Dr. Daniel Berger says that global climate change is not only real, but if the problem is not addressed during our lifetimes, the Earth could become extensively damaged.

The Bluffton University professor of chemistry believes that if the planet continues to warm, ocean levels will rise and begin to cover coastal land. If the average global temperature increases by just two degrees, Berger estimates, the sea levels could rise high enough to permanently flood parts of New Orleans. And if the trend continues, areas such as the East Coast and southern Florida could begin to disappear as well.

“Right now it might not seem so bad. You could step outside and say, ‘I could use a little global warming,’” Berger said on a chilly Jan. 30 day at a Bluffton colloquium. But the reality of global warming is that “it’s not pretty and it’s not beneficial,” he added.

Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the air will decrease pH levels in the oceans, making it difficult for shelled organisms to survive, Berger predicts. He also projects that the increased carbon dioxide could lead to a large decrease in agricultural productivity for as much of two-thirds of the world, which could lead to global food shortages.

He bases these and other predictions largely on reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other monitoring and policy agencies.

The professor makes a point to differentiate popular public perception of global climate change from day-to-day weather. Weather is a term used to describe the atmosphere at any given time, he explains, while climate describes the weather over a long period, such as a few decades or a century.

While the weather constantly fluctuates and gives no clear indication of global climate change, Berger says, weather tracking since the 1800s shows a clear trend in climate: Temperatures are rising and will continue to rise as developing nations become industrialized and develop higher standards of living.

This trend is directly diminishing the world’s glaciers, which provide a significant amount of drinking water for the planet, he notes. “Glacial ice is pretty much vanishing. Glacial water is drying up,” he says, adding that drinking water shortages and flooding are already occurring in the Himalayan countries, including India and Nepal.

Some people who acknowledge global climate change believe it is natural and humans do not contribute to it. But Berger refutes this idea, saying that humans are directly responsible for high carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. For a half million years, similar levels of carbon dioxide hovered around the Earth, he says, but those levels started to rise with the Industrial Revolution and have shown no indication of stopping, according to data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Despite the dire forecasts associated with climate change, Berger stresses that people can prevent damage by taking initiative now, starting in our own homes. We reduce our carbon footprints by driving our cars less often and more efficiently—and by investing in a hybrid or electric car—turning down thermostats and water heaters a few degrees, switching to low-energy light bulbs and eating less red meat, as “livestock emits great amounts of greenhouse gases,” he says.

“It is hard, but it’s not too hard,” he maintains. “And, in fact, it might not even be too expensive.”

While household responsibility is a step toward environmental sustainability, change absolutely must happen on a much larger scale, Berger adds. If disaster is to be averted, he asserts, industry and governments worldwide must search for alternative fuels, replace coal with more efficient natural gas and reduce the destruction of plants and trees, which take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen.

“This change needs to happen on the institutional level,” Berger points out. And while implementing it will cost the world now, the price of not doing it could be several times greater—and much more dangerous—within many of our lifetimes, he says.

Chay Reigle, public relations office