Author: Junior Scholastic
Publication: BBC
Date: November 21, 2011
Link: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=DA-SORT&inPS=true&prodId=GPS&userGroupName=hatterslib&tabID=T003&searchId=R9&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=4&contentSet=GALE%7CA274791337&&docId=GALE|A274791337&docType=GALE&role=BIC1
Summery: The polar ice caps are melting and the sea level is rising. The coast of Nauru's island is slowly but surely being swallowed up by the Pacific Ocean. This not only threatens this coast, but many other islands around the world. As many may see this as a new fresh water source, The President of Nauru island, Marcus Stephen, said "where a steady onslaught of droughts, floods, and heat wave ... shave displaced millions of people and led to widespread food shortages". With this, many people are losing homes and having to find new resources to get food. A prediction was made that by 2030 2,000 of the archipelago's islands could be underwater.
An edited picture of what could happen if the polar ice caps keep melting.
A picture of how much of the polar ice caps have melted.
Opinion: I thought this was a really amazing article because it shows how the fresh water that goes into the ocean from the ice caps is effecting living space and resource capability to the U.S. but also the rest of the world. Although the picture of the city is not real, it's pretty amazing to think that this could happen. I just couldn't imagine having to move because where you have lived is now under water due to a rise in the sea level. As wanting to live on the ocean my whole life, this would be devastating if I couldn't because the sea level would keep rising and the coasting would keep going underwater.
1. Do you believe the reason for the polar ice caps to melt has to do with global warming? If not, what do you think is causing this?
2. Do you think the polar ice caps could completely melt? If so what would happen to our world and if no, state why.
3. Is it good that the polar ice caps melt? Why or why not? Doesn't it give us more fresh water to drink since only 3% of the worlds water is drinkable to humans?
I found this article to be extremely interesting! I think it is really scary to think that one day we could be flooded out by the ocean. The picture was shocking. Although it was the real photo, it really made me notice how drastic this is. When I heard of the ice caps melting I really did not think much of it, but this picture really allowed me to visualize just how devastating this could be. Who does not love going to the shore during the summer, the thought that the shore we know and love could one day be under water is sad a scary. I think people should be paying more attention to this problem
ReplyDeleteQuestion 3: I think it is bad that the polar ice caps are melting. It is first and foremost adding more water and bringing more water upon cost lines of various shores. It is also ruining the habitat of various animals that live by these icy structures, such as penguins and polar bears. As these polar ice caps melt many people think that it is creating more fresh water. This is false, when salt water freezes it freezes into fresh water because of the different freezing temperatures. But when this ice then melts it melts back into the ocean and then it once again becomes salt water. There is no benefit to the ice caps melting and if it continues it can have a devastating effect on the habitat there and the coastlines all over the world.
This article was shocking and wierd! I couldn't even imagine having the sea level that high.So, before reading this blog post I didn't really know much about the polar ice caps at all. I didn'y know what they looked like or what the big deal was that they were melting, but this article showed me a visual of the caps and how much they are shrinking. I think it is scary to see how small they have gotten in uch a short amount of time. We need to come up with a way to fix this problem befoe the polar ice caps are completly melted.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 3: I think it is so bad that the ice caps are melting because they hold most of the world's fresh water. Some people might think that it would be good if they melted, that way we would have more water, but really they are melting into the inconsumable ocean water. Humans can not drink salt water, so if our biggest supply of fresh water is mixing with that we are in trouble.
I really liked this article. It is sort of scary to think that major islands could just disappear and go under water. It reminds me of that movie Atlantis because their whole city was under water. The picture of a city underwater is very cool but scary to see what our cities could possibly look like in the future.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 3: I think it is very bad that polar ice caps are melting. Like the article said this will make the sea level rise and polar ice caps are part of many animals habitat. It does not give us more fresh water to drink because when they melt all that water just mixes in with the salt water so it would actually give us less fresh water.
I thought this article was really cool. Sometimes I wonder what Earth will look like in the future but I never thought of it in this perspective. I wonder if something like this will actually happen to our planet.
ReplyDeleteIn response to question 3, the melting of polar ice caps is not good. This is because it makes the ocean rise, and with this comes many problems. Not only many will many people loose their homes, but entire islands can be destroyed. Many people would end up having to leave their own homes and then find somewhere else to live. This would cause overpopulation in some area's, like we talked about in class. Also, this will not give us fresh water because the melted water from the ice caps will not be safe drinking water.