'Retreat, or perish in place': First-hand accounts of sea level rise

Throughout history and pre-history, humans have gravitated toward coastlines. NASA estimates over one-third of all humans live within 60 miles of an ocean. The majority of the world’s megacities are in coastal zones.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population lives in “relatively high-population-density coastal areas.”

From a NOAA report: 'The two major causes of global sea level rise are thermal expansion caused by warming of the ocean (since water expands as it warms) and increased melting of land-based ice, such as glaciers and ice sheets. The oceans are absorbing more than 90 percent of the increased atmospheric heat associated with emissions from human activity."

As sea levels rise and coastal populations increase, more people are subject to flooding. Author Elizabeth Rush compiled research and the stories of people affected by sea level rise for her new book, “Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore.” On her website, Rush says, “My work chronicles communities being irrevocably changed by late capitalist industrialization.”

Rush teaches creative nonfiction at Brown University. She spoke at The Elliott Bay Book Company on August 17. KUOW’s Jennie Cecil Moore recorded the event.

 Listen to the podcast version of this talk above or the full versions below: