"Sea levels could rise three feet by 2100." That's a direct quote from a recent article in The Week, a reputable source according to a knowledgeable friend of mine. My son the oceanographer, who studies ocean currents, temperatures, salinity, and such matters, has told me of the likelihood of ocean levels rising globally for a couple of years now. The culprit is climate change and the melting of ice caps. A couple of inches doesn't seem like a lot, but then you think of places like Manila and New Orleans, two of the world's largest seaports. They would both be partially under water. This thought leads to others. What will happen to Corregidor Island in Manila Bay? Or downtown Manila for that matter. My fancy stretches further afield, to the Chocolate Hills of Bohol in the Visayas. This natural wonder, well inland on the island of Bohol, consists of hills of seashells (under the brownish soil and grass cover). Much of Bohol was once under water, millions of years ago.
The scarey warning does not come from an end-of-the-world prophet. It comes from the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, part of the UN, and made up of top oceanographers from around the world (full disclosure: my son belongs). The IPCC shared a nobel prize with Al Gore a few years ago. Their forthcoming report also will note that "It's 95% likely that humans are to blame." In other words, this time the earth-changing climate change is not natural but man-made.
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