Sinking village on the front lines of climate change debate

Residents of the remote coastal village of Kivalina gave Interior Secretary Sally Jewell a glimpse into what life is like when your community is slowly sinking. On Monday, the secretary met with villagers, and toured the area from the back of a pickup truck. Ella Leavitt was one of the residents who showed up at the McQueen School in Kivalina to ask for help from the federal government in relocating the village. "Every fall, I'm so afraid that, you know, while I'm sleeping maybe a big wave will come and shoo the old house away I live in," said Leavitt, balancing a child on her knee. In Kivalina, climate change isn't a distant theory. Residents are faced with new challenges every spring. Some estimates show by 2025, the village will be completely wiped out by rising sea levels, and residents are already starting to see the effects...more