Bering Strait

A person walks through a puddle in Shismaref, Alaska.

An Alaskan village is falling into the sea. Washington is looking the other way.

The Big Melt

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?

A slate-blue sea stretches out on the horizon. In the foreground, green grass is dotted with wildflowers.

For some Alaska Natives, the Bering Sea and an international border makes it hard to go home

Culture

A Whale of a Tale

A Whale of a Tale

A Whale of a Tale

The World

Geo answer

Arts, Culture & Media

The two islands – one American and one Russian – in the middle of the Bering Strait, are the Big and Little Diomede Islands. The World’s David Leveille follows up on a recent Geo Quiz about the distance between the US and Russia.

The World

Geo answer: fifty miles

Arts, Culture & Media

Fifty miles. That’s about the distance separating the United States and Russia. And it’s the answer to today’s Geo Quiz. The World’s David Leveille takes a look at an old proposal to link Siberia and mainland Alaska by tunnel.