A FEW miles off the shore of Wellfleet are the remnants of the community of Billingsgate Island. Nearly 100 years ago, this was a typical New England coastal settlement. Yet today most people have never heard of Billingsgate; the community is simply gone. Sea level rise, storms, and erosion gradually made life on the island untenable, and people moved away. What was once a bustling community is now known as “Billingsgate Shoal.”
Billingsgate’s fate may be an omen for how some coastal communities will react to climate change. Today, we armor our shorelines with seawalls, raise coastal homes on pilings, and begin to plan for sea level rise. But as climate change continues, some people will simply move away. It will require serious public discussion, and tough choices, about when to fight and when to flee.
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not to worry, President Obama will save the climate.
If we all do our part, Congress cooperates, and we get strong trade agreements with China that include enforced environmental regulation. I'm glad that we are sensible enough here in Massachusetts to plan ahead, like the Muddy River Restoration Project downtown:
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/fenway-kenmore/2012/10/muddy_river_restoration_begins.html
It's too late to stop global warming entirely, but at least we can make every effort to slow it down and to plan for storms/drought/flooding/blizzards.
So a blizard in February in Boston is becuase of GW?
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im not sure i think its fair for tax payers to buy homes from people who bought in risky locations. yes, i feel bad for them, but that was their choice to purchase a house on the sand knowing (or denying) that the experts have been talking about global warming and rising sea levels for 20 plus years. If we are going to "buy them out" then we should be reducing the market value before making the offer. The homeowners might deserve something, but I don't feel they deserve huge profits. These houses turned out to be bad investments. It's not the public's fault, I would support some help. Keep in mind, what we do will set the standard and there will be many many homes that will be underwater because of rising sea levels.
***The best solution would be to pass cap and trade on carbon emissions now***We have to slow global warming by reducing carbon emissions***
If my insurance company continues to insure these homes, then shame on me for putting my trust in that insurance company when they go out of business because of all the claims.
we're doomed. :(
Not to worry, the Republicans assure us that all we scientists have no idea what we're talking about, and anyway we really just want to perpetrate a massive hoax on humanity. Just ignore all these warnings about sea level rise -- they're part of our Great Hoax, too.
All is well.
Carry on as usual.
The government should not be in the business of insuring coastal real estate that insurance companies won't cover.
We have reacted to this fine story with a blog post entitled, "how to be an optimistic pessimist". The storm has raised awareness about climate change. If you are involved with project managment in particular you may like this post:
http://www.projectsatwork.com/blog/People-Planet-Profits-and-Projects/6332/