On the shores of the White Sea in the Arctic Circle, the Russian village of Choyna can be seen but without ice, there has been a climatic boom that has made the village slowly fade under the sand dunes to stand out as a strange climatic miracle.
As the houses slide under the sand, the children have a magical place to play in the sand, but for adults, the arid scene reminds them of the magnitude of the environmental disaster created by humans, according to the New York Times.
Anna Globtsova lives on the second floor of her house, while the sand occupies the first floor entirely.
"We will have to hire a bulldozer to push the sand again," says Golubtsova. "We have to do this before the ice dissolves and builds up over the sand and engulfs us."
Neighboring houses can be seen and the doors have fallen under the sand as their owners enter the windows.
Local residents say more than 20 houses have been completely buried under the sand, while wooden lanes have become an alternative to the village's sidewalks.
In the years following World War II, Choyna was a thriving fishing port, but overfishing led to the destruction of the region's ecosystem.
During its prosperity, the Chuena pier accommodated more than 70 fishing vessels, while the village's population was 1,500, bringing the environmental degradation to less than 300 currently.
Fishing vessels washed away the sea floor and emptied it of silt and seaweed. With nothing to fix the sand in place, the waves began to toss it to land to accumulate horribly.
"This disturbance on the seabed is the cause of the sand invasion," Marine biodiversity project coordinator Sergei Ovarov told the paper.
In the summer, small and vertical planes become the only way to reach Shwina.
Food supplies in the Shweina shops cost twice as much as in the nearest city, and many residents have to get food from areas outside the village where sand has not yet reached.
Fishing in Shweina has turned into wild gazelles, which have a stop in the village, but the most popular and indispensable job is the bulldozer driver. Without it, people may not be able to open their doors.
