It’s no secret that sea levels are rising rapidly. There’s even an interactive map that lets you find just how far underwater your neighborhood will be in 2100. But you might want to start making plans to get out if you live in a coastal city, as according to new research, it’s going to get wet, fast.
A research team has studied sea levels going back 2,800 years or so and, not shockingly, sea levels rose faster during the 20th century than they did at any other time, with the now-familiar “hockey stick” for the twentieth century. If that weren’t enough, the research found that even if we all switched to solar and started buying local produce tomorrow, the sea levels would still rise, causing problems for polar bears and other wildlife.
That said, over the next eighty or so years, how much greenhouse gas we pump out might make the difference between a foot or so in sea level rise, which is terrible and will cost us billions to manage, and four feet, which would wash entire cities off the map. A four-foot rise of sea level, for example, means New Orleans would slowly drown and Florida would stop being a going concern.
The good news, to the extent there is any, is that these are projections based on uncertain factors, so the numbers might be higher or lower depending on our decisions now and the process of climate change. One thing, however, is certain: If you’re buying a house, get one on a hill.
(Via the Washington Post)