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Elizabeth Landry

Professor Johnson-Taylor

English 1201

16 July 2019

Rising Sea Levels

Water. The world’s largest and most valuable resource. The only question is whether or

not more water is bad or valuable because it could be used for many scenarios? What is the

issue with more water? Everyone drinks it, everyone needs it to survive, so there should not be

an issue with the earth getting more of it. However, nobody realizes just how much of an

impact that this will have. With the earth continuing to increase in temperature due to global

warming, the water supply is growing larger in some areas, but smaller in others. Places are

being flooded frequently, and others are being dried out entirely. Many people believe that

they know what global warming is and think that they are doing what they can to stop the issue

from happening, but at this point there is nothing that can be done to stop it. The only thing

that people can do is slow the process down. The way to do this is to make different choices.

Citizens of the United States are required to deal with the decisions that the government makes

and have little say in the ultimate conclusion. Their actions and decisions could result in the loss

of millions of homes and force people to rely on their selves in times of need. Governments

around the world, but especially in the United States, need to be held responsible for the

damage they are causing on the earth.

Global warming has been a controversial topic, especially with the election of Donald

Trump as President of the United States. However, do people really realize the problem of how
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the government’s decisions affect the entire earth? According to “Is Sea Level Rising”, an article

posted on National Ocean Service website, “Global sea level has been rising over the past

century, and the rate has increased in recent decades. In 2014, global sea level was 2.6 inches

above the 1993 average—the highest annual average in the satellite record (1993-present). Sea

level continues to rise at a rate of about one-eighth of an inch per year.” Not only is this

information shocking, it is disappointing. Although one-eighth of an inch does not seem like it

would make a vast difference, one needs to acknowledge how quickly that amount can increase

in the future. The quote states that “the rate has increased in recent decades”, so what is

stopping it from increasing even more? Advances in technology and the United States’ history

with its’ Industrial Revolution and outstanding advances in production, the earth is going to

continue to be affected. However, the rate to which the water increases depends entirely on

what people decide to do for the country. If the amount the water rises per year changes, it can

have a random amplification any year. If that number changes dramatically, there can be more

harm done to the earth. People need to realize the effect that the government’s decisions

cause, and just how serious the situation is. Everyone needs to think of future generations and

how they will suffer from decisions made today. If the world continues with these actions, the

future’s great-great-grandchildren may not even be able to experience traveling to small islands

because they will be completely underwater. Many people speak of global warming like they

know exactly what they are talking about, but do not know the information to support their

claims.

Global warming has been an issue for decades but is now a topic of interest regularly.

The issue is that people do not really know what they are talking about. Nobody realizes that
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global warming is a natural phenomenon. Ross Gelbspan, an award-winning author, writes

about global warming and its causes in the article, “Boiling Point” found on Opposing

Viewpoints. In the academic journal Gelbspan states, “The rapid expansion of human

population of the last 250 years, associated with increased deforestation, burning of coal and

wood, and augmented emissions of water vapor—in addition to the Industrial Revolution

practices and fossil fuel burning of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries—have elevated

atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration to 31 percent since 1750.” This information explains

how humans have added these harmful chemicals into the air because of production purposes

and advancements in technology and business. These things can happen naturally, but

humanity has been selfish. Businesses think of how they can benefit and how to make money,

but do not think of the issues they are causing in the world around them. If the government

were to regulate business production processes, the progression of global warming would

decelerate.

Gelbspan explains how the greenhouse effect is naturally occurring, but humans are

only amplifying the rate at which it is. Humans do this by contributing to the production

process. Within these production processes fuels being used are driven by natural gases.

Humans burn the natural gases which causes them to escape into the air, which causes the

Greenhouse effect to occur at a faster rate. These natural gases go into the sky and atmosphere

to form what is known as acid rain. This acid rain causes the development of sulfuric acid into

lakes, rivers and soils. This is an issue because of how the carbon cycle works. The carbon cycle

uses all its components and forces these gases to circle around and again release into the

atmosphere. So, although the humans are burning these natural gases, the planet does the rest
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of the work. This is just how the planet works. If these gases were not released at such an

alarming rate and in great amounts, the earth would not be making this process develop as

quickly as it is. This process is causing an increase in the temperature of the earth because the

ozone layer has been thinned (Gelbspan). This intensification of temperature would cause sea

levels to increase.

Fig. 1. This photo represents the process of the carbon cycle and how the emissions of gases by

factories contribute to the process (“The Carbon Cycle”).

When one originally thinks of the earth heating up a little, they do not think of it as

much of an issue because everyone loves warmer temperatures. However, these increases in

temperatures are causing the ice to melt. “Rising Sea Level” posted on Center for Science

Education speaks of this issue that the melting ice is causing in the ocean. The melting ice

changes the salinity in the water. Changing the salinity means changing the levels of salt that a

body of water contains. These large pieces of ice are altering the amount of freshwater that is

being drained into the ocean. This causes a major issue because of the differences in the

density of fresh and saltwater. The change in density causes a change in the currents in the
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ocean. These currents can change their normal route, and ultimately transfer heat to areas that

do not need it. This heat also amplifies the rate to which ice is melting in different areas

because the warm water is surrounding these masses of ice, causing them to melt (“Rising Sea

Level”). These patches of ice are an assortment of species’ homes, and melting them is altering

the ecosystem to which they are living in. The melting of the ice patches is also adding more

water into the ocean, causing the sea level to increase further and further onto the coast.

Although coasts are slowly being affected by the rise in sea levels, small islands in the

ocean are already suffering the consequences. With the increase of water in the ocean, storms

are becoming more severe and causing greater damages. Small islands in the ocean are getting

hit by these storms and wildlife around them are being affected. Jon Letman, a journalist for

National Geographic wrote the article, “Rising Seas Give Island Nation a Stark Choice: Relocate

or Elevate”. Within this article he writes about islands being affected by this change in water

levels, but Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Maldives, and the Marshall Islands in particular. Letman had the

opportunity to visit the Marshall Islands to get an inside view of the impact the sea has already

caused. The Marshall Islands have been working with the United States for years now, allowing

the U.S. to use their land for missile testing, in exchange for allowing about 28,000 people from

the Marshall Islands to work in the U.S. The United States has also operated 67 nuclear tests in

the Marshall Islands, and continues to use the land for testing different products. However, the

help from the U.S. is questionable to the Marshallese people when they think about the

assistance needed by the United States to try to build. The island does not think it is possible to

do this work without the help of a greater power but does not think that the U.S. will offer any.
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The president of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, thinks that the island needs to focus

on adaptation to the change in sea levels and not only consider relocating. Marshallese people

cherish where they live and have great pride in the land they were raised on, and do not want

to be forced off of the island. Heine thinks that the island needs to build higher grounds in hope

to be above sea level. She thinks that the land needs to be elevated higher and that more dirt

needs to be added to the foundation of the island. Although this is a daunting task, the island

wants to do what they can in order to save the land. However, the expense to this project is

extremely expensive and Heine believes that the help of the United States will be required in

order to make this process happen (Letman). If the United States can use someone’s land for

something that can be so destructive, the least it can do is help. In order to save the island and

all the people’s homes within them, action needs to be made by a greater force. The decisions

that countries have made to accelerate the process of sea levels rising should be offering help

instead of leaving these beautiful places to fend for themselves. As of now, these islands are

being affected, but soon it will be all the coasts in the world, and everyone will be wishing that

they would have changed their judgements on the issue.

As high and low tide change, the water creeps up a little more than the last wave,

soaking the dry sand that the water has not touched. As water levels continue to rise, more and

more of that dry sand is being soaked by a new wave. When one thinks of climate change and

sea levels rising, they typically think of the small islands being affected, but not usually about

their favorite vacation spots in Florida, North Carolina, California, New York. All of these places

are all along the coast. The thought of these places being nonexistent does not cross anyone’s

minds because everyone does not think the issue is actually going to happen. The article, “Is
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Sea Level Rising?” states, “In the United States, almost 40 percent of the population lives in

relatively high-population-density coastal areas, where sea level plays a role in flooding,

shoreline erosion, and hazards from storms.” When thinking about the 40 percent, one has to

think of how many people that actually is. That is almost half of the U.S. population that would

lose a home, job and community because the U.S. is not planning for the future. Another issue

is that all of those people would have to relocate. That means that these people would have to

move to a different area of the United States of America, somewhere inland, and find a new

home. This is also causing the concern of the number of places to stay available. Masses of

people moving would mean that new neighborhoods would have to be constructed and new

cities would have to be formed in another area of the United States. This would cost America

billions of dollars in supplies and would require millions of people to take on this project. This

project could take years though, so where would everyone live in the meantime? Homelessness

would increase due to popular demand for living areas. There would be many people searching

for a home and not finding any luck. If there is a shortage of housing, the price of any typical

housing would skyrocket to expenses that it would have never been before. Only some people

would be able to afford these living spaces, and others would be left with nothing. Everything

would be in complete chaos in the United States.

However, the U.S. would not be the only country affected. Around the world about

eight of the largest and most populated cities are located near or on a coast (“Is Sea Level

Rising?”). This same problem of people having to relocate would affect not only the United

States of America, but the entire globe. Construction would be chaos, and there would be more

people than homes available. There would be hardly any open space available. The wide-open
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plains would be flooded with people. There would be little natural beauty and hardly any fields

existing anymore. Fields would no longer be available for agriculture because of the demand for

housing and reconstruction. This would instigate the decrease in the amount of food available

as well. There would be a shortage in resources and a limit of how much people could eat. This

would also create a huge issue with businesses in the U.S. and other countries because of the

loss of supply. The businesses would all suffer, and eventually fall apart.

Rising sea levels does not only affect the coast. The changes in sea level are due to

global warming, which also causes an issue with the weather around the globe. The chapter

“External Pressures on the Resource: Climate Change” taken from David McNabb’s book Water

Resource Management: Sustainability in an Era of Climate Change describes how people in the

world should be more cautious with the water supply and what their carelessness is doing to

the environment. McNabb wants people to learn how to be sustainable in order to better the

planet. In “External Pressures on the Resource: Climate Change”, McNabb writes about impacts

that people have on the water resource. Humanity takes advantage of the water source. Taking

long showers, washing dishes, watering the lawn, while others are experiencing little to no

clean water to drink. There is such a divide among the world and how much water is

appreciated.

McNabb writes about how changes in the sea level causes there to be a difference in the

weather throughout the world. Some parts of the globe are experiencing severe droughts while

other parts are receiving large amounts of rain, causing floods and more catastrophic events.

There is not a common denominator. Droughts are a larger issue than one would believe. The

droughts have been soaking up water reservoirs, decreasing the flow of streams and removing
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water from aquifers in the ground (McNabb pg. 67-70).These aquifers supply many places with

drinking water. If they continue to shrink in size, there will be a water crisis because places will

suffer a loss of drinking water. If these places are overpopulated because of more people

moving inland from the coast, the amount of water that everyone will have available will

decrease forming a shortage in water as well as food.

The United States has already lost over one billion dollars in extreme weather events in

2015. Not only was there a great dollar cost to these events, but a loss of lives as well. These

devastating events are caused by global warming. Global warming has also caused the rise of

sea levels which continues to rise up to a half an inch to an inch per year. At this rate in the year

2100, the ocean could rise up to sixteen feet. This rise in sea level each year affects people’s

homes but also the groundwater because of saltwater intrusion. The groundwater could

become saltwater and freshwater could be lost. When many people think of sea levels rising,

they do not consider the Midwest of the United States. These extreme changes in weather can

lead to periods of rain, and periods of drought. These heavy rains can cause floods which will

ruin agriculture and infrastructure. If these were to fail, the nation’s economy would tank

(McNabb pg. 65-93). With the population of countries being so great in a smaller area, and if

the economy tanked, millions of jobs would be lost, and people would have to struggle to find

food. Although it is a huge jump to a conclusion, the United States could endure a second Great

Depression. The world has to come together to make decisions about climate change, and what

to do in order to slow the process of this horrible downslope.

Flooding is more of an issue that one would originally believe. According to Borja G.

Reguero , Michael W. Beck, David N. Bresch, Juliano Calil, Imen Meliane the authors of the
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article, “ Comparing the Cost Effectiveness of Nature-based and Coastal Adaptation: A Case

Study from the Gulf Coast of the United States” posted by Opposing Viewpoints, “By 2050,

flood damage in the world's coastal cities is expected to reach $1 trillion a year.” Although that

number is predicted, one has to think of just how much money that is. That money could go

into so many more valuable things like the education systems, housing issues and things that

could help people form a better life. Although this money would be helping people, it is helping

people from an issue that could have been avoided. If no action is taken, humanity is going to

look back and wonder, “What were we thinking?”. There needs to be a plan of action for people

to make in order to save the future.

People have tried to fight back, but little advances have been made. In the lawsuit called

“Juliana vs The United States”, posted by CBS News on a “60 Minutes” episode lawsuit between

people of the United States and the U.S. government regarding climate change. Twenty-one

kids are trying to sue the U.S. government for failing to protect them while they continue to

make decisions that causes climate change. They are doing this to force the government realize

the negative impact that they have on the environment and the fact that they knew the

damage they were causing. United States’ citizens are losing homes, and the environment is

rapidly getting worse and worse. According to the article, the known damages that the use of

fossil fuels cause has been known for almost fifty years, but the government still continued to

use them. The lawsuit argues that the government has done nothing to protect the planet from

climate change but proceeds to pollute the air and damage coast lines and forests. It calls for

the government to form a plan to have the United States slowly move away from fossil fuels

and to a greener fuel. It has been a long, controversial battle that continues because of the
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accessibility and cost of fossil fuels. If the government were to change their fuel type, it would

cost the United States billions of dollars and can ultimately change the economy, but the

people believe that it is worth it in order to save the planet (“The Climate Change Lawsuit That

Could Stop the U.S. Government from Supporting Fossil Fuels”).

Climate change causes issues of loss of land, homes, space and money. It also causes

there to be concerns with land that was once thriving, and changes in extreme weather events

that also damage land homes and people. If the governments throughout the world make

decisions, knowing how they were harming the planet, they should be the ones held

responsible. Because of their actions, millions of people could be forced out of their homes and

required to start a new life for themselves in order to survive. Although humanity in general has

caused sea levels to rise quicker than it would have originally, overall the government has

forced them to have no other choice. Since they knew the consequences to their actions, but

continued to use the same tactics, the government should be held responsible for all of the

people that will be affected by this issue. They should form a plan in order to slow this process

down so future generations will be able to know how great and beautiful the world is.
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Works Cited

Gelbspan, Ross. "Boiling Point." Environmental Issues: Essential Primary Sources, edited by

Brenda Wilmoth Lerner and K. Lee Lerner, Gale, 2006, pp. 462-467. Opposing

Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com.sinclair.ohionet.org/apps/doc/CX3456400173/OVIC?u=dayt3

0401&sid=OVIC&xid=d3cbb5ab. Accessed 1 July 2019.

“Is Sea Level Rising?” National Ocean Service. 24 May 2019.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sealevel.html. Accessed 1 July 2019.

Letman, Jon. “Rising Seas Give Island Nation a Stark Choice: Relocate or Elevate.” National

Geographic, 19 Nov. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/rising-

seas-force-marshall-islands-relocate-elevate-artificial-islands/. Accessed 1 July 2019.

McNabb, David. “External Pressures on the Resource: Climate Change.” Water Resource

Management: Sustainability in an Era of Climate Change. Springer International

Publishing AG, 2017, pp. 65–93.

Reguero, Borja G., et al. "Comparing the Cost Effectiveness of Nature-based and Coastal

Adaptation: A Case Study from the Gulf Coast of the United States." PLoS ONE, vol. 13,

no. 4, 2018, p. e0192132. Opposing Viewpoints in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com.sinclair.ohionet.org/apps/doc/A534255276/OVIC?u=dayt304

01&sid=OVIC&xid=3e3b9f9e Accessed 1 July 2019.

“Rising Sea Level.” Center for Science Education. National Center for Atmospheric Research.

https://scied.ucar.edu/longcontent/rising-sea-level. Accessed 1 July 2019.

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“The Carbon Cycle.” Center for Science Education. National Center for Atmospheric Research.

https://scied.ucar.edu/carbon-cycle Accessed 26 July 2019.

“The Climate Change Lawsuit That Could Stop the U.S. Government from Supporting Fossil

Fuels.”60 Minutes, CBS News. www.cbsnews.com/news/juliana-versus-united-states-

climate-change-lawsuit-60-minutes-2019-06-23/. Accessed 1 July 2019.