Australia is facing pressure to accept the status of climate change refugees, as the country is located near many low-lying South Pacific island states and it’s the closest land mass that could provide a safe home for those affected by rising sea levels and global warming. The Refugee Council of Australia has asked the government to create a new category for climate change refugees and offer them the same protection as those escaping social persecution. This would amend the 1951 “Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees” forged after WWII, which primarily focuses on race, religion, national affiliation, or membership to a particular group.

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Post tags: australia, climate change refugee, convention relating to the status of refugees, gilbert and ellis islands, kiribati, labor party, liberal-national coalition, New Zealand, phil glendenning, refugee council of australia, south pacific, tarawa, WWII

One might think that emirs of Dubai would learn from their past mistakes after Dubai’s artificial ‘The World’ archipelago surrendered its sands to the sea, but sinking islands and rising tides have yet to flag the Arab emirate’s ambitions of world building. Aerial photographs recently revealed that Dubai has been hard at work creating a new island – one shaped exactly like Dubai’s city center, but 1/3 the size. That’s not all – closer inspection of the photos shows that a smaller island shaped like Dubai is located off the coast of that island, and an even smaller Dubai-shaped island lies off the coast of that one!

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Post tags: "april fools", aerial photos reveal new dubai islands, Architecture, artificial island, burj khalifa, dubai, dubai island, Dubaisland, global warming, man-made island, satellite photos reveal new dubai islands, sinking islands, uae, united arab emirates

If you only see one environmental film this year, let it be The Island President. The subject of Jon Shenk’s documentary is recently deposed President Mohamed “Anni” Nasheed and his low-lying island nation, the Maldives. Shenk’s crew had unfettered access to the charismatic leader from the moment he took office as the country’s first democratically elected president through the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009.

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Post tags: bonnie cohen, carbon-neutral, Climate Change, cop15, copenhagen summit, democracy, developing nation, film review, green design, green development, island nation, jon shank, Maldives, mohamed nasheed, radiohead, richard berge, sea level rise, sf green film fest, the island president, UN, United Nations

A new report from Climate Central presents troubling data to suggest that rising sea levels, a result of global warning, could cause significant areas of the U.S. coastline to be flooded by the end of the century. The report, “Surging Seas: Sea level rise, storms & global warming: a threat to the US Coast” highlights risks posed to Florida and Louisiana, and found that California, New York and New Jersey are also particularly vulnerable to rising tides. Noting that “Global warming has raised sea level about 8 inches since 1880,” the report’s authors found that scientists expect the seas to rise another 20-80 inches by 2100, dependent on the rate that climate change progresses.

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Post tags: carbon emissions, century floods, century storms, climate central, Climate Change, coal pollution, coastal inundation, florida flooding, global warming, louisiana flooding, melting glaciers, national elevation dataset, national oceanic atmpospheric administration, new york flooding, rising tide, Sea Levels, surging seas, urban flooding

The island nation of Kiribati’s highest point is no more than two meters above sea level, which makes it one of the most vulnerable places on Earth to rising water levels. Last week the President of Kiribati told the world he and his cabinet were considering a plan to purchase a slot of land on the main island of Fiji where they could relocate their population of about 100,000 if climate change indeed caused waters to rise, making their nation uninhabitable. Now, Kiribati President Anote Tong is at the Pacific Islands Forum in Auckland and has announced that the nation is also mulling over a plan to build a $2 billion man-made island that could take the place of their disappearing homes.

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The Pacific island nation Kiribati has found itself at the epicenter of the global climate change debate, as it is one of the first places that will be destroyed if sea levels rise as predicted through this century. Kiribati leaders are currently mulling a major decision to purchase 6,000 acres of land on Fiji’s main island for $9.6 million as insurance against a submerged future. If necessary, they could move their entire permanent population of just over 100,000 onto the land in Fiji. The nation is composed of 32 atolls, like the one shown above, and one coral island spread amidst 1,351,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean, some of which have already been affected by salinated soil and drinking water due to water level changes.

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