Has anyone read the Red Mars Series?
The polar ice caps melting is indeed a problem. The current deal with them is that they are NOT in the ocean, they're sitting on the continent of Antartica. This means that their volume doesn't affect the sea level. On the other hand, if they start to melt, there's no reason for them not to slide off the Antartica and into the ocean. If they do this, we're talking a crazy amount of volume. Even so, the oceans are pretty large right? They shouldn't raise the sea level that much, right?
That depends on how much they need to raise the sea level. In the state of Georgia, for example, there's a region called the Piedmont that was essentially part of the prehistoric ocean floor. As such, it has just about zero change in elevation. The same applies to a large part of Florida, and many other coastal regions. If the sea level were to rise a couple of meters, those flatlands would be swamped, effectively useless as arable or liveable land. Think about that happening all over the world. This isn't a joke.
People need space to live, and most importantly of all, space to grow food.
I'm not sure why people aren't' worried about this, but I know I'm not investing in beachfront property.
Thanks for reading.
Thanks for the correction Cucumba, I didn't know that.
As to Chimpbot... I believe you're thinking of what is usually called the "North Pole" (though the polarities of the poles switch from time to time). Check a globe, there's a continent down there.
