The Marshall Islands: A nation that fears it's on the brink of extinction 

It's a bit heartbreaking honestly.

This has been their land since the 2nd millennium BC. They've been there for over 3000 years with their own history, language and culture. All to be displaced within the space of a few short decades, because of greenhouse emissions that only ~150 years ago.

By the way, if you haven't read about the link of Austronesian people throughout the Pacific and Indian Oceans, I really recommend it. They were the first humans to invent sailing technology and had incredibly sophisticated navigation techniques even thousands of years BC. They used outrigger canoes to sail all the way from Indonesia to Madagascar!! Starting from 350BC!! That's the entirety of the Indian Ocean. It would've taken months. There are very few stops on the way. Somehow they did it. It blows my mind. They're one of the most amazing cultures/civilisations and we know next to nothing about them in the West. They had link far before England had ever built a single ship. The genetics of current-day Madagascan people are pretty much an equal mix of Southeast Asian and East African.

Somehow this turned into an Austronesian culture nerd-out lol

"During the Cold War, the United States used the Bikini atoll as a testing ground for nuclear weapons... The nuclear fallout from that bomb was so wide, ash rained down on the outer atolls. For years, residents from there have suffered from birth defects and high rates of cancer. Today, more than 50 years later, their land is still contaminated by radiation."
Jesus christ

In June 2017, President Donald Trump delivered another crushing blow to the islands with the announcement that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris climate accord. “The United States government… let us down," Paul said. "This is… life and death for us. It's really a death sentence.”
Oh good more fuel for my deep loathing of Donald Trump

The U.S. is responsible for one of the world's largest carbon footprints, but it's some of the smallest nations that are most affected by their giant neighbors to the north.
Developed nations (including Australia) get all the benefits of carbon emissions and developing nations largely bear the costs. It's pretty much a type of plundering. Environmental neo-colonialism.

Only we can change us. Shit's gettin pretty urgent.

"Trump delivered another crushing blow to the islands with the announcement that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris climate accord." This is one of the many needlessly evil things that I think he did. But yeah, it's just terrifying. Pretty sure I saw another article about how 1/3 or the population left for refuge in America because of this.

Yeah I've seen the 1/3 figure too. Just mental. We're probs gonna watch entire human cultures be dispersed and lose their traditions / customs / community within our lifetimes.

There is some good news though. link just popped up on The Guardian:"Pacific nations herald Biden presidency amid hope for action on climate emergency"

Optimism abounds as leaders from Fiji to Papua New Guinea welcome the new US president-elect.

“Congratulations Joe Biden,” [Fiji Prime Minister] Frank Bainimarama tweeted on Saturday afternoon. “Together, we have a planet to save from a climate emergency and a global economy to build back better from Covid-19.”

Biden has already committed the US to re-joining the Paris Climate Accord on the first day of his presidency, and to convening a global climate summit within his first 100 days in office.

The editorial board of the Samoa Observer wrote: “Mr Biden is a world away from President Trump on the issue of climate change ... there are reasons for Samoa – and the Pacific – to be optimistic.”

"Biden has already committed the US to re-joining the Paris Climate Accord on the first day of his presidency, and to convening a global climate summit within his first 100 days in office." This would be fantastic honestly. Like I know Biden isn't going to make any profound changes; it's probably going to be more about undoing damages (and then he's going to be seen as having accomplished nothing because that's how it's going to look when his whole term is going to be spent getting the country back to where it was before).