Will Earth Be Under Water by 2040?

Similar to every other issue with today's environment, humans are the main cause of what will come back to hurt us. Glaciers and sea ice are melting at a rapid pace. "Since the industrial revolution, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions have raised temperatures, even higher in the poles, and as a result, glaciers are rapidly melting, calving off into the sea and retreating on land."(Hancock).

Many people don't immediately think of glaciers when they think of climate change. We don't see glaciers outside our window. Even though we don't have glaciers in our backyard they are the most visible evidence of global warming today.

Why Are They Important?
Glaciers keep our earth clear. Their white surface reflects light back into the atmosphere. "Today, about 10% of land area on Earth is covered with glacial ice. Almost 90% is in Antarctica, while the remaining 10% is in the Greenland ice cap." This is why these places are so cold. The heat is reflected.(Hancock)

Piece of Glacier Falling Into Ocean (Staehil)

Why Are They Melting?

The main cause of glaciers melting is human activities. Ever since the industrial revolution greenhouse gases, and carbon dioxide have increased global temperatures. These high temperatures in the poles cause the ice to break off into the ocean.

Humans being the main cause does not surprise me at all. Everything I have researched in the past about the environment has been caused by human behavior. We don't think about the long-term effects before we do something.

Effects on Weather, Currents, Sea Level, and Animals

Melting glaciers add to rising sea levels. The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are contributing the most to the global sea level rise. "Right now, the Greenland ice sheet is disappearing four ties faster than in 2003 and already contributes 20% of current sea level rise.(Hancock)" "Melting of ice caps and glaciers combined with the thermal expansion of ocean water will cause an average increase of sea level roughly a meter (a bit more than one yard)("Why do glaciers matter?".)."

As a result of the sea levels rising coastal erosion, and storms like hurricanes and typhoons are more likely to occur. Many communities along the coast will have to spend billions of dollars on repair as storms become stronger.

Polar Bear Cub and Mother Drift Away (Lefranc/Solent)

All of the effects of glaciers melting will directly effect a certain population of humans. Fisherman. The warmer waters affect where and when the fish spawn. This could be devastating to some cities that depend on fishing for main source of income.(Hancock)


Humans are not the only ones that will
be greatly affected. Animals like polar bears and walrus will be losing their homes.(Hancock)

What Can We Do?

There are several things we can do to fix this issue. Using cleaner energy sources can help fix almost all of the environmental issues today. Harmful gasses are released when we burn coal and fossil fuels. Solar, wind, and geothermal energy are great options. Geothermal energy takes heat from in the earth to create energy.(Rae)

Another thing you can do is switch to electric cars which run off of batteries. All the carbon dioxide releases into the air causes the global temperature to rise leading to glaciers melting.(Rae)

Many glaciers are already gone. Even if we put less emissions into the atmosphere one third of all glaciers will be gone by 2100. If temperatures continue to rise at such a rapid pace, the ice in the Arctic will be completely gone by 2040.(Hancock) We need to start changing so we don't lose it all.


                                                                  Works Cited

Hancock, Laurin. "Why are glaciers and sea ice melting?" World Wild Life,     

             www.worldwildlife.org/pages/why-are-glaciers-and-sea-ice-melting.

Lefranc/Solent, Eric. Drifters: The polar bear cub snuggles against its mother as they drift 12 miles 

             from land. Daily Mail, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1254862/All-sea--polar-bear-cub- 

             drift-shrinking-ice-12-miles-land-expert-says-survived.html.

Rae, Kara. "How Can We Stop Glacier Melting?" Sciencing, 13 Apr. 2018, sciencing.com/can-stop-

           glacier-melting-5377309.html.

Staehil, Bernhard. Building walls of rock and sand to slow the melt of undersea glaciers would only 

           be a stopgap measure in dealing with the effects of climate change. MNN, 22 Sept. 2018, 

           www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/manmade-walls-solution-melting-

           glaciers.

"Why do glaciers matter?" Extreme Ice Survey, extremeicesurvey.org/why-do-glaciers-matter/.