Rising seas will overwhelm many of our coastal regions unless we move fast. Whether to protect or retreat from low-lying areas – either option carries considerable economic, social and environmental costs and it’s a debate communities cannot tackle in isolation.
We are good at sensing danger. Some dangers anyway. Faced with a guy with a knife or an animal with big teeth, says climate change commentator Jeff Goodell, we humans have evolved to defend ourselves, “but we are not wired to prepare for the barely perceptible threats that gradually accelerate over time”.
Such as sea-level rise, writes Goodell, in his prosaically titled The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World. With the rising tide already gnawing at coastal regions around the globe, by the end of this century, hundreds of millions of people will be forced to retreat inland, “but that is the part no one wants to talk about.”
Goodell, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, is the author of several critically acclaimed books on climate change and energy issues and was in New Zealand earlier this year. He gives the example of the small settlement of Broad Channel in New York. Families have lived there since the 1920s. They swim, they fish, they have a great view of lower Manhattan. Come hell or high water, the residents are not going to leave their homes. But high water it will be. Low-lying Broad Channel was one of the most heavily damaged areas of the city when Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012 and is swamped regularly by tidal flooding and storm surges that will only get worse.
“But they love where they live and the whole notion of getting up and going somewhere else is very hard,” says Goodell from his home in upstate New York. “Even people who understand climate change still think sea-level rise is a slow, gradual thing and they can build a seawall that will be fine for X number of years and this is a remedy for the problem.” It’s not.
Denne historien er fra November 17 - 23 2018-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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Denne historien er fra November 17 - 23 2018-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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First-world problem
Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.
Applying intelligence to AI
I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.
Nazism rears its head
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Staying ahead of the game
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Grasping the nettle
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Hangry? Eat breakfast
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Chemical reaction
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Me and my guitar
Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.
Time is on my side
Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?
The kids are not alright
Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.