Newtok, Alaska
If current predictions play out, the Arctic will see more dramatic warming than anywhere else on Earth. The Inuit village of Newtok is already facing the effects, as coastal storms and thawing permafrost have worn away the land it is built on. The town’s roughly 400 residents voted in 2003 to relocate to higher ground nine miles away, but progress has been slow as residents try to secure approval and funding for roads, houses and an airport at the new site. Newtok’s plight shows that even when a community wants to move, bureaucratic barriers can make the shift difficult.