That Sinking Feeling
Climate change. Global warming. We’ve heard these terms thrown around so often in the media that they’ve almost lost all meaning. We’ve heard academics throw predictions of polar ice caps melting and nations disappearing into the ocean, much to the denial and distaste of the sceptics. But, really, we haven’t been affected so far. And by scientific predictions, any changes to the earth will be well into the distant future. So why should we worry? Why should we care?
Far out in the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Australia and Hawaii, lies a broken necklace of islands called Kiribati. Made up of 32 atolls interspersed over 3.5 million square kilometres, Kiribati snakes over the equator and nudges the International Date Line at its eastern-most point.
Kiribati is only 900 meters across at its widest point but over 100,000 people inhabit it, and that number is rapidly increasing each year. The nation’s capital, Tarawa, now has a higher population density than Tokyo.
Oh yeah, and did I mention that Kiribati will most likely cease to exist by the time the century is up?
Kiribati is only 2 metres above sea level at its highest point, making it one of the world’s most vulnerable nations to the effects of sea level rise caused by climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change made a prediction in 2007 that global sea-rise would be as much as 0.8 metres by the end of the century. Other scientific studies suggest that the increase will be as much as 1.9 metres. A 2012 study discovered that the ocean is absorbing heat 15 times faster than it has at any point during the past 10,000 years. Just another metre would make living on Kiribati virtually impossible.
Now, the end of the century seems an awful long way...
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...he court also cautioned that if Mr Teitioa’s argument was accepted there or in any other jurisdictions, “at a stroke, millions of people who are facing medium-term economic deprivation, or the immediate consequences of natural disasters or warfare would be entitled to protection under the Refugee Convention”.
In a world focussed on fixing short-term problems, global warming is not a trendy subject. However, like it or not, it is an issue affecting not only the 100,000 people of Kiribati, but thousands of inhabitants of other small Pacific nations and millions of people worldwide.
If it’s too late to for the big countries to do something about the pollution they’ve created, generating these dramatic changes in climate, then the least we can do is help out the tiny island nations that barely contribute to it at all and will eventually lose everything because of it.
In the eastern corner of Polynesia is a tiny piece of land, the most remote from other lands place on the globe. This - Rapa Nui, or Easter Island.
Spread across nearly 2,000,000 square miles of the South Pacific, in an area as large as the continent of Europe, lies the Territory of French Polynesia and its principal island, Tahiti.
Global warming has some very potential impact on Hawaii’s environment, health, economy and natural resources. With the environment if the sea level raises our reefs are at risk. With out our reefs our beaches have no protection against the pounding waves. Also it hurts the reef cause if the water rises that means the sun needs to get through more water, which means the reef wont get as much sunlight for them to survive. With economy global warming poses a big threat on it. With the reefs being exposed to less sunlight and letting the waves pound our beaches, it threatens our economy because our state makes its profit off of tourism. Which means if our beaches start to go away then the tourism will start to decrease and less money will be coming in to the state. Along with this the fish that live around the reef may start to die off cause the reef isn’t doing good so the life around will react the same way. Reef fish population will start to drop until they adapt and hopefully the reef can too.
Some islands right in our backyards are slipping away before our eyes. According to Conservation International the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere, as of 2016, is the highest in 3 million years. Global warming will melt many Glaciers that will affect sea level and the Islands around the world including the Chesapeake Bay. Many Islands will no longer exist due to sea level rise and flooding’s. Global warming is when the temperature gradually increases, generally accredited to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants. Pollutants will cause acid rain which will pollute the water and kill off the animals that drink the water.
Global warming is a problem that is often overlooked by many and is hindered among other problems that require immediate actions. Over the last 136 years the temperature in earth has increased 1.7°¬¬¬F. Although an increase of 1.7°¬¬¬F over 136 years may not seem like a lot but humans are destroying the earth at a faster rate than ever before. Human omissions are roughly equal to 4 Hiroshima atomic bombs exploding across the planet every second leaving future generations of human in jeopardy. With warmer climate comes with catastrophic outcomes like drought, which can destabilize the food sources on earth leaving millions of people hungry. Widespread extinction of most species on earth and the melting of polar ice caps can raise the sea level leaving most of the world’s coastal cities under water. This cannot happen overnight but if humans keep omitting at the current rate the outcome of climate change will become prominent
Fiji is a beautiful country that consists of 322 individual islands. Fiji is located off the coast of Australia in the Pacific Ocean. Of the 322 islands of Fiji 106 of the islands are inhibited. If you were to place all of the islands of Fiji together it would make up the total land mass of the state of New Jersey, which is about 8,700 square miles of beautiful lush tropics. After 96 years of being apart of Britain, Fiji gained its independence and now is a Republic Government. The capital of Fiji is Suva. Among the population of Fijian 94% of the adults are literate. The spoken language of Fiji is English but in some parts the language is Fijian. Fiji is known for its tropical weather, sandy beaches, rainforest and clear blue water. Fiji is also known for the beautiful mountains that surround the majestic views of the clear blue waters. The coral reefs that surround the island are a diver's
I/ First, let see where Tahiti and her islands are located compared to the rest of the world.
Climate scientists project that the detrimental effects of climate change will be most profoundly felt in low-income and tropical regions like Puerto Rico, making the island highly susceptible to climate change effects such as ocean acidification, rising temperatures and sea levels, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Puerto Rico’s Climate Change Council (PRCCC) expects that the rising sea levels in Puerto Rico will affect our infrastructure, freshwater resources, agriculture, ecosystems and economic growth. The government needs to decide whether Puerto Rico requires more elaborate strategies for combatting rising sea levels, while taking into consideration what measures are
Fiji, located in the South Western area of the Pacific Ocean and is a part of Asia. Fiji has been categorized under the Meloneasian island nations and territories which also carry out the patrilineal kinship views and ideals within the area and has an egalitarian political organization. The currency within the country of Fiji is the Fijian dollar and is currently worth 2.15 to every one United States dollar. As for the current population of Fiji, there are approximately 902,064 people residing in the nation where fifty one percent of the population is made up of males while forty nine percent of the population is made up of females. According to Stratern and Stewart’s “Oceania”, Fiji is made up of multiple islands (333 to be exact) scattered
“Sea Level Rise And Climate Change Exiles: A Possible Solution.” Pg. 24-25. Bulletin Of The Atomic Scientists 71.2 (2015): 21-28. Academic Search Premier. Web. May 05, 2015. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=3e7741d7-90c0-4cde-a385-0b99616c0ab4%40sessionmgr113&hid=113&hid=113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGI2ZQ%3d%3d#db=f5h&AN=101327662
Hoffman, J. (2007, May). The maldives & rising sea levels [Fact sheet]. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from Ice Case Studies website: http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/maldives.htm
Scientific knowledge required to show the effects and trends of climate seems to be well-developed and valid for use, but the social, economic and political aspects have always caused differences, which have delayed the efforts to solve these issues (Maslin, 2007). While the world is still struggling to find a better and effective way of dealing with these effects, there has been very little efforts made towards this on global scale, with each nation attempting to have its own way of dealing with these issues. Moreover, the controversies over the responsibilities per nation or region have been a drawback towards finding a solution to these problems (Brown & Leipold,
According to the World Bank Development Report 2013 there has been an increase in global surface temperature of 0.4 to 0.9 Celsius (C) in the past 100 years. This change in temperature largely caused, according to the IPCC, by the release of GHGs through human activities. There are several effects associated to the change in global temperature, mainly affecting ecosystems and populations worldwide. Among these effects or consequences are sea-level rise, drought, floods, loss of mangroves, and the intensification of storms and climate processes such as El Nino and La Nina. Recent studies have focused on sea-level rise and the global effects. Over the past 100 years, sea levels have increased by 10 to 20 centimeters (World Bank, 2003). Moreover, arctic sea-ice has continued to shrink up to 10 percent or more of its total mass and by 40 percent of its thickness. Glaciers and small ice caps are rapidly melting, causing several changes in the flows of rivers and ecosystems, as well as adding to the increase of sea levels. Sea level rise will most likely severely affect unprepared, developing countries and their populations. Concomitantly, developed industrial countries with higher levels of GDP are likely to cope more efficiently with the effects of sea level rise. This paper will focus on the prognosticated socio-economic costs of s...
Scientists appear to have become aware of the issue of rising sea levels in the mid to late 1980s. An article published in Science News in 1987 predicted that “global warming… will cause… the world's oceans to expand, raising the average sea level by 4 to 8 centimeters in the next 40 years” (Monastersky). Though 4 to 8 centimeters sounds like a miniscule amount in relation to the vastness of the world’s oceans, this early article disturbed many readers. Many for this reason: early stud...
One of the major effects of global warming is the rise of sea level due to thermal expansion of the ocean, in addition to the melting of land ice. Now there are dozens of land areas that sit well below sea level and the majority of those land areas are very well populated. At least 40 percent of the world 's population lives within 62 miles of the ocean, putting millions of lives and billions of dollars ' worth of property and infrastructure at risk. (Juliet Christian-Smith, 2011) This means if the sea level rises to the projected level of 25 meters (82 feet) half of the world will retreat back to the ocean. (Rohrer, 2007) Also rising sea levels means higher tides and storm surges riding on ever-higher seas which are more dangerous to people and coastal inf...