RWU launches yearlong discussion about rising sea levels

A capacity crowd welcomed investigative journalist Jeff Goodell, author of 'The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World' to campus

By Christy Nadalin
Posted 10/12/18

"It's great to be here talking about this issue, especially on high ground," said author Jeff Goodell at the Roger Williams University campus on Tuesday, Oct. 2. His book, "The Water Will Come: …

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RWU launches yearlong discussion about rising sea levels

A capacity crowd welcomed investigative journalist Jeff Goodell, author of 'The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World' to campus

Posted

"It's great to be here talking about this issue, especially on high ground," said author Jeff Goodell at the Roger Williams University campus on Tuesday, Oct. 2. His book, "The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World" was required reading for all new RWU students this year.

The book, and Mr. Goodell's visit, launches a yearlong discussion about this year's academic theme: “Ocean State/State of the Ocean: The challenge of sea level rise over the coming century”. According to the University, "as a campus surrounded by water and in state where most of the population lives near water, sea level rise is one of the most pressing environmental issues of our time."

Through years of research, Mr. Goodell, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and a frequent contributor to The New York Times Magazine and Yale University’s Environment 360, has established himself as an expert on climate change, rising oceans, and humanity’s fraught relationship with our rapidly changing planet. As energy independence and global warming become increasingly urgent priorities, Mr. Goodell offers vital perspective on how to stem the tide of environmental disaster—and what’s at stake if we don’t.

Mr. Goodell admits environmental issues haven't always been on his radar; he claims he never really thought much about it how electricity is actually generated until he started working on an assignment about coal-powered electricity several years ago.

It was Hurricane Sandy, in October 2012, that provided Mr. Goodell with his "aha moment". The 9 foot sea level rise during the storm surge inundated lower Manhattan. "I saw, in a very visceral way, what 9 feet of water does to a major American city."

Speaking about it after the fact with a scientist from Columbia University, he was struck by something the scientist said, calling Hurricane Sandy a "dress rehearsal." Asked what he meant by that, Goodall was told that 9 feet is the predicted rise by the end of the century.

"Imagine that water not going away in a few hours," Mr. Goodell said. "It's just going to stay."

That's what New York could look like by the end of the century."

Mr. Goodell extended that "thought experiment" to Miami, traveling down there to see for himself. It became very clear to him, after just 12 hours in the city, that Miami is in very big trouble indeed. Even walls cannot stop the water from percolating into the city, built on permeable limestone. "Miami as we know it today will not be there at the end of the century," he said. He reported on his findings in a Rolling Stone article titled "Goodbye Miami."

He claims New Orleans is perhaps in even more dire straits; and as the water rises and neighborhoods are abandoned eventually the economies of scale could very well necessitate relinquishing the entire city to the rising tide.

Over the course of three years, detailed in the book, Mr. Goodell traveled around the world to study the potential impacts of sea level rise around the globe, from economic impacts to the straight-from-your nightmares image of an octopus swimming in a submerged parking garage.

He claims it's a done deal: the water will rise, regardless of what we do at this point to deal with it. It's going to manifest itself in myriad incremental ways, but the most disturbing impact, and the most challenging, will be its ability to displace millions and millions of people, particularly in the third world. "The real consequence of all this is not real estate, or economics," he said. "It's people….You think we have a refugee crisis now? Just wait."

Mr. Goodell also relayed a message of optimism, showing a series of renderings of elevated structures and communities, and even a prototypical floating farm. He believes that humans will ultimately be able to adapt the way we live in a reshaped landscape.

"I think it's a huge opportunity for engineers, urban planners, and thinkers of all kinds, to reimagine our relationship with water."

Jeff Goodell, Roger Williams University

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