A man drives past a graveyard on a scooter on Tangier Island in Virginia, US, on Tuesday, October 28, 2021. Tangier Island, which is located in Chesapeake Bay, is a largely conservative and the locals are skeptical about the existence of climate change, but their shrinking population may be the America’s first climate change refugees as the island continues to shrink and become less habitable. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for the Sydney Morning Herald)
Mayor James “Ooker” Eskridge has lunch at Lorraine's Seafood Restaurant on Tangier Island in Virginia, US, on Tuesday, October 28, 2021. Eskridge, Tangier Island’s mayor for the past 14 years and a lifelong waterman, supports former president Donald Trump and has spoken to him on the phone before and said he ‘loves him like family.’” (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for the Sydney Morning Herald)
A Trump 2024 flag flies over crab traps on Tangier Island in Virginia, US, on Tuesday, October 28, 2021. The island is considered the “soft shell capital of America” and has its own unique dialect that may be lost if it can’t be saved from the ravages of climate change. The conservative island residents largely believes that their landmass is decreasing due to erosion, but scientists believe the sea level rise is the bigger culprit. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for the Sydney Morning Herald)
Mark Haynie drives a golf cart past large puddles on Tangier Island in Virginia, US, on Tuesday, October 28, 2021. Whenever even minor storms hit the island, the roads are often flooded for days. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for the Sydney Morning Herald)
James “Ooker” Eskridge examines crabs at his crab shanty off the coast of Tangier Island in Virginia, US, on Tuesday, October 28, 2021. Most of the people on Tangier Island make a living off of crab catching, a trade which is frequently passed from father to son. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for the Sydney Morning Herald)
Waves break onto a jetty next to what was once a parking lot before it crumbled into the ocean on Tangier Island in Virginia, US, on Tuesday, October 28, 2021. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for the Sydney Morning Herald)
Bonnie Landon stands in front of her home amid her flooded lawn on Tangier Island in Virginia, US, on Tuesday, October 28, 2021. Landon, 77, doesn’t believe in climate change, although she is concerned her block will completely flood soon and she relies on a ramp to pass over the ankle-deep water that often rises in her front yard. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for the Sydney Morning Herald)
A shredded American flag flies over Tangier Island in Virginia, US, on Tuesday, October 28, 2021. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for the Sydney Morning Herald)