Save the Maldives!

Sea levels are rising due to global warming. That is a major problem for as more reasons that I can count, but one of the biggest problems that this will pose will be for potential 'climate refuges' -- those displaced by sea level rise. Much of the world's population lives on coastal areas or in flood planes that will be affected by even marginal rises in sea level, and that will cause many to flee inland. But what about those that have no inland?

This scenario is being pondered by the new President of the Maldives, a small archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean -- for they have no highland to flee to should the oceans continue to rise as predicted. The President Mohamed Nasheed has begun to search for land beyond his island nation, just in case.

"We can do nothing to stop climate change on our own and so we have to buy land elsewhere... It's an insurance policy for the worst possible outcome..."

To many of us, global warming is an abstract concept with consequences that will occur so far in the future that we need not worry about it today. But that is simply no longer the case. Impacts associated with climate change are happening today, and there is no signs of slowing as we continue to pump record amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. We must all take responsibility for our carbon footprint, and every bit counts. Because I want to see the Maldives and other small island nations one day, and I think that the Maldives want me to see as well.