Sea levels and impact on the United States.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

As a follow-up to airiefairie's excellent post on March 11, 2012 ("The drowning country: a case of climate migration"), I wanted to share a new report that has been released in the interim.


NBC Nightly News featured a new scientific report suggesting significant changes in sea levels will impact the United States much sooner than thought. The report entitled Surging Seas

finds the odds of “century” or worse floods occurring by 2030 are on track to double or more, over widespread areas of the U.S. These increases threaten an enormous amount of damage. Across the country, nearly 5 million people live in 2.6 million homes at less than 4 feet above high tide — a level lower than the century flood line for most locations analyzed. And compounding this risk, scientists expect roughly 2 to 7 more feet of sea level rise this century. [see graphic below]

The report has been made available online, and Climate Central has designed a super elegant and user friendly interactive map to see what impact sea level changes will have on your own community. The map draws its information from a peer reviewed study. And it uses the National Elevation Dataset, a product of the U.S. Geological Survey.



The effects of a five foot sea rise on my home town of Hampton, Virginia. The solid blue line indicates the current shoreline, gray shows the areas affected by rising sea levels with the interior blue line the new coast line. The "city" of Poquoson would be completely wiped out. This portion of Virginia is called "Tidewater" and it would be affected the most because of the low laying tidal flats and swampy areas. On a personal note, two weeks ago, my insurance agency dropped home coverage due to my proximity to living near a flood zone in Brooklyn. The letter cited increased risks from hurricanes and other issues associated with climate change (i.e. rising sea levels).

Here what happens to Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Queens (5 foot rise):




This is the full feature from NBC Nightly News (you *MAY* have to refresh your browser page to reload the embedded video correctly ;)

Comments

[chessdev.livejournal.com]

And such context is that cut and dried?

If you had to "do something about it" and you honestly believe that only I would be at fault in such an exchange -- I posit either the rules or their intent/interpretation would be flawed.

If we want to believe that rudeness is A-OK, but a named response is bad... then that seems problematic of much more than just *me*


So I err on the side of caution, but not to the point where I'm afraid to take it up at the appropriate time to whomever is involved and argue it.

I believe what is being described here to be one-sided enough that I would be willing to argue it, even if I lost.

Hopefully we wont find ourselves there.

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

If someone tells you "don't be silly" and you respond with "you're such an idiot", and then you argue that these two are equal, or that "you're an idiot" even constitutes arguing-it. I would be willing to argue that it is not. Further, I do not think why you should be afraid of anything, since neither I nor anyone else has threatened you in any way. I thought we were having a conversation. If we weren't, you would have known by now.

That said, I do share your hope. It wasn't such a big deal as it may sound.

[chessdev.livejournal.com]

When I hear "I'd have to do something about it" -- that comes across as a threat.


and when "shut up" = "dont be silly" then I would agree with your point. Except, they're not, so I'm not really following you there.


It wasnt a big deal except you keep calling just me out -- and you're downplaying the rudeness of his comment -- which also is something I keep asking WHY you feel it's not a "big deal"?

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

I did do something about it - I expressed my opinion why it was inappropriate. I do not believe I need to do anything beyond that at this point - what else did you think I would have done?

I answered your latter question in the neighboring comment.

I think you are taking this too personally. I see a slur - I react. I cannot give a much more complex explanation for that, frankly.