Out of land and almost underwater, the country of Kiribati may move to Fiji

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http://grist.org/list/out-of-land-and-almost-underwater-the-country-of-kiribati-may-move-to-fiji/

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Lawrence Caramel (who sounds delicious) at The Guardian has the story, complete with weird British spellings and distances measured in kilometers:

The people of Kiribati, a group of islands in the Pacific ocean particularly exposed to climate change, now own a possible refuge elsewhere. President Anote Tong has recently finalised the purchase of 20 sq km on Vanua Levu, one of the Fiji islands, about 2,000km away.

The Church of England has sold a stretch of land mainly covered by dense forest for $8.77m. “We would hope not to put everyone on [this] one piece of land, but if it became absolutely necessary, yes, we could do it,” Tong told the Associated Press…

Within a few decades, small islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans risk being extensively or even completely submerged. In places the sea level is rising by 1.2cm a year, four times faster than the global average.

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1. Drunk out of their minds on liberal Kool-Aid, no doubt.

How else would one explain leaving their native land?

Lack of Kiribati exceptionalism?

IIRC, Kiribati got the international dateline re-drawn so that Kiribati would be the first nation to welcome the new millenium, rather than the last. Consequently, the island nation of Tonga was second, not first, and American Samoa, not Kiribati, was last.

If any part of that was to draw the attention of the rest of the world to Kiribati's plight so that other nations would clean up their act, literally, I guess it didn't work.

We were too busy panicking about the end of world, as we know it. Some thought it would be the result of fulfillment of Biblical prophesies made before New Year existed. Some thought it could be brought about by the combination of computer programming and an arbitrary change on our desk calendars might end the world. (Remember that? Good times.) But, neither happened, so the doomsday fans turned their attention away from the Egyptian calendar (by way of Julius Caesar) to the Mayan calendar.

Meh. The international dateline was only one more arbitrary thing white European businessmen did to people of color, anyway. It even went through some houses, so that it could be Wednesday at your bed and Thursday at your dresser.

But, back to global warming, another gift from the job creators, but this time, it's a "gift" to everyone, including their very own grandkids. And they could still care less.

But, remember, it's unfair to tax them at a higher rate and, if the right wants anything, it wants justice for all.

I trust the sarcasm emote is unnecessary? Then again, I guess don't really trust or I would not have added that question.