The ocean is swallowing their home – and it’s all due to the greenhouse gases emitted by oil, power and coal companies. So, the Alaska Native village of Kivalina wants Exxon, BP and others to pay the price for their sacrifice.
As the city of Kivalina makes plans to move two miles away because of the encroaching seas, they believe that those who caused climate change in the first place should pick up the $400 million tab. The village was protected by sea ice, but higher temperatures have caused the ice to form later and melt sooner, allowing storm surges to erode the coastline.
The villagers filed a lawsuit against two dozen defendants in 2008, which was dismissed by a federal court in San Francisco last year – but they’re not giving up that easily. Their attorney, Mike Pawa of Boston, is appealing the decision.
Kivalina’s case was based on the notion that the defendants not only directly contributed to climate change in a major way, but also intentionally misled the public about the consequences.
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