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More Sea Level Rise Reports

In the last few years, Americans have come to recognize that humanity is changing the earth's atmosphere in ways that we will not be able to reverse over the next century. Some say we should immediately reduce our emissions, while others say we should wait.

This web page is devoted to a third, middle view, which is often overlooked: We must prepare now for rising sea level and other consequences of changing climate. Like many middle views, this "adaptationist" perspective dodges the fundamental emissions issue and instead focuses on ideas that all sides should agree on. Environmentalists concerned about the coastal environment and energy producers who oppose controlling emissions should both be able to agree that society should take measures to make our coastal development and ecosystems less vulnerable to a rise in sea level. On Wall Street, this would be known as a "profitable hedge" for all sides of the issue.

The papers on this site and elsewhere demonstrate that numerous low-cost measures, if implemented, would make the United States (and other nations) less vulnerable to rising sea level. The lack of awareness, not the cost of implementation, appears to be impeding the speed at which these measures are adopted. In the last year, however, the idea of adapting to climate change is starting to take root.

For the last 25 years, the US EPA has been assessing the implications of rising sea level and opportunities to prepare for the possible consequences. This site includes (or links to) the material available on the agency's Sea Level Rise Reports website and key reports from other government agencies. But we also provide information that you will not find on government web sites.

Reports:

| Climate Change for Kids | EPA Climate Newsroom | Related Links


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