Quelling the Sea- The Threats of Rising Sea Levels to Ecological Stability and Public Health
The vitality of transatlantic commerce between coastal communities has allowed numerous countries to trade commodities, export humanitarian aid, and create beachy standards of living that reflect the rapid development of the modern world. However, the immense weight of skyscrapers and other human creations that have accompanied this development is set to accelerate coastal flooding. The pumping of groundwater and oil, as well as coal mining, exacerbates this process, as the empty space left behind gives way to rock collapse. Chinese cities like Tianjin and Beijing, coastal urban areas in the Netherlands and Ukraine, and segments of American states like California and Florida, are now in the path of imminently rising sea levels. According to a new study, 16% of major cities in the Eastern Hemisphere are losing greater than ten millimeters of elevation per year, and half are losing more than three. These numbers may seem small, but sea levels are projected to rise nearly six feet by the end of the century.
In With the Tide
The primary impact of inadequate precautions for rising sea levels, felt by marginalized communities that lack the means to replace old systems. Flood-related contamination will disproportionately affect those living in isolated, developing communities composed primarily of people of color, lower-income families, the unemployed, and those in linguistic isolation.
An analysis by The Guardian found that nearly 267 million people worldwide occupy land less than seven feet above sea level. The study employed a sensor collection method named Lidar that “pulsates laser light across coastal areas to measure elevation on the Earth’s surface.” The map projected by Lidar’s guidance measurement system shows that 62% of the most at-risk land is concentrated in the tropics, with Indonesia leading in the greatest propensity of exposed land. Asia follows at 59% of land at risk, with the U.S. close behind.
Lidar is regarded as highly effective; parts of the EU and UK have used the technology to collect accurate data for their target coastal zones. That accuracy comes with a cost, though — sending Lidar scans every four years over the Netherlands alone costs tens of millions of euros at nearly $50,000 per meter, a rate that is too high for most developing nations.
Even with access to government spending, ecological preservation is not guaranteed. With climate change policy remaining contentious, newly elected administrations can impede progress toward combating climate change. Nearly 40% of Americans dwell on the coast, where sinking land subsidence is a primary issue. Galveston, TX, Grande Isles, LA, and nearly all of Miami, FL — Gulf Coast cities in traditionally conservative states — are seeing reluctance from the state to act on reducing emissions and oil company presence. A study conducted by the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program in the aftermath of Trump’s initial election success found that states that voted Republican were projected to suffer greater repercussions from damages via climate change than states with liberal-leaning policies. CNN reporter Ronald Brownstein called high-emitting states a coalescence of “a seemingly impregnable brown barricade against federal legislation to reduce the carbon emissions linked to climate change.” The federal Energy Information Administration recorded that “Republicans hold 35 of the 40 Senate seats from the 20 states that emit the most carbon per dollar of economic output” showing that ecological preservation often suffers due to financial motives. The incoming political administration has cast serious doubts about the tangibility of climate preservation legislation.
Cold Fins
Image Description: Destruction of coastal property due to erosion in Ecuador
Image Credit: Glenn R. Specht- US Department of State
The key to narrowing the extent of damage is to preserve clean waterways and limit contamination. More progressive cities are beginning to inject water into depleted aquifers, a process called managed recharge. The procedure is predicated on repairing pre-existing systems that would limit pathogens from entering drinking water. The Miami area has been awarded about $280 million in grants, homes are being converted from septic tanks to mainline waste lines, and public infrastructure is being advocated for by public officials. Yet little progress is underway, primarily due to a lack of funding. It would cost an estimated $4 billion to repair all resident waterways in Florida alone. As The Washington Post reported earlier this year, upcoming elections will dictate which states prioritize funding to mend waterways that suffer from high oxygen concentrations and startling levels of coliform bacteria. The Post’s recent piece on “The Drowning South” actualized the extent to which current systems are inadequate to provide clean water in states already threatened by rising sea levels and torrential rainfalls. Miami-Dade Commissioner Raquel Regalado has begun implementing a phase-out of old septic tanks and aquifers. She coins it a future economic disaster — one that we have to get ahead of now.
Do the Waves Obey Every Whim?
It is not just the American South under siege by rising sea levels. The world's “Superfund sites,” locations overrun by potential hazardous waste are, as journalist David Hasemyer puts it, a “toxic legacy of an industry’s environmental indifference.” These sites expose millions of people who occupy the aforementioned neighborhoods of color and poverty — to harmful chemicals seeping into their homes. Flooding and rising sea levels push groundwater up, which can propel contaminants into the soil. The analysis “A Toxic Relationship: Extreme Coastal Flooding and Superfund Sites,” by Jacob Carter of the EPA began to measure the reality of climate change effects. Yet Carter was dismissed from the agency in 2017 when the Trump administration curtailed prioritizing climate change-focused research. Trump’s revocation of Obama’s Climate Change Directive in 2017 changed global policy and the attitude of the U.S. surrounding climate change. It demonstrated a reluctance to counteract climate change and made other global players question whether global cooperation to combat the crisis is even feasible.
The climate crisis is one that has visible consequences on a global scale. One example is Thwaites, a massive Antarctic glacier that could raise sea levels by more than two feet if it melts. Thwaites is becoming more exposed to warmer sea water; the water seemingly more able to penetrate the ice over farther distances than anticipated. Eric Rignot, a University of California at Irvine professor and one of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists, leads monitorization of the glacier. In a remark to the Washington Post, he said “it’s kind of sending a shock wave down our spine” — the anticipation of its disappearance threatening sea levels worldwide.
The scenario in which sea levels rise, rainfall increases, and tropics flood is already approaching. Yet the issue is still being treated as a question of political ideology, one of inconsequential endings and endless division. Those who seek the crisis’s reversal are signaling the consequences at every turn, while others are consumed with denial. For the foreseeable future, climate change will remain a concerning topic as the international community must face habits of collaboration and cohabitation as climate migration grows — and the ocean’s wrath becomes stronger still.