Permafrost thawed by climate change threatens remote villages in Alaska

In the arctic tundra of Alaska, climate change is forcing an Alaskan native village to relocate. Rising temperatures are melting the ice under the ground called permafrost. The melted ice then mixes with the soil, creating unstable land. The Yup'ik people call it Alaskan quicksand. From Alaska, Amalia Huomarchand and a team from the Medill School of Journalism report. The houses, it's sinking. Every year my floor falls six inches, hole around the house. Edna Chase, 60 years old, lives in the Alaskan village of Nunalpichuk. She's been in this home for 53 years, but now, due to rising temperatures, the permafrost underground is melting. Her house is sinking in what they call Alaskan quicksand. There's no more foundation. It's under the ground. I got three floors, two underwater, and the top one can't dry. Sometimes I have to have five fans going. Man, it stinks in here. She has to pump the water from under her house every 15 minutes to keep it from flooding. You see the water? 700 Yup'ik natives call Nunalpichuk home. Water is a major threat to village infrastructure, but it's also a part of daily life. The village is divided into three islands by the Johnson River, where kids swim, people fish for subsistence, and the post office delivers packages by boat. The melting permafrost affects every aspect of life here. The only way to get around is walking on boardwalks, which are in constant need of repair. Most infrastructure is severely damaged. According to village authorities, the town and surrounding area will be uninhabitable within 10 to 15 years. So, residents voted to relocate to higher ground in 2023. We are on the brink now. Morris Alexie is a Nunalpichuk resident leading the relocation efforts. He took us to the new location by boat. It's only three miles away, but at least 20 feet higher above sea level. The village bought this land four years ago, and the more firm, stable land should allow buildings to last for centuries. It would be a relief for this is, as you can see, high and dry over here. To move here, they need the support and financial assistance of the U.S. government, but bureaucratic hurdles have slowed this process. With this new administration in the federal government, it seems like we were making some steps forward, and then this was like a step back again. 143 other villages in Alaska are imminently threatened by climate change, according to Permafrost Pathways. It would cost more than $150 million to move Nunalpichuk. But experts from Permafrost Pathways and the federal government said that coordination, not money, is the main stumbling block. At least 15 different federal agencies play a part in the relocation process, with no leading authority to steer the efforts. It's a piecemeal approach, and it isn't working well. Alfredo Gomez is the director of the natural resources and environment team of the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Our recommendations are that a federal entity, if it's going to be the federal government, needs to sort of be in charge of coordinating and helping the communities make those moves. C.J. McCormick is a lifelong resident of Bethel, the closest city to Nunalpichuk. He represented the 38th District of Alaska in the state legislature for two years. There are solutions to these problems that are being ignored because of bureaucracy or just almost willful ignorance, to be frank. During his term, he says he saw strong political pushback towards climate relocation. I don't think it's a tenable situation to tell someone just to leave. You're telling them essentially to just give up their culture and give up their ancestry and things like that. Relocation is even more urgent because the melting permafrost has created severe health issues for many Nunalpichuk residents. According to Morris Alexie, the banks of the sewage lagoon and the dump site are eroding. Remnants of wastewater are seeping into the river. Our dump sites, our lagoons, they are all upstream of the river. It's not good for our health right here. The damaged homes are also allowing cold winds in, creating a damp, frigid environment that lets severe mold develop. As a result, many residents, including Edna's 15-year-old son, have developed chronic respiratory diseases. My son started using inhaler and his dad, who used to live here, uses a nebulizer. If there is no federal or international action on climate change, scientists project that village temperatures will rise by nearly 15 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. At that point, there will be no solid ground in Nunalpichuk. But as you can see, I would probably be really stuck if I was alone in there. Edna Chase says the federal government has no idea of the conditions that she and the village are living in. Washington, D.C., you guys should come and look at it firsthand with your own eyes. You come and smell each house. You'll smell the stents. You'll see green mold, black mold all over. How could you live with that? For the people of Nunalpichuk, including Morris Alexie, moving to the nearest town, Bethel, is not an option. What we want to preserve is the way of life we have known since time beginning. But whether the Yupik people in Nunalpichuk will manage to relocate before their village sinks will depend on how fast temperatures rise and what assistance they can get from the federal government. For PBS NewsHour, I'm Amalia Uyomachan with the Medill School of Journalism in Nunalpichuk, Alaska.