If you were told today to move out from your house immediately, how would you react? You will have to leave everything behind: your loving hometown, school, friends, your daily morning routines, and pretty much everything you go through right now. Simply put, your life will no longer be the same from this point. It’s rather relieving to think about how this is not a real life case scenario, right? Wrong. The depiction above describes the struggle of climate refugees who are forced to move out from their loving homes due to the rise in sea levels. 

As the earth heats up from greenhouse gas effects, land-based ice such as glaciers and ice sheets start melting, increasing the amount of water in the ocean. This will cause the rise in sea levels, directly threatening the coastal cities to be submerged under the ocean. What’s worse is that the whole process of increase in temperature leading to the melting of ice is a positive feedback loop. As the heat melts the ice, environmentally detrimental natural gases and greenhouse gases such as methane is released to the air, and this fosters the increase in temperature even more and eventually melts more ice. 

With almost 40 percent of the population currently living in relatively high-population-density coastal areas, if the current rate of global warming continues, the introduction scenario may not be just a scenario. It will be our future. Before things are irreversible, individuals must put effort into mitigating global warming as this isn’t an issue about someone else. Our future, is in our hands.