Monday, December 22, 2014

Political Denial In The Face Of Climate Change

“The eastern coast of the United States– from the Gulf of Mexico to New England — has one of the highest rates of sea level rise in the world. As a result of climate change, 5 to 11 inches of sea level rise is expected by 2045 leaving communities like Norfolk, Virginia, Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Annapolis, Maryland essentially inundated. Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel of the Union of Concerned Scientists speaks to Earth Focus about what’s at stake for major U.S. coastal cities and local communities and the choices they need to make to adapt to this imminent threat.”
“Using a mid-range scenario for future sea level rise, we find that, by 2030, more than half of the 52 communities we analyzed on the East and Gulf Coasts can expect to average more than two dozen tidal floods per year. Importantly, the rise in the frequency of tidal flooding represents an extremely steep increase for many of these communities. In the next 15 years alone, two-thirds of these communities could see a tripling or more in the number of high-tide floods each year. The mid-Atlantic coast is expected to see some of the greatest increases in flood frequency. Because many communities are already coping with tidal floods, a tripling in their frequency means that, by 2030, such floods could occur more than once a week…
Because communities are already coping with tidal floods, a tripling in their frequency means that, by 2030, such floods could occur more than once a week. Places such as Annapolis, MD, and Washington, DC, for example, can expect more than 150 tidal floods a year, on average, and several locations in New Jersey could see 80 tidal floods or more. By 2045—within the lifetime of a 30-year mortgage— many coastal communities are expected to see roughly one foot of sea level rise.”

See study here 
video link here 

Report after report of the urgency of the implications of climate change have been published and commented on. Many of the general public and social associations world wide have been keenly aware and have worked hard to achieve wider recognition of the imperative to curtail emissions of greenhouse gases and tackle the causes of global warming.
Concurrently, for more than two decades, at meeting after meeting of world 'leaders' in grand venues around the world there has been much hot air and countless false promises of action against the (let's face it) capitalist mode of business. Who, apart from the politicians themselves and the corporate giants they walk in step with, can now fail to see that is the capitalist system itself with its inexhaustible craving for profit above all else that is the root of this catastrophe? 
JS



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