our cynthia mcfadden has the story. >> this is the furthest northern tip. >> they are not just patrolling the coast, they are protecting a way of life. >> this is a native assistant area. there is no costco up here so we eat off the land. >> down below, barrow, alaska is celebrating another successful whale hunt. bonehead whales, some over 200 years old and 100 tons had harpooned, carved up and shared with the community. >> everybody gets fed. nobody goes hungry. >> whale has kept us alive for thousands of years. >> reporter: but can the beat that has echoed here for so long survive? >> that is our jaw of the bonehead whale. >> this whaling captain said climate change is making it harder to pull the massive whales out of the sea and changing the migration patterns of the caribou and the seal. >> we've been seeing it and living it and we know our world is changing. >> earth that has been frozen forever, now melting. threatening their underground utilities. >> our community's sustainability is at risk. >> this whaling captain isn't just worried about the weather, he warned that oil profits

nbc's cynthia mcfadden takes us there. >> reporter: there's no better way to see what's happening in the arctic than to arrive by boat in kotzebue, alaska. when mr. obama lands here, he'll become the first president to visit the american arctic. >> they've all flown by. >> reporter: willie goodwin jr. is the town's former mayor. >> what would you like to say to the president when he gets here? [ speaking in a foreign language ] >> reporter: which means? >> welcome to our land. >> reporter: but his land is changing fast as temperatures warm twice as rapidly here as the rest of the planet. nbc news has spent the past four months reporting through america's vast arctic, a place of tradition and dramatic change. nowhere are the problems more urgent than in shishmaref, which scientists say is just one bad storm away from being wiped off the map. the ice that once protected their fragile shoreline from big fall storms is melting. and now they're losing as much as 20 feet a year to erosion. >> the ocean comes in pretty good. the water comes up pretty high. >> reporter: and because they're s

cynthia mcfadden had spent a lot of time out there looking. she says some of these natives will become some of america's first climate change refugees. >> so many things have been connected to climate change, the western droughts, the melt of the glaciers. how is it effecting the population there? >> the ice has now melted as the climate changes. they're losing inches and feet of their community. >> all right. >> thank you very much. >>> now to the stunning new stance on abortion from pope francis. >> today the pope said he'll allow all roman catholic priests to absolve all women of abortions they repent. the pope has given priests permission to absolve the sin during the church's year of mercy. >> i think it's generous of him, but i still think it's the woman's choice to do what they want to do. >> i believe in forgiveness. i think it's the only way forward. >> here in new york, cardinal dolan says priests have had the discretion to forgive abortion for decades. it is considered a moral sin by the catholic church those who seek it are usually

cynthia mcfadden reports. >> reporter: it isn't easy getting to the front lines of the new cold war.for safety. survival in arctic water is mere minutes. we're heading 20 miles up to sea. the cutter is part of the coast guard mission, "arctic shield." landing is terrifying and thrilling. captain seth denning welcomes us aboard. with no deepwater ports in the alaskan arctic, they're at sea for 60 days. >> we left gnome and are in this vicinity right here. >> reporter: the rapidly melting ice is bringing new opportunities and new headaches here, including more sea traffic. part of the coast guard mission is to scope out who's up here and why. from november until may, ice makes these waters impassable, without ice breakers. so after october, the hailey's not coming up here? the maps are old and incomplete. even open water can be dangerous. so you're guessing when you're going through here? >> right. >> north of gnome, there are a lot of blank spaces. >> reporter: melting ice is now making the famously treacherous northwest passage passable. if it becomes reliable enough for internationa

nbc's cynthia mcfadden has the story. >> reporter: it isn't easy getting to the front lines of the new cold war. a war many think america is losing. the suits are for safety. survival in arctic waters is mere minutes. we're headed 20 miles out to sea. the cutter, alex haley, patrolling as part of the coast guard mission arctic shield. landing is terrifying, and thrilling. captain seth denning welcomes us aboard. with no deepwater ports in the alaskan arctic, they are at sea for 60 days. >> we left nome. we're in this vicinity right here. >> reporter: the rapidly melting ice is bringing new opportunities and new headaches here. including more sea traffic. part of the coast guard mission is to scope out who is up here and why. from november until may, ice makes the waters impassable without ice breakers. >> so after october, the haley is not coming out here. >> no, ma'am. >> the maps are old and incomplete. even open water can be dangerous. >> so you are guessing when you are going through here? >> right. north of nome there are a lot of blank spaces. >> melting ice is making the treache

tonight the company's president tells cynthia mcfadden why he believes the big gamble is worth it, as many claim it cannot be done safely. >> reporter: anger, outrage and claims of hypocrisy over the obama administration's decision to let shell explore for oil in the arctic. inside shell's command center in anchorage, they are focused on the race to see if their $7 billion gamble on oil here is going to pay off. this is realtime? >> this is realtime. >> reporter: the president of shell invited us to see their alaska operations. there's got to be a big pay-off to justify a $7 billion investment. >> the potential scale of these resources is enormous. >> reporter: some say up to 13% of the world's undiscovered oil is in the arctic and with climate change and more and more melting ice, that oil is now more accessible than ever. locals here are divided about drilling. this man was the mayor of alaska's north slope for years. what was your campaign slogan? >> no drilling offshore. now not only no, but hell no. >> reporter: other leaders say they need the tax revenue and other money new oil

our cynthia mcfadden toured alaska with shell's north america president four weeks ago.time, he was cautiously optimistic about the operation. today he said the news was disappointing. shell won approval to drill from the obama administration in mid-august for the first time in 24 years. it was a move fiercely fought by environmentalists and some of the locals. >>> a fascinating snapshot showing how immigration is reshaping our country. a new pew study finds that 13.7% of the current population was born outside the u.s. the number is expected to hit a record 14.9% by 2025. also notable, 47% of immigrants in the u.s. are hispanic. 26% are asian. after the middle of the century, asians are expected to pass latinos as the largest immigrant group. >>> after a nasty dugout scuffle in which nationals' reliever jonathan papelbon grabbed bryce harper by the throat yesterday, the team has suspended papelbon for four games, combined with a league suspension for a separate incident last week. he's done for the season. appears he was angry at harper for not running out a flyball. ha

cynthia mcfadden looks at the battle to keep alaska's communities intact. >> reporter: there's no bettering in the arctic than to arrive by boat in alaska. when mr. obama lands here, he will become the first president to visit the american arctic. >> they've all flown by. >> reporter: he is the town's former mayor. what would you like to say to the president? [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: which means? >> welcome to our land. >> reporter: his land is changing fast as tptds warm, twice as rapidly here as the rest of the planet. nbc news has spent the last four months reporting throughout hurricane's vast arctic. a place of tradition and dramatic change. nowhere are the problems more urgent than in the area, scientists say a bad storm away from being wiped off the map. the ice that once protected the shoreline is melting and now they're losing as much as 20 feet a year to erosion. >> the ocean comes in good. the water comes up high. >> reporter: it's not just homes. but 600 live that is are at stake. >> what are we going to do if we get a major flood? might say we have to move.

. >> and that was nbc's cynthia mcfadden reporting for us. it looked cold there, didn't it? thanks for watching this hour from san francisco with us. i'm richard lui. "hardball" starts right now. >>> tonight, a change in the political weather. dr. carson is starting to overtake donald trump. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in los angeles for tomorrow night's republican presidential debate at the ronald reagan library. i'm giving the news at the top, donald trump is still rising, but dr. ben carson is rising a whole lot faster. according to "the new york times" cbs poll out today, it's now trump at 27% nationally, ben carson coming up on the outside at 23%. but as i said, the former neurosurgeon is suddenly accelerating, quadrupling his number in just two months. well, today, trump and carson are making the big news today by administering a shellacking to the establishment republican party we all grew up with. all other candidates remain in the anemic single digits. jeb bush dropped seven points since july according to the times. he's now tied with

he's going to be heading to the western coast where our colleague, cynthia mcfadden for months has beenone of the villages facing extinction due to global warming. tell us what the president is trying to dramatize here with this trip. >> reporter: well, andrea, you've been there, obviously, so you know first of all these are two of the most remote places anywhere in the united states and where people who live there day to day face some of the biggest challenges of anyone who is an american citizen. so you start with that, and the president wants to bring this message home about the people who are on the front lines of climate change. as you said, it was one of 30 villages right now that literally are facing extinction because of the effects of climate change. they're disappearing. i spoke at length to people who have homes that are on cliffs that are disappearing by two to three feet every year. we've looked at where some of the erosion has taken place. we see where the glaciers are melting. so these are all things that the president wants to focus on. they're doing it, i think, in a wa