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Alaska's Energy Desk | Climate Change | Environment

This woman came all the way to Alaska from the Pacific Islands to talk climate change

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Pelenise Alofa, from the Pacific island of Kiribati, poses for a photo outside Alaska Public Media on Monday, October 1, 2018. She’s in Alaska this week for a climate change conference of indigenous people in Girdwood. (Photo by Nathaniel Herz / Alaska’s Energy Desk)

Climate change and rising sea levels are threatening remote Alaska villages. They’re also hitting other low-lying places around the world, from Bangladesh to the Pacific Islands.

Local leaders from all these places have gathered at an indigenous peoples conference in Girdwood this week. They’re going to tell stories, network and agree on shared principles to guide their advocacy work.

Pelenise Alofa is one of the participants. She’s from Kiribati in the Pacific Islands. Nat Herz with Alaska’s Energy Desk interviewed her and started by asking how she got to Alaska.