Coastal City's Future Depends on Costly, Unpopular Changes

 

Climate change has had a number of effects on cities around the world, including rising sea levels. And, this has become an especially big problem for coastal¹ cities. City officials must now prepare for higher tides on their coasts.

The American city of Miami is one example. Located in South Florida, Miami is home to nearly 3 million people and billions of dollars in land and buildings.

Miami is one of the cities in America most at risk for rising sea levels.

The waterfront is central to Miami's culture and economy. But as the seas rise with climate change, the water will not stay put.

Sue² Brogan lives in Miami's Shorecrest neighborhood on a street that is just above sea level. She says she has seen some unsettling things happening after storms.

"So, this is your storm water drain, which is – water is coming up through."

At the highest tides, the ocean rises from these drains into coastal neighborhoods like hers.

For now, it is only a small problem. But Brogan says it is going to get worse.

"It's more of a warning situation. Where is it going to go from this? And if we don't address these problems, locally and globally, we're going to have problems. Big problems."

Large parts of South Florida are in danger of being under water in the coming years.

Across Biscayne Bay, the City of Miami Beach is making improvements -- raising streets, adding water pumps and more.

It is costing the city a lot of money.

Eric Carpenter is the director of public works for Miami Beach. He says local communities will spend 500 million dollars for the improvements.

"Thankfully, our residents, the folks that are footing the bill for this work, realize that the cost of doing nothing is much greater."

City of Miami residents have also come to that realization³. Voters just approved a 200-million dollar project to improve Shorecrest and elsewhere.

And the city has proposed solutions some residents are not happy about.

One of the proposals is to redesign whole neighborhoods.

A possibility officials are discussing with residents is for the city to buy homes in some places where flooding has been a problem. The city would then turn that land into parks of grassland⁴ that could hold the water.

However, that idea is not an immediate⁵ fix, says Miami's chief resilience officer, Jane Gilbert.

"It's really much more long-term. And we feel the more we are having those conversations now, the easier it is for everyone to adapt over time."

Over time, the city may need to take bigger risks. Miami's future depends largely on how much, and how fast, the oceans rise.

Caroline Lewis leads the climate activism group, the CLEO Institute. She says cities cannot avoid the need to move inland.

"We're going to have to leave sooner or later."

But, she says, a well-planned withdrawal⁶ could include measures to keep people safely in place for as long as possible. And, she says, the world could learn from such a model.

In these two Florida cities built on wetlands, there remains⁷ a lot of hopefulness.

Miami Beach public works director Eric Carpenter says solutions will depend on the willingness of city leaders to deal with the fear of change and find ways to pay for improvements.

"There's an engineering solution to every problem."

That may be a question South Florida and the world's coastal cities will be asking for many years to come.

I'm Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

tide - n. the regular upward and downward movement of the level of the ocean that is caused by the pull of the sun and the moon on the Earth

drain - n. something, such as a pipe, that is used for removing a liquid from a place or container

address - v. to deal with a matter, issue or problem

globally - adv. involving the entire world

resident - n. someone who lives in a particular place

resilience - n. the ability to recover quickly after difficulties

conversation - n. an informal talk involving two people or a small group of people

adapt - v. to change your behavior so that it is easier to live in a particular place or situation

1 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

2 sue   

vt.控告，起诉；vi.请求，追求，起诉

参考例句：

• If you don't pay me the money,I'll sue you.如果你不付给我钱，我就告你。
• The war criminals sue for peace.战犯求和。

3 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

4 grassland   

n.牧场，草地，草原

参考例句：

• There is a reach of grassland in the distance.远处是连绵一片的草原。
• The snowstorm swept the vast expanse of grassland.暴风雪袭击了辽阔的草原。

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

6 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。