Major oil ports are threatened by rising sea levels
Source: Salon
Published January 16, 2025 5:12AM (EST)
According to a recent report by the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI), a worldwide group of scientists who study Earths frozen regions, the rapidly accelerating melting of all our ice is raising sea levels. Ironically, this is threatening the very industry overwhelmingly responsible: the fossil fuel industry, which will definitely feel the strain of rising sea levels, which is already impacting coastal regions across the globe.
As a result, oil ports in cities like Houston and Galveston and in nations like China and Saudi Arabia are threatened with being overwhelmed, according to the report. As sea levels rise, coastal communities become increasingly vulnerable to flooding and other extreme weather events. When those events occur, their infrastructure and other valuable resources get compromised.
Much of the damage from rising sea levels is baked into humanitys future, but these losses can be mitigated. As the authors write, costs and damages will be even more extreme, with many regions experiencing sea-level rise or water resource loss well beyond adaptation limits in this century if our current level of emissions continues leading towards a rise of 3º C or more.
For the first time in human history, Earth had an average global temperature 1.5º C higher than pre-industrial levels in 2024. That was the threshold established by the 2015 Paris climate accord as a possible tipping point for containing damage to the planet. As greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane are released into the atmosphere, they trap heat (hence "greenhouse" ), warming the planet in ways that cause extreme weather from droughts and heat waves to hurricanes and rising sea levels.
Read more: https://www.salon.com/2025/01/16/major-oil-ports-are-threatened-by-rising-sea-levels/?in_brief=true
Link to ICCI REPORT - State of the Cryosphere Report 2024
Irish_Dem
(61,025 posts)The cost or rebuilding or moving it will be astronomical.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,872 posts)Replacement costs should be built into the current business accounting model of the company or governmental unit that owns it. They only need to add on the cost of acquiring land to build future versions, instead of rebuilding in the current place.
It's certainly not "free", but maybe not incalculable or astronomical. But the planning needs to start. And we don't have an administration that is capable.
Irish_Dem
(61,025 posts)They assume taxpayers will foot the bill.
And yes the costs will be astronomical.
LA fires will be seen as a drop in the bucket.
lapfog_1
(30,295 posts)Firestorm49
(4,256 posts)WTF were they thinking? Were now suffering from ideological incompetence. Were they, perhaps, counting on prayers to make a planetary climate disaster disappear? Wouldnt surprise me.
Buddyzbuddy
(172 posts)I'm in my 60s. I don't have the conversion formula memorized, and I don't see a need at this time to change. Am I stupid? No, am I stuck in my old ways, sometimes. I know I'm not alone. I like Salon, but for goodness sake, would it kill them. Celsius means nothing to me, and I don't know what the appropriate amount of shock and angst I should feel. If they want the article to have an impact on the most number of people, include Fahrenheit.
That is all.
BumRushDaShow
(145,331 posts)there really isn't any "conversion" per se but just saying that the global average temp has risen 1 1/2 degrees above the average "pre-industrial" centigrade temps (which occurred just before the start of the 20th century for the years when they started keeping records in the mid-late 1800s through to that start of the 20th century in 1900).
https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-temperature
Global temps ~1850 - 1900 -
The "1.5C degrees above" would come out to around "2.7F degrees above".
Buddyzbuddy
(172 posts)My critique was of the Salon article, not you. I spent more time writing the critique than it would have taken me to look it up. As I stated, it's just a pet peeve.
Happy posting, be well.
BumRushDaShow
(145,331 posts)Just wanted to give you an approximation for the temp differences!