Carl Sagan Keynote Speech at Emerging Issues Forum

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Channel: IslandPalm14

Views: 186,811

Rating: 4.8722386 out of 5

Keywords: Carl Sagan, Emerging Issues Forum, planetary science, environment, climate

Id: 9Xz3ZjOSMRU

Length: 65min 13sec (3913 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 25 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/4THOT]

"In additional to the volume expansion of the oceans due to melting of glacial ice and polar caps there is an average prediction for the middle of next century is a meter (3ft). Take a look at all the low lying coastlines all around the world and ask what happens when the sea level rises.

Okay, the Dutch are very good at building dykes and levies, that's not going to destroy Holland... but take a look at Bangladesh where 1 to 3 meter ocean rise will flood an area which is inhabited by tens of millions of people. Where are those guys gonna go?

Environmental Refugees. It's a new prospect."

-- 40 minutes

CNN: A third of Bangladesh under water as flood devastation widens

In Bangladesh alone, floods have so far claimed the lives of 142 people, and impacted over 8.5 million.

Bangladesh is no stranger to flood related disasters. Much of the country is built on low-lying and flood-prone areas, making it particularly vulnerable to seasonal monsoon rains. In 2007 more than half of Bangladesh was seriously affected by deadly monsoon flooding, leading to over 1,000 deaths, the majority of them children.

The sheer number of displaced people would be a monumental challenge for any government, but in Bangladesh, where as many as 27,000 Rohingya refugees have this week arrived across the border from Myanmar -- joining an estimated 85,000 currently housed in camps -- the situation becomes additionally perilous.

The Guardian: While the world's attention is elsewhere, Bangladesh faces a humanitarian crisis

Overshadowed by an American hurricane, the news of the South Asian flooding has emerged slowly. Even in Dhaka, the English-language newspapers carried events in Houston on their front pages. But these are the worst floods in a century. Across the region, more than 41 million people have been affected with vast destruction of agriculture and housing.

The geology of the char-islands is inherently unstable – they are often little more than sandbanks. Despite community investment in stabilizing them by planting trees, great sections of the chars have been eaten away. Concerns have been mounting about how viable they are as a place to live in the long term.

Really makes you wonder.