There was a heart wrenching story yesterday about Aleutian islanders on National Public Radio. For centuries, the residents of this remote area in the Bering sea off the eastern coast of Siberia (but actually part of the US) have had a comfortable subsistence life. About 1400 people live on St. Lawrence Island. They hunt whales, walrus, seals, but the pack ice (thick ice that builds up over several years) they have counted on to bring the sea animals closer in to the island has not been observed for eight years. The ice now is much thinner and therefore more dangerous. It is also arriving much later in the year than it once did. In 2006, ice did not come until December, when just 20 years ago, it came regularly in August or September when kids were heading back to school.

This is real - and it isn't some hoax. Local people have been recording the weather and sea changes for decades - after all, the hunt is their livelihood, and the success of the hunt depends on understanding the sea.

And the sea has changed, and it will keep on changing, and these islanders who have survived in this place for about 2,000 years will have to adapt rapidly, or like many of their young people who kill themselves (the island has the highest suicide rate in Alaska), the entire culture may die.