We now know how badly our cities will be flooded due to climate change
We now know how badly our cities will be flooded due to climate change
By MATTHEW ROZSA
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 16, 2021 10:00AM (EDT)
When it comes to climate change, the point of no return has already passed.
That is the message of a new report published in the esteemed scientific journal Environmental Research Letters. It paints a picture of a future Earth in which, regardless of actions taken today, hundreds of millions of people will be displaced from their homes by rising sea levels. The carbon dioxide emissions already released into our atmosphere will linger for hundreds of years, warming the oceans and thus causing sea levels to rise. The only question now is whether the damage can be limited.
The answer, according to the report, is yes — but humans will need to take specific, drastic actions as soon as possible.
"Meeting the most ambitious goals of the Paris Climate Agreement will likely reduce exposure by roughly half and may avoid globally unprecedented defense requirements for any coastal megacity exceeding a contemporary population of 10 million," the authors write. (The report was co-written by Benjamin H. Strauss and Scott A. Kulp of Climate Central, DJ Rasmussen of Princeton University and German scientist Ander Levermann.) The long-term goal of the Paris Agreement is to limit the mean increase in global temperatures to no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Even if that happens, however, oceans will continue to swell, meaning there will be millions upon millions of drenched city dwellers.
More at
https://www.salon.com/2021/10/16/we-now-know-how-badly-our-cities-will-be-flooded-due-to-climate-change/
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