Tracing global warming’s toll to Tuvalu

Global warming is invisible. Just as a frog in a slowly warming frying pan cannot sense his impending doom, so, too, are humans unaware of the global disaster that is descending upon them. Yet the island nation of Tuvalu offers an all too palpable example of global warming’s consequences. As the northern ice caps thaw and the oceans swell with additional water, the sea level slowly rises. Low-lying Pacific coral atolls such as Tuvalu are particularly vulnerable to the waves. Is it inevitable that they will one day share the same fate as the legendary island of Atlantis, disappearing below the waves for eternity. In order to better grasp the nature of global warming and the threat that it harbors, Hankyoreh 21 launched an expedition to the equatorial island nation of Tuvalu.

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