Tuvalu, a small island with a population of less than 11,000, is on it’s way to sinking. The island has been struggling to keep it’s inhabitants safe from it’s rising waters for many years now, but it had gotten to the point where their plight can no longer be ignored. With the climate1 continuously on the rise due to high CO2 2 emission rates, from countries such as China and the United States, there has also been an increase in ocean acidification3 and ocean water levels4. These consequences both have had an adverse effect on the island of Tuvalu. As the water levels rise the island, which at it’s highest point is roughly 15 feet above water, more and more of the island is flooded and deemed inhabitable. This negatively affects the inhabitant’s ability to grow crops and have property. The island’s main form of protection from storms were the coral atolls off the coast, but ocean acidification …show more content…
The issue is that most countries think of this as an economic venture. Considering the fact that Tuvalu is a small island, which only exports fish and coconuts (and mainly to just islands around them), with little business connections there aren’t really any economic benefits to its existence. So consequently to countries like the US, China, Saudi Arabia, and India there is no real economic harm to Tuvalu sinking. However, there are real economic damages to trying to save Tuvalu. For the aforementioned countries they mainly thrive on the emission of greenhouse gases5, specifically carbon dioxide. From coal-burning power plants to vehicle exhaust the countries are completely reliant on process and machines that release unhealthy gases. Attempting to remove theses process would require a large amount of money on cleaner energy sources that all have their own downfalls that make them less attractive. And ultimately this has led to the countries lack of desire to lower their emission
The rise of sea levels are projected to increase warmer waters from one and a half to two degrees in Central North Pacific in 2050, 1.9 to 2.6 degrees in Northern Islands, and also two to five degrees in the Caribbean at the end of this century. This rise of temperature decreases the life of ecosystems in the ocean and resulting in less freshwater for
For example, the barrier islands on Louisiana’s coast are being destroyed or altered. The islands, reefs, and shelf protect Louisiana from storms and hurricanes. However, humans have altered the formation and existence of the protection. Stone et el. argues, based on statistical analysis of the coast, that the “physical loss of the barrier islands and marsh resulted in a considerable increase in modeled surge levels and wave heights.
Global Warming could cause the sea to expand and rise faster than the corals could fortify themselves against it and Tuvalu could disappear beneath the waves.
Depending on where you live, pumas might be known as mountain lions, panthers, cougars or catamounts. While its name can change, one thing will always stay the same — they’re one big kitty. Although they look like the older siblings of the adorable house cat, pumas are anything but cuddly. They are powerful predators who can run up to 30 miles per hour and leap over eight feet (about 2.5 meters) in the air from a standing position. While these cats are big, they’re different than the other big cats around the world in that they can’t actually roar. Instead, pumas purr just like their domesticated siblings.
Having escaped rule from a tyrannical British government, the United States was founded on ideals of freedom and equality for all people. These fantasies of universal egalitarianism turned out to be merely that: fantasies. American history is full of stories of the oppressed struggling to get the rights they deserve and of the controversy over these issues that consequently ensues. “The Hypocrisy of American Slavery” by Frederick Douglass and “We Shall Overcome” by Lyndon B. Johnson are two speeches made confronting two of these issues. Douglass’s speech, delivered in 1852, condemns the institution of slavery and maintains that slaves are men and are therefore entitled to freedom. Johnson’s speech, on the other hand, was written in 1965 and discussed the civil rights movement. In it, he implored local governments to allow all American citizens, regardless of race, to vote. Despite the significant gap in time between these two addresses, both speakers use similar persuasive techniques, including ethos, pathos, and parallelism, to convince their audience that change needs to be implemented in America.
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
Most people can feel bad for the people of Baltimore with the furious nature from April 18, 2015 - May 3, 2015. It’s really easy to feel a lot of compassion for the people who’ve suffered from police brutality, poverty, and injustice; even if you’ve never experienced either. Burning and looting a CVS store would be a lot harder to understand and would hardly seem to have anything to do with protesting the actions of the Baltimore Police Department. President Obama decried the Baltimore riots as “senseless act of violence and destruction.” Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake also seemed disheartened. “We worked so hard to get a company like CVS to invest in this neighborhood,” she said, “this is the only place that so many people have to pick up their prescriptions.” Why would anyone burn down the only CVS in their neighborhood?
Sea level has risen 3.4 mm per year due to climate change. This can have devastating effects on humans, plants and animals, and their habitats. Climate change has become a colossal problem considering it can leave countless humans stranded or starving, that are in need of assistance. It has also caused distrust or rifts between countries over who caused it and whose responsibility it is to pay for the damages it has caused. The economy of places on earth will be suspected to plummet as a result of rising sea levels and temperatures provoking animals to relocate and countries to lose their major exports, or suffer from the increase in prices for their imported goods. The U.N. believes that this is problem is in need of a solution. The world
The cost of college tuition is continually on the rise and has placed many burdens on high school students as well as their families. Some of the burdens that are placed are a result of parents putting pressure on their children to earn scholarships. Some of the burden is a result of students putting pressure on themselves to earn scholarships. Then, there is the burden of high college debt once the student graduates. Is this pressure really helping our students or is it hurting them? The bottom line is college tuition is skyrocketing out of control and something must be done before it destroys our families and our children.
In just a few short decades, the island has lost over 90 percent of its landmass. Channels cut by companies to assist in oil and logging operations made the island more vulnerable to the effects of flooding and the assault of hurricanes and other storms. The result has been massive subsidence, saltwater intrusion, and land simply disappearing beneath the sea as sea levels rise due to global wrming.
Climate change creates significant impacts in the Australian context: in considering sea level rise is one of the most critical condition and as per the IPCC report, in 2100 it will increase by79 centimeters (Department of climate change, 2009). Further, it enhances natural hazards affect on the coastal region as flood, inundation, erosion, and storm surges, which will be a significant threat to the coastal community (Button et al.2013). In addition, sea level rise causes a significant change to beaches, coral reefs, estuaries, wetlands and low-lying islands.
The small island country of Maldives is being affected by sea level rises due to climate change. Being half a meter from sea level makes the Maldives a vulnerable country to climate change (Gwynne). They are low-lying countries who are slowly being affected by rising sea-levels. (Jaschik). Too much water coming into the shore at once is bringing the Maldives underwater. If the sea level rises to 1 m then there will be 79% less chance of getting groundwater (Iftikhar). Odd rainfall patterns are causing some dryness and shortage for the people. There has also been some recent contamination that makes the water more difficult to drink. In the article “Small States…” it claims “climate change is ultimately a matter of life and death” (Jaschik). When sea levels rises to the point of taking over,
Humans have a huge impact on the state of the earth, but it is often easy to forget about the damage that we cause. This is especially true when one feels that they are not affected in a direct or substantial way. Chelsea Harvey (2017) brings to light one way in which humans are directly affected by the damages we have caused to coral reefs. In the wake of hurricane Irma, communities in South Florida struggled to return to their normal lives. A great deal of damage was present along the coastal area, and one prominent source was intense flooding. However, it is speculated that the severity of flooding could have been negated with the support of a strong coral reef storm buffer. Harvey (2017) mentions that most of the energy from incoming waves,
The objective of this program was to inform the reader or listener about how climate change I the Pacific Ocean is affecting marine life. Along with climate change affecting marine life, ocean acidification is causing the destruction of coral reefs, which are essential for the humans and the organisms that thrive on them in the ocean. Past the scientist views of whom is to blame for this, the true message is to get awareness out to the public so that this process of ocean destruction can be reversed so the preservation of the organisms in these oceanic regions can survive and continue to thrive. It is a general conclusion that is brought up in this radio broadcast, that although there is stark evidence that marine life is changing, there
Rising sea levels are caused by the melting of ice which is from the raising temperature in the atmosphere. When the ocean water rises land begins to disappear which puts not only the risk of land not being there, but the risk of the people living there. In the article “Global Warming Impacts” written by a group called, union of concerned scientist write “Global warming is now accelerating the rate of sea level rise, increasing flooding risks to low-lying communities…”. The people that this will be affected are low-lying communities and one of those communities is the Marshall Islands. The Marshall Islands are located near the equator in the pacific ocean and close to being sea level. Since the temperature has been warming up so much, some parts of this island are being flooded. People there are concerned. Many of the locals aren’t just concerned with their island vanishing, but with their island their culture. New York Times interviewed Linber Anej who has lived on Marshall Islands his whole life, went to a conference in Paris representing his island's concern of having to leave their homes saying “It does not make sense for us to go to Paris and come back with something that says, ‘In a few years’ time, your country is going to be underwater. We see the damage occurring now. We’re trying to beat back the sea.”. What basically is being told is that instead of trying to bring awareness to the Marshall Islands they are just giving them a solution of where they can go after they lose