Afsluitdijk – an example of Dutch ingenuity and engineering prowess

Just a month before Hurricane Harvey – now a tropical storm — devastated the Houston/Galveston coastal region, moving on to Louisiana– the Union of Concerned Scientists issued When Rising Seas Hit Home: Hard Choices Ahead for Hundreds of US Coastal Communities (2017), a report predicting that dozens of coastal cities in the United States will be subject to regular coastal flooding.

Heavy rains/Courtesy floodsmart.gov

“In the most extreme scenario, the scientists found that 60% of waterfront towns and cities on the East and Gulf Coast will be chronically inundated by 2100. That includes more than 50 urban areas on coastlines, including Oakland, California; Miami; Charleston, South Carolina; New Orleans; and most of New York City.” (See two stories from Co.Design)

Tree loss in New York’s  historic Central Park – over 800 trees damaged and downed by Superstorm Sandy (2012)

Green News Update is ready to cast a wider net to see how a multitude of cities and nations around the world — Scotland, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Pittsburgh, Guangzhou, Mumbai, Venice, Hamburg, Rotterdam, New Orleans– are affected by rising waters and how they are attempting to staunch the effects of severe weather events, storm surges, flooding, and the catastrophic impacts on people, animals, infrastructure and economies.

A map outlines the extensive barrier systems in place in the Netherlands known as the Delta Works. (Bobbie Faul-Zeitler, CC 3.0)

Now is the time for the U.S. Administration to stop denying climate science — and get on with the essential work of safeguarding  cities and people with new technologies and infrastructure.