기후 변화로 생긴 알라스카의 난민들: Alaska’s Climate Refugees

ALAN TAYLOR

The village of Newtok, Alaska, sits on the shore of the Ninglick River, on increasingly unstable land affected by erosion and melting permafrost. To escape the predicted collapse of the village site, residents will soon have to relocate to more stable ground. Newtok, with a population of approximately of 375 ethnically Yupik people, was founded in 1959, but the Yupik have lived on the coastal lands along the Bering Sea for thousands of years. Today, as global temperatures rise, Newtok and several other remote Alaskan villages are threatened by melting permafrost, widening rivers, coastal erosion, and larger storms that come in from the Bering Sea. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the highest point in Newtok—the school—could be underwater by 2017. A new village site called Mertarvik has been established about nine miles away, though so far families have been slow to relocate. Getty Images photographer Andrew Burton spent several days in Newtok recently, documenting the environment, the new town site, and the Yupik way of life in this threatened remote village.

• A Yupik child stands on a wooden walkway used to help cross unstable ground, on June 30, 2015, in Newtok, Alaska. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• The village of Newtok, connected by a network of boardwalks, seen from a plane on June 29, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Yupik children play in Newtok during summer vacation on June 30, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Children run on wooden sidewalks—created so people don’t sink into the melting permafrost—on July 5, 2015, in Newtok. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Newtok homes situated among swampy ground, ponds, and tall grass on July 3, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Erosion on the shore of the Ninglick River in Newtok, photographed on July 3, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Buildings sit in newly established Mertarvik, the future location of Newtok village, photographed on July 2, 2015, nine miles from the present town site. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Newtok residents check out the future location of their village on July 2, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Jamin Tom takes his family to see his parents by way of a four-wheeler with a trailer attached on July 3, 2015, in Newtok. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• A Yupik girl rides her bike late in the evening on July 3, 2015, in Newtok. 

  Andrew Burton / Gett
  
  

• A puppy sits next to a walrus skull and a chainsaw in Newtok on July 3, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• A destroyed snow machine sits in the grass in Newtok on July 3, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• A Yupik family eats a meal of salmon that is half-dried, then smoked and boiled, in Newtok on July 3, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Jamin Tom attempts to ride his snow machine across a pond in Newtok on June 30, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Yupik children help recover a snow machine, which sank when its owner attempted to drive across a pond, on June 30, 2015, in Newtok. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Yupik children play on their tablets in a one-room house in Newtok on July 3, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Samuel John watches as his father, Joseph John Jr., gets soaked driving their boat while salmon fishing on July 1, 2015, in Newtok. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Samuel John sits at the bow of his father’s boat while heading out to go salmon fishing on July 1, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Joseph John Jr. relaxes with his son, Samuel John, age 8, while waiting for the tide to come in after a day of salmon fishing on July 1, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Joseph John Jr. hauls in nets while salmon fishing on July 1, 2015 near Newtok. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• A Yupik woman prepares freshly caught salmon for curing on June 30, 2015, in Newtok. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Strips of freshly caught salmon hang to dry on June 30, 2015, in Newtok. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Boys play next to the freshwater-storage tank, one of the only places to get fresh water in Newtok, on July 5, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• The body of Nancy Beaver, who died in Anchorage in hospice care after a series of strokes, is brought into her sister's house for viewing on July 5, 2015, in Newtok. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• The body of Nancy Beaver is viewed by Newtok villagers on July 5, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Yupik children play during summer vacation in Newtok on June 30, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Nathan Tom plays drums in his shed in Newtok on July 3, 2015. 

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• Noah Carl plays with guns while hanging out at his friend’s house in Newtok on July 3, 2015. 

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• A child rests on a piece of machinery during Fourth of July celebrations on July 4, 2015, in Newtok. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Robert Page tracks a musk ox during a hunting expedition on Nelson Island on July 2, 2015, near Newtok, Alaska. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Eddie Lopez hunts for duck on Nelson Island on July 2, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
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• Polo the dog eats a freshly killed beaver during a hunting expedition on Nelson Island on July 2, 2015, near Newtok. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Eddie Lopez and Robert Page cook duck over a fire during a hunting trip on Nelson Island on July 2, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• People walk on the raised wooden sidewalks of Newtok on July 5, 2015. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty
  
  

• Yupik children play in the grass late in the evening on July 3, 2015, in Newtok, Alaska. 

  Andrew Burton / Getty