America's coldest, richest State is warming ten times faster than the rest of the world. So why does Bush want to drill for more oil?
"The weather really changed", says Eleanor Sam, plucking feathers from a goose, "When we were children we wore thick fur. We donıt wear clothes like that no more..."
"That ocean should be four feet thick", confirms a hunter who catches walrus on the sea ice. "Now itıs only one foot thick." Elsewhere, houses and roads collapse as the ground beneath them melts.
Temperatures in Alaska are rising ten times faster than in the rest of the world. President Bush is ignoring the warning signs. He pulled out of Kyoto and now wants to open a wildlife refuge for oil drilling.
Native Alaskans are divided: The Inupiat Eskimos want the jobs and the money, but the Gwitchin Indians fear it will destroy their reindeer. Alaska is rich from oil. But each barrel sent south comes back as damage to the delicate balance of Arctic life.
The tiny island of Shishmaref is being rapidly eroded by ever stormier seas. "We canıt tell whatıs going to happen tomorrow", says villager Robert Iyatunguk "We just take it day by day here."
