High Tide On Main Street: Rising Sea Level and the Coming Coastal Crisis

by John Englander

Paperback, 2012

Status

Available

Call number

551.458

Genres

Science & Nature

General Nonfiction

Nonfiction

Publication

The Science Bookshelf (2012), Edition: 2nd ed., 252 pages

Description

NEW 2nd Edition (10-16-13) of best selling book that described a superstorm hitting Atlantic City and New York City -- exactly one week before Sandy. Just one of dozens of scenarios in this amazing book. Find out the other forecasts. Rave reviews from experts and Amazon readers. Fully updated and revised. New Introduction by Governor Christine Todd Whitman. For 6,000 years sea level has changed little. Now it it has started rising again, moving the shoreline too. In clear, easy-to-understand language, this book explains: * The science behind sea level rise, plus the myths and partial truths used to confuse the issue. * The surprising forces that will cause sea level to rise for 1,000 years, as well as the possibility of catastrophic rise this century. * Why the devastating economic effects will not be limited to the coasts. * Why coastal property values will go "underwater" long before the land does, perhaps as early as this decade. * Five points of "intelligent adaptation" that can help individuals, businesses, and communities protect investments now and in the future.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Stbalbach

High Tide On Main Street is by the former CEO of the Cousteau Society, a friend of Jacques. It also includes a forward by his son, Jean-Michel. It reads fairly easily but has plenty of footnotes and is not lightweight. It makes the convincing the case that sea level rise is a sure thing indeed

already baked in with recent CO2 emissions. CO2 has a lag time to heat the atmosphere and ocean, which in turn has a lag time to melt ice -- a double lag. Sea level rise is thus the most lagging impact of global warming. However, CO2 emissions are currently happening 20,000 times faster then the fastest similar event in history 50 million years ago, when seas rose nearly 9 feet with a 100ppm CO increase over about 10,000 years. We have already exceeded 100ppm in about 30 years, so sea level rise has only just begun (remember the lag). One might feel comfortable with a 10,000 year lag, but remember the rate of CO2 emissions is 20,000 times higher and thus the rate of melting will also be much faster -- we have no historical parallel.

All that is needed to disrupt culture is a mere foot or two. This will almost surely happen sooner than later, due to the rapid pace of CO2 release and temperature increases. Miami's streets are already flooding on sunny days with normal tides. Lawns far inland are seeing water peculate upward with the tides, which didn't use to happen. Pacific islands are flooding. Chesapeake Bay islands are disappearing. The list goes on -- and this from a few inches.

What is the public to do? Englander focuses on the investor and home owner though offers little more than common sense advice. Coastal properties will not hold their value for multiple generations - prices will drop as awareness sets in long before actual flooding occurs. Entire communities will be hurt by loss of businesses and industry. There are few sure things in life, but dramatic sea rise is one of them. If there was a way to directly invest in sea level rise it might be the world's best investment, a sure thing with steady upward growth. Unfortunately it will cost trillions in lost infrastructure, entire municipalities and even whole counties.

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