Among the myriad issues that have arisen in the climate emergency, sea-level rise has proven to be perhaps the greatest enigma. The idea in itself is unsettling and has led to wild portrayals dating back to the early 2000s (remember the tidal wave freezing in downtown Manhattan in the film The Day After Tomorrow?).
The reality, unfortunately, is more boring, and all the more dangerous for it. For years, dire warnings about rising seas have been pushed aside. With sea levels rising an average of 0.14 inches per year as of the mid-2000s, it was hard for leaders pressed by more immediate climate and economic issues to even bother planning for rising oceans in the distant future.
The perception that the implications of sea level rise are distant, however, is an illusion.
