Doreen Dupont, M.D.

THE SEAS ARE RISING, EXPENSIVE REAL ESTATE IS AT RISK AND OUR LEADERS NEED TO STOP IGNORING THE THREAT!  February 24, 2020.

The talk about sea-level rise has been going on for years.

Some think storm surge is the main problem. After Hurricane Sandy, Donald Trump rejected the idea of building a barrier around Manhattan by saying, “Sorry, you’ll just have to get your mops and buckets ready.”

However, water surge from tropical storms isn’t the primary problem. The rising sea levels and high tides are the primary threat to coastal areas in the United States and around the world.

But many people don’t want to believe the inevitable: that higher tides will soon flood neighborhoods and cities just like they did in Key Largo last fall.

Nevertheless, most people seem to assume that before the sea fully invades, we will have some new magic technology to protect us.

That seems unlikely. In 2014, Business Insider estimated that $129 billion of real estate in Manhattan will be at risk of flooding merely from storm surge. The Army Corps of Engineers proposed a $119 billion sea barrier around Manhattan.

But Miami is the American city that faces the largest financial threat from rising water. All of South Florida, home to about 8 million people, is in jeopardy from the slow rise of the seas. And, of course, the region is extremely vulnerable to storm surge from more intense hurricanes that experts say the warming climate will generate.

Manhattan and Washington, D.C. are dry for now. President Trump seems to think that the nation’s financial and government capitals are safe for now. What he was ignoring is that the world’s ice sheets and glaciers are melting so quickly that many of the world’s major cities will be underwater sooner than most of us anticipate.

When is this incomprehensible catastrophe going to happen? Well, as melting accelerates, most scientists now understand that chronic flooding in major cities may happen within the next few decades.

The unchecked burning of fossil fuel has scientists estimating that by 2100 sea level may rise more than 6.5 feet, displacing 187 million people. This is not a mop and bucket scenario.

I recently spoke with Dr. Leo Hoffman, editor of the UK’s website Carbon Brief, about the scientific consensus of sea- level rise. Ocean currents may radically change, and melting permafrost may radically accelerate carbon and methane emissions.

Hoffman’s advice to people living on coastlines, “Either build defenses…or potentially move”.

In the UK there is much debate about inland flooding from increased rainfall. The Thames Barrier, built in the 1980s, is getting a massive workout to defend from storm surge.

A Dutch scientist has suggested damming the entire North Sea.

Such drastic and expensive projects would damage the environment, scientist say. However, the cost of doing nothing will be many times higher.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ wildly expensive plan to protect Manhattan may actually be a pittance compared to the flooding damage to United States real estate in the decades ahead.

Dr. Doreen Dupont is an At-Large Director of the Democratic Environmental Caucus of Florida, Chair of Environmental Activism of the Environmental Caucus of Sarasota County Democrats and an Al Gore trained Climate Reality Leader

“The Invading Sea” is the opinion arm of the Florida Climate Reporting Network, a collaborative of news organizations across the state focusing on the threats posed by the warming climate.

For article complete with suggested videos and other published articles of interest:

https://www.theinvadingsea.com/2020/02/24/the-seas-are-rising-expensive-real-estate-is-at-risk-and-our-leaders-need-to-stop-ignoring-the-threat/

Our own Dr. Doreen Dupont was  accepted as a media representative to attend the United Nation's Climate Change Conference  (COP25) in Madrid, Spain from 12/1-12/13, 2019.  She will be representing the WWPR 1490 AM radio station, broadcasting to Bradenton, Tampa Bay, Sarasota, and St. Petersburg, Florida.

From Doreen: I went to COP25, as credentialed press, with a purpose in mind; to bring pertinent, useful, information back to Florida. The advantage of attending as press was that I had almost limitless access to speakers. 

I interviewed (left) Dr. Leo Hickman, Director and Editor of the UKs climate change fact finding organization Carbon Brief. He had moderated a forum on Tipping Points, ie: when will it be too late to stop the projected dramatic rise in sea level  and when will it happen.  Dr. Hickman explained that scientists really don’t know when, and fear it may already be too late to stop. His advice for us...prepare infrastructure now to defend from sea level rise... or move. Our federal and state legislators better hear this. 

Later on I interviewed Ecology Professor Dr. Pablo Marquet, of The Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, Chile (right). He was speaking at a forum on coastal development. His advice to FL, do not develop coastlines; they are critical to our natural water supply and they contribute greatly to carbon sequestration. Coastal development will make Florida suffer more, and sooner. Maybe we need to target local commissioners with this information. 

Enjoy my five minute WWPR 1490 Tampa Bay podcasts with Dr. Hickman and Professor Dr. Marquet and share appropriately.   https://archive.org/details/tippingpointscop25dr.hickman

https://archive.org/details/developingcoastscop25professormarquet