We Are All Smith Islanders: The Local Effects of Climate Change

In 2004 the Chesapeake Climate Action Network created the film "We Are All Smith Islanders" to put a local face on climate change. The movie shows poignant examples of how global warming is already changing the Chesapeake Bay region. Through both erosion and sea level rise, Smith Island, an inhabited island in the Bay reachable only by boat, has already lost a notable amount of land. If the sea level continues to rise as predicted, Smith Island will entirely disappear.

Tomorrow, Saturday, October 24, people all over the world will be staging events calling for action to reach 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (we're already at 390 PPM). "They’ll be school children planting 350 trees in Bangladesh," says the invite, "scientists hanging banners saying 350 on the statues on Easter Island, 350 scuba divers diving underwater at the Great Barrier Reef." The main event in DC kicks off at Malcolm X Park at noon, with a march down to the White House "mid-afternoon," wrapping up at 5:00.

Need inspiration? Watch this movie. We are all Smith Islanders.