This is a thought-provoking question. I would say the time to save our homes is NOW.

Regarding how much time we have, scientists cannot say with confidence how much time we have left to save our Earth. Because different scenarios depend on factors like how much greenhouse gas we are emitting and continue to be emitting, how the natural world is responding to the changes in climate, what are we doing to control our emissions etc. But scientists say that if we don’t want to suffer from extreme weather events, we should limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels by 2030. It is good thing that world leaders gathered in Paris, back in December 2015, and decided that all countries should aim to limit global warming well below 2°C and if possible 1.5°C - the Paris Agreement. Now, our job is to ask our countries' leaders what they are doing to keep their promise and achieve this goal and help them to achieve it by following their guidelines.

Regarding the melting of ice caps, it is important to keep in mind that it is one of the downsides of global warming but not the only contributor to global warming. The melting of ice caps can also increase the warming further by reducing Earth capacity to send back some of the energy coming from Sun into the space – scientists called this albedo effect (reflectivity of the Earth’s surface).

You would be happy to know that the scientists who studies sea level changes in past – paleo climate change, says that the Antarctic ice cap has survived much warmer times than current warming and it covers an area of about 14 million square kilometers, which is almost twice the size of Australia, and with an average thickness of about 2 kilometers. This is a huge amount of ice alone in Antarctica. So, it will take more than 81 years to completely melt all the ice caps in the world.

BUT the real concern is that ice caps in Antarctica and Greenland are melting at a much faster rate than they were in 1990s. And we are starting to see some extreme events, as you probably know, currently sea ice around Antarctica is not freezing as it should this winter. This kind of event is likely to happen if we don’t do anything now.

This is an interesting combination of questions. So, let’s start with ocean pollution. There are mainly five types of ocean pollution: increasing acidity of the ocean, addition of plastic waste, increasing concentration of chemicals, noise due to human activities and addition of toxic products. Each of these contributes in varying amounts to ocean pollution and threatens the marine environment and life. As of today, researchers have declared around 500 marine locations as dead zones (where marine life cannot survive) that covers approximately three and half times the area of Tasmania (245 thousand km²). We can reduce this by recycling day-to-day materials, reducing usage of plastic stuff, avoiding putting stuff that is not recommended to dump in our toilets, volunteering for beach cleaning activity etc. You can also learn other cool facts about the ocean pollution on this website.

In the case of sea level rise, I am delighted to inform you that Tassie is safer than other parts of the world. In 2016, CSIRO said to the Tasmanian Department of Premier and Cabinet in their report that if will not do anything to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions then Tassie is expected to experience on average rise of 0.3 meters by 2050 and 0.8 meters by the end of this century compared to what it was in 2010. In this case, some parts of Tassie such as Hobart, Launceston, Devonport, Burnie, Kingston, Bicheno, St Helens and Bruny Island are likely to experience reduction in their livable size. It is important to know that sea level change is a complicated process to understand. And its impact on our life depends on factors such as how often an area experiences an increase in local water level because of heavy rain, or tide or storms etc., for example. I hope this answers your questions.

What a thought-provoking question!

As per my understanding, the whole world will not be flooded. Because the estimated global sea level rise is about 70 meters when all the mountain glaciers and ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland melt; however, our coastal cities would be flooded and some small islands would sink. This would result in significantly smaller land and completely different coastlines. However, scientists are still trying to calculate the exact volume of glaciers and ice caps on Earth.

Furthermore, the scientists who study sea level changes in the past, found that the Antarctic ice cap has survived much warmer times than current warming. Therefore, it is likely that all the ice may not melt completely. The main concern is that some parts of the West Antarctic ice caps and Greenland may melt completely. Scientists are still researching how, when and under what conditions this might happen.

So, the short answer to your question would be, we're still working it out!

I find it very interesting that, today, more and more people understand the impact of climate change on our lives. When I was kid, many people thought global warming is something that scientists created to scare people. Even scientists were disputing the evidence. But now, with confidence, you can say that climate change is a real phenomenon and it is caused by human activity. You can point to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2021 report. The heart of this report is this statement: “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land”.

You may be interested to know some facts about climate change:

• According to the IPCC report, the last 10-year period, from 2012 to 2022, is the hottest period in the 125 thousand years. 
• The current atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration (around 419 parts per million) is at its highest in the last 2 million years.
• 50% of the increase in CO2 concentration happened in 272 years. 

The oceans are working hard to rescue us from this crisis by absorbing this extra heat and CO2 into their interior. But they need our help!

If we stop emitting CO2 completely today, the warming would gradually return to a normal state; however, it would take decades, if not centuries. For example, ocean surface temperature would reach a normal level but the deep ocean would continue to warm.