By Sophia Villavicencio
Melting polar ice caps has become a contentious issue impacting all nations. While NASA studies have shown that the amount of ice in Antarctica is actually increasing, these rises only amount to a third of what is being lost in the Arctic. As a result of global warming, the ice caps in the Arctic do not regenerate during winter months and the water remains in the ocean.
Melting polar ice caps has become a contentious issue impacting all nations. While NASA studies have shown that the amount of ice in Antarctica is actually increasing, these rises only amount to a third of what is being lost in the Arctic. As a result of global warming, the ice caps in the Arctic do not regenerate during winter months and the water remains in the ocean.
Since the late 1970s, the Arctic has lost an average of 20,800 square miles of ice a year; the Antarctic has gained an average of 7,300 square miles. On Sept. 19 this year, for the first time ever since 1979, Antarctic sea ice extent exceeded 7.72 million square miles, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center
With the melting of Arctic ice caps being a major contributor, sea levels can be seen rising globally. Over time, this could lead to extensive flooding, contamination of drinking water and major changes in ecosystems.
Sea level rise is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming: the added water from melting ice sheets and glaciers and the expansion of seawater as it warms. The first graph tracks the change in sea level since 1993 as observed by satellites.
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. Globally, 8 of the world’s 10 largest cities are near the coast, according to the U.N. Atlas of the Oceans. With increased sea levels, these cities may find themselves in need to relocate and in turn will cause massive displacement, property value loss, and loss of jobs.
If the melting of Arctic ice caps continues to increase, not only will we lose our primary cooling system for the northern hemisphere, and see major habitat lost. But the lives of people will be directly impacted with elevated sea levels and economies around the globe will deteriorate.
How would the melting of ice caps affect your life and those around you ?
What are some ways people are discrediting this issue?
What other environmental impacts could be a result of the melting ice caps?
21 comments:
It will flood areas, decrease biodiversity in the water, and increase the temperatures of our earth. People are claiming that the polar ice caps melting cannot actually cause such an impact on the temperatures and basically just denying the issue. The greenhouse gases we have are heating the air around the earth which is increasing the melting rates of glaciers. It is terrible to see this happen because as it gets bad, it only gets worse and worse.
The melting of ice caps will change the salinity and temperature of the water. This in turn may affect the ocean currents around the world. People such as those in Europe may not get warm waters and therefore become very cold. Other areas may become even warmer without warm currents. Melting ice sheets may cause flooding of coast lines. Many people believe these changes are a hoax because they do not believe the world is warming. They only use their own views and what is happening around them, but they do not consider the whole globe and the long term affects, just the short term ones. The facts and data clearly say the globe is warming, but apparently one cold winter debunks everything scientists have presented. These changes could affect our lifestyles of us and future generations, and they need to be seen.
Millions of people live in coastal cities, and these could experience catastrophic flooding. Though Dallas might not be affected by major flooding, the damages to the cities around us can still impact everyone. People mostly discredit this issue as a way to prove climate change doesn’t isn’t. They think that since the ice is increasing, global warming does not exists, but we all know that is not the case. Melting ice caps can also stop thermohaline circulation, which would completely change the climates of regions all around the globe.
I believe we don’t have time to discredit and consider the melting of ice sheets and glaciers to be controversial. The fact stands. This is a problem, yes, and we, as inhabitants of the Earth and inducers of climate change, need to do something to save ourselves. People may continue to find loopholes in their understanding in order to preserve the economy we worked for but we can not let that be a hindrance. So establish this as truth and then move forward. Regardless of if you are sympathetic to other species, be sympathetic for humans on this planet. Our own species will be displaced and nothing will return to the norm if we do not call for action as one unit, undivided by political difference.
Melting of ice caps can flood areas, and unfortunately, decrease biodiversity in the water and on land. People claims that polar ice caps melting are not actually an impact on the earth, but they are just discrediting the issue that it is destroying habitats and increasing colder temperatures around the world. The use of natural resources, such as fossil fuels, could be a result of the melting ice caps.
With most of the population living in coastal cities, their homes and way of life would be destroyed with the melting of the ice caps that would bring rising sea levels. A lot of these cities are havens for food production with shore cropping and fishing. The world would see this affect on their dinner tables. People are discrediting this issue by claiming it is not true while not using facts. Other environmental impacts of the ice caps melting is the loss of habitats for animals which would lead to a loss of biodiversity.
The rising of sea levels is a worldwide issue that would devastate several major cities. The fact is that even though the Arctic is only in the North Pole, coastal cities all around the world would see their effects. This is because as sea levels rise, cities on the coast are more prone to flooding and more extreme natural disasters, such as hurricanes. Sea levels rising is only one of the several environmental effects of climate change.
Melting ice caps could dramatically change life through numerous factors such as: flooding of coastlines, loss of habitats, and most importantly, loss of biodiversity in ecosystems. The consequences of these effects is not only bad for the environment, but also for humans. As ecosystems decline, the less natural benefits we can receive from the earth’s ecosystems, negatively affecting food production and resources and ultimately causing political tensions between different nations which could end up in war. Some ways people are discrediting the issue is through large companies lobbying for the denial of global warming.
The melting of ice caps would affect everyones lifestyle. Homes, cities, work, would be destroyed. Lives would be changed forever, and the effect would be costly. People are discrediting this issue by claiming that it doesn't effect their lives and it's not a real issue. Environmental impacts of the melting of ice caps are loss of habitat, biodiversity, food sources decrease, and humans displaced.
People who claim that the effects of climate, such as melting ice caps, do not affect everyone or even the economy lack any foundational basis for their arguments. Even if you do not live on a coastal area, the effects of sea level rising and flooding will still be detrimental to you. As coastal populations move inward, there will be overpopulation and political instability and societal stress. Property values will plummet, health care costs will go up, etc. The environment is a fundamental component of the economy. Valuing the economy over the environment would be a fallacy.
Not only is this a major ecological issue, the melting of the arctic well bring huge political issues to the world. Several countries have overlapping claims to the water that would be uncovered when the ice has melted. All of the Scandinavian countries, the U.S., Canada, and Russia all think they have rightful claims to the arctic waters outside their EEZ’s. Russia has even gone to the extent of populating islands in the region that are economically detrimental in an attempt to justify their water claims. The arctic corridor would be a huge shipping route for whoever gains control over it, so it will surely be a highly contested issue for years to come.
If ice caps start melting, the sea levels would rise and that would flood all of the major coastline cities such as Miami, Los Angeles, and New York. This would damage a lot of infrastructure and displace a lot of people and hurt the economy a lot. This is the same for every country that has a coastline. This would be very bad for the world, especially when the poles start melting. If that happens, the whole earth would be 50 feet under water and that is bad.
It could make daily life harder because of the damage done to surrounding ecosystem, there would likely be shortages of food and necessary nutrients for humans. People are discrete this issue by saying its cold out, or its just as hot as any day. An environmental impact is that the sea level would rise and destroy many ecosystems on the numerous coastlines around the Earth.
The melting of the icecaps will cause sea levels to rise, leaving coastal cities with millions of people to be displaced (In the US alone). People discredit the issue by spreading misinformation that climate change is a myth and justify it by talking about cold weather in order to divert attention away from their impact on the environment. Other impacts are the loss of biodiversity and decreasing food sources.
Being so far inland, it’s hard to imagine how rising sea levels will directly impact me in a major way, which can cause people in similar situations to become desensitized to how big of a problem this is. People also deny the claim that climate change is real and that sea levels are rising, despite the obvious data presented that says otherwise. Some of these people are just not thinking, but majority of them are working for fossil fuel companies or have been bought out by fossil fuel companies, which makes them influential.
The melting ice caps can effect everyone in many different ways such as removing some food sources and creating loss of biodiversity.Some ways people are discrediting this issue is that they some people are bribed by oil companies such as the head environmentalist in the political party and this causes no public view for people to see that the world can come to a end if this continues.Some environmental impacts that can result from this is The loss of biodiversity and the loss of food sources
The melting of ice caps could affect my life and those around me because it could lead to flooding. If I lived on the coastlines, my home could be flooded, and so could everyone around me. Many people are just denying the issue altogether by saying that temperature and the polar ice caps don’t correlate. Other environmental impacts could be a loss in biodiversity, and a change in the water’s salinity.
The melting of the ice caps would be detrimental to many people living along the coast. People would have to move inward, which would lead to overcrowding and result in an increase in diseases. This displacement of people would cause major chaos throughout the country. People also don't believe in the fact that climate change is happening, they think that it's just a myth and that it wouldn't affect them personally, but it is real and it's happening quickly.
The melting of the ice caps would especially devastate people around the coast because of the risen sea levels. It would force numerous amounts of people to relocate. Large amounts of people and politicians do not believe the climate change phenomenon is real; they could help out coastal populations but they wont.
Melting ice caps would affect my life in many ways. One of those ways would be increased population in the DFW area as since rising sea levels would force more people into the mainland which DFW is part of. Another way is hotter summers and more record breaking temperatures since the ice caps wouldn’t be there to regulate the temperature. Some people want to disregard the issue by saying that the ice caps are actually gaining ice instead of moving ice, and others say that it’s just a period of warming and after this period, there will be a period of cooling in which we will regain all of our lost ice. Other environmental impacts that could be a result of melting ice caps would be the loss of animal species that thrive in the cold.
If the ice caps were to melt then there would billions of liters of water added to the ocean and it would help contribute to the problem of climate change and it would also knead to flooding around the world. This would lead to the destruction of habitats and even the loss of human homes. People say that the melting ice caps always occur and that this isn’t a problem even though it could lead to the loss of Hines around the world.
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