And, the SF Bay Overflowed, Or, "Grandma, Where did you live?"

Author: Alix Mednauseam
Published: January 27, 2007 at 8:00 am
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Did you see this San Jose Merc article on the effects a rising Bay would have on the Bay Area?  It's frightening.  If the water level rises 3 feet, which is a worst case projection for the year 2100, the San Francisco and Oakland airports would be under water.  Foster City would be under water, as would parts of Redwood City, and all Bay Area wetlands.

At any rate, according to this article in the Merc, the journal Science reported, "since 1990, the seas have been rising in accordance with the worst-case scenario. [yikes?] Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany argues that climate models may underestimate how fast the seas will rise because they don't take into account some of the complexities of glacier behavior." [yikes, really!!]

If we are lucky enough to live into the second half of this century, and have grandchildren some day, our Bay Area grandchildren might be perplexed when we try to explain where our house was. "Um, under that water?" I'm sure they wouldn't buy the part about it being with Kevin Costner.  (Waterworld.)

Even if waters rise to a lower level, let's say 18 inches, fresh drinking water from the Delta - that serves 23 million people - would be contaminated by sea water.

I'm so happy to see that the topic of global warming has become front and center in people's minds. Wind energy is one way to reduce our carbon load on the environment - and that is finally gaining more acceptance - though I think the majority of people consider turbines to be "ugly."  There was even a survey conducted in Delaware about how people would feel about an ocean-based windfarm and there was overwhelming support for it - only 4% of people opposed(!) -  in stark contrast to the same survey done in Cape Cod a couple years ago.

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