West Antarctica Begins to Destabilize with ‘Intense Unbalanced Melting’

Coastal cities are unlikely to be flooded in our lifetimes. We're looking at about 1m [1] sea level rise in 100 years, or 50cm in our lifetime. That means coastal cities will face more severe storms, not ending up submerged. [2]

"Pfeffer adds estimates of sea level rise due to thermal expansion and ice melting to calving approximations and concludes that SLR by the end of the century will range 0.8 to 2.0 m above present with an emphasis on the lower area of this range (Figure 7)."

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_sea_level#Sea-level_at_...

[2] http://uk.businessinsider.com/cities-exposed-to-rising-sea-l...

Won't a lot of this coastal flood protection infrastructure just add emissions to the atmosphere, thus grossly exacerbating the problem? Seems like way to little, way to late.

Trying to just "build a wall" around cities just doesn't sound like it's going to work, I even saw designs where buildings in Manhattan will have to be built on stilts, but how much environmental environmental damage will all this new construction do?

Probably best off to just start relocating these cities and find new homes for the inhabitants.

This combined with other issues like fracking, leaking methane into the atmosphere aren't exactly filling me with confidence.

Shorting insurance companies.

There is the option of running a charity, one that would be ready to help at the right places by reurbanisng and reorganising territories. If you benefit from the charity (=if it gives you credit for politics or if you get a salary for the full-time job), then you're profiting.

Be a consultant in XXIth century urbanization, be it to save energy, reduce pollution or to prepare for the worst. Once we get +2 degrees, countries might understand why +6 degrees might be harmful and massively subscribe to your services.

Or start a weapon industry. See that Daesh thing? That's what happens when there's a slight draught every summer.

Start a boat people company. They'll be in very much demand in 20 years.

You'll object that you have much more money than that and you're not aiming for a mere salary. Well, you'll be happy to have the skill everyone needs when the rest of the world is fighting for survival. Just imagine what if the world votes on a complete ban on petrol and puts the world on an energy diet. Which is the only thing we must do.

Oh snap, he-she said. Can you say 'gimme money for a grant pleeeeeeaaaasssseeeee.' http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/antarctic-sea-ice-reache...