A World in Crisis

A word of warning: the ideas presented in the pages that follow will come with a steep price tag. But as the earth warms and sea levels rise at a rate that scientists once described as a worst-case scenario, we may have no choice. In the not-so-distant future, our coastlines must be ready to accommodate three, four, perhaps as much as five additional feet of water. We’ll continue to experience stronger and more unpredictable storms. The towns and cities vulnerable to earthquakes will still have to deal with that perennial threat, and plan and build accordingly. We need to begin designing a different world: a world of adaptation.

The good news (yes, there is good news here, I swear!): there’s no shortage of smart ideas on how to attack the problem. We know how to build storm surge barriers across the mouths of our busiest and most vital harbors, restore dunes and wetlands, apply softer strategies for flood mitigation, construct seismically safe cities, and raise buildings in clever and even aesthetically pleasing ways. This effort would represent nothing less than the creation of a new climate change–based infrastructure. Expensive? It’s likely to rival the cost of the war in Iraq. But as the map on this page starkly illustrates, the cost of doing nothing will be far steeper, both in dollars—and, more importantly, in lives.