The rice fields are washed away. Coconut trees and chili plants, flooded with salt water, are all dead. The farmers’ fish ponds fail, the water getting so high that the fish swim over the nets. And trash carried by the tides float in and out of homes with doors that no longer can be shut.
On the northern coast of Central Java, Indonesia, villages are hit hard as sea levels rise, one of many effects of climate change. Many homes have been “raised” with cement or dirt several times over in an effort by occupants to keep dry. Others can only be accessed when the tide is low, trapping people inside for hours at a time.
