2012 Rising Sea Levels Seen as Threat to Coastal U.S. (New York Times, 13 March 2012)
About 3.7 million Americans live within a few feet of high tide and risk being hit by more frequent coastal flooding in coming decades because of the sea level rise caused by global warming, according to new research.
By far the most vulnerable state is Florida, the new analysis found, with roughly half of the nation’s at-risk population living near the coast on the porous, low-lying limestone shelf that constitutes much of that state. But Louisiana, California, New York and New Jersey are also particularly vulnerable, researchers found, and virtually the entire American coastline is at some degree of risk.
2011 Rising Seas Will Affect Major US Coastal Cities by 2100, New Research Finds
2007 Nation Under Siege: Sea Level Rise at Our Doorstep [2030 Impact Study Best Use of Google in Color to Depict 1 Meter, 3 Meter, and 5 Meter Rise in Sea Level]
2003 (est) Does Sea Level Rise Matter to Transportation Along the Atlantic Coast?
2000 Maps of Lands Vulnerable to Sea Level Rise Modeled [Best for close-up vulnerability maps]
1989 The Effects of Sea Leavel Rise on U.S. Coastal Wetlands
Phi Beta Iota: There are multiple bottom lines on this continuing saga.
First, despite more than adequate intelligence about the clear and present danger of continuing to occupy areas less than one meter above sea level, a lack of integrity across the political board prevents being serious about this. The US taxpayer continues to subsidize corrupt occupation practices and insurance that private companies will no longer provide.
Second, the severity and frequency of the storms is NOT caused by carbon-induced climate change, but rather by the paving over of the wetlands–the Mississippi Delta especially–are the really rotten nation-wide reliance on levees built by the Army Corps of Engineers and others, generally to the lowest cost lowest standard level. Long before these low-lying areas are permanently flooded — decades away — they will be seasonally and frequently flooded, with tens of billions of dollars worth of damages we can all ill-afford to pay.
Third, as the sea encroaches on coastal lands, it is worth observing that no one is doing any intelligent planning for migrations to the Arctic lands — from Alaska across the Northwest Territories and the Yukon, to Greenland and Iceland — nor is there serious planning for living with and within the ocean, 75% of the surface of the Earth.
See Also:
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Climate Change
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Disease
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Environmental Degradation (Other than Emissions)
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Peak Oil
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Water
