Super Eco

Photo credit: Kevin & Kathy, flickr

The bad joke used to be that an earthquake would someday cause California to slide into the ocean, creating beachfront property in Las Vegas. Ha ha, that was always sooo funny. But nobody's thinking about earthquakes these days because they're too busy thinking about the 3-foot rise in ocean levels that are expected in the next 100 years, effectively flooding out half a billion Californians and billions of dollars of property (live in Malibu? I'm so sorry).

The Golden State could invest billiions in building walls to keep the ocean at bay ... but hello, that sounds like such a losing proposition. 2,000 miles of coastline is a lot to shore up. Plus—dude!—what about the beaches?

But the damage from doing nothing would be huge. Two major airports are in almost certain harm's way. Much of the San Francisco Bay Area, including Silicon Valley, is built in low-lying areas and would be swallowed up. The housewives of Orange County would need to change their names, as the gated communities there would be underwater as well. And if sea levels rise a bit more than the one-meter being projected now? The damage would be even more devastating, affecting primarily the poor, but likely doubling the number of people displaced by floods as now expected.

California needs more water, but not that kind.