By
Sledgstone
I heard these articles a couple years ago and I mostly forgot about it, but after thinking about it again the other day I figured I'd post a topic about this. The first article is in 2 parts and its basically about how sea level rise is going to make an island nation non-existent in the future because of the amount of land they are loosing over time. But its also about how the people living there have faith in their religion that their land will be saved. I don't really see it working out too good for these people. The second article is about another island nation loosing land based on erosion due to dieing off coral reefs. Both are interesting reads.
After looking at these two articles I noticed the comments are filled with the constant political argument of Global Warming being a hoax. Fox News of course is the largest organization pushing the hoax opinion and its obvious their fanbase loves to spread their message. Regardless of the comments in the article, I think its a combination of sea level rise along with erosion and most likely improper treatment of beach front land that is causing these large issues. The US and many other countries fight off beach erosion by rebuilding beaches with sand pumping and building new reefs to help break waves along the coastlines. But for these small islands they don't have the resources to repair erosion, fix inundated land or repair reefs. There could the be case that the islands are sinking, but that wouldn't cause the islands to be under water in a mere 50 years. With all the factors involved, sea level rise does appear to be making a lot of the land uninhabitable.
With these facts most of the people living on these islands don't think anything bad is going to happen at all and often make jokes about climate change. Even with their own government issuing warnings about the changes happening to their islands and that moving to Australia may be a complete reality within half a century many of their citizens believe that God will not let anything happen to the islands and that everyone else is completely wrong. I can understand having faith.. but being ignorant of facts could really screw over these island communities.
Climate Change And Faith Collide In Kiribati
Part 1 of 2:
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/16/133650679/climate-change-and-faith-collide-in-kiribati
Preparing For Sea Level Rise, Islanders Leave Home
Part 2 of 2:
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/17/133681251/preparing-for-sea-level-rise-islanders-leave-home
Seychelles Sinks As Climate Change Advances:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130049417
By Sledgstone