00:00:01.485 --> 00:00:04.402
[engine operating]

00:00:12.449 --> 00:00:14.760
That is Bikeman,

00:00:14.760 --> 00:00:19.100
and that sandbar there
is where the island was.

00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:25.510
This was Bikeman,

00:00:27.264 --> 00:00:31.083
but the original name is
tepineaue, meaning the place

00:00:32.490 --> 00:00:33.483
for chiefs.

00:00:38.961 --> 00:00:41.461
[calm music]

00:00:47.010 --> 00:00:48.280
People used to come here

00:00:49.530 --> 00:00:52.900
when it was an
island to hold picnics

00:00:53.880 --> 00:00:58.880
and much earlier to
present their gifts to the gods,

00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:05.313
especially when they want to
go out fishing and have luck.

00:01:08.490 --> 00:01:13.110
It is now lost, as you can see,

00:01:13.110 --> 00:01:14.163
as you stand on it.

00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:16.863
It is sand and rock.

00:01:22.395 --> 00:01:24.895
[calm music]

00:01:48.360 --> 00:01:50.913
They emerged
millions of years ago.

00:01:53.460 --> 00:01:55.500
Thousands of islands scattered

00:01:55.500 --> 00:01:57.363
across the vast Pacific Ocean.

00:02:01.757 --> 00:02:04.424
[upbeat music]

00:02:08.250 --> 00:02:11.403
These islands now
hold unique ecosystems,

00:02:15.540 --> 00:02:18.993
exotic fish, coral,
and marine life.

00:02:23.743 --> 00:02:26.326
[upbeat music]

00:02:42.200 --> 00:02:47.200
They are also the home to
more than seven million people.

00:02:47.370 --> 00:02:49.440
Nearly 1,000 distinct languages

00:02:49.440 --> 00:02:51.120
and cultures thrive

00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.913
in some of the smallest
nations in the world.

00:02:56.944 --> 00:02:59.527
[upbeat music]

00:03:09.870 --> 00:03:12.630
Now these tiny islands
are shadowed by one

00:03:12.630 --> 00:03:15.513
of the biggest threats
the planet has ever faced,

00:03:16.590 --> 00:03:17.973
global warming.

00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:22.770
Since the beginning of time,

00:03:22.770 --> 00:03:25.620
the earth has been warmed
by sunlight beaming down

00:03:25.620 --> 00:03:28.500
through the insulating
blanket of the atmosphere.

00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:31.110
That blanket made
up of carbon dioxide

00:03:31.110 --> 00:03:33.720
and other gases
traps heat on the earth

00:03:33.720 --> 00:03:35.160
from the sun's energy,

00:03:35.160 --> 00:03:38.880
creating what is called
the greenhouse effect.

00:03:38.880 --> 00:03:41.400
This process regulates
the earth's climate,

00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:43.923
keeping it stable
enough to sustain life.

00:03:51.314 --> 00:03:54.064
[dramatic music]

00:03:57.750 --> 00:04:00.360
But since the
Industrial Revolution,

00:04:00.360 --> 00:04:02.520
human beings have
been releasing chemicals

00:04:02.520 --> 00:04:03.663
into the atmosphere.

00:04:05.970 --> 00:04:08.700
Among them have been
enormous emissions

00:04:08.700 --> 00:04:13.353
of carbon dioxide created
by the burning of fossil fuels.

00:04:16.530 --> 00:04:20.400
The accumulation of these
industrial gases is thickening

00:04:20.400 --> 00:04:22.140
the blanket of the atmosphere

00:04:22.140 --> 00:04:24.990
and warming the global climate.

00:04:24.990 --> 00:04:28.680
We're dealing with a very
complex system, very complex.

00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:30.960
We don't know how
it behaves completely,

00:04:30.960 --> 00:04:32.160
but we do know something.

00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:35.853
If we keep pushing that
system, it's going to change.

00:04:37.710 --> 00:04:40.080
The temperature
increase could speed up

00:04:40.080 --> 00:04:42.990
global storm systems,
trigger more frequent

00:04:42.990 --> 00:04:47.163
and powerful hurricanes,
droughts, and floods.

00:04:49.100 --> 00:04:50.670
For the Pacific Islands,

00:04:50.670 --> 00:04:53.490
there's an even
more serious threat.

00:04:53.490 --> 00:04:56.070
When you warm
water, it expands.

00:04:56.070 --> 00:04:58.650
When you warm earth
surface temperatures,

00:04:58.650 --> 00:05:01.300
ice that's on the land will
melt and go into the sea.

00:05:03.420 --> 00:05:04.253
And just

00:05:04.253 --> 00:05:06.900
as the temperatures have
been rising for about 200 years,

00:05:06.900 --> 00:05:09.600
so we believe that sea levels
have probably been rising

00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:11.403
for about the
same length of time.

00:05:16.020 --> 00:05:17.130
What could happen?

00:05:17.130 --> 00:05:19.470
Well, a chunk of the
Antarctic ice sheet could

00:05:19.470 --> 00:05:20.703
what we call surge.

00:05:22.050 --> 00:05:24.570
That would raise
sea level 15 to 25 feet,

00:05:24.570 --> 00:05:26.520
which would be the
end of island states,

00:05:26.520 --> 00:05:28.143
most coastlines and so forth.

00:05:29.190 --> 00:05:31.770
These are
forecasts for the future.

00:05:31.770 --> 00:05:34.830
In the Pacific, islanders
say some of these changes

00:05:34.830 --> 00:05:36.963
already are beginning
to take place.

00:05:38.880 --> 00:05:43.050
4,000 miles southwest of
California lie the volcanic islands

00:05:43.050 --> 00:05:47.070
of Samoa, home to
a Polynesian culture,

00:05:47.070 --> 00:05:48.663
thousands of years old.

00:05:51.453 --> 00:05:54.120
[upbeat music]

00:05:56.190 --> 00:05:57.541
There's a saying

00:05:57.541 --> 00:05:59.691
in English that there's
no place like home.

00:06:02.316 --> 00:06:04.983
[upbeat music]

00:06:11.220 --> 00:06:14.790
I remember as a young kid running
around naked on the beach.

00:06:14.790 --> 00:06:17.370
That's the way of
life, the way you live.

00:06:17.370 --> 00:06:20.640
You go out fishing, the food
is available for you there.

00:06:20.640 --> 00:06:23.850
You don't suffer, you don't
worry about paying the rent

00:06:23.850 --> 00:06:25.200
or paying for anything.

00:06:25.200 --> 00:06:28.113
It's just a very
subsistence way of living.

00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:32.370
And that's the relaxed,

00:06:32.370 --> 00:06:36.583
pacific way of living that I
like most about the islands.

00:06:39.080 --> 00:06:40.830
In the Samoan community,

00:06:40.830 --> 00:06:43.290
you're part of the
whole extended family.

00:06:43.290 --> 00:06:44.553
Everybody helps out.

00:06:48.690 --> 00:06:51.990
A typical Samoan
Sunday for any family,

00:06:51.990 --> 00:06:56.100
they get up early in the
morning, about 5:30, 6:00,

00:06:56.100 --> 00:06:57.843
prepare the home with feast,

00:07:01.770 --> 00:07:04.293
and then they all go to church.

00:07:06.490 --> 00:07:09.240
[dramatic music]

00:07:21.660 --> 00:07:24.180
And then after the
church, they came back

00:07:24.180 --> 00:07:25.533
and they have a feast.

00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:27.833
I love it.

00:07:31.500 --> 00:07:33.690
I'm a climatologist.

00:07:33.690 --> 00:07:38.070
My area of expertise and
interest lies within the Pacific.

00:07:38.070 --> 00:07:39.000
Well, when I grew up,

00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:42.930
we always have to
battle natural disasters.

00:07:42.930 --> 00:07:46.833
My parents told me all the
stories about how to survive.

00:07:48.510 --> 00:07:53.510
When you grow up in an area
where it's so climate dependent

00:07:54.510 --> 00:07:57.090
and weather dependent,
you notice things

00:07:57.090 --> 00:07:59.943
so easily in your environment.

00:08:01.740 --> 00:08:04.203
There's something
definitely happening.

00:08:05.820 --> 00:08:09.750
We feel the trend
of tropical cyclone

00:08:09.750 --> 00:08:11.853
and hurricanes on the increase.

00:08:13.585 --> 00:08:16.335
[dramatic music]

00:08:19.770 --> 00:08:24.423
You cannot imagine being
within a cyclone or a hurricane.

00:08:26.405 --> 00:08:29.500
You just pray God that
there will be another day.

00:08:43.500 --> 00:08:46.440
My own personal experience,

00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:50.820
my parents' whole savings
that was invested in the house

00:08:50.820 --> 00:08:54.600
that I was brought up with
was totally destroyed in one

00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:59.583
of the worst hurricane that
ever struck Samoa in 1991.

00:09:01.770 --> 00:09:03.930
Everything they
worked their whole life

00:09:03.930 --> 00:09:06.243
to build was
completely destroyed.

00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:11.820
And it's like
destroying my past

00:09:11.820 --> 00:09:14.550
because I couldn't
find a single photo

00:09:14.550 --> 00:09:16.770
of me when I was a baby.

00:09:16.770 --> 00:09:18.483
All the memories go down there.

00:09:20.670 --> 00:09:22.140
The most concern

00:09:22.140 --> 00:09:26.280
for Pacific Island countries
is the extreme weather events

00:09:26.280 --> 00:09:30.150
that are associated with the
global warming phenomenon.

00:09:30.150 --> 00:09:34.920
For example, will there be
an increase in the number

00:09:34.920 --> 00:09:38.640
of hurricanes occurring
under a warming world?

00:09:38.640 --> 00:09:41.670
Based on the records
that we had so far

00:09:41.670 --> 00:09:43.650
in the Pacific region alone,

00:09:43.650 --> 00:09:46.893
definitely there seems
to be an increase.

00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:49.080
Another weather pattern

00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:51.090
which many scientists
predict will increase

00:09:51.090 --> 00:09:53.703
with global warming
is the El Nino.

00:09:55.680 --> 00:09:58.860
This little understood natural
phenomenon originates

00:09:58.860 --> 00:10:00.510
in the Tropical Pacific.

00:10:00.510 --> 00:10:03.960
The El Nino causes dramatic
changes in global weather.

00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:06.900
It knocks storm systems
off their usual course

00:10:06.900 --> 00:10:10.803
and heats up the already warm
waters of the South Pacific.

00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:16.560
We're standing on what appears
to be a coral graveyard,

00:10:16.560 --> 00:10:19.440
lots of pieces of dead coral.

00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:22.590
In American
Samoa, marine biologist,

00:10:22.590 --> 00:10:26.340
Nancy Dashbach shows
the effects of a recent El Nino

00:10:26.340 --> 00:10:27.510
to a group of students.

00:10:27.510 --> 00:10:29.010
The ocean here was very warm.

00:10:29.010 --> 00:10:33.510
It got up to above 30
degrees, 32 degrees centigrade,

00:10:33.510 --> 00:10:36.330
which is about 85
degrees Fahrenheit.

00:10:36.330 --> 00:10:38.970
It was like a bathtub up
here for several months.

00:10:38.970 --> 00:10:41.373
Coral can't live in
temperatures that hot.

00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:44.283
So what happened
was they bleached.

00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:48.010
That lasted for a while
and then they started to die.

00:10:49.350 --> 00:10:50.640
Most of the reef flat

00:10:50.640 --> 00:10:54.573
on the top has been killed all
around our islands in Samoa.

00:10:56.460 --> 00:10:58.050
When coral dies,

00:10:58.050 --> 00:11:00.930
the islands also lose an
important natural defense

00:11:00.930 --> 00:11:03.450
against the impacts of storms.

00:11:03.450 --> 00:11:08.450
This is one of the major
source of coastal protection

00:11:08.850 --> 00:11:11.160
for most of these
low lying atolls

00:11:11.160 --> 00:11:12.450
because they act

00:11:12.450 --> 00:11:17.450
as barriers to stop the storm
surges coming on the islands.

00:11:18.990 --> 00:11:23.100
So if the warm water's
killing off these reefs,

00:11:23.100 --> 00:11:26.313
you will never
have that protection.

00:11:27.180 --> 00:11:28.320
Furthermore, a lot

00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:31.833
of the islands depend on
the coral reefs for their food.

00:11:34.049 --> 00:11:36.882
[dramatic music]

00:11:41.340 --> 00:11:43.830
We must be at the fishing place

00:11:43.830 --> 00:11:45.633
by five o'clock
in the afternoon.

00:11:47.430 --> 00:11:50.670
That'll give us an hour
to put the nets down

00:11:50.670 --> 00:11:53.283
and then wait for another
couple of hours or so.

00:11:55.410 --> 00:11:59.223
Our fishing, our catches,
I mean, it's not normal.

00:12:00.540 --> 00:12:04.860
We are puzzled while
everything is changing.

00:12:04.860 --> 00:12:08.523
I think the effect of
El Nino here is great.

00:12:18.570 --> 00:12:21.801
About 10 years back, we
used to catch between 400,

00:12:21.801 --> 00:12:23.133
500 pounds a night.

00:12:25.770 --> 00:12:28.833
But now we wouldn't
fill the cooler sometimes.

00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:34.113
Everything has changed.
I'm a little bit worried.

00:12:36.822 --> 00:12:41.460
I'll only get the
fish for us to eat.

00:12:41.460 --> 00:12:45.033
That means we won't sell any
and we won't get the money.

00:12:48.810 --> 00:12:52.890
We're dealing here with
an issue of whole islands

00:12:52.890 --> 00:12:54.790
and communities at risk

00:12:55.860 --> 00:12:58.803
and their very
survival is at stake.

00:13:03.930 --> 00:13:08.160
Northwest of Samoa
on the equator lies Kiribati

00:13:08.160 --> 00:13:10.473
one of the smallest
countries in the world.

00:13:14.580 --> 00:13:18.660
Kiribati is a nation
of 33 coral atolls,

00:13:18.660 --> 00:13:21.150
the rims of ancient volcanoes,

00:13:21.150 --> 00:13:23.673
and rises only a few
feet above the sea.

00:13:25.611 --> 00:13:28.444
[people chanting]

00:13:44.820 --> 00:13:47.610
Here in Kiribati, we believe
that there's a recipe,

00:13:47.610 --> 00:13:52.610
a secret formula and a
secret recipe for human peace

00:13:52.680 --> 00:13:54.243
and human happiness.

00:13:56.340 --> 00:13:58.200
To us, we see happiness

00:13:58.200 --> 00:14:03.200
as a product of being able
to be part of a community,

00:14:04.500 --> 00:14:06.813
of a collection of people.

00:14:11.280 --> 00:14:13.740
We still have the
pristine environment here,

00:14:13.740 --> 00:14:16.740
as naturally beautiful as
they were created, you know,

00:14:16.740 --> 00:14:18.183
thousands of years ago.

00:14:19.710 --> 00:14:21.450
And our way of
life here, of course,

00:14:21.450 --> 00:14:23.850
is very much
based on ourselves,

00:14:23.850 --> 00:14:26.190
in the family, in the village.

00:14:26.190 --> 00:14:28.140
We care for each other.

00:14:28.140 --> 00:14:30.873
We look after each
other in a community way.

00:14:31.770 --> 00:14:34.157
What are you doing? [chuckles]

00:14:34.157 --> 00:14:36.360
To us, it's a paradise,

00:14:36.360 --> 00:14:39.003
but it is a paradise
that is under threat.

00:14:41.100 --> 00:14:44.610
We are now faced with
the challenges of change.

00:14:44.610 --> 00:14:49.050
As the world changes around us,

00:14:49.050 --> 00:14:51.063
we also feel these changes.

00:14:54.539 --> 00:14:57.150
In the last 40 years
of my lifetime, a lot

00:14:57.150 --> 00:15:00.050
of changes have certainly
happened to the weather pattern.

00:15:02.798 --> 00:15:05.381
[wind howling]

00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:14.730
Islands can
erode from natural causes,

00:15:14.730 --> 00:15:16.140
but in recent years,

00:15:16.140 --> 00:15:19.710
Kiribati islanders have
reported strange high tides,

00:15:19.710 --> 00:15:22.980
rogue waves, the
loss of small islands,

00:15:22.980 --> 00:15:25.833
and storms more powerful
than those of the past.

00:15:26.880 --> 00:15:28.560
I've lived here since the '60s

00:15:28.560 --> 00:15:32.280
and there used to be a tree
here right in front of my house.

00:15:32.280 --> 00:15:35.760
In the '70s, the high
watermark used to be here.

00:15:35.760 --> 00:15:38.760
The tree was lost along with
the beach that used to be here.

00:15:39.780 --> 00:15:42.570
We moved our
house inland there,

00:15:42.570 --> 00:15:44.700
and the water keeps
coming up to the house

00:15:44.700 --> 00:15:46.170
during the high tides now,

00:15:46.170 --> 00:15:48.933
and so we built this
sea wall two years ago.

00:15:49.920 --> 00:15:53.340
If the tide continues
to wash away our land,

00:15:53.340 --> 00:15:54.840
we will have to
move to the other side

00:15:54.840 --> 00:15:56.493
of the road to higher ground.

00:16:03.733 --> 00:16:07.980
We continue to try
and carry on life as usual

00:16:07.980 --> 00:16:09.780
and create things on the island

00:16:09.780 --> 00:16:11.760
and encourage our
people to move forward,

00:16:11.760 --> 00:16:14.253
but we're not too sure.

00:16:15.780 --> 00:16:18.360
There's no point
in creating a lot

00:16:18.360 --> 00:16:20.790
of infrastructure on an
island that will disappear

00:16:20.790 --> 00:16:22.413
in the next 50 or 100 years.

00:16:26.610 --> 00:16:27.630
On the islands,

00:16:27.630 --> 00:16:30.573
fresh water has always
been a precious commodity,

00:16:32.310 --> 00:16:36.510
but now even the existing
groundwater is threatened.

00:16:36.510 --> 00:16:39.480
Sea water is always encroaching

00:16:39.480 --> 00:16:43.920
onto the freshwater lens
underneath the coral atoll,

00:16:43.920 --> 00:16:46.143
and this is
happening every day.

00:16:49.560 --> 00:16:50.550
Just recently,

00:16:50.550 --> 00:16:54.840
we had the whole area
inundated with sea water

00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:58.983
when it rose up during one
of the recent spring tides.

00:17:01.170 --> 00:17:05.040
Whenever the water rises,
you know, by a few centimeters,

00:17:05.040 --> 00:17:10.040
that is enough to destroy
many acres of a crop area.

00:17:11.160 --> 00:17:13.800
Certain plants just depend
very much on the fresh water.

00:17:13.800 --> 00:17:16.020
It must be fresh water.

00:17:16.020 --> 00:17:18.480
Few drops of sea
water on the roots

00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:20.733
of this plant is enough
to destroy them.

00:17:22.290 --> 00:17:25.200
Affecting the livelihood
of many hundreds

00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:27.723
of people who
depend on that crop.

00:17:32.040 --> 00:17:33.990
If the crops are destroyed,

00:17:33.990 --> 00:17:36.210
they will have to be relocated.

00:17:36.210 --> 00:17:40.710
That will disrupt the culture
in that particular village.

00:17:40.710 --> 00:17:42.243
You know, people will scatter.

00:17:43.950 --> 00:17:47.010
We will lose the
human values even

00:17:47.010 --> 00:17:49.113
before we start
losing the islands.

00:17:50.040 --> 00:17:52.741
The human values
that are being nurtured

00:17:52.741 --> 00:17:55.893
in the culture will be lost.

00:18:01.692 --> 00:18:04.260
400 miles northwest of Kiribati

00:18:04.260 --> 00:18:06.693
lies the Republic of
the Marshall Islands.

00:18:09.240 --> 00:18:13.380
The Marshall Islands is a
country made up of 29 atolls,

00:18:13.380 --> 00:18:16.803
which like those of Kiribati
rise barely above sea level.

00:18:20.735 --> 00:18:23.402
[upbeat music]

00:18:24.300 --> 00:18:26.760
Half a century ago,
these tiny islands

00:18:26.760 --> 00:18:29.403
attracted the attention
of the entire world.

00:18:32.760 --> 00:18:34.740
All right now,
James, will you tell

00:18:34.740 --> 00:18:38.430
them that the United States
government now wants

00:18:38.430 --> 00:18:43.430
to turn this great destructive
force into something good

00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:45.063
for mankind?

00:18:47.048 --> 00:18:50.548
[speaks foreign language]

00:18:53.070 --> 00:18:54.480
Two of the islands were used

00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:57.033
to test 67 nuclear weapons.

00:19:03.780 --> 00:19:05.970
Islanders were
forced into exile.

00:19:05.970 --> 00:19:07.380
Later, atomic fallout

00:19:07.380 --> 00:19:09.780
and radiation poisoning
forced many more

00:19:09.780 --> 00:19:12.093
to abandon their
contaminated homes.

00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:15.713
Memories

00:19:15.713 --> 00:19:18.903
of that tragic period still
haunt the islands today.

00:19:22.290 --> 00:19:25.710
But now that the Cold War
is over, a new generation

00:19:25.710 --> 00:19:29.520
of Marshallese is beginning
to plan for a better future.

00:19:29.520 --> 00:19:33.210
At 26, Ben Graham is
the first director of tourism

00:19:33.210 --> 00:19:35.010
for the Marshall Islands.

00:19:35.010 --> 00:19:36.186
He hopes

00:19:36.186 --> 00:19:38.423
to help the Marshalls build
a new peacetime economy.

00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:42.630
What we're trying
to do in our approach

00:19:42.630 --> 00:19:45.420
is simple education,
is to state the facts.

00:19:45.420 --> 00:19:48.630
Yes, several of our atolls
were used for nuclear testing,

00:19:48.630 --> 00:19:53.630
but the Marshall Islands
as a whole is by no means

00:19:53.700 --> 00:19:58.700
a risky place or a dangerous
place to go as a visitor.

00:20:00.030 --> 00:20:02.040
In the last 50 years,

00:20:02.040 --> 00:20:05.375
our country's undergone
a great deal of change.

00:20:05.375 --> 00:20:07.958
[upbeat music]

00:20:16.860 --> 00:20:19.590
Many Marshall
Islanders received reparations

00:20:19.590 --> 00:20:22.080
for the damage wrought
by the nuclear testing

00:20:22.080 --> 00:20:23.970
and other US aid,

00:20:23.970 --> 00:20:26.823
but the country faces
difficult economic problems.

00:20:28.080 --> 00:20:33.080
More than 75% of the population
is under the age of 25,

00:20:33.210 --> 00:20:36.629
and jobs for this next
generation will be scarce.

00:20:36.629 --> 00:20:39.379
[people singing]

00:20:43.721 --> 00:20:48.420
The Marshallese know they
must diversify their economy.

00:20:48.420 --> 00:20:50.010
We're going to go
along the northern side

00:20:50.010 --> 00:20:51.510
of the atoll here.

00:20:51.510 --> 00:20:54.060
Ben Graham has been
exploring some of the islands

00:20:54.060 --> 00:20:57.993
with his friends, hoping to
develop ecotourism destinations.

00:20:59.310 --> 00:21:02.730
I myself, I mean, I
love to go to our atolls.

00:21:02.730 --> 00:21:07.730
You can fish, you can surf,
you can snorkel and scuba dive

00:21:09.360 --> 00:21:11.883
and explore ancient villages.

00:21:14.100 --> 00:21:17.370
I think with the coral down
here and the good water quality

00:21:17.370 --> 00:21:18.270
and the nice beach here,

00:21:18.270 --> 00:21:20.433
this is a very good
island for visitors.

00:21:22.230 --> 00:21:25.050
A lot of our economic
wellbeing will depend

00:21:25.050 --> 00:21:28.923
on just how successfully
we develop tourism,

00:21:30.390 --> 00:21:33.753
and we realize that this is
not going to happen overnight.

00:21:35.340 --> 00:21:38.013
But Ben's plans
may soon be washed away.

00:21:39.859 --> 00:21:42.609
[waves crashing]

00:21:46.422 --> 00:21:49.473
The wave just came in and
just took out all the houses.

00:21:50.970 --> 00:21:52.980
During a recent rainy season,

00:21:52.980 --> 00:21:56.313
the islands have been swept
by strong storms and tides.

00:21:57.780 --> 00:22:02.780
The houses by the
ocean side were washed off

00:22:02.850 --> 00:22:06.393
and people were moved to
the churches and the school.

00:22:07.260 --> 00:22:10.020
We start to expect
them that from this month

00:22:10.020 --> 00:22:13.323
to that month, there'll be a
flood somewhere on the island.

00:22:17.310 --> 00:22:19.831
There were
so many coconut trees

00:22:19.831 --> 00:22:22.683
that were planted, but
they have been downed.

00:22:27.030 --> 00:22:28.680
During the last decade,

00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:32.193
the Island of Majuro has lost
dozens of feet of shoreline.

00:22:33.900 --> 00:22:37.110
Unregulated development
contributes to the damage,

00:22:37.110 --> 00:22:39.990
but locals believe
that the unusual storms

00:22:39.990 --> 00:22:43.293
and sweeping high tides are
causing most of the erosion.

00:22:44.250 --> 00:22:47.730
We, as a country, need
to start asking ourselves

00:22:47.730 --> 00:22:52.730
where will we go and what
will we do before we discuss

00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:55.260
development of
any sector, tourism,

00:22:55.260 --> 00:22:57.243
fisheries, or agriculture?

00:22:58.890 --> 00:23:01.830
What will we do if
the sea level rises

00:23:01.830 --> 00:23:03.453
and covers up our atolls?

00:23:10.560 --> 00:23:12.990
In an effort to
prevent further erosion,

00:23:12.990 --> 00:23:15.663
Majuro has become
an island of sea walls.

00:23:17.220 --> 00:23:21.060
Even garbage imported
from the United States is used

00:23:21.060 --> 00:23:23.223
to fend off the rising tides.

00:23:27.930 --> 00:23:29.850
Since land is so scarce,

00:23:29.850 --> 00:23:32.250
even the coral reefs
are being dug up

00:23:32.250 --> 00:23:37.250
to construct walls, walls that
constantly need rebuilding.

00:23:41.550 --> 00:23:42.720
Sea walls cost money

00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:43.890
and all the money

00:23:43.890 --> 00:23:46.713
in the world won't prevent
this from happening.

00:23:47.910 --> 00:23:50.400
According to
government officials, building

00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:53.910
and maintaining effective
sea walls around Majuro

00:23:53.910 --> 00:23:57.423
will cost more than the
island's annual national budget.

00:24:03.990 --> 00:24:07.380
The erosion is not
only removing the land,

00:24:07.380 --> 00:24:10.320
but the very culture itself,

00:24:10.320 --> 00:24:13.833
even the dead are not
safe from the rising waters.

00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:18.903
In the Marshallese culture,
each village has a cemetery.

00:24:20.610 --> 00:24:23.670
That village will
have a lineage

00:24:23.670 --> 00:24:26.793
and people of that
lineage will be buried there.

00:24:28.680 --> 00:24:30.870
It's very important
for families

00:24:30.870 --> 00:24:34.173
to know where their
relatives are buried.

00:24:35.430 --> 00:24:38.430
We count the
relatives further back.

00:24:38.430 --> 00:24:40.770
It's not just the cousins
and the great aunts.

00:24:40.770 --> 00:24:42.543
It's really further back.

00:24:44.460 --> 00:24:46.500
In the culture,
we can only come

00:24:46.500 --> 00:24:49.863
and visit the graveyard
during a funeral.

00:24:51.420 --> 00:24:53.160
That will be the
time that you can go

00:24:53.160 --> 00:24:55.630
and renew the
paint on the grave

00:24:56.520 --> 00:24:59.490
or put more flowers on
the grave that belongs

00:24:59.490 --> 00:25:00.963
to your relative.

00:25:09.510 --> 00:25:12.303
We've lost some of the
graveyards because of erosion.

00:25:14.010 --> 00:25:18.453
This is part of a
grave. That one too.

00:25:22.380 --> 00:25:23.340
There's another one,

00:25:23.340 --> 00:25:27.033
a whole one over there that
probably belonged to a child.

00:25:30.120 --> 00:25:34.140
When a grave is eroded,
the relatives would go

00:25:34.140 --> 00:25:38.793
and pick up all the
bones and move them.

00:25:41.310 --> 00:25:43.460
At this moment, that's
what they are doing.

00:25:46.266 --> 00:25:49.016
[dramatic music]

00:26:06.567 --> 00:26:09.330
The Marshallese,
like their Pacific neighbors,

00:26:09.330 --> 00:26:11.730
worry that in the
not too distant future,

00:26:11.730 --> 00:26:13.593
they may have to
leave their homes.

00:26:14.610 --> 00:26:18.063
Those fears come from a sense
of history repeating itself.

00:26:18.930 --> 00:26:20.190
The United States,

00:26:20.190 --> 00:26:23.790
the country that forced them
into exile half a century ago,

00:26:23.790 --> 00:26:26.790
now poses the biggest
threat to their hopes

00:26:26.790 --> 00:26:27.993
for a better future.

00:26:31.110 --> 00:26:33.210
We think that countries

00:26:33.210 --> 00:26:36.390
and people in countries
which contribute largely

00:26:36.390 --> 00:26:40.560
to global warming have an
obligation to take steps to try

00:26:40.560 --> 00:26:43.263
to prevent it and
help people like us.

00:26:45.600 --> 00:26:46.800
Steps to bring down

00:26:46.800 --> 00:26:48.630
the climate's
rising temperature

00:26:48.630 --> 00:26:51.903
involve reducing greenhouse
gas emissions worldwide.

00:26:53.070 --> 00:26:57.210
It was at the Earth Summit
in Rio de Janeiro in 1992

00:26:57.210 --> 00:27:00.120
that the United Nations
called world leaders together

00:27:00.120 --> 00:27:02.313
to address the
global warming threat.

00:27:04.170 --> 00:27:08.040
150 nations signed the
first international treaty

00:27:08.040 --> 00:27:09.213
on climate change.

00:27:10.650 --> 00:27:12.660
The treaty set the year 2000

00:27:12.660 --> 00:27:14.580
as the deadline for
industrial countries

00:27:14.580 --> 00:27:17.553
to voluntarily reduce
their greenhouse gases.

00:27:19.650 --> 00:27:23.310
But the non-binding agreement
was ignored by most countries,

00:27:23.310 --> 00:27:25.050
including the United States,

00:27:25.050 --> 00:27:26.973
and emissions
continued to climb.

00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:31.140
Warned by industrial
leaders that changes in oil

00:27:31.140 --> 00:27:33.990
and coal consumption
might force their economies

00:27:33.990 --> 00:27:38.283
into recession, policymakers
refused to carry out cutbacks.

00:27:39.330 --> 00:27:42.480
They also pointed to gaps in
the scientific evidence saying

00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:45.783
that the grim forecast
was not 100