The Government of the Maldives is getting antsy.  While the international community is discussing CO2 reduction targets that fall way short of what’s needed, the Archipelago-State is already dealing with the first signs of sea level rise.

The current proposals on the table would allow concentrations of CO2 to rise to 450 parts per million (ppm), giving us a 50-50 chance of preventing catastrophic climate change. 50-50 doesn’t sound like good odds to gamble the future of human civilization, right? At 450 ppm, temperatures would already be high enough to doom Island Nations like the Maldives. Imagine knowing that your whole country is about to be slowly drowned by the ocean while the countries that caused the problem in the first place discuss ’solutions’ that only help themselves.

The Diver Association of the Maldives is committed to preserving their homes and coral reefs. They joined 350.org – an international movement to reduce CO2 concentrations to 350 ppm and guarantee a stable atmosphere – and shot this fantastic video. Check it out:

On October 24th, the International Day of Climate Action, President Nasheed and his whole cabinet will join the divers and hold an underwater cabinet meeting to show the Maldives’ destiny if the climate negotiations will result in a weak treaty.

Why is this relevant to Funding our Future? Island States aren’t the only places vulnerable to sea level rise. The same CO2 concentration that would doom the Maldives would have a devastating effect on Florida, New York City, New Orleans and the rest of coastal United States. A future where we have to abandon our cities isn’t the future that our generation deserves. We need more than a 50-50 chance, we need 350ppm.

The Florida image was made by Robert A. Rohde from the public domain data set SRTM30 PLUS v.2.0.