The Turnstone: talking about climate change #6

Climate change and Pacific Islands (2 minute read)

You think you have decades before your home fall beneath tides

We have years, we have months

Before you sacrifice us again

Before you watch from your tv screens and computer screens to see if we will still be breathing while you do nothing

From Rise by Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner (Marshall Islands) and Aka Niviâna (Kalaallit Nunaat/ Greenland)

This poem, and writing about Nauru last week, has had me thinking about how New Zealand’s neighbours in the Pacific will be affected by climate change. So, here are some resources about climate change and the Pacific, especially the islands groups with which New Zealand shares close links.

Damage to forest on Niue following tropical cyclone Heta (image credit: Melanie Newfield)

Overview (3 minutes) and country profiles (2- 5 minutes each)

This information, part of the 2021 Glasgow climate change meeting (COP 23), gives specific information on climate change for each Pacific island nation. I’ve linked to the Cook Islands as an example.

The Pacific Islands - Cop23

Cook Islands - Cop23

Climate change in Fiji (3 minute video)

This short video looks at how climate change is affecting coastal villages in Fiji.

Climate change: Rising sea levels in Fiji create 'ghost towns' - BBC News

Climate change in Tonga (5 minute read)

This article looks at the lessons from the recent volcanic eruption and tsunami, and what that can tell us about climate change impacts.

The Tongan Volcano Is a Reminder of Island Nations' Vulnerabilities - Scientific American

Climate change in Samoa (8 minute read with two 30 minute podcasts)

This article talks about the impact of climate change in the Pacific, including some personal insights from the Samoan journalist who wrote the article and put together the podcasts.

In Samoa we are born into land, climate change threatens to take it away from us | Pacific islands | The Guardian

How climate change affects health (7 minute video)

This video from the World Health Organisation looks at the different ways climate change is affecting the health of people in Pacific Island nations, and what the nations are doing about it.

How is climate change affecting the Pacific? (full video) - YouTube

Trouble in paradise (60 photographs)

This exhibition, hosted online by New Zealand’s National Library, features 60 photographs from a competition looking at climate change in the Pacific

Explore Trouble in Paradise | National Library of New Zealand (natlib.govt.nz)

This month’s poem (7 minute video)

This month’s poetry excerpt comes from Rise, a short film based around a poem by Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner (Marshall Islands) and Aka Niviâna (Kalaallit Nunaat/ Greenland). It looks at climate change from the perspective of two very different islands, in a powerful plea for climate action.

See the whole short film and poem here.

The breathing sea: Three short films | National Library of New Zealand (natlib.govt.nz)