by Oliver Nasatir (6th)

Ear-splitting cries from residents seeing their big coastal cities and icons being
devastated by dangerous floods. Inhabitants scream for help as they get trapped in
floods. Scientists look in shame as they see the historic drought. This is all caused by
one issue, rising sea levels. Rising sea levels is an issue when the oceans rise. In
modern times the oceans have been rising at a historic rate, this is bad because it can
cause devastating consequences.

Rising sea levels are caused by climate change and human’s carbon footprint.

People’s activities that require the burning of fossil fuels cause climate change
and rising sea levels. This includes things like driving cars, riding
planes, etc. The oceans that are rising at a historic rate hold 97% of our planet's water.
On earth, there are 5 major oceans, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian
Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, and the Southern Ocean. All of these oceans are rising. Can
you believe all of these massive oceans are rising just due to humans’ carbon footprint?
Although rising sea levels may seem like a complex problem that will not affect people,
this is not the case. Rising sea levels can horribly affect everyone and there are
solutions every person can do to help solve this problem.

Rising sea levels cause a ton of problems, a simple but true statement. First, a
problem that rising sea levels and climate change have caused is massive flooding.
These massive floods devastated and continue to devastate a ton of land. For example,
these floods have caused 50 big coastal cities to incorporate methods to slow down
rising sea levels from overflooding their most famous areas. Just imagine going to your
favorite tourist attraction in a big coastal city, like you go to California to see the Golden
Gate Bridge, just to see it underwater and in ruins due to sea level rise and global
warming. Although this may be a fantasy, it could possibly be a real future if people do
not take this problem seriously. Next, with all of this flooding caused by rising sea levels,
it can also ruin agriculture, hurting farms, which hurts food production. This happens
because when sea levels rise, it ruins the soil salinization on farms. If the soil
salinization is ruined, it means there are water-soluble salts in the soil that poison the
soil. To add on, another problem Climate change causes weird melting events in the
arctic, which causes rising sea levels. With all of this melting in the arctic, it causes a
loss of habitat for animals living in the arctic. Every problem mentioned above is all
caused by the planet warming. Scientists studying the climate discovered that the Earth
is now around 1.2 degrees warmer than pre-industrial times. With this historic increase
in temperature, these problems will only escalate. And in order to lower the planet’s
temperature, people must work together and use methods to limit their carbon footprint
to stop global warming and rising sea levels.

Rising sea levels can be a very big problem, however, there are things people
can do to help stop rising sea levels. Rising sea levels is directly caused by climate
change, so in order to stop rising sea levels, climate change has to be addressed and 
stopped. Climate change is when human activity admits CO2 in the atmosphere, which
destroys the atmosphere. So in order to stop climate change all people need to reduce
their CO2 emissions. CO2 admissions happen when humans burn fossil fuels. This
happens when cars are driven, when people fly planes, people charge their phones,
people go on trains, etc. First, a solution to climate change and rising sea levels is if
people attack companies for their CO2 admission. One big cause of human’s CO2
emissions is big corporations and companies.

This is why 18-year-old Emma
Montgomery says people should attack corporations rather than others. Her vision is
that if we make these companies mindful of their effect on the environment, they will
stop their emissions and it will help stop climate change. Another way of stopping global
warming and rising sea levels is if people simply take matters into their own hands.
People can reduce their carbon emissions on their own by limiting how much they drive,
how much they fly, etc. For example, people can walk or ride a bike to the local corner
store instead of driving. Humans can consider more eco-friendly ways of transportation,
like traveling electrically, by using electric cars. People can use solar panels, that don’t
admit CO2, to power their houses. Another way global warming and rising sea levels
can be prevented is if people plant trees or if everyone simply plants in general. Plants
can help stop climate change a lot, because CO2 can be absorbed from plants in a
variety of places, like the stem and leaves.

This is why Kalili Liu says to stop global
warming people need to start planting trees and going green, everywhere. All of the
following methods have been put into a plan by a small island, The Republic of
Maldives. The first country to acknowledge the serious jeopardy rising sea levels put
them in is no other than The Republic of Maldives. Believe it or not, they were also one
of the first to devise a plan to adjust to a warmer universe. Nations that are having
trouble with global warming can be educated a lot from this group of small islands inside
the Indian Ocean. All of these solutions require everyone to do their part, so it's about
time people start taking rising sea levels seriously and do their part to help prevent it.
In conclusion, rising sea levels is a massive problem. It can lead to detrimental
flooding, loss of habitat for animals in the arctic, the hurting of agriculture, etc. However,
with solutions like people limiting their carbon footprint, humans can be saved from a
devastating future. Just imagine a future where you take your kids to see the amazing
tourist attractions of California, just to see it all devastated due to rising sea levels. This
should scare people a great deal. This is a real problem at hand and everyone needs to
help to stop rising sea levels. So if a bright future is a foreseeable possibility, it will
require people doing something about rising sea levels.

Despite the enigma of rising sea levels, it is possible to take action now and solve the problem.

I know I’m ready, the question is, are you?