It's golden hour on Iki, a pristine island in southwestern Japan. A gentle breeze cools the day to a perfect 24 degrees Celsius. The roads are clean, the trees are green, a playground sits atop a grassy hill. Locals call Iki a "lucky island" because it's rarely affected by natural disasters.
And yet, last year Iki became the first place in Japan to declare a climate emergency.
On Sept. 25, Iki joined more than 1,250 jurisdictions in 25 countries in the emergency declaration. The goal of such an action is to mobilize resources "at sufficient scale and speed to protect civilization, economy, people, species and ecosystems," according to the Climate Emergency Declaration website.