Design ideas based on climate change

How the rising sea levels will affect mankind 


So after I had completed my research into the effect of climate change and decided on a area I would like to focus my character ideas on, I started thinking about what designs or story could I make revolving around the rise in sea levels. There was a lot of different areas in this topic alone that I could aim my design focus towards which means there is a lot from me to choose from. But there was a piece of information I had found whilst researching Climate Change and The Greenhouse Effect that really stood out for me and actually helped spark a lot of ideas in my head once I read it over. I have pasted the information I am referring to below.

When large storms hit land, higher sea levels mean bigger, more powerful storm surges that can strip away everything in their path. In addition, hundreds of millions of people live in areas that will become increasingly vulnerable to flooding. Higher sea levels would force them to abandon their homes and relocate. Low-lying islands could be submerged completely. Most predictions say the warming of the planet will continue and likely will accelerate. Oceans will likely continue to rise as well, but predicting the amount is an inexact science. A recent study says we can expect the oceans to rise between 2.5 and 6.5 feet (0.8 and 2 meters) by 2100, enough to swamp many of the cities along the U.S. East Coast. More dire estimates, including a complete meltdown of the Greenland ice sheet, push sea level rise to 23 feet (7 meters), enough to submerge London.


Reading about the predicted situation of what the rising sea levels could do to affect the Earth, especially the time frame in which large cities like London could be submerged under sea level helped to spark an creative story idea in my head that could lead to a series of different designs revolving around the idea of flooded towns and cities. 




My design idea 


Basically I want to focus on my idea of a future around 100 or so years from now that has been horribly effected by the Earth's drastic climate change. It all starts with the people of Earth in the 21st century just continually believing that Global Warming is some sort of myth and that it really doesn't need to be worried about. So there are no pre cautions taken to try and keep it at bay or even stop it from happening for years and years after the initial warnings. So as years have passed and the polar ice caps have melted due to The Green House Effect the sea level has risen by a dangerous amount, causing towns and cities along the coastlines have become completely submerged and areas further inland to be flooded.

Due to this being a gradual event for many years, people who knew they were going to lose their homes travelled in land to find a new place to live but with so many different towns and cities becoming submerged and many people entering new countries to seek refuge it starting to take a strain on inland cities due to the fact that over population is already an issue in most places and this is just tipping the problem over the edge. As the sea levels rise year by year, the risk of tsunami's and storms become more and more probable which only helps to increases the amount of damage and land lost.

After a particularly bad storm hits the Earth the rate that the sea level rises increased dramatically and speeds up the flooding process leaving a large amount of people unable to escape their homes in time and becoming stuck in their flooded towns. It is after this event that the government decided that they cannot risk any more people coming to live inland where it is safe from flooding. This is due to the fact that it will de pleat food stocks, which are already at all time low due to the Earth heating up and killing a large amount of crops and animals and the fact that it will become to massively over populated to cope. So the government decides to make a sacrifice by using pure force to keep the homeless travellers from coming into the dry land and by building 100 foot walls in order to keep anything from the wetlands, the water and the people, from entering.

I will be drawing character designs of the people who have been shut out of the dry land and now have to try find ways to survive in their flooded towns, I think I will be able to get some really interesting designs using this in my concepts and I already have a few ideas in mind of what kind of thing I want to draw going off of this idea.