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: ...
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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."
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