As the widest of the Gilbert Islands, the  main island group comprising western Kiribati, Kuria used to be a haven for I-Kiribati from hotter
neighboring islands.  Nighttime temperatures were once chilly enough to solidify coconut oil.  Kuria’s residents appreciated that the atoll’s
width allowed for cooler temperatures and they relished this good fortune.

In recent years, islanders have noticed a change in the weather.  The morning that once cloaked the island with dew, creating and oasis for
the early-morning fisherman, is now hot from the moment the sun rises.  But the heat does more damage than merely harassing fishermen. 
While necessary to dry copra, the increasingly arid climate combined with hotter temperatures is impending the falling of adult coconuts, the
genesis of the copra process.  Fewer coconuts equals less income.

Concurrently, the recent construction of a bridge connecting Kuria to the islet Onekei may explain the disappearance of at least four fish
species from the lagoon.  In the give and take of island life, erosion on the lagoon side, higher tides and waves have caused many people to
move away from this edge of the island.  But the eroded sediment, deposited on the ocean side, has created enough land to plant several new
rows of coconut palms.

Though islanders know their property, often many acres, down to a single palm tree, hereditary land rights do not prevent a feeing of comm-
unity. Every Monday, each family brings ten coconuts to the centrally located village Mwaneaba as a donation for the good of the island. 
When our host, Tamoaieta, learned that a neighbor was building a compost pit, he and the other heads of family each contributed bags of
breadfruit tree leaves.  The people of Kuria share not for the blessing of their resources but for their sense of duty to family or friends in need.