Several Alaskan villages are falling into the sea. This is mostly due to global warming. The permafrost (ground that was permanantly frozen) is melting and the buildings are sinking. Rivers are overflowing. The ice that would form on the shore and protect it from storms is forming later each year.
Here is an example – look at the two pictures, the first taken before a storm and the second one after a storm. They were taken from different angles, so it is hard to look at the shoreline and see the change. Look at how close the metal trashcan is to the edge in each picture.
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/detect/human-shishmaref.shtml
The cost to relaocate the 3 villages that are not expected to last 10 years:
Shishmaref, ~600 people, up to 200 million dollars
Newtok, ~315 people, up to 130 million dollars,
Kivalena, ~380 people, ~125 million dollars.
These are just the most serious cases.
Other villages that will have to be moved at some point include Bethel, Unalakleet, Dillingham, Kaktovik, and others.
The cheapest solution would be to just buy everyone a condo in Anchorage, but they have not been socialized to live in a city, and this would kill off the way of life they have kept for thousands of years.
The fedral government has paid to help people hurt by Hurricane Katrina. Bush is saying he will use tax money to help people hurt in the California wildfires. Should the government be consistant and pay to move the villages?
If not, who should pay? The residents practice “subsistance living”, surviving mostly by killing what hey need to eat and using the skins for clothes. They have very little money.