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Do not believe those public voices and any others who say that these rising waters have stopped and that “the worst danger is behind us” and that "everything will be okay in the end" because of “the institutions” and “American Exceptionalism.”

This belief in exceptionalism is both American and part of a global history.

I would say it's paternalism, the idea that the leaders know what's best for everyone else and therefore can act for everyone else, and the idea of being a chosen people, of exceptionalism.

Others, such as Prof Anil Seth who leads the Sussex University team, disagree, describing the view as "blindly optimistic and driven by human exceptionalism".

Not long ago, you used to hear talk of Arctic exceptionalism, where the eight countries bordering the Arctic - Canada, Russia, the US, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland - along with representatives of six Arctic indigenous communities and other observer countries, including China and the UK, would put aside political differences to work together to protect and govern this incredible part of the world.