2008 Woodie Awards
Florida under water in 20 years?
No more Super Bowls in Miami in our lifetime
Zach Blom
Issue date: 2/6/07 Section: Editorials
On Sunday evening, as much of the nation was contemplating the prospect of six months without any NFL football, I found a different reason to ponder the near future.
The subject of my deliberation?
It's certainly not a half year without 300-pound men in tight pants tackling each other.
Instead, I fear something which seems to escape the psyche of many Americans today: global warming.
On Sunday night, the National Geographic channel aired an episode of "Naked Science" called "Glacier Meltdown." The program centered on the new scientific evidence that shows an increase in greenhouse gases and the impending consequences that are becoming less "possible" and more "probable" with every passing day.
I know, it sounds cliché. The young college liberal bleeding his heart out to save the environment. But before you think global warming is a bi-partisan issue subject to debate, consider this: the stadium in Miami which the nation set its sights on for Sunday's game might very well be under water in just 20 years.
Yet this point likely falls on deaf ears. Many students on campus seem too caught up in the tunnel vision of college life to pay attention to the greater world around them.
Sure, midterm tests and papers are important, but we must realize that the end of human civilization as we know it may very well be just around the corner. It is becoming painfully clear that the problems concerning global warming will, in fact, affect us in our lifetime, not just in the lives of our children or further posterity as we might think.
In about 40 years-or around the time most of us are likely to retire and head to warmer climates like Arizona or Florida-the world's average temperature will be 10 degrees warmer at the current rate of greenhouse gas emissions.
Does that register with you? It should.
Those coveted sunny destinations will, in 40 years, be too hot to stand even in the winter or-pay attention to this-be entirely under water. South Florida, from Miami to Daytona Beach to Ft. Lauderdale and beyond, will be almost completely covered with the rising ocean by then. In fact, this could be the case in just 20 years.
The subject of my deliberation?
It's certainly not a half year without 300-pound men in tight pants tackling each other.
Instead, I fear something which seems to escape the psyche of many Americans today: global warming.
On Sunday night, the National Geographic channel aired an episode of "Naked Science" called "Glacier Meltdown." The program centered on the new scientific evidence that shows an increase in greenhouse gases and the impending consequences that are becoming less "possible" and more "probable" with every passing day.
I know, it sounds cliché. The young college liberal bleeding his heart out to save the environment. But before you think global warming is a bi-partisan issue subject to debate, consider this: the stadium in Miami which the nation set its sights on for Sunday's game might very well be under water in just 20 years.
Yet this point likely falls on deaf ears. Many students on campus seem too caught up in the tunnel vision of college life to pay attention to the greater world around them.
Sure, midterm tests and papers are important, but we must realize that the end of human civilization as we know it may very well be just around the corner. It is becoming painfully clear that the problems concerning global warming will, in fact, affect us in our lifetime, not just in the lives of our children or further posterity as we might think.
In about 40 years-or around the time most of us are likely to retire and head to warmer climates like Arizona or Florida-the world's average temperature will be 10 degrees warmer at the current rate of greenhouse gas emissions.
Does that register with you? It should.
Those coveted sunny destinations will, in 40 years, be too hot to stand even in the winter or-pay attention to this-be entirely under water. South Florida, from Miami to Daytona Beach to Ft. Lauderdale and beyond, will be almost completely covered with the rising ocean by then. In fact, this could be the case in just 20 years.
Be the first to comment on this story