Recently at our Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER) Summit that was held in Calgary, Alberta, I bumped into John Englander in the hallway. It was one of those chance meetings you have at conferences. He is the author of High Tide on Main Street: Rising Sea Level and the Coming Coastal Crisis.
I see climate change as the "slow-moving disaster" that will impact the emergency management profession the most in the next 100 years and beyond. There will be other terrorist attacks and mega events that whip-saw us around, but it is the warming climate and its consequences that will dominate all phases of our professional lives.
Englander focuses only on coastal flooding and sea rise brought on by climate change, and not the types of wild storms with flash flooding that has dominated the news in the last six months. The most disturbing aspect of what I've read in the book is the fact that the projections for sea rise may be way too conservative. He explains the process for scientists reaching consensus on climate reports and you know that when you have consensus you are somewhere in the middle — not high and not low.
Should we be coming close to the tipping point on ice melting, our strategies for dealing with the impacts of today's coastal flooding may need to change drastically. With rising seas we can either learn to live with it, defend against it or retreat. I'm beginning to think that for most areas of our nation it might be time to get out the bugle and sound "retreat!"
The book has plenty of stats and charts to back up what he sees is a coming crisis. I do not see him as a wild-eyed wacko with doomsday scenarios, but I think there is a disaster movie coming out soon that will focus on our urban future. It could be called Waterworld, but then that title is taken.
Go to a fortune teller and read the book!
