Climate Change And Faith Collide In Kiribati

From the sky, the country of Kiribati looks like strands of yarn floating on the sea: 33 tiny islands, scattered across an area of the Pacific Ocean more than twice the size of Alaska.

Nearly half the population, more than 40,000 people, is crowded into just one of those strands –- the capital island, South Tarawa.

The average height of the islands is approximately 6.5 feet. Already, land is scarce, and drinking water can be in short supply. There's nowhere to retreat.

So concerns about climate change are felt very acutely here. Though estimates are rough, scientists predict average sea levels could rise as much as 3 feet by the end of the century owing to global warming.