I'm guessing that the ill-informed or adamantly suspicious folks who dispute the scientific conclusions about global climate change and global warming haven't recently visited the mid-Pacific archipelago nation of Kiribati. The 103,000 people who live there are making plans to move because the Pacific Ocean is rising.
Now, the salt water that surrounds their scattered group of three dozen atolls isn't rising quickly…scientists currently estimate the rate is one inch every 10 years, although it will rise more quickly in the future. The atolls are only a few feet above sea level…..so they won't actually completely disappear for quite a few years.
But the slowly rising sea has already contaminated some of the underground fresh water that is vital for Kiribati's agriculture , and weather-related changes in rainfall, tides and storm patterns perhaps are more imminent threats. Already a few villages have been relocated.
The government of Kiribati is taking steps to buy 6,000 acres of land on the island of Fiji, about 1,300 miles to the southeast. Ultimately, the people of Kiribati will abandon their ancestral homes, and make a permanent move to Fiji.
On Kiribati, Chicken Little could say "The ocean is rising!" and get some respect. The people there believe they have to take action now to deal with the unavoidable effects of global climate change.
Cooking the planet (part 2)
Hot times....
Cooking the planet (part 1)
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