And the Remaking of the Civilized World - Sinking Cities

Jeff Goodell is a journalist who travels to low lying areas (e.g., Miami Beach, Venice, Italy, and the Netherlands) and speaks to local experts, politicians and others about their local rising water problems, flooding, etc. and the prospects for the future given sea level rise. (Interestingly, these conversations occur in such places as a Mexican restaurant and a white Range Rover, which the driver says is good for getting around in high water.) This is not a science book. Moreover, the author says that if you are a global climate change denier, this book is not for you. True (unless you're primary interest is science fiction). The assumption is that the water will rise, "will come," and here is an explanation of what has happened and what might happen as a result. Some of it really is interesting.

However, before I even got into the "meat" of the book, such as it is, I came across the following on page 40: "By the 1870's, Atlantic City was a full-fledged beach resort, and Coney Island had Ferris wheels and luxury hotels." In fact, the first Ferris wheel debuted at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893 World's Fair). And on page 47: regarding Carl Fisher's development of Miami Beach: "Fisher used elephants and girls in bikinis and teams of PR pros to manufacture paradise." Again, fact check. The bikini was created in 1946, while Fisher died in 1939. Admittedly, getting these little, incidental but well known facts wrong led me to read the rest of the book skeptically.

For a scientist's approach to the issues, I recommend Peter Wadhams's "A Farewell to Ice," although parts of it are very technical and not a quick, easy read.

A highly readable account of the very frightening scene we are starting to see now and those of us who live another 20-30 years will get to see in all its stark terror. Another of the effects of human overpopulation and environmental degradation is the inevitable rising of sea levels. What's especially scary is that this is not some "possible" scenario in the distant future, this is a situation that is occurring NOW and WILL get WORSE. And yet a majority of people in the wealthier countries, primarily the United States, manage to ignore it and pretend the lives we lead right now are the lives our children and grandchildren will live. Would that we could ignore things we don't like to think about and they would simply go away...

Jeff Goodell traveled the world to report on how rising sea levels are impacting human society across the globe. His new book The Water Will Come takes readers to shrinking Alaskan glaciers with President Obama and into the flood-prone homes of impoverished people living in Lagos, Nigeria.

"By that time, I'll be dead, so what does it matter?" Quote from a Florida real estate developer, The Water Will Come

I long wondered how bad it would get before people broke down and changed how we live and do things. I consider how Americans gave up comforts during WWII rationing, all pulling together for a great cause we all believed in.

I don't see that happening today.

As Goodell points out, "fossil fuel empire" Koch industries money has swayed government. Private citizens can recycle and lower the heat and ride bicycles but the impact is small. As long as governments are more worried about big business than national security endangered by climate change we can't alter what is coming.

What? you ask; national security?

Well, consider that military bases across the nation and world are located in areas that WILL FLOOD. Like the Norfolk Naval Base, the Langley Air Force Base, and NASA's Wallops Flight Facility! Along with the financial district of New York City and expensive Florida beach front homes, we will be losing the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site in the Marshall Islands, where 12,000 Americans operate space weapons programs and track NASA research.

So if the loss of Arctic ice and habitat and the Inuit way of life doesn't concern you, perhaps this information will.

So many issues are raised in the book. Consider: We have not established how to deal with climate change refugees. Where are these people going to go? Countries in Europe, along with the U.S., are closing borders--the same countries whose fossil energy use is the primary cause of climate change behind rising sea levels! What is their responsibility?

There are a lot of ideas of how to deal with rising sea levels, including the building of walls and raising cities. It seems, though, that people are more interested in coping with the change than addressing the root cause of climate change. We just don't want to give up fossil fuels.

The book is highly readable for the general public. Although the cover photo made me think of an action disaster movie, the books is a well-researched presentation of "fact, science, and first-person, on-the-ground journalism."

I received a free book from the publisher through Goodreads.

... was my thought upon coming across this title.

My belief was, and is, that such a book will certainly *not* be read by the reality-deniers who need to read it. The title alone will prevent such from ever opening the volume.

However, neither did I think it would be read by those who do not need to do so.

I had this latter thought for such people could see that it will simply bring more disheartening reminders of the apparent magical thinking of an astonishing large proportion of people who reject the clearly evident effect our use of fossilized sunshine for fuel is bringing to our planet.

I am glad that the sales of the book prove me wrong.

The author's effective narrative style - sharing the stories and futures of individuals admixed with a clear presentation of relevant evidence - may be the factor propelling these heartening sales results. However, it is still a depressing read.

If the reality described is more widely embraced, then the destructive effects of the inexorable rising of the seas can be mitigated rather than being deliberately and blindly ignored for short-term political and illusionary economic gain.

Nice survey of the issues: global, historical, and scientific.

The depressing part is that it seems no one who is in a position to do anything will do anything. Frankly I think the deniers know the truth, but are just too terrified to even think those thoughts.

Yet fossil fuel industries are subsidized to the tune of 1 TRILLION dollars a year to wreck havoc on our world for generations to come.

Expect to see more displaced climate refugees. Expect more losses due to storm surges, rising water levels, and storms. Expect typhoid to come roaring back again in the USA after a hundred years.

And expect elaborate and expensive patches to hold back the inevitable to fail either because water always wins or because some fanatic will seize upon the ultimate vulnerability of the elite enclaves to make their point.

“The Water Will Come” is yet another doom-and-gloom-tome about climate change, with the focus here being on the effect of rising sea levels. While this book gave me some enlightenment as to the potential effects of rising sea levels, more importantly it enlightened me to the money to be made by adhering to the “rising sea levels” narrative. To me, that’s what this book is really all about – climate change and money. And it is clear from this book that “rising sea levels” is but one dimension (and a significant one, at that) of the money to be made within the climate change industry.

I don’t deny that the climate is changing, or even that human activity might be a contributing factor. What I see (as is clearly illuminated by Goodell) is way too many folks who stand to gain financially (including Goodell himself) by offering solutions, opinions, studies, etc. to the problem, all at someone else’s expense. (And that “someone else” is typically the taxpayer, and not the affected person.) This all casts into question the motives of the so-called “climate advocates” – i.e., are they driven by purely altruistic motives, or perhaps by ulterior motives such as profit and/or self-aggrandizement? Think about it – greed and self-interest are the primary drivers behind most human activity. If you can make a buck, or advance your position, by getting on-board with the climate-change industry, why wouldn’t you do so? Climatologists make their living by continually revising their forecasts based on ostensible new information, thus ensuring a perennial extension of their livelihoods (to the end of their own self-preservation).

As evidence that there are too many folks who want to maintain the climate-change “crisis” for their own personal financial benefit, see only pgs. 262-264, wherein the author recounts Lowell Wood’s proposal in 2006 to geoengineer climate change by dispersing sulfates into the atmosphere in order to reflect solar energy. This could have been easily tested (but never was), and the results (positive or negative) would have easily been apparent within 12 months. Yet, at pg. 264, Goodell states (and seems to attribute this to Yale economist Bill Nordhaus), “if people believed there was a solution to global warming that did not require hard choices, how could we ever make the case that they needed to change their lives and cut emissions?” Oh – so it’s really all about forcing people “to change their lives”, and not about actually addressing the problem? This all ties-in nicely with what Edward Griffin alleged at pgs. 522-534 of his book “The Creature from Jekyll Island”, i.e., that environmentalism is the new bogey-man to scare common folks into giving over national sovereignty to globalism, with the end result being extraction of wealth to the benefit of international bankers.

To be frank, prior to reading this book (based on comments from the person who gave this book to me) I was prepared for a more irrational narrative, but I was surprised to find that Goodell isn’t completely out of touch with reality. (See more below.)

I would like to commend Goodell for being a realist. At pgs 274-275 he states: “And it’s not the people who live in town [sic] like Toms River [NJ] who pay the costs … people in Kansas … and Iowa – people who will probably never see a Jersey beach - paid for the reconstruction [of Toms River, NJ]. … ‘There has to be a limit to how long the public will pay for protecting beachfront property when we all know it’s going underwater anyway.’” Basically, it’s insanity for taxpayers in Kenosha or Kennewick to pay for rebuilding homes in New Orleans and other places that unquestionably will be once again destroyed by sea level rise. This is the classic definition of irresponsibility – i.e., expecting someone else to pull your chestnuts out of the fire (or the flood, as it were) when you put them there in the first place. People who live in flood areas need to take personal responsibility and move to higher ground. Yes, the water is coming – so get with it and move away from the water.

As a final comment, what’s missing from Goodell’s book (and indeed, from virtually all commentary relating to climate change) is any recognition of the elephant in the living room – i.e., human over-population of the planet. Want to decrease CO2 emissions by 50%? The solution is simple – reduce human population by 50%. (China had it right with their “one child” policy.)

The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World by Jeff Goodell

“The Water Will Come” is a very good book that realistically depicts the future we are creating for our children and grandchildren. Contributing editor at Rolling Stone and the author of five books including the award-winning Audacious Quest to Fix Earth’s Climate takes the reader on a dive into the rising water levels of our planet. This insightful 332-page book includes the following twelve chapters: 1. The Oldest Story Ever Told 2. Living with Noah 3. New Climate Land 4. Air Force One 5. Real Estate Roulette 6. The Ferrari on the Seafloor 7. Walled Cities 8. Island States 9. Weapon of Mass Destruction 10. Climate Apartheid 11. Miami Is Drowning and 12. The Long Goodbye.

Positives:
1. A well researched and written book.
2. A critical topic in the hands of an excellent author, the impact of climate change on our planet.
3. Good use of visual material.
4. The Prologue sets the stage for what’s to come. “It begins with this: the climate is warming, the world’s great ice sheets are melting, and the water is rising. This is not a speculative idea, or the hypothesis of a few wacky scientists, or a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. Sea-level rise is one of the central facts of our time, as real as gravity. It will reshape our world in ways most of us can only dimly imagine.”
5. The impact to the United States is discussed. “One recent study estimated that with six feet of sea-level rise, nearly $1 trillion worth of real estate in the United States will be underwater, including one in eight homes in Florida. If no significant action is taken, global damages from sea-level rise could reach $100 trillion a year by 2100.”
6. Interesting factoids provided. “Most Biblical scholars believe that the story of Noah is based on an even earlier flood story in The Epic of Gilgamesh, which is the tale of the adventures of a Mesopotamian king that was written two thousand years before the Bible.”
7. The city of Miami plays a prominent role. “Eventually, changes were made. The City of Miami passed the first building code in the United States (it later became the basis for the first nationwide building code).”
8. The source of future flooding. “Most of the water that will drown Miami and New York and Venice and other coastal cities will come from two places: Antarctica and Greenland. Often you hear about the disappearance of the snows on Mount Kilimanjaro or the glaciers in Patagonia, but in the context of drowning cities, land-based glaciers won’t contribute much. What really matters is what happens on the two big blocks of ice at either end of the Earth.”
9. The Paris Agreement discussed. “The Paris agreement was widely viewed as a last-ditch effort to get the nations of the world to commit to reducing carbon pollution to a level that might limit the worst impacts of climate change, including slowing sea-level rise in the decades to come.”
10. Issues dealing with climate change. “The third and biggest issue is, nobody wants to spend money to build a more resilient city because nobody owns the risk.”
11. Irony. “It’s one of the great ironies that when the oil and gas barons of Russia and Brazil make money, they have been sinking it into Miami, a city that is literally drowning as a result of the combustion of the fossil fuels that made them rich. The whole point is that Miami is considered a safe investment.”
12. Flood insurance. “In the United States, virtually all flood insurance is provided through the National Flood Insurance Program, which was created in 1968 in the wake of Hurricane Betsy, which caused massive flooding in the Gulf states. In the aftermath, many commercial insurers refused to sell insurance to people who lived in flood zones. To fill the gap, and to give protection to the often poor homeowners who lived in low-lying areas, the NFIP was born.” “When people have to pay more and own more of the risk themselves, their decisions about where and how they live will change.”
13. An interesting look at how Venice is handling climate change. “But the idea that won out was the construction of high-tech mobile barriers at the inlets of the lagoon that would rise to protect the city when a storm approached, then lower to allow the lagoon to remain connected to the sea.”
14. The potential impact to New York. “Climate science is getting better and better, and storm intensity and sea-level rise projections are getting more and more alarming. It fundamentally calls into question New York’s existence. The water is coming, and the long-term implications are gigantic.”
15. The goal of poor nations. “One way to view the past thirty years of climate talks is as an extended attempt by poor nations to extract compensation from rich nations for stealing their future.”
16. Facts! “According to the World Resources Institute, between 1850 and 2011, the United States was the source of 27 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions; the European Union, including the UK, 25 percent; China, 11 percent; Russia, 8 percent; and Japan, 4 percent. “To make calculating easy,” Gerrard wrote, “let’s assume that 100 million people will need new homes outside their own countries by 2050. Under a formula based on historic greenhouse gas emissions, the United States would take in 27 million people; Europe, 25 million; and so on.”
17. An interesting look at the impact to our military. “The scale of the military assets that are at risk due to our rapidly changing climate is mind-boggling. The Pentagon manages a global real estate portfolio that includes over 555,000 facilities and 28 million acres of land—virtually all of it will be impacted by climate change in some way. And it’s not just active bases and military installations that are in trouble. The headquarters of the US Southern Command, which is in charge of military operations in South and Central America as well as the Caribbean, is located in a low-lying area near Miami International Airport that is already vulnerable to flooding. The United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, is perched right on the edge of Chesapeake Bay and is often inundated at high tide.”
18. Eye-opening accounts. “Several years ago, former state attorney general Ken Cuccinelli launched a witch-hunt against noted climate scientist Michael Mann, subpoenaing documents and private emails in an attempt to discredit his work. The Republican-dominated Virginia legislature has effectively banned the discussion of climate change—one legislator called sea-level rise “a left-wing term.””
19. Impact to the world. “In the world as it is, evidence that climate change is an engine of conflict is clear. The best example is Syria. In 2015, an exhaustive study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that rising CO2 pollution had made the 2007–2010 drought in Syria twice as likely to occur, and that the four-year drought had a “catalytic effect” on political unrest in the area.”
20. Efforts to adapt to rising water levels. “In Mexico, a man named Richart Sowa has made a floating island out of 250,000 used plastic bottles stuffed into recycled fruit sacks.”
21. What can be done. “Raising flood insurance rates to better reflect the true costs of living in risky places can help. But the simplest way to get people to move out of low-lying areas is simply to buy them out.” “If we want to minimize the impact of sea-level rise in the next century, here’s how we do it: stop burning fossil fuels and move to higher ground.”
22. Includes Bibliography.

Negatives:
1. No links to notes.
2. Does not expose with gusto the culprits behind the misinformation machine against climate change. Yes some politicians are mentioned but not with the emphasis expected and warranted.
3. A bit repetitive.
4. The author inserts himself too much into what should be the focus of the book.

In summary, Jeff Goodell provides readers with some keen insights into the current impact of climate change around the world and what is expected to happen based on the best of our current knowledge. Through many interviews and sound research the author depicts a somber future unless we take action. The author may insert himself a bit too much for my taste but it’s worth reading. I recommend it!

Further recommendations: “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate” by Naomi Klein, “Changing Planet, Changing Health” by Paul R. Epstein, MD, and Dan Feber, “The Crash Course” by Chris Marteson, “Storms of My Grandchildren” by James Hansen, “The End of Growth” by Richard Heinberg, “Warnings” by Mike Smith, “The Weather of the New Future” by Heidi Cullen, “The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars” by Michael E. Mann, “Clean Break” by Osha Gray Davidson, “Fool Me Twice” by Lawrence Otto, “Lies, Damned Lies, and Science” by Sherry Seethaler, “The Hockey Stick and Climate Wars” by Michael E. Mann, “Reality Check” by Donald R. Prothero, and “Merchants od Doubt” by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway.

This is the most important book you will ever read! That isn't hyperbole, but high praise for the cogent laying out of the immediate and long-term effects of global warming and sea level rise in terms that anyone can understand. Author Jeff Goodell has traveled to the places of which he writes. He has met the politicians, the scientists, and the citizens who whether globally or locally are trying, in their own ways, to deal with the new reality; some by procrastinating and some by crying as voices in the seeming wilderness, as Goodell's title so aptly states, "The Water Will Come." His eloquence and sometimes poetic language speaks to the tragedy that is happening now. In the chapter 'The Long Goodbye', he writes, "I listened to the crash of waves washing against the shore as they have for millions of years. It sounded like Mother Nature unfurling her sheets and making her bed." That rings with the sound of a truth which is undeniable and MUST be faced: Nature will out.

Goodell demonstrates with anecdote after anecdote and with interviews with scientists, political leaders, and citizens--rich & poor alike, that dealing with sea level rise is the hardest challenge humans have ever faced, both politically and emotionally. His painfully honest assessment of the clash between the politics of short-term 'only-long-enough-to-get-elected' officals and the complexities of all-too-human emotions converge to inhibit the effective short- and long-term actions. Part of the problem is entirely human: love of home & place out-competes the risks of staying, and so people stay until they can't anymore. In community after community, flooding is treated as 'normal' while ever-more frequent and destructive F3, F4, and F5 hurricanes are countered with the fact that relocating to higher ground is incredibly more expensive than simply rebuilding after each disaster. Goodell convinces us of the real peril facing humanity by forcing us to face the facts on the ground and at the shores, bays, lagoons, low-lying island nations, estuaries, river deltas, reclaimed land from the sea, military bases, resort communities, & important government agencies (FBI, Langley, CIA headquarters). Goodell concludes with the brutal truth, "If we want to minimize the impact of sea-level rise in the next century, here's how we do it: stop burning fossil fuels and move to higher ground." Anything less consists of only stop-gap measures at great costs that will inevitably fail. High tech doesn't solve the problem, but low-tech ways of living with the rising water will. We must learn to live with this new geography as coastlines are re-shaped with communities, cities, mega-cities, states (such as Florida), and even nations are lost to the sea.

An excellent tour of the science and impacts of sea level rise - and the profound insufficiency of our collective response.

As far as solutions go, what we first need is for more people to understand the seriousness and urgency of the issue. In this regard, Goodell's book - while not discussing solutions - is itself a part of the solution. As public awareness increases, and we get to the point where we vote the climate deniers out of office, policy (such as a carbon fee and dividend) suddenly becomes possible. To this end, I'd argue that individual action is more important than most people think. If you're worried about climate change, conspicuously avoid burning fossil fuels!

Peter Kalmus, author of Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution

Following a non-technical explanation of the causal connection between global climate change (GCC) and the rising sea level, the author presents a series of reports on our failures to protect important seaside locations. These reports are not political rants, but are objectively based warnings about our dismal future. However, the author's view is too narrow. Even if all the necessary walls, dikes, gates, etc. were put in place in the next decade, the future would still be bleak. Living with GCC will be much more difficult than he suggests.

This book is written in an easy style even though it provides a great deal of information. It painted a clear, detailed picture of the complexities communities face when responding to sea level rise. (Some of the communities looked at were Miami, New York, Norfolk Navy base, Venice, Bangledesh, Alaska). It wove in information about scope & uncertainties related to how- much-by-when & where. Takeaways: we don't have time for denial; denial makes response less effective & more expensive. This book should be required reading for community decision makers throughout the country.

Useful book about what is likely ahead due to climate change. I found the journalistic personal reporting style distracting. I prefer books that present analysis sans the author’s narrative about the writing of the book

This is an extremely well researched and well written book that should scare the pants off anyone who reads it. The author interviewed lofty figures (e.g., James Hansen, John Kerry), as well as numerous residents of low income coastal towns. He was dismayed to find that many of the latter folks have little idea that their homes are probably doomed, and their local officials have little incentive to do long-range planning that might save them. I have nothing but praise for the book, and it will helpful to our family as we plan for the future that is rushing toward us. Great job!

A detailed analysis of the prospective environmental state of affairs given current progress in addressing the gradual rise in sea levels. Reference to cities I am familiar with gives a real and personal implication in this potential tragedy.