Corps volunteer, left after his two-year stint was over, and returned numerous times while working on his Ph.D. and subsequent family reunions.\u00a0\u201cI was a volunteer who never really left.\u201d<\/p>\n
While there, he says, \u201cI\u2019ve seen climate change impacts. I have lived through king tide surges and cyclone seasons which have become stronger and more unpredictable. I\u2019ve seen entire villages go under the ocean and never come back. I\u2019ve seen drought take away land, crops, and groves of coconut trees. I\u2019ve seen the aftermath of salinized water sources and people suffering from dehydration. Resulting, in worst cases, death.”<\/p>\n
Sea level rise is impacting Kiribati, but Mike says it is the changing weather patterns, from prolonged droughts to tropical cyclones, that pose the greatest danger. Because of climate changes, cyclones are starting to bear down on Central Pacific low-elevation islands, delivering high winds and storm surges. “Within hours they demolish everything.” At the same\u00a0time, Kiribati experiences prolonged droughts which kill the island’s vegetation.<\/p>\n
These emerging conditions and forecasts of sea level<\/a>\u00a0rise prompted Kiribati’s national government, led in 2014 by then-president Anote Tong, to purchase 20 square kilometers–5,000 acres–of forest land in Fiji, 3,400 kilometers away, to be used initially for agricultural and fish-farming projects to secure Kiribati’s access to food, but perhaps eventually for planned resettlement of people. The strategy was called “Migration with Dignity.” But, Tong’s successor, H.E. Taneti Maamau, has taken a different approach:\u00a0“We don’t believe that Kiribati will sink like the Titanic ship.” His administration has been developing a\u00a020-year plan<\/a>\u00a0to build up Kiribati’s land, promote tourism, and attract foreign investors\u00a0in eco-friendly resorts–generating money that can pay for climate resilience measures. So far, no one has moved to the land in Fiji.<\/p>\n Mike Roman and a team of Kiribati youth have been active in telling Kiribati’s story to the world through social media: “We want to tell our stories from Kiribati before we can\u2019t anymore. We might be the first nation to disappear, but we surely will not be the last. The world is sadly ill prepared for this.” With Kiribati friends, he began a social media campaign to spread the word about Kiribati. “Since 2015,” he says, “Humans of Kiribati<\/a>\u00a0has gained attention from international media outlets, local journalists, movie producers, radio talk show hosts, foreign governments, and everyday people from all over the world.” We hope to tell the world about the beautiful nation and people of Kiribati. We hope that the world will feel empathetic towards those living on the frontlines of climate change\u2026 and try to help as soon as possible.”<\/p>\n More at\u00a0www.anotesark.com<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/video\/climate-refugees-nations-under-threat\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How many ears must a man\u00a0have before he can hear people cry? —Bob Dylan Talking with someone whose country is being destroyed by climate change\u2014people and animals dying, communities swept away, future viability in doubt\u2014is quite different from having a conversation about the challenges of climate adaptation. It\u2019s emotional and visceral, not conceptual and detached. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,22,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adaptive-futures","category-adaptation","category-retreat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in4c.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in4c.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in4c.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in4c.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in4c.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2052"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/in4c.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2171,"href":"https:\/\/in4c.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2052\/revisions\/2171"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in4c.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in4c.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in4c.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in4c.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/in4c.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Anotes-Ark-101x150.png\"){kind=spacer}
“Do people want to stay or leave? If you talk to people,” says Roman, “the majority want to stay.” Many have a deep cosmological connection to the land. This connection is built into one\u2019s identity and personhood. “You are born on your family\u2019s land. You live on it. You start your own family on that land, and when you die you return to that land, to join your ancestors who watch over the land and its future inhabitants. Your identity is connected to your land, it is your past, present and future, your everything. There is a spiritual connection between people and the land. The word for land,\u00a0aba<\/em>, can also mean people and country. Land, country and people, you take away the land, you take away everything.”<\/p>\n