Monday, August 15, 2011

Are Sea Levels Really Rising? Yes, We Can See Them. Waiting on the Island of Tuvalu


Are Tides Rising? A fascinating web site, World View of Global Warming, documents before and after photos of shores to show that, yes indeed, the waters are rising. Somehow, it makes a difference to see it with your own eyes.

Above, we see kids sitting on their porch on the Pacific island of Tuvalu. Ten years ago, a student in one of my college classes, a lovely young woman, reported that she hailed from the island of Tuvalu. A recent immigrant, she missed it terribly, she said. So why then had she come? I asked. She had been sent by the elders to leave the island, because the island soon would be underwater. She smiled broadly as she said it. Among us two, it was perhaps only I who felt bitter that the actions of high carbon producing nations such as ours were driving her and her people from their island home. Since then, I have heard that many from Tuvalu have emigrated to Australia in a program. As you can imagine, many of the departees are young people, while their elders remain as the waters rise, nothing able to convince them to loosen their grasp on the land to which their souls, and the souls of their ancestors, have clung.
See photos of sea shore rise here