evidence: Earth’s sea level is rising as humanity warms the atmosphere and oceans by burning fossil fuels. Average sea level has risen by more than 20 centimeters (about 8 inches) since 1900, and it keeps rising faster, says Brent Minchew, an MIT geophysicist who studies glaciers and oceans. [...] Farther in the future, the differences between the best- and worst-case scenarios grow even starker. Unlike world temperatures, sea level rise responds slowly to climate change, and we can confidently expect that the oceans will keep rising long after we stop all our climate pollution. By the year 2300, even with strong action to control climate change this century, we could plausibly see a meter or more of sea level rise; in the worst case, the seas could rise a staggering 10 meters (33 feet) or more. Over the centuries, the chances of Antarctic ice sheets collapsing also rise. "On a long enough timeline, we lose virtually all ice on Earth," Minchew says. "Over geological timescales, it’s rare to have ice sheets at the poles."