The Looming High Water Crisis
By James Donahue
September 20, 2017
Since moving from my old haunts among the Great Lakes to a retirement home along the Pacific coast of California I have become keenly aware of the mighty power of the ocean. The tides are more extreme than we experienced on the Great Lakes. When the winter storms strike us the surf rolls in with so much force we hear the roar of the waves from our home nearly a mile away. Even more interesting, when the surf is up, we can feel the house shake and hear the windows and dishes rattle. This is true power.
More discerning, however, is the fact that even in the four short years that I have lived in this place, safely located high on a hill looking down over the landscape with the mighty Pacific clearly in view; there has been clear evidence of rising sea levels. When we once had sandy beaches stretching far out from the rocky coast, now the water laps within a stone’s throw from the parking area where vacationers come to picnic and frolic.
Because I am located high overhead, and some distance from the coast, I feel safe from the power of that rising level of water. But I see many homes built right on the edge of a rocky bluff overlooking that shoreline. The storms what roll off the Pacific each winter come in with such fury they are beginning to eat way at that bluff. In some areas, south of us in and around San Diego, we have seen images in the news where storms have literally eroded those bluffs and toppled homes. With this in mind I am surprised that the price of those waterfront houses remains high . . . sometimes well over a million dollars for a modest two-bedroom.
Perhaps homes like that are fine for the global warming deniers. As for me, I am happier where I am, looking down on the disaster that looms in what I tend to believe is the near future. The statistics published only this year by Gary Griggs, an earth sciences professor at Santa Cruz’ University of California, puts the treat of our melting ice caps and glaciers in dramatic perspective.
In his book, Coasts in Crisis; A Global Challenge, Griggs lays out a gloomy future for everybody living in cities and communities along the coasts of the world. He notes: “With about 150 million living within just three feet of high tide, and hundreds of millions more within a few more feet, future sea-level rise may be the greatest challenge human civilization has ever faced.”
Indeed, when Hurricane Irma struck Florida on September 10, the storm brought surges of water measuring from nine to 15 feet high, flooding homes and businesses all along both the Eastern and Western coastline. The damage from the force of such surf is hard to imagine.
And as the ice continues to melt, and the sea levels continue to rise and expand from the heating climate, major cities all along the coasts, including New York, Miami, Los Angeles and New Orleans, are either facing the construction of protective barriers such as those invented by the Hollanders, or face total devastation.
Griggs calculated that the water stored in the glacial ice around the planet will be enough to raise sea levels about two feet. The ice meltdown on Greenland is more dramatic and threatens to raise the ocean water levels about 24 more feet. This alone, says Griggs, will affect about 750,000,000 people, or about 10 percent of the people now living within 24 feet of sea level.
“The elephant in the room, however, is Antarctica, which holds 61 percent of all fresh water on the planet.” He said this calculates to 6,400,000 cubic feet of ice. If and when all of this ice melts Griggs calculates it will be enough water to raise sea levels yet another 190 feet.
Imagine if you will, what will happen to the world continents if and when all of that ice melts.
Imagine too, how all of that heated water will affect this planet. If it evaporates, where will all that moisture go? Will it collect to create a vapor canopy surrounding Earth? And if there is a canopy, would it create a temperate climate as some Biblical theorists suggest existed during the time of the dinosaurs?
Could it be that we have all been down this road before in the distant past? Are we in the process of destroying this civilization but creating a new world for the future? When we find evidence of great cities that once stood but now lie deep under the seas, and we tell stories of great continents like Atlantis and Mu that once disappeared under the oceans, we have to wonder what the real history of our ancient planet hides.
By James Donahue
September 20, 2017
Since moving from my old haunts among the Great Lakes to a retirement home along the Pacific coast of California I have become keenly aware of the mighty power of the ocean. The tides are more extreme than we experienced on the Great Lakes. When the winter storms strike us the surf rolls in with so much force we hear the roar of the waves from our home nearly a mile away. Even more interesting, when the surf is up, we can feel the house shake and hear the windows and dishes rattle. This is true power.
More discerning, however, is the fact that even in the four short years that I have lived in this place, safely located high on a hill looking down over the landscape with the mighty Pacific clearly in view; there has been clear evidence of rising sea levels. When we once had sandy beaches stretching far out from the rocky coast, now the water laps within a stone’s throw from the parking area where vacationers come to picnic and frolic.
Because I am located high overhead, and some distance from the coast, I feel safe from the power of that rising level of water. But I see many homes built right on the edge of a rocky bluff overlooking that shoreline. The storms what roll off the Pacific each winter come in with such fury they are beginning to eat way at that bluff. In some areas, south of us in and around San Diego, we have seen images in the news where storms have literally eroded those bluffs and toppled homes. With this in mind I am surprised that the price of those waterfront houses remains high . . . sometimes well over a million dollars for a modest two-bedroom.
Perhaps homes like that are fine for the global warming deniers. As for me, I am happier where I am, looking down on the disaster that looms in what I tend to believe is the near future. The statistics published only this year by Gary Griggs, an earth sciences professor at Santa Cruz’ University of California, puts the treat of our melting ice caps and glaciers in dramatic perspective.
In his book, Coasts in Crisis; A Global Challenge, Griggs lays out a gloomy future for everybody living in cities and communities along the coasts of the world. He notes: “With about 150 million living within just three feet of high tide, and hundreds of millions more within a few more feet, future sea-level rise may be the greatest challenge human civilization has ever faced.”
Indeed, when Hurricane Irma struck Florida on September 10, the storm brought surges of water measuring from nine to 15 feet high, flooding homes and businesses all along both the Eastern and Western coastline. The damage from the force of such surf is hard to imagine.
And as the ice continues to melt, and the sea levels continue to rise and expand from the heating climate, major cities all along the coasts, including New York, Miami, Los Angeles and New Orleans, are either facing the construction of protective barriers such as those invented by the Hollanders, or face total devastation.
Griggs calculated that the water stored in the glacial ice around the planet will be enough to raise sea levels about two feet. The ice meltdown on Greenland is more dramatic and threatens to raise the ocean water levels about 24 more feet. This alone, says Griggs, will affect about 750,000,000 people, or about 10 percent of the people now living within 24 feet of sea level.
“The elephant in the room, however, is Antarctica, which holds 61 percent of all fresh water on the planet.” He said this calculates to 6,400,000 cubic feet of ice. If and when all of this ice melts Griggs calculates it will be enough water to raise sea levels yet another 190 feet.
Imagine if you will, what will happen to the world continents if and when all of that ice melts.
Imagine too, how all of that heated water will affect this planet. If it evaporates, where will all that moisture go? Will it collect to create a vapor canopy surrounding Earth? And if there is a canopy, would it create a temperate climate as some Biblical theorists suggest existed during the time of the dinosaurs?
Could it be that we have all been down this road before in the distant past? Are we in the process of destroying this civilization but creating a new world for the future? When we find evidence of great cities that once stood but now lie deep under the seas, and we tell stories of great continents like Atlantis and Mu that once disappeared under the oceans, we have to wonder what the real history of our ancient planet hides.