President Barack Obama just became the first sitting US president to visit a community north of the Arctic Circle.
During the the three-day trip, President Obama pledged to support aid and shed light on the toll climate change has had on Americans. He also took plenty of selfies, learned survival skills with Bear Grylls and bought every cinnamon bun the Snow City Cafe had to offer.
Watch @POTUS go behind the camera in Alaska to talk about the impacts of climate change: http://t.co/eAVC9RjeMV
https://t.co/5y0EZH9RKi
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 2, 2015
Dan Sullivan, the Republican Senator of Alaska, told the Associated Press that Americans aren't aware of the devastation his citizens face on a day-to-day basis from storm damage and changing seasonal patterns.
"The vast majority of Americans have no idea there are dozens of communities in Alaska that live like this. It's unacceptable, and we need to do more to fix it," he said.
President Obama hiked the Harding Icefield Trail on Tuesday, viewing the tour's melting glacier.
“One new study estimates that Alaska’s glaciers alone lose about 75 gigatons — that’s 75 billion tons — of ice each year,” he said, according the Washington Post.
“To put that in perspective, one scientist described a gigaton of ice as a block the size of the National Mall in Washington — from Congress all the way to the Lincoln Memorial, four times as tall as the Washington Monument."
President Obama bragged to the AP, saying that he now has "visited more tribal communities than any previous sitting president by the time he leaves office."
Here are photos from the president's trip.
(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
