Climate Change: For Future Generations

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It's not difficult to grasp how the oncoming climate change will affect our planet. Scientists predict we can have as much as a 5 foot rise in the sea level by the year 2100. Perhaps 80 to 90 years is still far enough away that these predictions do not affect us personally. Scientists predict this is the global tragedy our young children, and their children, will inherit from us.

Predicting future sea level rise is difficult as the planet has never before experienced a dramatic increase in CO2 over the last hundred years. But Prof. Stefan Rhamstorf, an oceanographer and climatologist at Boston University has developed a climate model predicting a 6 foot sea level rise the century as higher temperatures kick in. 

Miami at Risk

One city that will face inundation within this century is Miami Florida. Just a few feet above sea level, it has virtually no defenses against the rising ocean. After one foot of sea level rise the beaches would be regularly flooded. After 2 feet, many roads would be submerged. After 3, if a hurricane strikes, the surging water will overcome the city's defenses and cause floating deep inland. Much of the region's coastal real estate would be ruined.

Billions Lost per Foot

Miami has millions of dollars in coastal real estate. With properties along the water line estimated to be valued at $1 million each. With only 3 feet of sea level rise billions of dollars in Miami real estate will be lost. It's not just residential properties that would be affected. All the ports and docks around Miami that supply goods and services would be submerged with as little as a 5 foot rise in the sea level. Each one of the reports would have to be replaced. Even a small rise in sea level would obliterate billions of dollars in infrastructure.

Miami Lost

After 4 feet of sea level rise electricity supplies to coastal areas would be affected as Miami's power plants become flooded. After a 5 foot rise in sea level, some of Miami's fresh drinking water will be contaminated by seawater turning the Everglades National Park into a sea bay. After only a 6 foot rise in sea level, Manny would become unlivable and millions of Florida residents would have to evacuate the state.

Future Generations

In the years to come we will have an opportunity. We cannot alter the course of our planet's changing climate. Realistically speaking, anything we do will make very little difference. But we do have an opportunity to provide a better life for our next generations. Over the course of the next hundred years we could give our future generations a head start to the stars. Now more than ever, our responsibility to our children is an imperative.