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Save the polar ice caps
The melting of the polar ice caps has been a growing concern for many environmental scientists around the world and as the problem worsens, it will have an increasingly negative impact on the environment and on humanity. Polar ice caps are currently melting six times faster than in the 1990s; in Antarctica the ice loss has nearly quadrupled from 51 billion tons per year between 1992 and 2001 to 199 billion tons per year from 2012-2016. This has led to the global mean sea level rising about 8–9 inches since 1880, and about one third of this rise has occurred in the last two and a half decades.
What Is Causing The Melting Of Polar Ice Caps
The main cause is global warming. Global warming is reaching worrying levels due to human activity such as the burning of fossil fuels which increases the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and traps more of the suns energy and heat on the Earth’s surface.
This in turn causes polar ice caps and glaciers around the world to melt and this increases the amount of water in the oceans. The increase in the water temperature also directly causes the oceans to expand.
If we are able to limit our emissions, the best-case scenario predicted is that the global sea level will rise around 12 inches above 2000 levels by 2100. However, if we continue on our current high emissions trajectory, the worst-case scenario predicted is a rise in the sea level of up to 8.2 feet (2.5 meters) above 2000 levels by 2100.
What Are The Consequences?
The polar ice caps melting has devastating consequences on wildlife. Many animals such as polar bears, walruses, arctic foxes, and reindeer depend on the ice sheets for survival: for hunting, travelling and resting and therefore the loss of ice is causing starvation and many animals to die.
In addition, since the polar ice caps and glaciers melting increase the sea level, this in turn has many negative consequences such as flooding. 8 of the world's 10 largest cities are near a coast and therefore would be susceptible to flooding, shoreline erosion and hazards from storms. The rising sea levels could erode or eliminate a lot infrastructure which will be costly to jobs and industries and it could cause mass migration in the future.
As found at the Yale School of the Environment “without rapid cuts to carbon emissions the analysis indicates there could be a rise in sea levels that would leave 400 million people exposed to coastal flooding each year by the end of the century”.
The high water levels also mean that huge natural disasters such as hurricanes and storms push father inland than before which can cause significant damage on our infrastructure and population.
The rising sea level also damages ecosystems and is putting aquatic species at risk.
How to Help
There are various ways to help this issue on both an individual and collective level. First, we should always seek proactive protection. This entails protecting coastal communities before major flooding damage. Intact coral reefs and mangrove forests provide coastal protection at no cost, but other ecosystem-based measures can incur quite high expenditures, so the preservation of these can serve as a great method of protection.
In addition, as you can see, the difference in projections on the rising sea levels between a low emissions and a high emissions future is substantial. Therefore, you can help by reducing your carbon footprint, to limit global warming and thus the melting of the polar ice caps. One great way to reduce your carbon footprint, is to offset it by planting trees, which is Become Carbon Negative’s mission.
There are various ways to help this issue on both an individual and collective level. First, we should always seek proactive protection. This entails protecting coastal communities before major flooding damage. Intact coral reefs and mangrove forests provide coastal protection at no cost, but other ecosystem-based measures can incur quite high expenditures, so the preservation of these can serve as a great method of protection.
In addition, as you can see, the difference in projections on the rising sea levels between a low emissions and a high emissions future is substantial. Therefore, you can help by reducing your carbon footprint, to limit global warming and thus the melting of the polar ice caps. One great way to reduce your carbon footprint, is to offset it by planting trees, which is Become Carbon Negative’s mission.
