Rising sea levels, resulting from glacial melt as an affect of human consumption, pose an existential threat to island nations who sit at or below sea level. Underdeveloped Micronesian societies are often unable to absorb the devastating affects that climate change has on the livability of the land. In 1946, the United States relocated citizens of Bikini Atoll on Marshall Islands in order to conduct nuclear testing. Now, the effects of climate change threaten a second exodus of Micronesians from their homeland. A piece from Al Jazeera focuses on the implications of the forced removal of Bikinians to the small neighboring islands. Today, Bikinians on Kili and Ejit face a second wave of mass migration forced by the effects of climate change which have rendered the land almost uninhabitable. The environmental consequences of climate change have occurred as a result of rampant consumerism and industrial production on behalf of the world’s most developed nations, yet those countries who face the most immediate threats are small, underdeveloped island states. So, in order to reduce emissions and halt the damage associated with climate change, would require worldwide cooperation, especially from large global actors.
The YouTube video here showcases poet Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, a native of Marshall Islands living in Hawaii. This poem was performed at the 2014 UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit and was written to expose global leaders to the threat of climate change on island peoples. Jetnil-Kijiner’s poem takes the form of a letter to a newborn child, Matafele Peinem. Her words depict feelings of fear about the destructive effects of rising sea levels for Marshallese culture. She projects anger that small island nations reap the consequences of rampant consumerism in the west, while also portraying the strength of her people, and a will to fight back against the forces that threaten to force emigration. This source provides a limited glimpse into the events of the 2014 Climate Change Summit, and certainly only reflects the bias and emotions of one Marshallese poet, rather than giving us a holistic glance at all perspectives involved on that day. However, this source could be valuable for future historians because it does provide some insight as to the topics discussed at the 2014 U.N. Climate Summit. It also reveals a dynamic range of emotions from a primary source who has grown up to witness the implications of climate change on Micronesians. For historians far in the future, it could additionally provide insight as to the causes and effects of rising sea levels and how those rapid changes spawned a generation of migration by climate change refugees.
Jacquelyn Dupont