The New Yorker Radio Hour - Praying for Tangier Island

Episode Date: December 1, 2017

Residents of Tangier Island, in the Chesapeake Bay, live through each hurricane season in fear of a major storm that would decimate their land. With its highest point only four feet above sea level, the island loses ground to erosion every year, and its residents may be among the first climate-change refugees of the United States. “I do believe in climate change,” Trenna Moore, a schoolteacher, says. “But I believe in what it says: centimetres a year. We’re losing feet.” The New Yorker’s Carolyn Kormann and the Radio Hour’s Sara Nics travelled to the island, and spent time with James Eskridge, a commercial crabber and mayor of the town of Tangier, Virginia. A stalwart supporter of Donald Trump, Eskridge told the President of the residents’ desire for a seawall around the entire island. Based on his own observations, Eskridge disputes the entire scientific community that sea-level rise is a threat, but he sees that the danger is real: “If we were to get a hurricane to come in, it would wipe out the whole harbor here, and probably a good chunk of the island.” New Yorker Radio Hour listeners, we want to hear from you.  We have a few questions about the show and how you listen to it. The survey takes about twenty minutes, and your feedback will help us make our podcast better.  Take the survey here.

This is World Trade to the Baroque. Observatory is straight of the block for West Boulevard and make that right. I basically just think it would be interesting to look at the emergence of a criminal economy. And also, I'm always amazed that there aren't more profiles of her out there. This really subversive, strange thing, in rap especially, and see what their lives are like on both sides of the border. From One World Trade Center in Manhattan, this is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. Welcome to the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. 2017 has been quite a year, a horrendous year in some ways, with many natural disasters.

Three of the worst hurricanes in memory, the worst wildfire season on record in California, and from everything climate science tells us, the future holds more frequent events like this, more severe events as the planet continues to warm. Not long ago, as Houston was scrambling to deal with destruction from Hurricane Harvey, The New Yorker's Carolyn Korman was on a small boat. She was there along with the radio hour Sarah Nix in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, and there too a storm was heading their way. We're with the mayor headed out to rescue a baby Osprey.

How old do you think it is? Two babies. Two babies. They're not ready to fly yet, and they might be in trouble with the storm coming. tomorrow. There's a big storm moving toward a low strip of land called Tangier Island. The island's mayor, James Eskridge, is moving a pair of juvenile offspring, big birds of prey that live on the water, to safety. There was a tire last year, almost ready to fly. We had a strong thunderstorm, and when I

went back to it, the birds were going, swept them out of the nest. The mayor is at the wheel of his skiff. He's a tall guy, he has a big must- stash, and you can really see all the years he's spent on the water, and his skin, it's deeply tanned, permanently windburned. Cameron, you want to do? The Osprey nest is in the harbor on a platform that's only about a yard above the water. The waves are lapping up underneath it. The mayor's brought 17-year-old Cameron Evans to help him with the rescue.

You want these stick gloves? I got a net. Cameron leans out of the boat to scoop the bird up. Don't get bored. Tell me when you're got him. Got him. They don't think so right now, but it's further on good. Birds aren't the only thing that could lose their hum in a big storm.

The islanders could, too. The mayor pulls his boat up to the shoreline. It's really just a few inches of sand with a little bit of topsoil that's all held together by the roots of the shoregrass. It's not a rocky shore. Yeah, this material, it's so soft. We need a shoreline like mains got. This was rock along here.

This would be here into the lower. comes back. Tangier Island is not much more than one square mile, and it's shrinking rapidly. It's a third the size it was when it was first settled in the 18th century. People used to live on islands all over the bay, but now Tangier is one of only two

inhabited offshore islands left. Climate change is tripling or even quadrupling the rate at which land is disappearing, and the 450 people who live here could be among the first climate change refugees in the United States. The storm's blown in and the wind is howling through the town at 40 or 50 miles an hour.

The water's high in the tidal rivers and canals that cut through the island. This morning at high tide around 6 a.m., the water level was up to the floor of the house, a little house behind where we're staying. Many of the pathways across the island were covered in water unpassable. And the wind, you can see the rain kind of coming across in sheets like it does in coastal. storm. Yes, this isn't, we're not living on a piece of dry land here. Usually the island's narrow lanes are full of golf carts and scooters, kids tossing footballs. When the sun is shining, it's got a kind of Norman Rockwell feel. Today,

everyone is staying inside. We're supposed to be on a boat back to the mainland, but the ferries aren't running. Raining hard. Was that thunder? No. We're sheltering on the porch of the island's only school, K through 12. It's where Trenum more has been teaching high school math for 18 years. Not at all. She grew up here. She married her high school sweetheart, and she raised her own kids here. Ten years ago, I had five generations living on the island. My grandmother died at 102. She was a devout Christian, and she is the one who got the vision from the Lord that we were

going to get our first seawall. She stood up in church and said, the Lord has skipped me. I've had a vision. And then two years later, we had the seawall dedication. Nearly 30 years ago, a seawall was built on part of the western side of Tangier Island. It's basically a line of huge boulders. It takes the brunt of the waves. My childhood, before the seawall was there, we used to market. What does that mean you would market? Like a big post and what was there last year and all winter,

we would walk down there and just watch that go out to sea. More and other Tangier residents have been watching their island wash away for as long as they can remember. The difference the Western Seawall has made has many of them praying for a wall all the way around the island. The Lord gave my grandmother a word. I don't know if the Lord's gave any. The Lord's not given me a word that we're going to get a seawall. But I am going to give that to the Lord. And if they want to say climate change, I do believe in climate change.

I really do, but I believe in what it says, like centimeters a year. We are losing feet. You can see pictures of our island from one 20 years ago. It's half of that all the way around. The only part that hasn't been eroded in 20 years is the part with the seawall. When Moore looks at what's happening to Tangier, she sees fast-acting erosion, not the climate change that's making it worse. A warming planet means more storms and stronger waves,

And when saltwater floods the land, like it is right now, it kills the trees, the grasses, the other vegetation that hold the sand and the topsoil together. Climate change, when you read about that, isn't it like little, little, little pit? We're losing feet, feet, feet. And it's noticeable feet, feet, feet. Do I think climate change is an issue? I mean, I read about it in Florida, you know, how they're losing parts of their land

and they're like in southern Florida. They say it's because climate change. Now, do I know. I know that it's climate change. I don't know that. I'm reading it, and I'm assuming people that are smart in that area and know what they're talking about.

I'm not going to get into the Al Gore thing, but do I think that was handled correctly? No. We're here for a special CNN town hall on the climate crisis with former vice president Al Gore. I'm Anderson Cooper. I want to welcome our new... Because of what's happening on Tangier,

the island has become an object less known climate change for some people. This summer, CNN invited James Escrow the mayor of Tangier, to be a part of a town hall about climate change. Mayor, welcome. Thank you. Vice President Gore, Mr. Cooper.

I'm a commercial crabber, and I've been working to Chesapeake Bay for 50-plus years. I'm not a scientist, but I'm a keen observer. Our island is disappearing, but it's because of erosion and not sea-level rise. He's wearing a checked button-down shirt and a Tangier Island ball cap, and he looks comfortable on the set,

entirely relaxed, holding the mic. Back to the question, why I'm not seeing signs of the sea level rise. What do you think the erosion is due to, Mayor? Wave action, storms. Has that increased any? Not really. So you're losing the island, even though the waves haven't increased. Gore talked about how hard it can be to translate science into something people can understand and see.

Then he told a kind of joky story. Reminds me a little bit of a story from Tennessee about a guy that was trapped in a flood. And he was sitting on the front porch, and they came by in an SUV to rescue him. And he said, nope, the Lord will provide. And water kept on rising. He went up to the second floor, and they came by the wind in a boat. He said, come on, we're here to rescue. He said, nope, the Lord will provide.

Then he went on up to the rooftop as the water kept rising, and they came over in a helicopter and dropped a rope ladder. He said, nope, Lord will provide. well, he died in the water and went to heaven. He said, God, I thought you were going to provide. And he said, what do you mean? I sent you an SUV, a boat and a helicopter. And I think that what we have heaven sent. Why would you say that to an island that's counting on God?

Trinimore watched the CNN event. What did that have to do with us? So we're saying that if we don't listen and agree with climate change, go ahead and stay here and drown, and the Lord will provide? See, what other conclusion could we come to for that joke? It could also be taken to mean that leaving the island would solve their problem, or that there may be a solution other than a seawall. But Al Gore didn't offer any suggestion about how Eskridge and the other islanders can save their community.

So that's what I couldn't understand, why this great man in climate change, to joke, I was offended. I was offended as a Christian and as a Tangerman, because we need more than a story about drowning and going to heaven from the vice president of the United States. How you see Tangier's predicament depends on where you look. People who are looking for evidence of climate change see it in action on the island.

People who live there watching erosion for as long as they can remember, they see erosion. If the people who are waiting through floodwaters regularly still don't believe that the climate is changing. Maybe that's a testament to how difficult it is for any of us to see. How much of your day every day do you think you spend considering the weather? Probably 60% of it. Yeah.

Yeah, weather is, yeah. Weather is our life. Yeah. Eskridge is showing us around his crab shanty. He's got dozens of blue crabs and tanks out here. We bring the peeler crabs in and we dump them in these tanks. That's what my father used to do and grandfather before him. He's waiting for them to molt so he can sell them as soft shell crabs, Tangier's specialty.

Oh, this one's shedding right now and so's that one, right? Yeah, yep. They're called Busters. Who's this? This is Sam Alito. He looks like a stately old gentleman. Yeah, yep. The mayor's also got cats out at the shanty.

We were having a tropical system, and there was a tree stump drifting in the storm, and there was four kittens hanging onto it. I guess they came from the island, but I went out and picked them up, and they've been here ever since. And they're a conservative group. It's Sam Alito and John Roberts, Condi Rice, and Coulter. He's been working from this spot since he graduated from high school in 1976. The building is about the size of a way.

one-car garage and it's perched on pilinges in the harbor. He points to those piling and says the high watermark is right where it's always been. And that's why he doesn't believe that climate change is causing the sea level to rise. We've had people coming for years about the erosion problem here. I had a lady that told me, mayor, whether you believe in climate change in sea level rise or not, go along with it because you may get funding to the save your island. Who told you that? Some lady, some lady told me, she, you know, just visiting. She had, she was in the government. That's all I'm going to say about that. She said go along with it, go along with it, and you may get the funding

you need because that's the argument of today. And after, I did a couple interviews after that and I would mention sea level rise and climate change in it and I felt real dirty and solid. So I stopped doing it. I said, I can't do it. I don't believe it. I don't believe it. I can't do it.

I spoke with a scientist named David Schulte who studied the impacts of climate change on Tangier Island. And he confirmed to me that the water level is rising in the Chesapeake and that it's forecast to rise up to two feet within this century if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase.

At its highest point, Tangier Island is only four feet. above sea level. Scientists say a seawall all around the island would make it more likely that people could be living there into the next century, but it would cost at the very least $30 million.

And maybe into the hundreds of millions. It's a huge amount of money to us, but to the government it's not a lot of money. Myself and President Trump are on the same page when he talks about America first. I believe in helping

folks out all around the world and we should do that, but we're right here 50 miles from D.C. and we need help. It looked like that help might be on its way this summer when Donald Trump called the mayor. A new spot had gone out about how 90% of the islanders voted for Trump, and Eskrit said he loved the new president like a member of his own family. Sure enough, he gave me a call Monday afternoon. How long was the call? What did you guys talk about? Maybe 10 or 12 minutes. He thanked me and a time.

for our support. And we discussed sea level rise. President Trump and myself were on the same page. We don't see the sea level rise as a threatening thing. I mean, myself, I don't see it happening. The changes that I'm seeing, I believe, a lot of the changes are just natural. Cycles, ups and downs. I mean, myself and Donald Trump talked about that. He said, you know, Tangier's been here for hundreds of years and it'll be here for hundreds of more. It's not clear what Trump meant with his reassurance that Tangier Island will be here hundreds of years from now. And there's been no follow-up since that call. But when we got out about it, Eskridge did hear from other people.

Folks on the island were very excited. But some folks on the mainland, you know, some folks were not very happy with the day. We got some hate mail and phone calls. They called him at home, at his wife's business, and at the town office. There were messages saying the people of Tangier were stupid for voting for Donald Trump. And some people said they hoped the islanders would drown. But those letters and phone calls weren't the only fallout. Later that week, Stephen Colbert brought it up on his show.

Their mayor believes there is a solution to coastal erosion. They need a jetty or perhaps even a seawall around the entire island. and that Trump will cut through red tape and get them that wall. Yes, Trump is going to get them that wall and then make the ocean pay for it. Stephen Colbert. Stephen Colbert completely blew us off. That's all right. I was mentioned on Stephen Colbert publicity.

I don't mind it. Although he shrugs it off, Escortes has stepped into a hornet's nest of politics about climate change and the new president. But there is one thing that the mayor and more. Cameron and the scientists can all agree on. Oh, yeah, if we were to get a hurricane to come in and get like a 130-mile wind like you got in parts of Texas, yeah, it would wipe out the whole harbor here and probably a good chunk of the island.

After the storm, Eskridge and Cameron take the two juvenile Osprey back to their nest. Then they stop at the north end of the island to check out what the storm's done to the coastline. There used to be other towns up here, Oyster Creek, Canaan, Cannon, Rubentown. There used to be farms and houses and cemeteries. They're all long gone. Cameron comes up here to look for arrowheads that are left behind from when Native Americans hunted here.

But now, more land has been lost and lost, and it's just bringing up stuff. Like, foundations of houses up on cannon. Caskets will come out. Caskets? Past people have been buried. When I was up there, arrowhead, and I was walking, where the graveyard used to be looking around,

and I was standing on a casket. I saw the frame of the casket, then I looked down, and I saw the body. But I could see the ring on her finger. I could tell it was a woman. I was young, and I had never saw a body before, and that wasn't a very pretty way to see it, but it was hard to take in. Cameron's finishing high school this year.

He wants to go to college, and then he wants to live and work here on the island. And if we do wash away, I'm really not going to have that hometown anymore to come to. Everybody knows everybody. You build memories upon those people. I know every single person on the island. I know where to leave, who are related to, their animals, their vehicles. It's harder for a person who doesn't live here to think about it because they're not really living it. It's only natural that you'd want to save your community.

They say it's not enough people, but they say, you know, just leave the island and start over, but that's not easy to do, just abandon your home and your business. When I talk about saving Tangier Island, I'm not just talking about saving the island or the land, I'm talking about saving the people, our way of life and our culture. Eskridge points out a big white cross that he's planted in the harbor. God is life is written on it. Some folks say even without a seawall, they said if God is finished with Tangier, then there's nothing going to keep us here.

But if he still has work for us to do, then nothing can take us away from here. It's a helpful way to accept having to leave your home. And some folks, you know, some folks, if we didn't get the help we need, some folks would probably, you know, abandon the island eventually and move to the mainland. myself and some more, you know, we're going to stay here as long as possible. James Eskridge, the mayor of Tangier, Virginia, along with Carolyn Korman and Sarah Nix. I'm David Remnick, and thanks for listening to The New Yorker Radio Hour today. I hope you'll join us next week for the writer Susan Orlean.

She'll talk about her time following the trail of the skater Tanya Harding. You remember her. Her story is the subject of a new movie coming out this month. Until then, look for us on Twitter at New York. The New Yorker Radio. The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. Our theme music was composed and performed by Merrill Garbus of Tuneiards with additional music by Alexis Quadrado. This episode was produced by Alex Barron, Emily Boutin, Ave Carrillo, Riann & Corby, Jill Duboff, Karen Frillman, David Krasnow, Sarah Nix, Michael Rayfeel, Meithelie Rowe, and Stephen Valentino,

with help from Susan Morrison, Emma Allen, Emily Mann, and Jessica Henderson. The New Yorker Radio Hour is supported in part by the Turina Endowment Fund.