Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumFlorida is drowning. Condos are still being built. Can't humans see the writing on the wall?
Florida is drowning. Condos are still being built. Can't humans see the writing on the wall?People tend to respond to immediate threats and financial consequences and Floridas coastal real estate may be on the cusp of delivering that harsh wake-up call
by Megan Mayhew Bergman
(Guardian UK) I stood behind a worn shopping center outside of Crystal Springs, Florida, looking for the refuge where a hundred manatees were gathered for winter. I found them clustered in the emerald-colored spring, trying to enjoy a wedge of sunlight and avoid the hordes of people like me, boxing them in on kayaks and tour boats, leering over wooden decks. The nearby canals were lined with expensive homes and docks with jetskis. One manatee breached the water for a breath, and I could see the propeller scar on its back.
2018 was the second deadliest year on record for manatees. Like many of our coastal species, theyre vulnerable to habitat loss and warming seas, which are more hospitable to algal blooms and red tide. Science has given us the foresight we need to make decisions that will reduce the future suffering of other species and ourselves, but we dont heed it. Why?
Studies show that humans dont respond well to abstract projections. We overvalue short-term benefits, such as driving SUVs, burning coal and building waterfront real estate. We choose these extravagances even though they impede beneficial long-term outcomes, such as saving threatened species, or reducing the intensity of climate change.
Humans tend to respond to immediate threats and financial consequences and coastal real estate, especially in Florida, may be on the cusp of delivering that harsh wake-up call. The peninsula has outsized exposure: nearly 2 million people live in coastal cities. On the list of the 20 urban areas in America that will suffer the most from rising seas, Florida has five: St Petersburg, Tampa, Miami, Miami Beach and Panama City. In 2016, Zillow predicted that one out of eight homes in Florida would be underwater by 2100, a loss of $413bn in property. .................(more)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/15/florida-climate-change-coastal-real-estate-rising-seas
defacto7
(13,485 posts)that will buy them. They can just cut and run and the buyer will be the loser.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Been watching eroding waterfront properties being sold, flooded, re-built, sold, flooded, etc for 30 years around the Gulf, with no let up.
Demovictory9
(32,324 posts)He estimated that a decade ago, only one in 10 buyers asked about the property elevation, or expressed concerns about rising seas. Today, nearly six of 10 ask and many decide not to buy in these same critical areas. Im worried were one bad storm away from a rush for the exits, he told me.
greymattermom
(5,751 posts)so I rent there and live 300 miles away at 1000 feet above sea level in a city built on granite. My sister lives 20 feet above sea level a block away from a brackish marsh. Houses 3 doors down from her were flooded in the last hurricane, and she's had to evacuate twice. The island where she lives can't be occupied when water floods the sewer system, so it has to be evacuated after major storms even if there is no wind damage. Property values haven't declined there, so far.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)Nothing to worry about. Sucker.
2naSalit
(86,071 posts)OKIsItJustMe
(19,933 posts)Episode 4 is on Miami: https://www.pbs.org/show/sinking-cities/