Video - Forced Migration from Sea Level Rise: The Marshallese are Losing their Homeland

This video address the real world example of a people being forced from their island home due to global warming induced sea level rises. Rising seas are threatening to force millions of people on coastlines and low-lying nations across the globe to permanently migrate. This migration of sea-level rise refugees could have significant impacts on both the refugees and the communities to which they migrate. Using the Marshallese population in Springdale, AR, as an example, this talk by Donna Davis explores the idea of preparing individuals and communities for the slow-onset disaster of sea-level rise so as to alleviate potential social and economic stresses that could result from the permanent loss of homelands and the influx of displaced migrants to new communities.

Flooding from Climate Change will Submerge 1700 US Cities by 2100

According to a study published at the end of July, more than 1,700 US municipalities and a quarter of Americans will be submerged under water due to climate change by 2100. Without a major reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, more than 1300 cities and towns may be under water within a decade. Even with significant emissions reductions it is already too late for many cities including Fort Lauderdale and Miami Gardens.

These are the findings of a study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Some of America's greatest cities including New York and Miami could be submerged under water before the end of the century.

Northern Ice is Melting at a Dramatic Rate

The combination of declining Arctic ice and Greenland's melting ice sheet are part of a troubling trend that cannot be ignored. As of June 2012, Arctic sea ice declined by 1.10 million square miles and as of July a total of 97 percent of Greenland's ice sheet had melted.

According to satellite images from NASA (see above left), Greenland's ice sheet is melting at an alarming rate. Before July 2012, the most extensive melting seen by satellites in the past three decades was about 55 percent. Ice core records reveal that we have not seen such pronounced melting of Greenland's ice sheet since 1889. To make matters worse a 70 square miles (181 square km) iceberg broke off Greenland’s Petermann Glacier.