Interior Secretary Jewell Visits Eroding Alaska Village

In temperatures slightly higher than Washington, D.C.’s, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell got a firsthand look Monday at the effect of climate change on an Alaska coastal community.

Jewell visited Kivalina, a village of 370 on a barrier island just off Alaska’s northwest coast, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

Once protected from early winter storms by a natural barrier of sea ice, Kivalina has been ravaged in recent decades by erosion because climate warming prevents ice from forming until later in the winter.

“You can see the impact of coastal erosion in the village,” Jewell said. “You can hear the fear in people’s voices about what’s happening with climate change. Things are changing up here, and that’s part of what I’m on this trip to learn about.” (Read more about the visit to the Alaska village HERE)

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