Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, Texas, causing major flooding and $125 billion dollars in damage. Wildfires in Northern California killed at least 85 people and destroyed 14,000 residences. Kilauea volcano erupted in May, shooting lava through the air, as smoke and ashes filled the air. Kilauea destroyed 577 homes and forces over 2,000 people to evacuate the Big Island.

Could it be that these events were aided by the changing climate? 

“It’s hard to notice climate change from an island,” said Anesha Grimes, 18, who is originally from Brooklyn, N.Y. “I’ve been here for four years, and nothing has really changed. We had a hurricane this summer but it didn’t do anything. Nothing like the hurricanes I’ve seen before.”

According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in June, a study by University of Hawaii researchers found a third of the state’s shorelines are vulnerable to coastal hazards as the waves and storms that hit the islands become intensified by the growing impacts of sea level rise.

The study went on to examine the shorelines of seven of the eight main Hawaii islands and determined their vulnerability to coastal hazards, ranking each area from low to high risk.

One conclusion the Ocean and Coastal Management journal determined was that high-risk zones on Oahu include the North Shore from Haleiwa to Kahuku, which is exposed to high wave energy, and Ewa Beach, which has low elevation, little reef protection or natural habitat and greater vulnerability to sea level rise.

Furthermore, primary author Yaprak Onat, from UH’s Department of Ocean Resources and Engineering, accounted for a range of  factors in the effects of natural coastal habitats, defensive structures like seawalls and human activities, the Star-Advertiser reported.

According to this study, 34 percent of Hawaii’s coast is at risk as climate change accelerates, Hawaii News Now reported.

“The thing that keeps me here despite climate change … this will always be home. I can’t see ‘this rock’ going anywhere,” said Trae Savaii, 31, from Kalihi.

While we cannot see the full effects of climate change, it maybe slow but it is  happening.

According to a report released in October by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – leading international body evaluating climate change – said it could be stopped only if the world made major, and costly, changes.

President Donald Trump continues to cast doubt on government reports, that came out in November, warning of the devastating effects of climate change.

When asked outside the White House, Monday, Nov. 26, about the findings that unchecked global warming would “wreak havoc” on the U.S .economy, he said: “I don’t believe it.”

The National Climate Assessment (NCA) is the science of climate change and variability and its impacts across the United States, now and throughout this century.

The world’s leading scientists agree that climate change is human-induced and warn that natural fluctuations in temperature are being exacerbated by human activity.

According to CNN, the report delivered a dire warning about climate change and its devastating impacts, saying the economy could lose hundreds of billions of dollars annually and damage health.

Trump went on to tell reporters on Monday, Nov. 26, that he had “read some of” Friday’s report, which was compiled with help from U.S. government agencies and departments.

Trump said other countries must take measures to cut their emissions.

“You’re going to have to have China and Japan and all of Asia and all these other countries, you know, it [the report] addresses our country,” he said.

“Right now we’re at the cleanest we’ve ever been and that’s very important to me.

“But if we’re clean, but every other place on Earth is dirty, that’s not so good. So I want clean air, I want clean water, very important.”

Furthermore, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton accused the Trump administration, via Twitter, of trying to bury the climate change report. Seemingly all on the basis that this report came out on Black Friday. According to CNN that is what is known as a “classic Friday news dump.”

The report goes on to say that the effects of climate change are already being felt in communities across the country, including more frequent and intense extreme weather and climate-related events to include extreme hurricanes and the California wildfires that were displacing thousands of residents in Northern California in early November.

But in October, President Trump told Fox News he was unconvinced that humans were responsible for the Earth’s rising temperatures and going on to  accuse climate change scientists of having a “political agenda.”

Drawing back to 2016, after taking office, Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement, which commits with another 187 other countries to keeping rising global temperatures “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels. According to BBC News, Trump went on to say he wanted to negotiate a new fair deal that would not disadvantage U.S. businesses and workers.

According to a report released in October by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – the leading international body evaluating climate change – it could be stopped only if the world made major, and costly, changes.

According to the Third and Fourth National Climate Assessment Reports, global sea level has risen by about 8 inches since reliable record keeping began in 1880. It is projected to rise another 1 to 4 feet by 2100. This is the result of added water from melting land ice and the expansion of seawater as it warms.

The report went on to say, in the next several decades, storm surges and high tides could combine with sea level rise and land subsidence to further increase flooding in many regions. Sea level rise will continue past 2100 because the oceans take a very long time to respond to warmer conditions at the Earth’s surface. Ocean waters will therefore continue to warm and sea level will continue to rise for many centuries at rates equal to or higher than those of the current century.