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Roughly Speaking episode 426:

Scientists believe Tangier Island, in the Virginia waters of the Chesapeake Bay, could vanish within the next 25 years. Two-thirds of Tangier's land mass has disappeared since the time of the Civil War, and in recent years sea-level rise caused by global warming took more acres from the island. Fewer than 500 people remain there. Many of them voted for Donald J. Trump, share his rejection of climate change as the reason for their existential challenge and insist that a seawall around the island would save it from further "wave erosion."

The deeply religious islanders have frequently been in the media spotlight, often the subject of derision and ridicule for their climate change denials and support of Trump. Journalist and author Earl Swift spent more than a year on Tangier, learning about the island way of life and the work of the watermen who've harvested blue crabs and oysters for generations. Swift has written an elegiac book about the place and the people who could well become the Chesapeake's first climate change refugees. The book is, "Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island," published by Harper Collins.

In this episode: A talk with Swift following his appearance at the 2018 Baltimore Book Festival; excerpts of a CBS News report, a Stephen Colbert monologue and "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee."

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