With the direction our planet is headed, many scientists predict coastal cities worldwide could be underwater by the year 2050 unless we begin to take action now. With that being said, the city of Miami has set to begin a new 100 million dollar project to reduce the city’s effect on sea level rise.
How is this possible if the city has already been built for many years? Well, the city will embark on this meticulous project by raising roads, installing new pumps and water mains, as well as having to completely recreate a new sewage system because in most private properties the excess water drains into the street and that will no longer be an option. In this challenging project, engineers will have to figure out how to conjoin public and private properties in a smooth and organized manner, involving drainage as well as money.
How is this enormous project going to be funded? This has and will continue to be a long, ongoing conversation between the taxpayers and the Miami City Hall, since the project is most likely going to begin during the fall of this year.
This project is one with a multitude of controversies, with of course, many pros and cons. Some pros include newer buildings, a new high-tech type of city that Miami has the potential of becoming, and the obvious one being that Miami will live on to continue being the prosperous city it is today. Although this is a very ambitious idea there are many things to consider such as construction, which can cause a delay in traffic (as if there isn’t enough already!), the expense of this project which will most likely come out of the pockets of Miami residents, and the possibility of it creating additional dangers if not built correctly.
This is potentially just another ineffective government-funded plan to combat the inevitable effects of global warming. It can derail the general awareness and seriousness of the topic that is climate change by demonstrating that climate change has a feasible solution in theory and seems executable when in reality, the accumulation of the carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane and other harmful gases from the construction will just add to the bigger issue.
So, is this a permanent band-aid for the issue that we know as Global Warming? Or is this just a matter of throwing money at an issue we know is irreversible?