As the Arctic warms, it’s opening up a whole new economic frontier, with big opportunities for tourism, shipping and resource development, including oil and gas. But that also brings a whole new array of risks for the region and the world.
Shishmaref, Alaska, home to a tightly knit Iñpuiat community of 600 people, is ground zero for climate change in the Arctic. What happens here could foreshadow the fates of other US coastal communities. Why won’t Washington pay attention?