Oceans rising around the U.S. -- when do we start believing in it?
There are a couple of memes floating around that suggest concerns over sea level rise are unfounded. One shows a picture of Plymouth Rock and says the water looks the same as it did when the pilgrims landed. A similar one shows the Statue of Liberty. Of course, both are in protected harbors and these memes ignore things like tidal shifts and wave action. Plymouth Rock isn’t where it was when the pilgrims landed in the first place. It has been moved a couple times and is in a protected area now. But that is meme culture for you.
From the AP story on the Statue of Liberty.
“The global average sea level has risen 8 to 9 inches, or 203-228 millimeters, since 1880, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, while NASA estimates that the average sea level has risen roughly 3.8 inches, about 96.7 millimeters, since 1993.
“And the sea level at The Battery on the southern tip of Manhattan, around 1.7 miles from Liberty Island, has risen at a rate of almost a foot, or 304.8 millimeters, per 100 years, according to NOAA.”
Carolina Beach, North Carolina, a place I’ve been many times, is a fitting example of what sea level rise means to beach communities and infrastructure.
When abnormally high tides come through, which they do, part of the main drag through the small beachside community floods. It didn’t used to, of course, or they wouldn’t have built roads, homes, and businesses there. But now those structures, and the very town itself, are threatened. When it happens at the same time as it rains, that doubles the problem. The town’s drainage system is backed up and full of sea water. The rain has nowhere to go.
But that’s a town of 7,000 people. How about Miami, Florida? The city’s own projections say the ocean will rise 10 to 17 inches between 2000 and 2040. All that saltwater in infrastructure, drainage pipes, concrete, and roads? Yeah, it tears it apart. What happens when hurricane storm surge hits and the ocean is already a foot higher? The devastation will be catastrophic.
Coastal cities from New England to Galveston, Texas are seeing sea levels rise. It’s not just a local problem.
While there are a lot of people who don’t believe sea levels are rising the same way they don’t accept the earth is rising, it is here, and we must deal with it. Don’t want to take responsibility for it? Okay, but coastal streets are flooding.
Even if you deny it’s man-made, we still need to work together to prepare for the changes. Every year, natural disasters cost the economy billions of dollars to repair, not to mention the devastation that communities feel when a hurricane or a tornado rips through and destroys homes and livelihoods.
But really, I don’t know how you deny it is manmade at this point. Where I sit today, we are facing a heat dome that will drive heat index temperatures to over 100 degrees with the humidity. Heat is the most common killer when it comes to heat-related injuries.
And that heat is raising water temperatures, killing coral, driving sharks and fish further north and melting sea ice. Which brings us back around to where we started.
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