Atlantis redux

The Washington Post recently published "What sea level rise looks like," a valuable series of animations portraying different future potential water depths and how they affect well-known areas of the nation's capitol. Reminds me of the fabled lost city of Atlantis, lost to rising seas in a long-lost era. Below is a screen capture from the WaPo story showing how three stages of sea level rise affect the Washington Monument.

Would like to see this done for every community in the U.S.

 

Posted with Blogsy

New climate change rules for San Francisco Bay

The Bay Citizen reports that the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission on Oct. 6 adopted new rules that ban new shoreline development unless those projects can show benefits that outweigh the cost of protecting against sea level rise.

The commission initially planned to discourage all new shoreline development. But it got kickback from developers, and agreed to a compromise that may allow some projects to proceed if they demonstrate significant economic or environmental benefits.

It seems clear these rules have "national significance," as the commission's chairman stated. But it remains to be seen if they go far enough.

The Bay Area and its inland Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are expected to see 55 inches of sea level rise -- that's 4.5 feet. It may well be that these early estimates are conservative. We may find out eventually that it makes more sense to retreat from the shoreline, rather than allow more development on it.

One looming proposal calls for 12,000 new homes on former salt flats in the South Bay.