Beach Front Property

On Wednesday, The New York Times had a front page article on the threat of rising sea levels on Americans. The article was in response to a new study that has predicted that 3.7 million Americans living along the coastline will be greatly impacted or displaced by the rising water. Those of us who understand climate change know that sea level rise is an inevitability, as it has already been occurring. 99% of our politicians are unwilling to prepare now for such changes.

The article points out that flooding in coastal areas that commonly occurred with many decades in between episodes will see an increase of flooding episodes to every few years. What this means, in reality, is that these areas will become uninhabitable. Taxpayers and insurance companies will not pay for homes and other buildings to be continually replaced every three or four years. Cities will run out of funds to constantly repair roads and utilities damaged by flood waters. Unless your city, of course, is willing to through a lot of money at building a "wall" to keep out the ocean.

Skeptics continue to say there is no danger, and if sea levels are rising, it's because of natural climate processes, and we will be more than able to handle the problem. If the situation we are in wasn't so dire, those kind of words would be comedic. However, these skeptics continue to have influence over policy implementation, which continues to hold back even the most believing of politicians from developing a plan to help the 3.7 million of our own citizens who will be affected by this symptom of global warming and climate change.

Sure, some of us wouldn't mind the beach front coming to us, instead of the other way around. But we would all feel the impacts of 3.7 million refugees, even residents in tightly land-locked states such as Iowa. We would all see the impact on our taxes and national budget. With this information - based on facts - fresh in our brains, it's time we tell the skeptics to be quiet so we can now present the truth to those who create policy and urge them with all the passion one can muster, to develop and implement a plan to deal with this problem. Let's tell them it's time to do something well before the eleventh hour and the fifty-ninth minute. Maybe then they can have our trust back.