I'm 18 and can already see my Alaska community changed forever by climate change

In Sitka, where people have lived for thousands of years, I've seen glaciers shrink, summer droughts and deadly landslides - and our elected officials are doing nothing

When I was seven, I caught a herring with my hands from the beach beside my grandma's house in my hometown of Sitka, Alaska. Herring marks the beginning of spring. Every April, the soft herring rain" seemed to bring the fish into the sound, and I'd watch as the water turned milky and the shallows sparkled with swarming silver schools.

Sitkans gathered on the side of the road to watch the show of sea lions, whales, eagles and fishing boats competing in the million-dollar commercial sac roe fishery. All around the islands, people set out hemlock branches to collect masses of tiny, tasty eggs as part of an annual Tlingit ritual of community and abundance going back to time immemorial.