Sea level Rise, Place and People: Kiribati
An island in the Federated States of Micronesia. Photo by Marek Okon on Unsplash
Our July 20th Climate Cafe Multifaith our conversation centered on the impact of sea level rise on place and people. Our guest, Dr. Mike Roman, spent years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Island nation of Kiribati (pronounced Keer-eh-bahs). He built close ties with members of the community, and speaks as a first hand witness of the cost to people, land, and culture when the sea levels rise. Dr. Roman filmed the following TEDtalk in November 2018.
Scroll down for videos and movie trailers, as well as a transcription of the conversation at the Climate Cafe. Click over to our one-sheet repository, including a one-sheet on sea level rise.
Dr. Roman shared many words of experience and wisdom as we shared conversation together at the Cafe. Quotes to follow soon.
In addition to the TEDtalk, Dr. Roman has been an outspoken advocate for Kiribati, and been involved with The Climate Reality Project and others in producing films, offering talks, and writing about Kiribati and other island nations. The wisdom and clarity he offers is a gift in the midst of such tremendous loss.
Current, past & ongoing projects can be found on Dr. Mike Roman’s page, and include:
Weight of the World (Kiribati) produced for 24 Hours of Reality in 2017
One Word, a2020 documentary amplifying the voices of the Marshallese people in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Anote’s Ark, ‘What if your country was swallowed by the sea?’ an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018.
The conversation with Dr. Michael Roman was so very enlightening, agonizing, hopeful, and heartfelt. What follows is a transcription of our conversation, edited for length. There was so much more as we talked together! I am sorry not to include it all, but the conversations at the Café are often deep ones. Our commitment to sharing the information of the Café exists alongside the effort to ensure it is a space where folks can share their heart openly. I have highlighted especially helpful quotes.
Dr. Roman shared with us a basic history of Kiribati and other Island Nations, to find information about that history, here is a great article from Toda Peace Institute, it covers the history and current political challenges that include colonialism, resource exploitation, nuclear testing, property rights, and the Anglican Church: China, Kiribati, Fiji, and a Village on Vanua Levu.
Dr. Roman also shared some of his stories as a Peace Corps volunteer and advocate for Kiribati and other Island Nations. Find information about Michael Roman’s journey in the article he published first in April 2020 in WorldView Magazine, reprinted by the Peace Corps: The Day Begins Here.
—Transcription from the Cafe—
Michael Roman: Nowhere in the world has there ever been a case like Kiribati, nowhere in the world has there ever been a potential loss of national sovereignty due to climate change. War, or political instability, but not because of climate change. In relation to adaptation and mitigation, in the global geopolitical context, we see that the world isn't ready to face the onslaught of devastating climate change impacts on nations and peoples.
“nowhere in the world has there ever been a potential loss of national sovereignty due to climate change. ”
Many times, people don't act to resolve a situation until the situation happens to them. That’s what I find most impactful when talking about climate change. I humanize it. I offer a narrative less frequently heard from places unknown, and when I approach it like that, the typical arguments against science fail. People cannot argue against your truth.
[Question: What is the timeline for sea-level rise in Kiribati?]
Michael Roman: We've gone past the time. My Kiribati's father's village went under the ocean back in 2009. So, in my context, we are way past a timeline, there is no question about that.
[Question: If you had a magic wand, what would you do?]
Michael Roman: If I have a magic wand? (For here) Make America care again, give the world a conscious that creates transformational compassion. If I could make the world go back to kindergarten, you know, seminal experiences of what's right and what's wrong, how to cooperate, how to play fair, how to apologize, how to treat each other with dignity, respect, and humanity— that, we are what will defeat climate change.
There's a saying in Congress, “the winning narrative wins legislation” — and that's true. Many times, we have a call to be a witness, an official witness, or a professional witness, and why do people want to hear the story? They don't want to cry, they don't want to be shocked, but, yes, ultimately, they are. People have cried, they are shocked, they are dumbfounded. They don't know what to say. It’s a wake-up call. People have never thought about this. They have never been inconvenienced to think about this.
“People have cried, they are shocked, they are dumbfounded. They don’t know what to say. It’s a wake-up call. ”
The magic wand would make people human. Because humans are good. And to the day I die, I'm going to say that.
Hildur Palsdottir: In Iceland we're very aware of climate change because glaciers are melting at record speed. But here on the Gold Coast of Long Island where I live the view is of protecting your own wealth at the cost of whomever, “as long as I get my Starbucks I'll be fine”… it's hard to get people to care if they have more than enough. It's very interesting, we go to church, we pray and then we consume or do things that kill and destroy. It is heartbreaking to reflect on the lives lost to climate change. I found it striking that wealthy countries received the front page of New York times—with the loss of lives in Germany significant enough to receive the front page. Maybe this will shift the narrative now that wealthy countries are also affected?
Michael Roman: I also partner with IOM at the United Nations international organization on migration. They have been writing and doing a lot of publishing of climate migration and talking in the future tense. I argue that migration is a form of adaptation. We are raising the profile of Kiribati and all other small island developing states at risk. To some, it may look like we're throwing up the white flag, but well no, we were forced to throw up this white flag because of the historical inaction taken by larger countries around the world. We have been telling the world for 30 plus years, we've been the international warning, the siren for 33 years, and we've been ignored. So yes, now it's coming to you, the USA, now it's coming to Germany, now it's coming to Canada, now it's coming to all the developed countries that caused the problem.
“—we’ve been the international warning, the siren for 33 years, and we’ve been ignored.”
I—Kiribati see the world differently, we see the world through humans, we don't see the world through money. Money—you can't talk to money if you're sad... You can't have dinner and share it with money, that's not the I—Kiribati focus. That has never been our focus. And I think the world would do a great deal to learn these lessons of humanity from the village. If we look at it through a more familiar social context - the world is the village, and just like a family, we are all connected. Change the narrative from money to people, and you will see.
Terrence Ellen: You speak with great power because you speak with great truths, and I think you're speaking to the heart rather than to the brain. I think you're speaking to humans becoming fully compassionate humans. I think of old Jeremiah waiting for the day when God says, ‘you know, I'm going to write my law in your hearts. Not on some tablet or something, I'm going to write it in your hearts. ... You've got the whole western part of the United States now up in absolute crisis and that will wake people up. But I think you're right, I think what is needed now is a real turning to our hearts. In that lies real hope for climate justice and for all the justice issues, where the disenfranchised are not cast aside, where we create a livable, even joyous and sustainable, life together. I'll say repentance in one way, but even more so a turning toward something truly beautiful. You evince it in the way you talk about this and how you present it.
Michael Roman: I love that, Terry, a turning of the human heart. The manuscript I'm currently working on is when there was no money and the turning of the human heart sounds akin to the message I aim to craft.
Dan King: Yesterday I was in on a call with our state representatives and our congressperson about the futility of putting up a wall along the ocean to stop the tidal intrusion during hurricanes and big storms, and I'm just struck by the parallels. We can waste a lot of energy and time trying to deal with the symptoms of climate change rather than addressing climate change directly. They're willing to spend billions on a wall to save hundreds of billions of dollars in petrochemical and refinery facilities along the Gulf Coast when they should be wiping out the petrochemical industry in favor of putting in renewable energy sources. You can't build a wall high enough. I empathize with Michael's appeal to the humanity of all peoples to address this issue for all of us, not just Kiribati.
Richenda: Dan, I so resonated with that. Mike, your presence here is very grounded, realistic, compassionate, and forward-looking, all while holding the past. But when I heard some of what you said, I feel this anger, this deep rage. As a person who lives in Southern Oregon, literally at this moment, we have the Bootleg and other fires like the Almeda Fire—and what you get is trauma. Folks here are traumatized. Mike, you talk about the narrative, you go to Capitol Hill, you're mindful, you've worked on these films to communicate to, as Terry said, turn the heart. What have you learned in that process? How can that help us in our little places to tell our stories and make a difference?
Michael Roman: I think every one of us has it because we've all experienced some kind of climate impact — they used to call them natural disasters, I call them unnatural disasters, because our collective actions have made these worse, and larger, and more frequent.
I also have to say that I've been doing this for a couple of decades. I've gone through different stages. At first, I was angry, and would shout during my presentations. I was the laughingstock of Iowa, I was the crazy looney tune. I went from an ocean of water to an ocean of corn and soy. I started talking about it back then and was very angry. I've gone through many stages and emotions. I've come back to the realization that I'm not going to point the finger; there's no use in that. I'm not going to argue the science. Science is important, yes, and we all need it for climate change. But what the bottleneck is, is the human story and I am an anthropologist. I study humanity as a profession, that is me. I'm going to use the best tool I have, the sharpest knife in my box, and I'm going to work through humanity and that's what I'm doing.
“...we need to see each other and respect each other for the knowledge and the experiences we have because together we can make the world better.”
...we need to see each other and respect each other for the knowledge and the experiences we have because together we can make the world better.
[Question: It is in a sense too late for some island countries and some islands. Do you think it is too late for us?]
Michael Roman: Is it too late? No. No, and I'm resolute in saying that it's not too late. It's not too late for where we are right now because I believe hope is the greatest communicator. It's also the greatest ally that we have. Hope and love can conquer everything as far as I'm concerned. The transformational compassion that I talk about is combined with hope and love and as long as you have those it's not too late for anything.
I know I am speaking to religious clergy, I'm not an expert, but in every text that I’ve seen, there is a connection between nature, humans, compassion, and love. I think every religion has it right, we are capable of great things with great empathy and great love for others. And as long as we hold onto that, it's never too late.
“we are capable of great things with great empathy and great love for others. And as long as we hold onto that, it’s never too late. ”
As far as money and humanity, well—we learned by our mother, father, grandmother, some kind of elder, we learned. And it's by that learning and that connection you know money can't divide human love. As far as I'm concerned, Love is greater than money, the cause of our current environmental catastrophe. It will always be.
RESOURCES: Click over to our one-sheet repository for a list of one-sheets from faiths4future, including a one-sheet on sea level rise. Learn more about our Climate Cafes with more topics to come for the Climate Cafe Multifaith.
Rev. Richenda Fairhurst is here for the friendship and conversations about climate, community, and connection. She organizes the Climate Cafe Multifaith as a co-leader of Faiths4Future. Find her in real life in Southern Oregon, working as Steward of Climate with the nonprofit Circle Faith Future.