How Climate Change and the Pandemic Will Change The World

 I was watching Fareed Zakaria last Sunday, and in the last segment of his show, he talked about his new book, 10 Lessons for the Post Pandemic World.  He was talking most specifically about how climate change has already started to change where people live.  Hot climates are getting hotter, and over time, will become uninhabitable.  Wetter climates are becoming wetter, and over time will be under water.  Migration throughout the world will change, as places are no longer suitable to grow crops.  Many Central Americans that have migrated north have done so because they can no longer survive in heat and parched land that has been their home for generations.

What I especially like about Fareed is that he not only presents a problem, but also a solution to the problem.  I can't wait to read his new book.  As I watched Fareed's Sunday show I kept thinking this all sounded so familiar to me.  Of course it was.  I wrote a blog about this very subject in January, 2020!  Here's the blog I wrote more than seven months ago.  

Friday, January 17, 2020

Many American Cities Will Soon Be Under Water

I recently read The Uninhabitable Earth, which scared the crap out of me.  If half the predictions they make come true, this planet is toast.  I can't figure out why so many still don't get it.  Perhaps the predictions of the Union of Concerned Scientists will get your attention.

The steady rise in global surface temperatures is attributed largely to  human-caused green house gas emissions.  The world's ice has been melting and sea level have been rising.  Even with conscientious efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, sooner or later thousands of coastal communities around the world will become uninhabitable.  In theory, with the melting of ice in Antarctica, global sea levels could rise 200 feet.  This kind of catastrophic sea level rise is just one of many potential disaster scenarios that could take place.

The UCS (Union of Concerned Scientists) released a report identifying U.S. coastal communities expected to face chronic and disruptive flooding before the end of the century.  The following communities are just some of the those that will experience at least 10% of habitable land under water:  Secaucus, New Jersey, Hampton, Virginia, St. Simons, Georgia, Margate City, New Jersey, St. Helena Island, South Carolina, Long Beach, New York, Revere, Massachusetts, Little Ferry, New Jersey, Middle Keys, Florida and St. Pete Beach Florida are some of the communities that will be partially underwater in the next 40 years.  The top  5 communities that will be effect (where at least 30% of the area will be completely underwater are Key West, Florida, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Hoboken, New Jersey and Miami Beach, Florida.  Miami Beach will be 60% underwater by 2060, and at current property value, $19.3 billion will be affected.

When are people going to realize that we must take action now?  Our children will see coastal cities disappear in their lifetime. Environmentalists and government must work together to save our planet.