Letter to the Editor: Will Florida legislators battle the rising seas?

Re the Jan. 19 editorial, “Florida’s legislators must address the cost and threat of the rising sea:” According to other reliable sources, Florida has more than 1,197 miles of coast line. The consensus number is 1,350, although NOAA states it is 8,436 miles.

It is too late to save the low lands of Florida. I doubt that anyone could afford to build 1,350 miles of effective dikes/barriers/levees, much less 8,436 miles. Google images has numerous projections of how much of Florida is forecast to be under water. Where we bought, just South of Englewood, is likely to be drowned but we’ll be dead by then. However, the younger folks will have to escape and be climate refugees.

There is a TED talk about the discrimination and belittling of migrants and refugees; that they are poor, homeless, trying to find and make better lives. This planet is full of prejudice. New situations make us uncomfortable.

Estimates of the world’s population who live within 62 miles of coasts is between 40 and 70 percent That’s more than 4 billion people who will be crowding into the higher elevations. Less land to cultivate, and probably not enough potable water to feed the increasing population growth. Thomas Malthus could not anticipate the impact of petroleum on our agricultural productivity, at the expense of poison.

We’ve already passed the threshold of resilience. This fragile planet will be much worse off, but will recover, as it has over the past five mass extinctions; now we have already initiated the sixth. And if (or, rather, when) the Yellowstone super-volcano blows, the whole planet will be devastated.

It is time to face reality, despite the idiot politicians who refuse to accept the consequences of their ignorance and lack of action.

Tom Pritchard,

Rotonda West, FL

This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 10:26 PM.