DeepSummary
The podcast episode features an interview with author Earl Swift about his book 'Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island.' Swift discusses the unique island community of Tangier, located in the Chesapeake Bay, and the challenges it faces due to rising sea levels and erosion caused by climate change.
Swift provides insights into the way of life on Tangier Island, where residents are primarily descended from the island's first European settlers and have maintained a distinct accent and cultural traditions revolving around fishing and crabbing. He highlights the islanders' perspectives on climate change, with many remaining skeptical despite visible evidence of the island's disappearance.
The episode explores the complexities of addressing Tangier Island's predicament, including the astronomical costs of potential solutions like seawalls and land elevation. Swift also touches on the island's history of overcoming past challenges through prayer and the residents' belief in divine intervention, even as the threat of becoming climate refugees looms.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Tangier Island, located in the Chesapeake Bay, is a unique community facing the threat of disappearance due to rising sea levels and erosion caused by climate change.
- The island's residents, primarily descended from its first European settlers, maintain a distinct accent and way of life centered around fishing and crabbing.
- Many residents of Tangier Island are skeptical about climate change and sea level rise, despite visible evidence of the island's disappearance.
- Addressing Tangier Island's predicament through solutions like seawalls and land elevation would be incredibly costly, with estimates in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
- The island's residents have a history of overcoming past challenges through prayer and a belief in divine intervention, even as they face the possibility of becoming climate refugees.
- Author Earl Swift's book 'Chesapeake Requiem' provides an in-depth look at the Tangier Island community and the challenges they face due to climate change.
- The episode highlights the complexities of addressing climate change and its impacts on vulnerable communities like Tangier Island.
- The isolation and unique culture of Tangier Island make it a compelling case study for the effects of climate change on small island communities.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “They're 12 miles from the nearest port, separated from the rest of America by a moat of 18 trillion gallons of often tempestuous water.“ by Earl Swift
- “The book opens with a scene in which Carol goes to upwards to the beach there. It's an uninhabited section of the island, the site of a former settlement, long abandoned.“ by Earl Swift
- “No, 15 to 20, maybe 25, 25 at the most.“ by Earl Swift
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Episode Information
Broken Ground
Southern Environmental Law Center
6/9/20
Earl Swift is author of Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island. He talks about the slow disappearance of this unique Virginia island to climate change.