“The bay at Fort Point has risen 8 inches over the past century and could rise another 3 feet by the end of this century, according to the last assessment of international climate scientists.”
The San Francisco chronicle is running this story on the likely effect of rising sea levels in the city. Among the findings? Both the San Francisco and Oakland airports will be submerged.
Perhaps its time for citizens of low-lying coastal cities to become familiar with the 2007 report Our Changing Planet, an annual publication (and supplement to the President’s FY 2007 Budget) of the little-known US Global Change Research Program.
You can obtain a hardcopy of the report for free here, along with a variety of other government and private based research reports on climate change (it’s well worth it to take a look at what’s available). I received the 2006 report by mail and it is hefty, so unless you absolutely need a hardcopy, read it on-line at the above link.
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I can relate to this article. Living on the rural Northern California coast. Living on the coast is a bit of a gamble, but than so is life. Rising waters is something to really think about, and at some point will need to be addressed. I currently actual experience problems with rising waters, and water issues in general. For example. Some things are just man made design flaws. Like the highways designed, and built by CalTrans. It’s not good practice to build a highway right next to the ocean. Continued rain, and a high tide mixture spells trouble. Combine that with a mud slide on another main highway during the same time period. Then you literally can’t drive out of the county I live in. It’s all due to bad state design flaws while being escalated by climate change. The bay area is at even more risk because of the population, and city folks that would not know what to do if they were stranded within a relatively small area. When main arteries are shut down due to say flooding. You loose the ability to deliver food, clean water, and other vital supplies. So on, and so forth. It’s a chain effect.