"On a recent afternoon, Scott McKenzie watched torrential rains and a murky tide swallow the street outside his dog-grooming salon. Within minutes, much of this stretch of chic South Beach was flooded ankle-deep in a fetid mix of rain and sea.
“Welcome to the new Venice,” McKenzie joked as salt water surged from the sewers." ----- Michael J. Mishak, Associated Press June 7, 2014 at 4:24 PM EDT
In a world divided by war, it is easy to overlook problems that affect all of mankind. The dramatic rise in ocean levels worldwide constitutes just that sort of problem. Although the fundamental problem of global warming has been given airtime and plenty of written-media coverage, the problem of rising sea levels seems to have met a certain amount of apathy. A likely explanation is that the rising sea levels mainly threatens impoverished peoples that may have no choice but to doubt the threat, since there is no way for them to relocate. Concurrently, Americans, seemingly beset by some false sense of well-being, really have no fear of the possible annihilation of our coastal cities. Granted, the worst case scenario (the total loss of all glacial ice) would take several hundred years to become a reality, but the possibilities are frightening.
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...
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...such as Albert Einstein. “Two things are infinite,” the sardonic prophet once said, “the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
Works Cited
Byfield, Mike. "Kyoto- The Science and The Hype." Newsmagazine 4 Nov 2002. 16 Jan 2005 .
"Earth Island Journal." A Rising Ride Sinks All Islands Vol. 11. Fall 1999. 15 Jan 2005 .
Monastersky, Richard. "Rising sea levels: Predictions and plans.." Science News 11 1987. 15 Jan 2005 .
Robinson, Arthur B. and Zachary W. "Science Has Spoken: Global Warming Is a Myth." 04 Dec 1997. Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine. 16 Jan. 2005 .
The effect of sea level rising is especially challenging for the population that lives in low-lying coastal communities, such as Miami Beach. The city is surrounded by sea. Miami Beach is linked to the mainland city of Miami through causeways, and it is an area that allocates much of the wealth from its art decoration and former celebrity playground standing. For them, funding does not seem to be a problem. However, the threat they are facing, cannot be entirely solved by money. Its sea level rising is at 9 millimeters a year, while there is only 3 millimeters on global average acceleration. If the sea level rises for 6 feet by 2100, Miami Beach city will get swallowed. When referring about sea level rising phenomenon, Miami Beach always acts as a ground zero example. Government leaders around the world are waiting to see how this rich living laboratory experiment place can avoid drowning. Below is a figure showing the sea level rising between 1900 and 2020 in Miami and Miami Beach
"global warming, climate change, earth and environment news from Scientific American." global warming, climate change, earth and environment news from Scientific American. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. .
. Policy Problem Rising sea levels are becoming a prominent issue along with global warming and climate change for many regions near coastal areas, with Miami, Florida being one of the most detrimental areas. With a current population of 413,892 living just 6 feet above sea level, Miami is positioned as one of the first areas to experience some of the disastrous effects of climate change (Johnson). Within the next 100 years, rising sea levels have the ability to damage South Florida’s fragile barrier islands, the population that lives near coastal areas, and its appealing subtropical beaches (Madigan A12). Coastal areas, which provide the largest area for disaster, however, are not the only areas that will experience the effects of climate change.
The use of fossil fuels has greatly increased the amount of atmospheric and oceanic CO2 to a point where it’s ruining the natural flow of the world; the earth’s temperature is rising. As a result, the polar ice caps are melting causing the seas to rise. With only a 1 meter increase in sea level the United States alone could lose over 10,000 square miles of land, and thousands of houses will be destroyed. The effects will be just as prominent around the world: many islands will become submerged, 17% of Bangladesh will be underwater, and tens of thousands of people will be displaced (“Global Warming” 3).
Ecological shifts are threatening billions of coastal residents around the world. Planet Earth is shifting severally. Temperatures are rising, glaciers are melting, hurricanes are growing stronger, and oceans are expanding and covering coasts at disturbing rates. Many people question the reason of sea rise levels. But it is not a myth, scientist have proven that the icebergs 1that sit on Greenland and Antarctica land are melting at a rapid rate. But unfortunately, that is not the biggest contributor to this problem. Most of the sea rise levels are a cause of the rising temperatures of the water in the top surface of the oceans. Water expands when it is frozen, but it also expands when heats up.
Sea levels are rising today not only because of thermal expansion but also melting of glaciers and polar ice caps.
... middle of paper ... ... The "News" - "The News" Climate Change. N.p., n.d. Web.
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
There is no longer any question that our world climate has changed (King, 2004). Over the last 100 years, "temperatures have risen by about 0.6 degrees Celsius and global sea level has risen by about 20cm" (K...
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/>. Cooper, Richard M. Alternatives to Kyoto: the Case for a Carbon Tax. Rep. of Harvard University. Web. The Web.
RISING SEA LEVEL AND ITS MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS/COASTAL WETLANDS BEING MOST VULNERABLE AND THE POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES AND IMPACTS (2 PAGES)
As ice from polar glaciers begin to melt, the sea level rises to a new high. According to
The Earth is currently locked in perpetuating spiral of climate change. While the global climate has unarguably been changing since the dawn of it's manifestation, the once steadied ebb and flow of climate change has become increasingly more unpredictable.The risk of rising sea levels, and drought plaguing the fresh water supply, during the time that flooding and sporadic storm conditions turn once fully inhabited regions into uninhabitable death traps. Climate change catalyzed by human's increased production of carbon dioxide, is more noticeable than ever in our recorded history (United States, 2014 National Climate Assessment). Thankfully however, with the changing weather conditions due to carbon related emissions, the change in public opinion about their personalized influence on climate change is also increasing. Kevin Liptak Jethro Mullen, and Tom Cohen note that In reaction to the most recent governmental report on climate change, even the U.S. government believes that a stronger approach needs to be taken to correct our self-generated cataclysm.
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...
Vannela, Raveender. "Are We “Digging Our Own Grave” Under the Oceans?" Environmental Science & Technology 46.15 (2012): 7932-933. Print.