Before that,
What effect do you think would the rise in the sea level by 7 or 8 inches make?
That is probably just the length of your mobile phone. Right?
Right. But an increase in the sea level by 8 inches would not just vertically dip your phone, it can pretty much sink an island or take an entire city under the sea. The rate at which sea level is rising is increasing very fast. Now, what would your reaction be after knowing that there are much more alarming havocs that climate change is going to create which are going to happen much faster than the submergence of islands?
The carefree nature of current and previous generations will deprive our children of a lot of things what we currently feel privileged to enjoy. Let us check what current things will be extinct for future generations
In this article
1. Snow Capped Mountains and Glaciers
The temperature in the high altitude regions is increasing with time. With the rise in temperature, the glaciers are melting. Over the years it has been observed that the glacial ice is changing into lakes.
The white snow capped mountains are slowly turning into gigantic black boulders. The entire Himalayan range is losing its snow and the melting glaciers are considered a major threat for the locals living nearby.
2. Rainforests
Tropical rainforests like Amazon cannot stay untouched amid the global rise in temperature.
Studies suggest that by the year 2050, the temperature will increase by around 3 degrees Celsius resulting in severe drought. Drought, however, is not the end result of climate change. The dryness of the forest leads to widespread fires destroying the diverse wildlife and thus the ecosystem.
Furthermore, the decrease in annual rainfall and drying of cultivable lands will result in a decrease in the production of food staples like rice, soybean, corns etc.
3. Rivers and Lakes
Rivers are the major source of water for household and agriculture all over the world. Due to inadequate rainfall and drought rivers are drying out and severely impacting the livelihood of the local ecosystem.
This heartbreaking image is from California, the USA where the Orville lake is badly hit by severe drought. In the span of just 3 years (2011 to 2014), the amount of water in the lake has dramatically decreased.
4. Polar Icecaps
The future generations will probably just read and watch the documentaries about the north and the south poles.
The poles are supposed to be full of ice year round. But the depletion of ice sheets in the polar regions is threatening the lives of animals like polar bear and reindeers. Animals in the polar regions are running out of food.
5. Polar Bears
Yes, how would they live with no polar ice sheets and no food for them? Check out the images on this post from National Geographic which shows how painful time the polar bears are made to face by humans.
With the current deteriorating rate of global warming, it’s almost certain that these creatures will be long gone before the future generations of humans arrive.
6. A lot of Cities
Dhaka, Jakarta, Bangkok, Manila etc are at high risk of getting flooded every now and then with heavy rainfall with the rising sea level knocking the door.
If global warming is not taken care of, we will surely lose most of the coastal cities around the world. The increasing rate of groundwater extraction in major cities is also making the land sink.