Slashdot Mirror


Rising Seas Give Island Nation a Stark Choice: Relocate or Elevate (nationalgeographic.com)

Climate change means the low-lying Marshall Islands must consider drastic measures, including building new artificial islands. National Geographic: The navigational prowess of Marshall Islanders is legendary. For thousands of years, Marshallese have embraced their watery environment, building a culture on more than 1,200 islands scattered across 750,000 square miles of ocean. But powerful tropical cyclones, damaged reefs and fisheries, worsening droughts, and sea-level rise threaten the coral reef atolls of this large ocean state, forcing the Marshallese to navigate a new reality.

In a moment of reckoning, Marshall Islanders face a stark choice: relocate or elevate. One idea being considered is the construction of a new island or raising an existing one. With 600 billion tons of melting ice flowing into oceans that are absorbing heat twice as fast as 18 years ago, the Marshallese will need to move fast. A report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in October highlighted different projected outcomes from a temperature rise of 1.5C versus 2C.

In the report, small-island developing states are identified as being at disproportionately higher risk of adverse consequences of global warming. Among them, four atoll nations: Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Maldives, and the Marshall Islands, are at greatest risk. [...] In July, speaking at a climate change conference on Majuro, capital of the Marshall Islands, University of Hawaii climate scientist Chip Fletcher discussed possible adaptation measures. When Fletcher presented a map depicting Majuro flooded under three feet of water, there was an audible gasp in the room. For climate activists in the Pacific, "1.5 to stay alive," has been the mantra of survival. "We're going to miss 1.5C," Fletcher told his audience, but added, "there's something we can do about it."

1 of 243 comments (clear)

  1. I think you mean skilled reader by SuperKendall · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Quite the skilled propagandist you are.

    I read data from the graph at the link that *you* provided... are you saying the link you provided was propaganda?

    Trust me, it didn't take a lot of skill to read data from a chart. But, apparently it's more effort than you put in.

    ".25 of a foot" huh? Who measures seal level rises that way?

    Sorry, didn't think you would understand what "mm" meant. You are just an AC after all. You can go back to your link again and find the same numbers I did any time you like, in mm directly from the chart on measured levels. I guess maybe you did and because the numbers were so large you thought it meany the increase was really large? Maybe you didn't bother to subtract the start from the end? Is that why you posted the link with such obvious pride despite it saying the opposite of what you were claiming?

    I'll note you did not even attempt to answer the questions I posed, so perhaps the concept of "mm" is beyond you after all.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley