You’ve probably been hearing that global warming melts ice caps since you were in elementary school, but propaganda with sad polar bears isn’t the only thing that these increasing temperatures will bring us.
All around the world—Shanghai, Osaka, San Francisco, and our native Miami—over 400 cities are at risk of being underwater within the next century. NASA predicts that the West Atlantic Ice Sheet will eventually disappear. According to NASA, this worrisome dissolving “appears unstoppable” and is expected to increase global sea level by 16 feet once it melts.
Say goodbye to New Orleans, because Dr. Benjamin Strauss, vice president of Sea Level and Climate Impacts at Climate Central, says that sea level will rise 14-32 feet by 2100, leaving 98% of populated Louisiana underwater. With three-quarters of the world population expected to reside in coastal cities by 2025, scientists as well as government officials are preparing for the worst.
Partially due to the large number of vicious hurricanes that have taken place in the U.S. recently, global warming awareness has increased significantly. Tropical cyclone Harvey ran through Texas, mostly because hurricanes usually die out in the Gulf, but also because of the increasing sea level. In order to evade the effects of another Harvey or Andrew, cities must change the way their communities are built, especially if situated along the east coast. Scientists say that flooding will occur on the U.S. east coast once every three days by 2045.
As saltwater keeps invading our shores, the soil chemistry is changing. This will make soil too acidic and infertile. Saltwater can likely seep into our drinking water and contaminate our lakes, rivers, and canals.
After the 2011 earthquake in the Pacific Ocean and the towering tsunami it produced, Japan began to take their geographical disadvantage seriously. They built $5.7 billion worth of coastal defences, like seawalls, around the 8,700 miles of shoreline at the most risk. Fudai, a small village behind a large seawall that was originally perceived to be a waste of money, survived the Tohoku tsunami unscathed while a $1.4 billion breakwater in Kamaishi crumbled shortly after the water pulled away.
A spokesperson for Japan’s land ministry admitted that the seawalls in construction now will not be able to withstand a tsunami similar in force to that in 2011, as it is considered by specialists to be a one in a thousand year phenomenon.
As we continue to industrialize and develop coastal cities in particular, let’s not forget that to consider the issue at hand. If we do not make an effort to reverse the effects our actions are having on the environment 200 million people will be displaced by 2100 because of flooding.
