On the Front Lines of Climate Change

Here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, signs that climate change has arrived are all around us. We see it in our disappearing beaches, the flooding of our homes, the ever-looming menace of wildfire. In this ongoing series, we tell the stories of people living on the front lines of climate change.

Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat/2022

Lifeblood For Pacific Islands Threatened As Warming Ocean Drives Tuna East

Residents of small Pacific island nations rely on tuna for local jobs and foreign fishing fees, which fund education, healthcare, roads and more. Amid climate change, fishermen have been working harder to catch fewer fish and it’s getting worse.

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Ranches Cover A Fifth Of Hawaiʻi. Extreme Drought Is Clouding Their Future

Big Island ranches stand out for their commitment to grass-fed beef. As climate changes, they are offloading more calves to the mainland.

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Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2025
(Thomas Heaton/Civil Beat/2025)

Can This Tree Still Save Us? In Some Places It’s Barely Hanging On

ʻUlu, bia, uru, mā: Breadfruit has been lauded as a climate-resilient solution to world food security. That’s not proving true in the Marshall Islands, where some have relied on it for centuries.

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A Storm Leveled Their School. 7 Years Later, They’re Still Waiting For Help

Saipan’s Hopwood Middle School is a haunting symbol of a super typhoon’s legacy from 2018 and how Pacific cyclones, their threats growing amid climate change, can plague communities years after they pass through.

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Thomas Mangloña II