Here's what America would look like under 25 feet of water

New research has revealed a chilling reality: Sea levels are rising several times faster today than at any other point in roughly the last 3,000 years.

And the researchers project that if humans can't get control over our outrageous greenhouse gas emission levels, then sea levels could rise as much as three to four feet by the year 2100.

Sea levels rise because of melting glaciers and ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica as a result of warming temperatures. The ocean also expands as it warms.

Rising sea levels make coastal areas, particularly those with dense populations, much more vulnerable to heavy flooding.

Nickolay Lamm, from StorageFront.com, wants the world to know just how real of a problem this is.

So the artist and researcher created sea-level-rise maps depicting what major U.S. monuments would look like over the next century if we continue on a business-as-usual track. Lamm used data provide by Climate Central to build his sea level maps.

The hypothetical scenes show icons like the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument, and depict four levels of flooding at each: 0 feet; 5 feet (possible in 100 to 300 years); 12 feet (possible by about 2300); and 25 feet (possible in the coming centuries):