When the canary dies, you don't walk deeper into the mine

Startling news came out this week on the island nation of Kiribati, in the south Pacific, purchasing land in Fiji to start growing food.  On the tiny island nation, rising sea levels have made former agricultural land unfit for growing the food that the citizens of the country need.  As sea levels continue to rise, the country will run out, and would otherwise have to turn to buying food from other nations - which will prove tough given their economic standing.  This investment in land gives them an opportunity to stave off starvation, at least for now.

The president of Kiribati has a longer-term strategy for the land purchase: A future home for the people of Kiribati when the islands fall completely under the sea.  As an article in the Guardian points out, the president does not know if the land purchased will provide enough space for the population of just over 100,000 people, but they will do what they must to survive.  For island nations like Kiribati and the Maldives (per capita income $6,000 and $9,000 respectively; US at over $50,000) the prospect of paying to move the equivalent of an entire American suburb poses challenges that these nations do not have the resources yet to overcome.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change notes in detail the challenges these countries will face due to sea level rise, and identifies rising CO2 in the atmosphere as part of the cause.  Although large-scale phenomena like this have many causes, it appears likely that carbon emissions in developing countries have contributed to the rate at which this change occurs, if not the entire event.  If this is the case, then who should pay for the relocation?  Should these nations bear all of the burden?  Should developed nations bear the responsibility?  

The questions become even more interesting when we consider the possibility that we may soon feel this sort of impact closer to home.  Miami has already experienced severe weather events that have submerged large portions of the city. As sea levels continue to rise, by the end of the century, Miami may sit completely under water.  The Outer Banks of North Carolina may experience a similar fate, to the point where propertyowners have lobbied the legislature to prevent their property values from declining.  Who wants to buy a property that will likely sit underwater in a couple of decades?

We need to change our practices related to energy use and carbon emissions immediately.  That will do little to solve the problems of Kiribati, as sea levels would continue to rise even if we stopped all carbon emissions today.  As President Tong has noted, however, these island can serve as a "canary in the coal mine", warning us of what our future can hold if we do not act.  As we act, we must also take responsibility for our actions and provide the resources that the people of Kiribati, Maldives, and all the other nations who must relocate or significantly adapt their infrastructure to survive.  If we deny this help, and bury our heads in the sand, then eventually, we seal our own fate as Miami, New Orleans, and even New York or D.C. become the next areas that must relocate to survive. 

Moving 100,000 people presents challenges that we can overcome as a world....moving 10 million or more would present economic challenges from which we may never recover if we have to bear the cost alone.  Better to heed the warning of the canary than to end up standing knee deep on Broadway thinking we were sure that climate change was not real.