South FL Mayors Paying The Sea-Level Piper; GOP Candidates Invisible On Growing Disaster

[hatrack]

Climate change in South Florida isn’t theoretical. It isn’t some problem for some undefinable future that our kids will have to deal with. It’s a pain in the neck right now. Ask the people of Miami Beach, where they’re elevating streets to cope with the unstoppable rise of sea water. The people of Hallandale Beach, where most drinking wells are closed because the water is too salty.

To Jeb Bush, the science of climate change is “convoluted” and tarred by “intellectual arrogance.” To Marco Rubio, climate action is “trying to change the weather.” To leaders on the ground — make that “ground zero” — it’s an entirely different thing. “When a driveway is flooded, Marco Rubio doesn’t get the call,” says West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio. “I get the call.”

Muoio is one of 15 mayors of South Florida cities, mostly from Miami-Dade County, who sent open letters this week to Bush and Rubio, urging them to meet “and discuss with us the future of our communities in a warming climate.” “In West Palm Beach, we’ve seen increased flooding, increased stormwater surges on Flagler Drive,” Muoio told The Post Editorial Board. “We know there’s been a rise in sea level, and so we have definitely seen the impact.”

EDIT

Last year was the warmest year on record, according to NASA and NOAA. If seas rise a foot by 2050, as widely expected, the shift could wipe out as much as $4 billion in taxable real estate from Palm Beach to Monroe counties. Whether you believe the earth is warming by human action or by some natural cycle or phenomenon, the water doesn’t care. It’s rising anyway.

EDIT

http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/news/opinion/editorials-sofla-mayors-have-reason-to-goad-candid/nqFZT/

[Faux pas]

1. Kickin'