The world’s ice sheets just got a dire prognosis, and coastlines are going to pay the price

> A group of international scientists set out to establish what a “safe limit” of warming would be for the survival of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. What they found painted a dire picture.

> The world has pledged to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to stave off the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.

> However, not only is this limit speeding out of reach — the world is currently on track for up to 2.9 degrees of warming by 2100. But the most alarming finding of the study, is that 1.5 might not even be good enough to save the ice sheets.

> Even if the world sustains today’s level of warming, at 1.2 degrees, it could still trigger rapid ice sheet retreat and catastrophic sea level rise, the scientists found.

> The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets together hold enough fresh water to raise global sea levels by around 213 feet.

> It’s an existential threat to the world’s coastal populations. Around 230 million people live less than 1 meter (3.2 feet) above sea level. Even small changes in the amount of ice held in the ice sheets will “profoundly alter” global coastlines, displacing hundreds of millions of people and causing damage that stretches the limits of adaptation,

Great, more climate anxiety to add to the pile. Guess I’ll be buying that mountain property sooner than planned. Florida real estate about to get real cheap.