?The Arctic Alaska village of Kivalina has recently found itself in the news following a visit to the state from President Barack Obama -- who used the community as an example of the impacts of climate change during a speech in Kotzebue last week -- as well as talk of a new road and a new school, and even the 'R' word: relocation.
But none of those things are the primary concern for Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium Engineering Services Director John Warren. During his many visits in the last decade to the small village on the edge of the Chukchi Sea, Warren wasn't thinking about politics, only health. And in that regard, there was no denying a problem existed.
"We just simply couldn't look the other way," Warren said. "They had no good place to dispose of their human waste."