Climate Change has been a popular concern in the recent decade, and for good reason. Often Climate Change is mistakenly called “Global Warming” since the large amounts of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere cause certain areas of our planet to heat up. One of these areas is the polar ice caps at the pole of our planet. 

The warming of this icy land is causing water currents in our oceans to change, causing coral bleaching, weakened currents, and more severe tropical storms (Such as the many destructive hurricanes this year such as Hurricane Ida which recently hit Louisiana on Sunday, August 29th). This is because the sea surface is warmer than it would otherwise be if the atmosphere regulated heat properly, causing the storms to intensify. Although, the most recent concern is the water levels all around the world as these Ice Caps melt and contribute to the sea rising into the lowlands of the earth. 

This climate change situation could trigger the migration of 216 million people around the world, and cause them to lose their farms and homes, or even their whole towns. Ironically, water scarcity would also become an increasing issue since the rising sea levels would likely contaminate the water. Groundswell 2.0 reports that the ‘hotspots’ for these increasing sea levels could emerge as soon as 2030. 

Places such as Vietnam where rice farming and fishing are a common source of income are in the most danger of this crisis. Their low-lying coastal region would be the first to experience the rising sea levels and would further suffer from more intense tropical storms and typhoons. The tide would most likely rise in a violent storm surge and then never return back to its original level, swallowing the area. 

Not only would the higher water likely swallow their farms, but it would also affect fishing. The water in these regions would face rising ocean acidity and lowering alkalinity making organisms such as shellfish and crustaceans suffer, their outermost shells and exoskeletons faced with calcification. Sciencedirect.com defines calcification as the synthesis of solid calcium carbonate from dissolved substances, whether passively by spontaneous formation of crystals in a supersaturated solution (inorganic calcification) or actively through the intervention of organisms (biocalcification).

 This happens when the water absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere and it interacts with the H2O. The two substances react and produce Hydrogen Carbonate and Bicarbonate ions. This changes the acidity balance of the water. The shells in these waters absorb the seawater into their calcifying spaces and create a hard shell. The Hydrogen ions in the seawater interfere with the shell formation so they must be expelled, but with the higher production of such chemicals, the shells must work harder to expel these chemicals and impact the strength of the shells, and the ability to make shells. This is just one of the many impacts of the rising sea levels. 

In ten years it would be noticeable, in twenty years it would become intensified. Islands could be swallowed whole, the remaining land would become heavily populated, and many people in lower-income countries would die due to drowning, lack of clean water, or starvation. 

Although this sounds similar to a science-fiction movie, where the main characters live in a dystopian society faced every day with challenges we couldn’t even imagine, the impossible scenarios are now becoming serious threats to our world and beautiful planet. If the human race does not begin to seek other forms of energy, decrease their CO2 outputs, and nurture our environment and planet, we could be living in a dystopian universe in less than a decade. The concern of money to these large corporations would not matter any longer if the water continues to rise, storms continue to intensify, food becomes scarce, and survival becomes nearly impossible. Humans may become obsolete by the end of this century if we do not change our ways, and money does not exist, if there is no human race.