From TreeHugger: Sun Come Up, Carteret Islands. Courtesy Jennifer Redfearn

Though it may be a number of years before your life is personally impacted by climate change, for people in low-lying island nations and the world’s great river deltas rising sea levels and saltwater ruining land is already a fact of life. One such place is the Carteret Islands off the coast of Papua New Guinea. TreeHugger recently interviewed documentary filmmaker Jennifer Redfearn about her work-in-progress Sun Come Up, which chronicles the efforts of these people to uproot their lives and find new homes: TreeHugger: For someone who hasn’t heard of Sun Come Up or the Carteret Islands, what’s the film about and what are the issues? Jennifer Redfearn: Sun Come Up is a documentary following the relocation of the Carteret Islanders who are some the world’s first environmental refugees. Climate change is impacting communities across the globe, but the Carteret Islanders, as far as I can tell, are the first to organize a community-wide evacuation due to climate change. If you don’t know what’s happening to small islands…communities like the Carteret Islands are on the front lines of climate change, because of rising seas and severe weather–they are experiencing more severe storm surges, coastal erosion. On the Carteret Islands, the ocean, during the high tide season, actually rips through the island. Some of the houses have been washed away; it’s contaminated all their freshwater sources on the island; their gardening land, they aren’t able to grow as much food because of the salt water inundation. They now face three severe problems: They have a food and water shortage. They have an increasing population. And, they have decreasing land. So, they need to move and need to move quickly. They are planning to move to Bougainville, which is 50 miles away–another island that is experiencing some of the same problems, like coastal erosion, but it’s mountainous and not as vulnerable as the Carteret Islands. …

With Each Passing Month the Situation Gets More Desperate: Climate Change Sinks Carteret Islanders