[Terrapreta] climate realities: two views

[MMBTUPR at aol.com]

          from     Lewis L Smith

I live in an apartment on the sea side of a condo in PR that was converted 
from a hotel some 45 years ago. In those days, it's seaside wall was maybe 75 
feet from the high-water mark, and the concrete-based fence halfway in between 
gave one a sense of security, except during hurricanes.

Today the high tides pummel the base despite it just having been repaired, 
and threaten to undercut it once again, taking the communal patio with it. 

On the west coast of our island, near where we used to have a camp, a housing 
development built on a land fill too close to the sea is falling into the 
water, and the uncovered refuse is being scattered up and down the shoreline.

And over in the Pacific region there are more than 3,000 refugees in New 
Zealand from islands which get completely covered when a storm surge coincides 
with a high tide. And in India, there are more than 10,000 from just one island. 

Are the "canaries in the coal mine" trying to tell us something ? I think so.

And we cant say that we didn't have warning. Some 25 years ago, I was invited 
to give a talk at an international conference on energy and the environment 
in Miami, Florida, USA. Neither I nor anyone else remembers what I said. But I 
remember what an official of the State government said. 

If the seas rise one foot, we will lose a lot of beaches. If they rise two 
feet, we will have water in a lot of hotel dining rooms. If they rise four feet, 
everyone who lives south of Orlando will have to buy a rowboat !

Drastic action is definitely called for. Those who deny this imperative are 
as the Bard would say, "fools or knaves".

Happy [ ? ] New Year.   ###


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