U.S. Faces Flood of Internal Climate Refugees

[marmar]

This piece first appeared at Climate News Network.

LONDON—By the century’s end, millions of US citizens could become climate refugees. A study of US counties vulnerable to sea level rise warns that if the coasts are not protected, the movement of people could match the scale of the 20th-century “Great Migration” of African-Americans from the south to the northern states.

Altogether, the new research concludes, more than 13 million people could be affected by a sea level rise of 1.8 metres. This is the high end of climate science projections for sea level rise, but even at the low end a rise of 0.9 metres will put more than 4 million people at risk.

And another study of vulnerability worldwide suggests that, everywhere, the chance of being affected by sea level rise has been underestimated. What matters in such calculations are the concentrations of population in the coastal zones.

High-tide mark

Finnish scientists report that 1.9 billion people live within 100kms of the coast and lower than 100 metres above sea level. By 2050, this number will have increased to 2.4 billion, and 500 million will dwell less than 5 metres above the high-tide mark.

.....(snip).....

Some of the fastest-growing communities face the highest risks. More than a quarter of all the people living in major cities such as Miami and New Orleans could face coastal flooding by 2100, unless steps are taken. In the Florida Keys, and parts of North Carolina, four-fifths of the population could be affected. .............(more)

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/us_faces_flood_of_internal_climate_refugees_20160323

[2naSalit]

1. And it will

be our trajectory until we can collectively get our heads out of our iphones and recognize what's coming.

[pscot]

2. To say nothing of our neighbors to the South

Parts of the Caribbean and Central America are expected to become much less hospitable within 20 years due to warming.