http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/14/science/earth/grappling-with-sea-level-rise-sooner-not-later.html?ref=science&_r=0
For my current event I reviewed
the article “The Flood Next Time” by Justin Gillis, this article was on the
topic of how global warming is causing land on the east coast to sink into the
ocean. Over many years scientist have been monitoring the global average sea
level and collecting great amounts of data. After a little over a century,
scientists now have the data to confidently make the conclusion that from 1880
to 2009 the global average sea level has risen by 8 inches. This may not seem
like much, but even small changes can have large effects on how fast coasts
around the world are eaten up by seawater erosion. Scientists have come to
believe that the global average sea level will go up by a foot every century.
This rapid increase has been caused by greenhouse gasses which humans have
released into the atmosphere. Because these gasses will continue to heat up the
planet, ice caps and land ice shall begin to melt at a faster rate. At worst by
the end of this century we could expect a 5 foot increase in the global average
sea level, again this increase would be caused by an increase of greenhouse
gasses. Already some small towns on the east coast of the US such as Holland
Island that used to have a population of 400 back in 1910, has now completely
sunk into the Chesapeake Bay.
The issue that this article
discusses is very important for all humans for we all live on the same planet.
Over many years humans have begun to destroy the planet that we live on by
releasing large amounts of greenhouse gasses into Earth’s atmosphere. This
article shows us what happens when we start to ignore the consequences of our
actions. If we don’t begin to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses we release
into the Earth’s atmosphere, we will soon see the world’s coasts disappear
under the world’s rising oceans.
I thought that this article was
very interesting and incorporated a lot of details that helped support the authors’
argument that global warming will cause rapid coastline erosion in the years to
come. The article itself was written very smoothly and had a flow to it, which
made the article easier to read. Overall the author did a very good job in
writing an article that made a point.
I felt that this review was well written. The detail used that he used was very helpful to someone reading. For example, his saying that from 1880 to 2009 sea levels have risen by 8 inches was very nice to read as opposed to just saying that sea levels have risen. I also felt that the way a timeline was made was very helpful to the reader. Showing how from 1880 to 2009 sea levels rose by 8 inches, then that average sea levels will go up a foot a century, or, in a worst case scenario, will go up 5 feet by the end of the current century was very good at helping the reader understand the issue at hand. Finally, I felt that the relevance paragraph was very well presented. By addressing all humans, it helped the message hit home. It helped not only bring home the point that if nothing is done about global warming everyone will be impacted negatively, but also the point that, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we can avoid further rises in ocean levels.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I enjoyed this review, I did see some room for improvement. I feel that it could have been included that people are looking for solutions to the problem. The last line in the article says “I’m tired of driving through salt water on my way to work, and I need some solutions.” It would be nice to show that there are solutions being made rather than just negative effects. I also would have enjoyed to see more of the effects on individual towns, such as Norfolk’s constant flooding. Holland Island sinking was briefly mentioned but it could be elaborated upon.
I was amazed to see that some places, like Holland Island, have actually been submerged as a result of rising sea levels.