Rising Seas Will Displace Millions If Global Warming Left Unchecked

On the climatecentral.org website you can see how much sea levels can rise if pollution is left unchecked.

Millions of people will have to retreat inland due to rising sea levels resulting from rising temperatures, according to climate change scientists.

The latest findings, which appeared in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first of its kind to examine how the energy choices in the next few decades will affect the coastal regions and cities in the U.S down to the zip level.

The scientists have concluded that if gas emissions do not lessen, mixed with the melting polar ice caps, then the world will see the sea level rising by 14 to 32 feet in 2100. The beloved American city is “a really sad story”, said Strauss.

While the future looks bleak in a few cities, Strauss emphasized that many cities can be saved if people take swift action against carbon emissions.

They also considered what might happen if the world were to make a big turnaround, reaching peak carbon emissions by 2020. But, potentially it could also take several centuries more.

As per a new report, researchers fear that rising sea levels in America will soon reshape the face of the United States.

For cities such as New York, Wilmington, N.C., and Bridgeport, Conn., which have more distant lock-in dates, there’s still hope of keeping the streets from final inundation.

That’s “the date where we let the genie out of the bottle, when it’s past the point of no return”, lead study author Benjamin Strauss of Climate Central told The Huffington Post. The areas that will be most affected are South Florida, California, and the East Coast. Miami and New Orleans are just the top entries in a long list of USA cities that are predicted to go under water.

New York City could be “unlivable” by 2085, the same report maintains.

Such radical cuts could consist of a rapid switch to renewable fuels and/or increased use of nuclear power, Strauss said. “Associated projections for sea-level rise generally range near or below 1 m by 2100”, PNAS said. That means that sea level is higher near those places, and the warmer the water, it becomes less dense, Strauss explains in the study. It also finds that decisions made in this century will determine whether or not 14 US cities with populations over 100,000 will also be locked in for at least half of their populated areas – such cities include Jacksonville, Norfolk and Sacramento.

The city of Miami is based upon a porous limestone foundation and has a low elevation, the sea walls will not be able to stop the doomsday flooding, Strauss maintains.

Sure, a lot of us won’t be around in 85 years, but it’s a bummer nonetheless.