http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/07/02/the-sixth-first-climate-refugees/
I don't see a river. It's on the ocean completely with a little inlet of water behind it.
https://maps.google.com/maps?gs_rn=24&gs_ri=psy-ab&tok=XvGVuqYtCgPUmRtUgNfIKw&cp=12&gs_id=25&xhr=t&q=shishmaref+alaska&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.50500085,d.eWU&biw=1366&bih=595&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&sa=N&tab=wl
There is a river about 5 miles behind it on the bay side (empties into the bay) but I wouldn't say it's meander by the village.
There is definitely ocean hitting it to the extent that it is eroding after being there for at least two centuries.
It doesn't look to be built on two feet of silt to me, but even if that were the case, why now? Why after two centuries?
Shishmaref (SHISH-muh-reff)[3] (Qiġiqtaq in Iñupiaq; Russian: Шишмарёв) is a city[2][4] and village in the Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. It is located on Sarichef Island in the Chukchi Sea, just north of the Bering Strait and five miles from the mainland. Shishmaref lies within the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve. The population was 563 at the 2010 census.[2]
I would say that rules out the river theory.
Shishmaref was named in 1821 by explorer Lt. Otto von Kotzebue, of the Imperial Russian Navy, after Capt. Lt. Gleb Shishmaryov who accompanied him on his exploration.
I would say that it's been there for a while. Now it's suddenly disappearing. I'm not saying you're being mislead, but it sure looks that way. That's why I do my own research. There are too many on both sides that like to spin. It looks to me like the guy with the link you provided is spinning this story. It wouldn't take much money to get someone to do so. In my opinion we are going to play around with this climate change situation until it's too late.
This island that he pictured to the lower left of the village is actually about 500 miles to the south of the village along with the Kuskokwim Delta. The area he is showing if much further south than the village. Look at my link and look at this. Do your own map search and you will see that he is either mistaken or lying because the village is not where he's saying it is. Also, again, why after two centuries is it suddenly losing so much to erosion?
Here is the area that he is showing (note the large island off the coast):
https://maps.google.com/maps?gs_rn=24&gs_ri=psy-ab&tok=XvGVuqYtCgPUmRtUgNfIKw&cp=12&gs_id=25&xhr=t&q=shishmaref+alaska&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.50500085
The village doesn't have an island of this size off of the coast and as I have said, it's much further north.
