Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Florida: Drowning in Climate Change Denial By 2070, nearly 5 million people and $3.5 trillion in assets could be flooded by a 100-year coastal flood in the Miami area alone. Sea level rise of a little more than 2 feet would place 9 percent of the state’s current land area underwater at high tide (over 99 percent of Monroe County and nearly 70 percent of Miami-Dade County)—an area with a population of 1.5 million.  The bread-and-butter tourism industry could lose $40 billion annually by 2050 and $167 billion annually by 2100 if no action is taken. Greater evaporative losses from surface water reservoirs would affect water availability. Drought events could contribute to saltwater intrusion into coastal freshwater aquifers, contaminating drinking water supplies.  Given the enormous risks to the people, economy, and resources of Florida, you would think that state agencies would be busy developing plans and policies to reduce vulnerabilities.  Think again.  According to a new NRDC report, Florida lags far behind other states in preparing for climate change impacts.  Read more.Photo: Alligator Creek near Punta Gorda, FL, by Seamoor (flickr)

Florida: Drowning in Climate Change Denial

  • By 2070, nearly 5 million people and $3.5 trillion in assets could be flooded by a 100-year coastal flood in the Miami area alone.
  • Sea level rise of a little more than 2 feet would place 9 percent of the state’s current land area underwater at high tide (over 99 percent of Monroe County and nearly 70 percent of Miami-Dade County)—an area with a population of 1.5 million. 
  • The bread-and-butter tourism industry could lose $40 billion annually by 2050 and $167 billion annually by 2100 if no action is taken.
  • Greater evaporative losses from surface water reservoirs would affect water availability.
  • Drought events could contribute to saltwater intrusion into coastal freshwater aquifers, contaminating drinking water supplies. 

Given the enormous risks to the people, economy, and resources of Florida, you would think that state agencies would be busy developing plans and policies to reduce vulnerabilities.  Think again. 

According to a new NRDC report, Florida lags far behind other states in preparing for climate change impacts.  Read more.

Photo: Alligator Creek near Punta Gorda, FL, by Seamoor (flickr)

Posted at 2:44 PM 239 notes Tags: nrdc climate change global warming miami florida environment nature sea level rise sea level floods

Notes

  1. sthampi reblogged this from emergentfutures
  2. ucfut reblogged this from climateadaptation and added:
    This is us, you guys, our home. We need to wake up and get invovled in stopping the destruciton of OUR HOME. I mean,...
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  5. obliterated1 reblogged this from emergentfutures and added:
    Hardly surprising, given the state’s demographic, but tragic nevertheless….
  6. dewdropz reblogged this from anarcho-queer and added:
    My family lives in center Florida. They have been in a drought for a long time, lakes are drying up, water levels are...
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