Rising Seas Not Your Problem? Think Again
March 21, 2009 · Print This Article
New Yorkers, prepare to get wet. Thanks to rising sea levels, much of Manhattan will begin to experience “violent and frequent” storm surges as the 21st century unfolds. Wall Street, for example, is barely three feet above sea level and will likely find itself underwater more often in the years to come, according to a new study published by Nature Geoscience.
From Google (AFP):
The researchers analysed the projections of nearly a dozen state-of-the art climate change models, under three different greenhouse gas scenarios.
They found that sea levels in the North Atlantic adjusted in all cases to the projected slowing of the Gulf Stream and its northward extension, the North Atlantic Current.
The weakened currents account for nearly half of a predicted sea rise — from thermal expansion alone — of 36 to 51 centimeters for the US northeastern coast, especially near New York, they found.
“This will lead to the rapid sea level rise on the Northeast coast of the United States,” Yin told AFP by phone.
Rapid sea level increases would put cities such as New York, Boston, Baltimore and Washington D.C. at significantly greater risk of coastal hazards such as hurricanes and intense winter storm surges.
Part of the reason there’s so much resistance to global warming action in America is because people seem to think this country is immune to most of the effects being predicted by scientists. We hear dire warnings about what will happen in places like India, the Pacific Islands and Africa all the time but rarely do the projections hit close to home. Perhaps this news will be a wake-up call to some people. Fear does tend to put a fire under our asses.
Link [Google]
Photo credit: Vanity Fair via Treehugger
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In my view, the biggest problem is the cost of addressing issues. What many people do not know is that there are revenue-neutral strategies.
Henderson does propose one in a recent book (see Global Warming Solutions). As a bonus, it is focused on conservation, which many environmentalists prefer over the alternatives.
The approach would tax non-green products and lower income and retail taxes to compensate for this. The strategy would cost nothing to taxpayers but woud create an incentive to switch to green alternatives.
It could be a more powerful way to address problems than cap and trade.
Tags: cap-and-trade alternatives