If the economic situation is not enough to keep you awake at night, perhaps this will: A new report suggests the global rise in sea levels might be considerably worse than first thought, because of changes in the polar ice sheets.
The new estimates place the range of expected sea-level range in the neighborhood of one meter, or about three times as much as the average predicted by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
This could present a profound challenge to Virginia, owing to the fact that sea-level rise is actually worse here than at other spots on the globe. That's because the Old Dominion sits on a geologic plate that has been slowly sinking over the course of centuries.
A mere two-foot rise in sea level would move the coastline inland by 200 feet -- effectively obliterating, e.g., Virginia Beach's boardwalk. It would mean higher storm surges, more brackish groundwater, the salinization of freshwater tributaries, and the swamping of currently dry ground. Bridges and roads might need raising. Virginia could be caught off-guard in a hundred different ways.
Even if actual global sea-level rise turns out to be only half as much as the new predictions project, it still could be greater than current predictions allow for. Here's hoping state officials are taking note -- and making plans.
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