Crumbling Coastlines in Crisis

Dr. Peter Carter, Paul Beckwith and Regina Valdez discuss the challenges we face as a result of crumbling coastlines caused by Sea Level Rise (SLR), thawing permafrost, and the loss of Arctic sea ice.

This video was recorded on July 9th, 2021, and published on July 28th, 2021.

Topics discussed include the following:
- The amount of SLR seen since 1950 in various cities and regions of the United States. Estimates of the cost adapting to these rising levels are also included.
- The fact that despite being an inland city, even Chicago is vulnerable to the effects of Climate Change due to the resulting erratic water levels that surround it.
- The recent leak of the IPCC Sixth Assessment saying how climate change will fundamentally reshape life on Earth in the coming decades even if humans can tame their climate warming GHG emissions.
- There is mention of Katey Walter Anthony’s studies of the thawing permafrost and her finding of methane releases being 12 time more than estimates.
- How much of the 6th mass extinction is taking place largely on our coastlines, estuaries, and wetlands near the coast.
- The numerous, sometimes obscure, factors that cause SLR.
- How ocean waves are getting bigger and contributing to our crumbling coastlines.
- The recent Condo collapse in Surfside Florida is discussed along with some of the underlying causes of this tragic event.
- The effect of SLR on small island nation’s fresh water supply.
- How SLR and associated erosion of the our coastlines is presenting risks to coastal Nuclear Waste storage sites.
- The recent subway flooding in NYC caused by tropical storm Elsa is discussed.

Articles, Papers, Links from Blue Slides:
- Climate Change vs. Chicago: NYT Article Shows City’s Vulnerabilities
- IPCC 6th Assessment report
- Tsar Bomba
- Hail, tornadoes and flooded New York subways as stormy weather hits east coast

Panelists:
Dr. Peter Carter
- MD, Expert IPCC Reviewer and the director of the Climate Emergency Institute

Paul Beckwith
- Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa in the Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University

Regina Valdez
- Program Director, Climate Reality Project, NYC. GreenFaith Fellow and LEED Green Associate

Video Production:
Charles Gregoire
- Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth & the Climate Emergency Forum; Climate Reality Leader

Heidi Brault
- Video production and website assistant,
- Organizer and convener, BA (Psychology), Metadata technician, COP26 team lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum; Climate Reality Leader

Attributions
Background Music:
- Title: Through the City II
- Author: Crowander
- Source: Free Music Archive
- License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Image and Video:

[GregoryJWalters]

Thank you Peter, Paul and Regina et al. Your work is inspiring, your déterminations and dedication noted well. You make such a difference in our world! Bon courage!

[billthorne]

Three of our favorite people delivering some of the world's worst news. Thanks for what you do!

[stevenwilliams]

An educational watch, thank you to you all as always. Liked & Shared.

[russtaylor]

Thank you, Regina, Paul and Peter for taking time out of your own finite lives to shepherd us sheep. That's love, that is...

[russtaylor]

The 'by 2100' line always makes me chuckle. Oh, so I don't have to do anything, then...? All the world leaders proudly photographed with their grandchildren, but making no visible effort to avert the exponential increases of emissions, that's real love, that is...

[judithsmith]

Love that Tony, the Ambassador Cat, was acknowledged!

[hannsjurgenhodann]

keep telling the truth - and thank you for doing so!

[earlgibbs]

The scariest part of all is that humanity's complex and toxic civilization will be hard-pressed to survive a simultaneous ecological and economic collapse without a wholesale and radical systems change now.

[NGC-catseye]

I’m in Australia and our southern coastline is experiencing extraordinary waves. The erosion is very intense.
p.s. I like your cat 🐱

[hawkins]

Thank you for the valuable information and facts on sea level rise. Do you have any predictions on effects on the West Coast and Hawaiian Island forecasts? Thank you.

[mercermouth]

I've owned beachfront property in SC since 1970 and the ocean hasn't gotten any closer to my door...

[ecocentrichomestead]

I would consider land subsidence and sea level rise as two different things.
Land subsidence has it's own issues. The biggest of which is the draining of the aquafers that will not refill once the land sinks.
Worldwide there are 4, 378, 993, 944 people living in urban areas. WRT climate change, they are sitting ducks.
What's most ironic is that most of the disasters will be because of the risky places people choose to live.

[samsharma]

Hi Paul,
I have just one question about Greenland ice melt.
It is my understanding that the land below 3km thick ice is subdued by 1km due to the weight of the ice. Safe to say 1m of depression for every 3m of ice. Is the land below Greenland expected to rise by 10cm for every 30cm of melt? If yes, how will the ice on top will react with massive earthquakes? Are we just waiting for a big one below Greenland for an abrupt crumbling of ice than a rapid rise in sea level to the magnitude of Several feet in a matter of hours/days?

[jennifermoore]

Yet the corporations responsible aren't being made to do anything to stop. So how can we take our government seriously?

[maggieadams]

This is from an article from last year on planned new oil and gas installations. "The 73 new discoveries announced this year (through October) are evenly split between land and sea with 36 onshore and 37 offshore. Russia leads in terms of discovery volume, with 1.51 billion boe, while Suriname comes second with 1.39 billion boe and the UAE follows third with 1.1 billion boe." How can anything really change when this is still happening, and people generally are carrying on with the same unsustainable lifestyles as though there were no climate crisis at all?

[petuniaromania]

To get a glimpse of how people are going to respond to "sustained water" upon the land from sea-level rise, all we have to do is look at the response of people who live in Venice, Italy. Those folks didn't move away, in fact, they found ways to continue running businesses, serving food, and going about their daily lives - they seemed to act as if it was a game as they waded through the water from place to place. This is how it will be in America and in Florida - except for in Florida, there's dangerous snakes, alligators, and crocodiles - not to mention, sharks.

[brianwheeldon]

This is Great, and an excellent presentation from all. Thank you

[dmmag]

People are going to wake up in just a few years and go "Oh shit, we're fucked" and it'll be too late for the species of this planet for millennia.

[GoBlesstheSky]

Our economy just can't continue to grow as it has in the past. Any growth we achieve has to come from increasing efficacy, by buying better rather than bigger, by increasing the quality of life for everyone rather than just increasing our consumption or the sheer volume of our possessions. We've must change the rules of the game if we're going to keep playing.

[stevenmoylan]

You should interview and bring on Chip Fletcher out of University of Hawaii @ Manoa. 80% of the beaches throughout the Hawaiian Islands are eroding.