Climate change around the world

We need to hear the stories of those who suffer its consequences and struggle to find ways to halt it. Part of what Greenpeace does is to give a voice to these first hand witnesses of climate change. Here is what some of them have to say:

Guanli Wang, Chinese journalist in Tibet

Glaciers in the Himalayas provide the water source for one-sixth of humanity. But that water source is threatened by climate change. Read a testimonial from Guanli Wang, a journalist with China S&T, who joined an expedition documenting climate change in action in 2007.

The Himalayas' dying glaciers

Lonnie Dupre, Greenland explorer

Lonnie describes an expedition to circumnavigate Greenland:
"We came to a place where the map (dated 1982) showed that two glaciers should be jutting out a mile to sea.  Not only were the glaciers no longer there, they had receded about a mile inland."

Jack Stalker, Point Lay, Alaska

"There was no landlocked ice like there used to be, in front of our land claim which is 50 miles from Kotzebue and 40 miles from Kivalina.  There was only slush ice, and it was right down to the beach. In previous years we’d have icebergs and ice build up right next to the shore. This year there was hardly any. Slush ice is usually the fall ice, but when it happens in January and February it’s strange."

Murali Dhara Malick, Orissa, India

Murali Dhara Malick, lived on the east coast of Orissa. His house was washed away by a sea surge in 2004 and his family was forced to move inland.
"When I was a child, the village of Kanhapur was not on the beach, but among paddy fields. I know that my grandfather was born in this village and that people have lived here for at least one hundred years. Until two months ago, I lived in a house my father built 20 years ago. It used to take us a whole day to go out to the sea and come back home.

But the sea moved nearer and nearer to our home until it was only 100m away. On a full moon night two months ago, the whole house was destroyed by a huge wave. My wife and I had no time to save anything. Once the water washed over the house, it collapsed. One of my sons became trapped and I had to pull him from the mess. We ran for our lives."

John Kulowiyi, Sr, Savoonga, Alaska

"When I was younger, we used to go out on the ice. It was real solid. But as the years go by the ice started getting thinner and thinner... We have shore ice here about a mile and a half to two miles out. That’s solid ice, but out beyond two miles is loose ice now. It’s always loose, all the way to Nome. It used to be frozen all the way to Siberia. Solid, big, ice. Good, thick ice."

Gail Moto, Deering, Alaska

"We’ve really been hunting for berries the last three years but this is the worst. We knew that was going to happen because the elders know that the rain is connected to the berries, and they know if there is no rain, the berries are going to be poor. There’s been less and less rain. It’s easy for us to tell too because this is a desert region, the Arctic desert and we don’t have much rain to begin with."

Patagonia: Where has all the ice gone?

Due to global warming, Chile's ice fields in Patagonia are suffering the fastest glacial retreat on Earth. Jorge Quinteros, who first visited the area during an expedition 50 years ago, joins Greenpeace to visit the area now. Visit our international site to read his story.