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New Interactive Map Shows Climate Change Turning NYC Into Atlantis
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Oct 13, 2015
Modified Oct 13, 2015
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Oct 13, 2015
Modified Oct 13, 2015
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Talking about climate change feels a little like screaming into the void, but I wore a T-shirt and drank a cider slushy yesterday, so the warnings will continue. This week's DOOMSDAY prediction comes courtesy of a new interactive map, which predicts that Lower Manhattan and large swaths of the boroughs will be underwater within the next couple of centuries if we don't dramatically cut carbon emissions worldwide. See below:
The map comes courtesy of a recent study [pdf] published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which illustrated how climate change could destroy coastal cities over time. Unchecked pollution could turn waterfront neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Long Island City, Red Hook, and pretty much all of coastal Brooklyn and Queens into IRL Atlantises.
Though there's no exact timeframe for said flooding, it could certainly happen sooner than we think, and future generations may experience a very different New York from the one we know now. "Those generations could know lower Manhattan as a place to visit, or as a place to go diving for ruins," study co-author Ben Strauss told Wired.
There is some good news? If we somehow manage to slash global carbon emissions by 2050, the impact could be much less, though we'll still lose Coney Island.
But even that small hope—one that would require global governments to choose the environment over big business, something they'll be discussing at the upcoming UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris next month—might not save cities like Miami and New Orleans, both of which will sink significantly no matter what action we take. "In our analysis, a lot of cities have futures that depend on our carbon choices but some appear to be already lost. And it is hard to imagine how we could defend Miami in the long run," Strauss told Phys.Org. And New Orleans, Strauss added, is "a lot worse looking than Miami," so book your NOLA vacation now before you're forced to wade down Bourbon Street in scuba gear. [h/t Reddit]
Tagged
climate change
global warming
hurricane sandy
RIP
sea level
Rebecca Fishbein
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