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Elizabeth Landry

English 1201-B57

Professor Johnson-Taylor

30 July 2019

Rising Sea Levels and Global Warming

Global warming has always been a topic that interests me, but in recent years I have

realized just how critical some actions made are. The United States has put in some effort to

help this issue, but big steps have to be made in order to save the planet for future generations.

However, the government has also made decisions to allow the rate to which global warming is

occurring, accelerate. This acceleration has made sea levels rise quicker and has already caused

more damage than one would initially believe. My sister graduated with an Environmental

Biology degree and listening to her complain about activities that take place made me

extremely conscious of the effect that people have on the Earth. I watched an episode of “60

Minutes” with my dad and came to the realization on how this issue is not only affecting the

earth, but the people that inhabit it. Not only are humans causing this problem, but they are

the ones that will be hurt most by it.

The episode of “60 Minutes” was about how people from islands are suing the

government because of global warming. These people live on small islands that will be

completely underwater due to the rise in sea level and have gone to court because of the fact

that the government has known about global warming for the past fifty years. These people’s

homes will be completely underwater, so the question that is being asked is, should the

government be held responsible for the people who are losing their homes due to global
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warming? I have always been a huge believer in human rights, and I think it is absolutely

ridiculous that people are not having much say in what is happening to their homes. The

government has made certain decisions, knowing what damages their actions will make. I think

that not only should they be held accountable for the people that are losing their homes, but

they should take initiative to do something to save future generations that are going to be

affected by this issue.

I am upset when thinking about this topic. It bothers me that people are so careless

when it comes to the well-being of our planet. The fact that the people that are making

decisions for our country, are typically older also drives me crazy. These people are not going to

be affected by the outcome of their decisions and were the ones to make this issue grow so

extreme. I believe that a more proactive approach should be taken to help global warming and

the rising of sea levels, and I also think that people who live on small islands should be aided in

finding a new place to live. They are being stripped from their homes because of something

that the government helped create. I took an Environment Biology class in high school, so I

have some previous knowledge about global warming and fossil fuels. I learned about what

types there are and what is causing them to be emitted into the environment.

Although I do have this previous knowledge, I do not know much information about the

actual process and rate to which global warming is occurring. I also do not know about places

that are already being affected by rising sea levels. I need to research about what the

government has done or plans to do to help fix this issue. I also need to look more into the

rising of sea levels and how fast these changes are going to take effect. The two research

questions I have are, “Are the effects of sea levels rising caused by humans and government
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actions?” and “Should the government be held accountable for people that are losing their

homes due to rises in sea levels?”