Smithsonian magazine's 22nd Annual Photo Contest | Made possible through the support of MPB.com

21st Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Drone/Aerial
SOS Beniamina

In the Solomon Islands climate change is bringing violent storms and seas rising 7-10mm/year; 3 times the global average. This threatens the islanders' cultivation of seaweed, which sequesters CO₂ that's emitted a world away. Arriving on Beniamina, the Elders told me they wanted to show the outside world just how vulnerable their home had become. So at low tide the village children paused their homeschooling to congregate on the beach where several families’ houses had once stood. (The one behind them's been washed away since.) There they held hands to form a human "SOS": the Morse code signalling an emergency situation.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 09.2022
Date Uploaded: 11.2023
Photo Location: Beniamina, Solomon Islands
Camera: FC3411
Copyright: © Adam Sébire