Good Essay About Global Warming

Global warming is a very real and very persistent threat to many if not all nations that feature a prominent number of their society along their coastlines. While it is believed at this time that there are measures that can be taken to alleviate such concerns, it is still a very real danger as sea level has been seen to rise. The most endangered of nations are those that are far from what is considered a relatively safe haven, low-lying islands and island chains that are home to many upon many citizens and well-developed cultures. The threat of being washed out completely as the sea seeks to claim their homes is a major fear to these residents, and one that is not too far from becoming a reality.
The general consensus is that sometime in the next thirty to fifty years the oceans will have risen to such a level that they will have no impediment to topping and eventually submerging many island-bound nations, making this fear very real and very near for those residents that call such regions home. A good example of this is the island of Nauru that lies in the South Pacific. At this point the encroaching sea is almost at the doorsteps of those residents that live closest to the tide line. Even though the island’s highest point is around 200 feet above sea level it makes little difference since phosphate mining has made the interior of the island mostly uninhabitable.
This issue most understandably is the cause of a ready and unanswered stream of questions that are swiftly becoming dilemmas that desperately need to be resolved. While the island isn’t sinking by the day it is still being subjected to the rising sea level. One of the main challenges to this problem is diplomatic in nature, and has to do with the actual disappearance of a nation and its otherwise incapability to be inhabited. This in turn brings up the problem of relocating those who call the island home, and where they will go. In turn this new issue brings up the need for agreements as to where the people will go, what can be done about overbearing numbers of immigrants, and of course the vast differences between cultures. (Ma, 2014)
It is a problem of logistics to be quite honest. Even to consider the downward turn of such a small nation forces the discussion of the effect on the UN representatives, and the relocation efforts not only on the part of the affected government, but upon the country that chooses to house them. Also along with this comes the realization that those displaced residents will undeniably suffer some form of culture shock upon being relocated to a region in which they have little if any real experience. There is no denying the very real threat of culture shock, and possibly loss of identity as a culture in such a capacity.
The Solomon Islands, which are near to Nauru, are also approaching that critical junction leading to extinction. The archipelago consists of more than 1,100 atolls and is steadily disappearing as the waves continue to climb with each passing day. The same can be said for the island nations of Kiribati and Maldives, whose officials have began the urgent calls to relocate their people and make preparations for the emigration of their residents.
There are other small nations situated in other island locations throughout the ocean that are also being threatened by the very real phenomenon of global warming, though many nations not situated firmly on the sea are also highly likely to be affected by a rise in sea level. These nations too could experience a sudden need to relocate thousands to even millions of people in order to prevent the loss of their citizens and any property that might be spared. It is surmised that by the year 2040 nearly 40 million citizens around the globe could very well be relocated from their respective regions. The main issue however, that of displacement, in no way diminishes the necessary removal of an entire recognized state or the added concerns of amnesty that are yet another part of emigration when it applies to an entire population.
More important than anything else at this point is the overwhelming flurry of questions dealing with international matters that highlight the dynamic that exists between the differing nations when it comes to settling down to negotiations. Areas such as the Marshall Islands, and Nauru, and other areas have decided to form a coalition in order to request that the necessary authorities listen to and respond to their demands.
What seems to be the most confusing is trying to ascertain the means by which the expense of moving entire threatened populations and the recovery of their homes and lost capital will be paid. While there is an idea that the sinking nations’ coalition that states: nations that have the greatest effect in regards to climate change and raising of the overall sea level such are responsible and are expected to send relief or aid of some sort to those nations affected by said emissions, it is still not for certain that such an ideal will be faithfully upheld. In a just world it would behoove these nations to atone for the damage they have caused and those they have endangered, but time will surely tell should the need arise.
There has been a great deal of discussion regarding the casting of blame and who it is to land upon, though there has to this point not been much seen or heard as to what the ecological and economic solution will look like in the next few decades or more. There are no true concrete methods that these future emigrants will be forced to rely upon, at least not yet. In that sense, some nations that are already weary of waiting on a multilateral situation to magically appear have taken the matter into their own hands.
Kiribati has already had the foresight to broker a land deal that will allow areas for inhabitants to relocate to Fiji. In the meantime leaders of the Maldives have opted to look at the construction of artificial islands that will be made as an attempt to stem the natural rising of the sea and hopefully boost the tourism trade for this small nation. Despite these hopeful steps, those nations most threatened by the effects of global warming are still very much aware of the possibility that their small nations and seemingly miniscule populations will be underrepresented and forgotten within the hegemonic international dialogue of the current day. Even if larger countries that are somewhat close to these nations do make the attempt to help there is still more to be considered.
How is transportation meant to be conducted? How can those countries accepting these emigrants govern the relocation process and integrate those displaced peoples in a manner that will not damage their unique cultural heritage. These are people that have been otherwise isolated from the rest of the world save for tourism and the faint bit of commerce that has kept them loosely connected to the rest of the world, meaning that their culture has been largely untouched and kept as it was intended. The dilemma here is how to keep that unique culture, while at the same time integrating them into a larger system.
There will need to be a rigorous and accountable amount of problem-solving and continuous dialogue, and more importantly it must be prepared for now, not decades from now. This is a very real problem that is not going away, and as sure as the cultural heritage and unique nature of these people must be preserved, it must also be recognized that they cannot be allowed to simply disappear from the earth. The time for conjecture, theory, and discussion has passed, and it is time now for preparation. Like all issues facing the world global warming is very real, but unlike other issues, it cannot be truly solved, but rather endured.

Works Cited

Ma, Andrew. "Washed away: the threat of global warming." Harvard International Review 36.1
(2014): 7+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.