Today was the first day that I took the time to visit the ocean side of the island. I wanted to see if there were any signs of erosion and encroachment that might further put things into perspective for me as to how serious the situation is here in Kiribati. I chose a road that looked like it would access the other side of the island without me having to go through the locals yards. There are countless paths that lead into the neighborhoods but I have avoided taking them as that I am still having a hard time getting used to the tight quarters these people live in. It’s strange to see these houses stacked together that don’t have any walls and little to no privacy. I can only imagine what they would think when see white tourist Shaunoh trekking through their back yard in search of new scenic views of the ocean.

The road I followed ended at an elementary school, which was right on the ocean shore. As I mentioned the locals don’t see a lot of tourists and the students happily welcomed me. When I asked these three girls (pictured) if they wanted to have their picture taken they struck-a-pose so quick and so naturally that I caught off guard and hadn’t even had time to pull out my camera.

I thanked them and continued on my way over to the school and stepped out onto the shore and was instantly blown away by two things:

1) How you can see that even at low tide, you can see how close the sea level is to invading the school. The schools shoreline had already been visibly eaten away from the ocean, and the shore protection that has been built to help fend the tide off is in serious disrepair. I later talked with a group of teachers who said that during the exceptional high tides the ocean advances into the classrooms. They are seriously concerned when storms approach the island because the combination of high tide and energized waters threatens the integrity of the school – the foundation is already showing signs of erosion. The thought of the ocean rising a conservative 30cm in the next 50 years is concerning to say the least.

2) The second thing that hits you when you reach the shore is the garbage. I mentioned in an earlier post the issue of waste leaching into the ground water – this is a great example of this. The shore is just littered with garbage. It is such a sad thing to see, you are standing on a beautiful shoreline on the equator and yet you are surrounded by plastic everywhere. The most saddening thing for me was the fact that most of the legible packaging and products were for the most part written in English. Now I understand that the locals miss education is partly to blame for this problem, up until only recently they would leave their garbage on the shore to have the ocean wash it away. But as you come across baseball hats, Nike shoes and other bits of consumerism, you cant help but think that at you are in some way connected to this problem. I don’t know much about the route that garbage can travel in the ocean but I began to wonder if it is possible for some of this mess has washed over from my own city? Thankfully there are NGO’s working with the locals to educate them of the health issues associated with open garbage, as well as helping them develop waste removal programs to manage the island’s current garbage. It is a long road but the locals seem to be starting to understand that their actions can seriously affect their health and hopefully they can overcome some of these health and waste issues.

What can be done?

I have to say that I am even more inspired by Thomas Goreau and team’s project in the Marshall Islands and what it could offer the communities of Kiribati and other Atoll nations. You can see how the installation of proper shore protection to fend off the approaching waves would give this school a fighting chance to keep it’s head above water while the rest of the world gets it’s shit together and work to address global warming (pardon my french). There are 100,000 people in Kiribati and 56,000 in the Marshall Islands. The total population of the only two Atoll countries I am visiting on this trip is 156,000 that alone is a pretty expensive humanitarian relocation program (not including the host of other nations: Maldives, Fiji, etc. that will be effected by rising tides).

Now the last thing I want to do is present an insurmountable situation here. Personally I think that we are all aware of climate change in one degree or another, and we are concerned about its effect on our own well-being. It is my hope that this concern combined with a new understanding of how our actions are severely affecting entire nations like the RMI and Kiribati will provide us with the sense of urgency to look for ways that we can help address this situation. At the risk of preaching, it really is a collective effort by us to make more sustainable choices that will help us win this battle. I am really excited to make this show and showcase both Thomas’s work, motivational severity of this situation and the need for all of us to step up and do our part to help change things.

We can do this.

- Shaun Anderson – McCrea

Director

Dispatch – The Series