Story highlights Shishmaref residents vote to move village to mainland

Nearly all 169 registered voters show up to the village meeting to vote

(CNN) The Alaskan village of Shishmaref voted this week to surrender to global warming and move its ancestral home.

The Tuesday vote was close. Eighty-nine people voted to move Shishmaref to the Alaska mainland while 78 voted to stay and fight the rising tide, said Donna Barr, secretary of the Shishmaref Council.

Nearly all the 169 registered voters showed up to the village meeting to vote, she said. The vote was important, perhaps more in symbolism than substance, because while the move isn't imminent, when it happens, both the financial and emotional cost will be great.

Their people have been there a long time. And leaving means giving up a way of life.

"Our community on this island has seen artifacts about 500 years old," Barr said.

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