Climate warming, or global warming, sound so benign. Who would not want warmer winters and balmy summer days? But the long-term global trend to higher average temperatures poses a real risk to our economic and social well-being, as well as to the native creatures with which we share the planet.
Climate change is causing sea levels to rise. Not by much so far, but this is only the start. Higher sea levels, combined with the greater storm surges associated with climate change, will force people to abandon some prestige coastal properties. The inundation of New Orleans should have been a wake-up call, but many see this as a special case with no relevance elsewhere. Rich agricultural coastal flood plains will become salinated and unproductive.