Climate Change's Barometer Has No Climate Change Plan

1 July 2009 - 8:00am

The Florida Keys are likely the most vulnerable places to sea-level rise in America. Despite this danger, officials there have set no plans for counteracting or dealing with climate change.

According to a study from Florida International University, sea levels near the Florida keys are expected to rise at least seven inches within the next 100 years, submerging nearly 60,000 acres -- in the best case scenario.

"Under the panel's worst-case projection of ocean waters rising 23.2 inches, about 75 percent of the Keys 154,000 acres and nearly 50 percent of its $43 billion property value could become submerged. Consequences also include the loss of habitat for many endangered plants and species, including Key deer.

...The eye-opening projections were presented at a June meeting in Marathon to urge Monroe County Mayor George Neugent, other Keys leaders and residents to develop long-term plans to deal with climate change. Unlike Miami-Dade and Broward counties, the Keys do not have a climate change task force."

Source: Miami Herald, June 30, 2009
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