In a recent article on the science daily website it has been reported that the last time Carbon Dioxide levels were as high as they are today was about 15 million years ago. Citing a report from the University of California, Los Angeles, levels of CO2 present in the atmosphere back then caused a 5 - 10 degree warmer climate, the arctic ice was non-existent and ice covers of Greenland and Antarctica were severely reduced.

Additionally, sea levels were between 75 and 120 feet higher than today, inundating coastal areas for many miles inland. The study's lead researcher Aradhna Tripani said that "Carbon dioxide is a potent greenhouse gas, and geological observations that we now have for the last 20 million years lend strong support to the idea that carbon dioxide is an important agent for driving climate change throughout Earth's history."

She went on to say that some projections predict CO2 levels rising dramatically to as high as 600 or even 900 parts per million over the next 100 years unless positive action is taken to reduce the greenhouse gas.

In related news England has reported that higher sea levels, predicted by many global climate change models, has begun to affect many of the smaller islands of Great Britain. According to researchers at the University of Southampton, during the past century sea levels have indeed been increasing, greatly increasing the danger of ocean flooding. Their work cites over 150 years of historic data that backs up the claim that sea levels are rising and causing this danger. Coastal engineering expert Professor Robert Nicholls of the University's School of Civil Engineering, who conducted the study recently said: "While these changes seem small, over a century they accumulate and substantially increase the risk of flooding during storms, unless there have been corresponding upgrades to flood defences."He went on to say that the likelihood of a major flood occurring every 100 years in 1900 has increased to every 10 to 25 years now. This will probably increase, he stated, as the climate begins to shift to a warmer state.

Already in places such as the Marshall Islands the ocean is encroaching on the low-lying islands, covering the scarce land on all the islands.