Basically, I never understood why (or rather how) a global increase of 1.5° (Celsius) can have as big an impact on the world as it does. How is that seemingly small increase melting the poles so much so that the coastline of many countries in the world might even be pushed back?
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Keep in mind that the 1.5 degree number is the *global average* temperature. It does not mean everywhere will get 1.5 degrees warmer, some places will be less and others more. Due to [the way climate works]*, when the world’s climate changes the temperatures at the poles are affected more strongly than those near the equator.
When people are talking about a 1.5 degree global increase, that’s referring to a scenario where the equator only warms a little bit and the poles warm up much more than just 1.5 degrees, maybe like 5+ degrees. And if you add 5 degrees to the temperature of every day in the poles, you’ll find that way more of them get above freezing than before (melting more ice), and the days that were already above freezing are now farther above freezing (melting more ice). And ice is more reflective than water, so the more ice that melts, the faster the warming gets (melting more ice). You can see where this is going…
*non-ELI5
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