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What is the greatest threat to human life?
Disease?
Supervolcano?
Earthquake?
Uncontrolled fire?
Asteroid impact?
I'm not sure, but it's certainly not Global Warming, Climate Change, or whatever it's being called this week. Without getting into the debate, I've been down that rabbit hole a few times and my conclusion is far less certain than Gret's on this topic.
But there's a far scarier, and yes, even more, likely threat to her generation, and perhaps even yours. It too involves water, just a lot more of it in a shorter period of time. I'm of course talking about a tsunami, but on a whole different scale than anything we've so far seen in the news.
You only need to do a bit of research to understand that man has been dealing with rising (and falling) sea levels all around the world for thousands of years. And quite successfully. Notwithstanding Venice's current challenge, civilization has adapted to gradual sea-level rise simply by moving farther inland or building seawalls. It's not that big of a deal in the long term. It's when the water rises quickly that nature presents its greatest challenge.
When I first saw the television coverage on Boxing Day in 2004, and the announcer said hundreds had died, I knew those estimates were missing a few zeros. These first news feeds were only from the resort areas. Damage and death would be different at each one, but what about the thousands of miles of coastline not yet filmed? Most of the damage was not even seen for weeks or in some cases months. That's why the final estimate of death was 238,000 when the first reports were only for a few hundred deaths. But what if the Boxing Day disaster was only a taste of what might happen?
You only need to do a bit of research to understand that man has been dealing with rising (and falling) sea levels all around the world for thousands of years. And quite successfully. Notwithstanding Venice's current challenge, civilization has adapted to gradual sea-level rise simply by moving farther inland or building seawalls. It's not that big of a deal in the long term. It's when the water rises quickly that nature presents its greatest challenge.
When I first saw the television coverage on Boxing Day in 2004, and the announcer said hundreds had died, I knew those estimates were missing a few zeros. These first news feeds were only from the resort areas. Damage and death would be different at each one, but what about the thousands of miles of coastline not yet filmed? Most of the damage was not even seen for weeks or in some cases months. That's why the final estimate of death was 238,000 when the first reports were only for a few hundred deaths. But what if the Boxing Day disaster was only a taste of what might happen?
Man likes to build near the ocean. And you can't outrun a tsunami. In some cases, even with plenty of warning. Here are the simple facts:
Half of humanity lives below 500 feet elevation.
Most of those people can't move as quickly as a tsunami.
Tsunamis have multiple causes, some far more probable than you might realize:
Half of humanity lives below 500 feet elevation.
Most of those people can't move as quickly as a tsunami.
Tsunamis have multiple causes, some far more probable than you might realize:
An Atacama Super-Quake We Never Knew About Sent Humans Into Hiding For 1,000 Years
This last example is being debated as there is some evidence that gravel from a prior event has been found distributed all the way across the Flordia peninsula.
10-05-22 Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Triggered Monstrous Global Tsunami With Mile-High Waves
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