A number of environmental issues continue to grow in Australia, as well as the South Pacific Islands. Larger countries, such as the United States and Australia produce a much larger carbon footprint, adding to the sea levels rising around coastal areas. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration reported: 'Global sea level has been rising over the past century, and the rate has increased in recent decades. In 2014, global sea level was 2.6 inches above the 1993 average—the highest annual average in the satellite record (1993-present). Sea level continues to rise at a rate of about one-eighth of an inch per