Background

"We know we’re going to have sea rise. This is literally a one-way street now. The only thing we’re discussing now is how fast, it’s not whether anymore, and then eventually how much.”

— Dr. Harold Wanless, chairman of the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Miami

The global sea level is rising at alarming rates. This rate is consistently increasing every decade. Presently, sea level is rising at a rate of one-eighth of an inch per year. While this may not sound like a lot, it certainly is. Sea level rise causes hurricanes and storms to push water farther inland over time, leading to greater amounts of flooded areas. Restoring damages from this flooding is costly and this flooding has become 900% more common in U.S. coastal areas compared to 50 years ago. Thus, coastal areas are severely suffering due to rising water and may become constantly flooded or even underwater if we do not take action immediately. The main reasons by which sea level rise is caused are the water warming (thermal expansion) and an increase of the ice that melts. As water warms, it begins to expand. In particular, the root cause of thermal expansion is global warming; as humans release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the earth, along with water, get warmer. Likewise, the melting of glaciers and ice sheets are also caused by emissions, human activity that leads to atmospheric heat. Thus, more and more water accumulates every year as ice melts and water gets warmer, and they are all due to human emissions. Therefore, one conclusion is evident: humans are causing the global warming to elevate sea levels, and they must fix this problem.