(VitalNews.org) – A new study has looked into the potential changes brought on by rising sea levels and has found that it will disrupt the lives of millions of Americans by 2050.
This study looked at the potential flooding brought on by climate change and the rise in sea level. The study showed that many homes, communities, schools, and businesses will be subject to continuous or repeated flooding due to the sea level rising.
Over one thousand critical infrastructure assets that sustain communities on the coast would be at risk of monthly flooding by 2050, as stated by the Union of Concerned Scientists, which did the study. More than nine hundred of these assets would face flooding every single week, which could make these communities completely unavailable within twenty to thirty years.
Three million Americans live within seven hundred coastal communities, and they could all be at risk of excessive and repeated flooding. This includes important businesses and infrastructures, like fire stations, subsidized housing, wastewater treatment facilities, power plants, hospitals, schools, and industrial sites.
Some states with more important infrastructure need to be flood resilient or be relocated to a safer area that won’t be as affected by flooding in the future. Those states include Florida, California, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. The UCS analysis found that many of the communities that would be affected by the flooding are already dealing with multiple issues including pollution, discrimination, and racism.
A report author and senior social scientist for climate vulnerability at UCS, Juan Declet-Barreto, spoke out on the findings of the report. “Failing to prioritize resilience solutions in these communities risks reinforcing the harmful legacy of environmental racism and colonialism in places already grossly underserved and overlooked,” Declet-Barreto said.
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