Stuart R. Gaffin

In the following viewpoint, Stuart R. Gaffin finds that rising sea levels as a result of global warming are inevitable and that understanding the effects of the rise will be crucial in taking preventive measures against flooding. According to Gaffin, forecasts suggest that during the twenty-first century, thermal expansion of warming oceans and the melting of glaciers and ice caps will cause a sea level rise of up to one meter. Small island nations are currently facing the greatest risk from sea level rise and will meet with increased erosion, greater energy demands, coral reef deterioration, loss of income, and destabilized human settlements, in the author’s opinion. Gaffin is a staff scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, an organization working to protect the environmental rights of all people...