Many parts of the United States may be flooded, leaving little time for the United States
Earlier this week, Indonesia officially announced that it would "move its capital" in 2024, and one of the important reasons for implementing this grand project is that Jakarta, the current capital of the country, is a "dangerous city", with an average annual settlement of 25cm, ranking first in the world. However, Jakarta is not the only city in the world that is sinking. With climate and environmental change, academics have warned that in the coming decades, dozens of major cities around the world may sink or 'disappear as a whole', and thousands of coastal communities will be uninhabitable. It is urgent to protect the environment.
At the end of the 21st century, many cities in the United States may be flooded
According to the current melting rate of polar glaciers, the global sea level will rise by about 2.43 meters by 2100, according to the magazine business insider. At that time, many cities in the United States will pay a heavy price for this - most of them have been hit by floods in the past, and the future development trend is not optimistic.
New Orleans, located along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, is low-lying and built in the estuary delta of the Mississippi River. The city is particularly passive in the face of floods. In fact, the city has not recovered from the hurricane disaster in 2005.
According to a study by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), New Orleans has shown an obvious subsidence trend in recent years, with a subsidence rate of about 5 cm per year. It is understood that some areas of the city are already 4.5 meters below sea level. According to this development, a large area of the city will be submerged in 2100.
Similar to New Orleans, Atlantic City, New Jersey, was also devastated by hurricanes and floods: when Hurricane 'Sandy' passed through in 2012, 70% to 80% of the city was swallowed by floods, and the ponding in some areas was nearly 2.5 meters. Experts speculate that the natural disasters facing the city in the next few decades may be more violent. More worrying than the fate of Atlantic City is Charleston, a coastal city in the southeast of the United States: local media have asserted more than 10 years ago that the city will become a 'semi submerged ghost city' in 2050.
Compared with these coastal "brothers and sisters", the settlement of the US space city Houston is more due to human factors. According to the Houston Chronicle, the average annual subsidence in some areas of Houston is about 5cm. The main reason is the excessive extraction of groundwater, resulting in the depletion of groundwater aquifers. In addition, the important place of the U.S. capital is not guaranteed to be absolutely safe: according to the U.S. Geological Survey, Washington will settle 15 cm in the next 100 years.
It is reported that for the major topic of "American sinking", the American Union of worried scientists has come to a more pessimistic conclusion: the organization believes that there is no need to wait until the end of this century, the country will reduce 30 cities to underwater around 2060, 300000 families will be directly affected, and the direct economic loss will exceed 117 billion US dollars.
Global warming 3° C. Asian metropolis' most injured '
At the UN climate conference held in recent years, 'warming up 3° C 'is one of the key words of related topics. Academic circles predict that the global temperature will rise by about 3 degrees Celsius by the end of this century, far exceeding previous expectations, making the important international agreements to curb climate change particularly weak in front of this indicator. The Climate Center, a US non-profit meteorological science information organization, once predicted that the global warming 3° C will directly affect 275 million people, especially in densely populated Asian cities.
According to the mathematical deduction of scientists, in the future '3 & deg; In "era C", Osaka, an important economic town in Kansai, Japan, will be submerged by the sea, 5.2 million residents will be directly affected, and the economic loss can reach US $1 trillion. There is also a huge flood hazard in Shanghai, China's Oriental Pearl TV: foreign media say Shanghai city center is in'3° Era C will suffer a 'large area' sinking, and the affected population will reach 17.5 million, even some landmark high-rise buildings will not be spared. The guardian said that in fact, since 2012, the Shanghai government has begun to deal with the potential flood hazards. It has not only built the country's largest deep drainage system, but also invested more than 40 billion yuan in the flood discharge project of Wusong River in Taihu Lake. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is no less dangerous than Jakarta: the water level in the bay of Bengal has risen 10 times as much as the global average.
In fact, from Latin America to Africa and then to developed Europe, there are hidden dangers of 'land subsidence' all over the world. Some media said that in the face of 'nature's anger', no region on the earth can be spared.
Is global warming a conspiracy theory?
Although the harm of climate change has attracted global attention, some people think it is a bit exaggerated. As early as the beginning of the 21st century, some Republicans in the U.S. Congress believed that global warming was a "pseudoscience". At that time, Senator yinghoff claimed that those politicians who supported the Kyoto Protocol had evil intentions and the ultimate goal was to achieve "global governance"; There is also a widely circulated view that scientists deliberately create this argument in order to obtain 'scientific research funds'.
In addition, there is also public opinion that the academic circles exaggerate the description of the future 'eschatological scene'. After all, many countries are also actively responding, and the ruling class can not allow the 'land to sink'.