This episode gives a human face to the issue of global climate change. It is the story of a Pacific Island community fighting to preserve what really matters in the face of rising tides. Takuu Atoll is an idyllic home to articulate, educated people who maintain a 1,200-year-old culture and language. The island is disintegrating and when scientists arrive to investigate, residents realize that their attempts to preserve the atoll are making the situation worse. With limited means of communication or outside support, the people of Takuu must make the heart-wrenching decision of whether to risk their safety and remain on their beloved island or become environmental refugees and begin new lives in neighboring, but foreign, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. There Once Was an Island – Te Henua e Nnoho is a sobering exposé on climate change and how a community’s sense of identity will be lost in the rising tides.