Sequestering seawater on land: a water-based solution to global issues

The ‘surplus’ of oceanic water generated by climate change offers an unprecedented opportunity to tackle a number of global issues through a very pragmatic process: shifting the excess water from the oceans onto the land. Here we propose that sea-level rise could be mitigated through the desalination of very large amounts of seawater in massive desalination plants. To efficiently mitigate sea-level rise, desalinized water could be stored on land in the form of crop, wetlands or new forests. Based on a US$ 500 million price to build an individual mega desalination plant with current technology, the cost of controlling current sea-level rise through water desalination approaches US$ 23 trillion. However, the economic, environmental and health benefits would also be immense and could contribute to addressing a number of global issues including sea-level rise, food security, biodiversity loss and climate change. Because these issues are intimately intertwined, responses should aim at addressing them all concurrently and at global scale.

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Climate Change: What’s the Big Deal?

Paying for Pollution ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190694197.003.0002 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 7-22

Author(s):

Gilbert E. Metcalf

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Greenhouse Gases ◽

Sea Level Rise ◽

Sea Level ◽

Ice Core ◽

Core Samples ◽

History Of ◽

The Cost ◽

Climate Damages

Droughts, floods, soaring temperatures, sea-level rise, and melting ice are just some of the damages brought about by climate change. Chapter 1 details the cost of our failure to cut our emissions, from crop-destroying droughts to devastating floods. It also documents the inexorable build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as demonstrated by the Keeling curve and observations from Antarctic ice core samples. The chapter then provides a brief history of the science linking the build-up of atmospheric greenhouse gases and climate damages.

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Sea Summation : How Waterfront Urbanisation can use Hydrological Strategies While Facilitating For Climate Change

10.26686/wgtn.17148350.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Zarah Sahib

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

New Zealand ◽

Sea Level Rise ◽

Public Space ◽

Sea Level ◽

Great Level ◽

Storm Events ◽

Climate Conditions ◽

Global Issues ◽

Private And Public

Urban inclination has unfavourably allowed for urban development throughout New Zealand to be found either along once naturally ecologically established and natural defensive coastal shorelines, waterfronts or along reclaimed shores to be developed on top of. Through reclamation, it has shown fundamentals of how we want to live closer to the water’s edge, however in this process the lack of social and ecological space is diminishing and being catalyst residential and high end luxury private space (Dianne Menzez). Urban inclination should propose that urban waterfronts become multifunctional and facilitate towards a great public space. However with a deep attachment for the water’s edge, we orientate living ourselves towards the water which also shows an interesting argument between the city and coast relationship that also comes with increasing climate change conditions. Climate change has been under extensive focus for frequent years, conditions of notably large New Zealand urban sites remain under threat of infringing sea level rise and storm events which are in need for proper systematic infrastructure for this adaption purpose. With significant numbers of infrastructural systems situated in close proximity to waterfront environments, the rising numbers of communities orientated towards this face vulnerability to such global issues. In events of future sea level rise, increasing flooding will definitely impact the prone waterfronts Wellington City is one of New Zealand’s most vulnerable sites to sea level rise due to its proximity to coastal edges. Its low lying surface and unsustainable infrastructure and design promotes flooding through deficient water networks. This thesis identifies the Wellington’s post-industrial site; Centerport with proposals for intended residential development. There is however a great level of susceptibility the site does not meet needs for protection from arising climate conditions, and its current poor social relation to the wider waterfront, which this thesis intends to investigate and resolve. Centerport remains vulnerable to being a crucial domain for connectivity to the harbor edge and coastal hazard impact compared to other waterfronts. Through the means of researching adaptive water technological systems, this thesis hopes it will provide and conceptualise an impact within private and public communities through addressing coastal resilience, waterfront resilience and provide permeable adaptive waterfront design for the arising climate conditions.

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Sea Level Rise Mitigation by Global Sea Water Desalination Using Renewable-Energy-Powered Plants

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13179552 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (17) ◽

pp. 9552

Author(s):

Muna Hindiyeh ◽

Aiman Albatayneh ◽

Rashed Altarawneh ◽

Mustafa Jaradat ◽

Murad Al-Omary ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Sea Level Rise ◽

Sea Level ◽

Water Demand ◽

Sea Water ◽

Water Desalination ◽

Human Consumption ◽

Seawater Desalination ◽

Desalination Plants ◽

Global Water

This work suggests a solution for preventing/eliminating the predicted Sea Level Rise (SLR) by seawater desalination and storage through a large number of desalination plants distributed worldwide; it also comprises that the desalinated seawater can resolve the global water scarcity by complete coverage for global water demand. Sea level rise can be prevented by desalinating the additional water accumulated into oceans annually for human consumption, while the excess amount of water can be stored in dams and lakes. It is predicted that SLR can be prevented by desalination plants. The chosen desalination plants for the study were Multi-Effect Desalination (MED) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants that are powered by renewable energy using wind and solar technologies. It is observed that the two main goals of the study are fulfilled when preventing an SLR between 1.0 m and 1.3 m by 2100 through seawater desalination, as the amount of desalinated water within that range can cover the global water demand while being economically viable.

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Floodplain Infrastructure and the Toxic Tide

Practice, Progress, and Proficiency in Sustainability - Impact of Water Pollution on Human Health and Environmental Sustainability ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-9559-7.ch007 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 150-173

Author(s):

Sanford R. Bender

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Invasive Species ◽

Sea Level Rise ◽

Sea Level ◽

Habitat Loss ◽

Flood Plain ◽

Storm Events ◽

Global Issues ◽

Environmentally Sensitive ◽

Coastal Sand

The human species is drawn to water. They are attracted by its dynamic flow and the promise of renewal that can lift their spirits up from the mundane. However, there is a growing awareness of how prior and current building practices continue to jeopardize environmentally sensitive wetlands, estuaries, bays, rivers, and coastal sand barriers. Constructing infrastructure in the floodplain causes erosion, pollution, habitat loss, invasive species, and increased vulnerability to hurricanes and other flooding disasters. This chapter will focus primarily on how building infrastructure located in the flood plain can affect the environment under the duress of catastrophic storm events. Reference is made to more far reaching phenomena global issues such as climate change, sea level rise, shifting continental fault lines, and other meteorological and geological changes that appear to be hastening the appearance of major disastrous events.

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Social tipping as a response to anticipated sea level rise

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-19561 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Marc Wiedermann ◽

E Keith Smith ◽

Jonathan F Donges ◽

Jobst Heitzig ◽

Ricarda Winkelmann

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sea Level Rise ◽

Sea Level ◽

Time Window ◽

Threshold Model ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Climate Impacts ◽

Tipping Points ◽

Critical Thresholds ◽

Climate Action

Social tipping, where minorities trigger large populations to engage in collective action, has been suggested as a key component to address contemporary global challenges, such as climate change or biodiversity loss. At the same time, certain climate tipping elements, such as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, are already at risk of transgressing their critical thresholds, even within the aspired goals of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rise to 1.5&#176; to 2&#176;C. Consequently, recent studies suggest rapid societal transformations, i.e, wanted tipping, may be required to prevent the crossing of dangerous tipping points or critical thresholds in the climate system.Here, we explore likelihoods for such social tipping in climate action as a response to anticipated climate impacts, particularly sea-level rise. We first propose a low-dimensional model for social tipping as a refined version of Granovetter's famous and well-established threshold model. This model assumes individuals to become active, e.g., to mitigate climate change, through social influence if a sufficient number of instigators in one&#8217;s social network initiate a considered action. We estimate the number of instigators as shares of per-country populations that will likely be impacted by sea-level rise within a given time-window of anticipation. Specifically, we consider sea-level contributions from thermal expansion, mountain glaciers, Greenland as well as Antarctica under different concentration pathways. Additionally, we use nationally aggregated social science survey data of climate change attitudes to estimate the proportion of the population that has the potential to be mobilized for climate action, thereby accounting for heterogeneities across countries as well.Our model shows that social tipping, i.e., the majority of a population acting against climate change, becomes likely if the individuals' anticipation time horizon of climate impacts lies in the order of a century. This observation aligns well with ethical time horizons that are often assumed in the context of climate tipping points as they represent the expected lifetime of our children and grandchildren. We thus show that, even though sea-level rise is generally a very slow process, a small dedicated minority of anticipatory individuals &#8211; usually 10&#8211;20 percent of the population &#8211; has the potential to tip collective climate action and with it a whole ensemble of attitudes, behaviours and ultimately policies.

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Sea Summation : How Waterfront Urbanisation can use Hydrological Strategies While Facilitating For Climate Change

10.26686/wgtn.17148350 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Zarah Sahib

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

New Zealand ◽

Sea Level Rise ◽

Public Space ◽

Sea Level ◽

Great Level ◽

Storm Events ◽

Climate Conditions ◽

Global Issues ◽

Private And Public

Urban inclination has unfavourably allowed for urban development throughout New Zealand to be found either along once naturally ecologically established and natural defensive coastal shorelines, waterfronts or along reclaimed shores to be developed on top of. Through reclamation, it has shown fundamentals of how we want to live closer to the water’s edge, however in this process the lack of social and ecological space is diminishing and being catalyst residential and high end luxury private space (Dianne Menzez). Urban inclination should propose that urban waterfronts become multifunctional and facilitate towards a great public space. However with a deep attachment for the water’s edge, we orientate living ourselves towards the water which also shows an interesting argument between the city and coast relationship that also comes with increasing climate change conditions. Climate change has been under extensive focus for frequent years, conditions of notably large New Zealand urban sites remain under threat of infringing sea level rise and storm events which are in need for proper systematic infrastructure for this adaption purpose. With significant numbers of infrastructural systems situated in close proximity to waterfront environments, the rising numbers of communities orientated towards this face vulnerability to such global issues. In events of future sea level rise, increasing flooding will definitely impact the prone waterfronts Wellington City is one of New Zealand’s most vulnerable sites to sea level rise due to its proximity to coastal edges. Its low lying surface and unsustainable infrastructure and design promotes flooding through deficient water networks. This thesis identifies the Wellington’s post-industrial site; Centerport with proposals for intended residential development. There is however a great level of susceptibility the site does not meet needs for protection from arising climate conditions, and its current poor social relation to the wider waterfront, which this thesis intends to investigate and resolve. Centerport remains vulnerable to being a crucial domain for connectivity to the harbor edge and coastal hazard impact compared to other waterfronts. Through the means of researching adaptive water technological systems, this thesis hopes it will provide and conceptualise an impact within private and public communities through addressing coastal resilience, waterfront resilience and provide permeable adaptive waterfront design for the arising climate conditions.

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Floodplain Infrastructure and the Toxic Tide

Oceanography and Coastal Informatics ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-7308-1.ch001 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 1-24

Author(s):

Sanford R. Bender

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Invasive Species ◽

Sea Level Rise ◽

Sea Level ◽

Habitat Loss ◽

Flood Plain ◽

Storm Events ◽

Global Issues ◽

Environmentally Sensitive ◽

Coastal Sand

The human species is drawn to water. They are attracted by its dynamic flow and the promise of renewal that can lift their spirits up from the mundane. However, there is a growing awareness of how prior and current building practices continue to jeopardize environmentally sensitive wetlands, estuaries, bays, rivers, and coastal sand barriers. Constructing infrastructure in the floodplain causes erosion, pollution, habitat loss, invasive species, and increased vulnerability to hurricanes and other flooding disasters. This chapter will focus primarily on how building infrastructure located in the flood plain can affect the environment under the duress of catastrophic storm events. Reference is made to more far reaching phenomena global issues such as climate change, sea level rise, shifting continental fault lines, and other meteorological and geological changes that appear to be hastening the appearance of major disastrous events.

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Climate Change, Sea Level Rise, and the Slow Erosion of “Home”

Practicing Anthropology ◽

10.17730/0888-4552.41.3.38 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 41 (3) ◽

pp. 38-41 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ryan Anderson

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sea Level Rise ◽

Sea Level ◽

Personal Experience ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Ethnographic Research ◽

Global Issues ◽

The Social ◽

Photo Essay ◽

And Sea Level

Abstract This photo essay explores the growing challenges of coastal erosion and sea level rise through a personal reflection about coastal California. The author combines photography, ethnographic research, and personal experience to reflect upon the social, political, and environmental changes that rising seas are bringing to the world's coastlines. The essay emphasizes the power of using anthropology, framed by locally-based perspectives and knowledge, as a way to understand the broader global issues of climate change, erosion, and sea level rise.

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Sea-level rise driven soil salinization

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-14453 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hannes Nevermann ◽

Amir AghaKouchak ◽

Nima Shokri

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Sea Level Rise ◽

Sea Level ◽

Soil Salinity ◽

Water Cycle ◽

Terrestrial Ecosystem ◽

Global Scale ◽

Soil Salinization ◽

Coastal Regions ◽

Rcp Scenarios

Sea level rise (SLR) is a well-documented aspect of anthropogenic climate change which is primary due to the thermal expansion of seawater and melting of ice caps and glaciers (1). Climate change is expected to exacerbate sea-level rise within the next century, much larger than the observations since the beginning of the recordings. Next to various natural hazards and extreme environmental events such as flooding, the sea level rise poses serious long-standing and possibly irreversible consequences on human timescales in coastal regions. For example, soil salinity is expected to increase near shorelines due to sea level rise. Soil salinization, referring to excess accumulation of salt in soil, is a global problem (2) adversely affecting many environmental and hydrologic processes such as terrestrial ecosystem functioning, water cycle and biodiversity. SLRs shift the saltwater-freshwater boundary in coastal regions which will increase the risk of soil salinization further inland. Considering the growing population living in coastal regions, SLR-driven soil salinization has a severe socio-economic impact posing significant threat to farmlands, wetlands, coastal marshes, forests and other ecosystems. Motivated by the importance of the interaction between SLR, climate change and soil salinization, this study aims to determine how the saltwater-freshwater interface moves under different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) scenarios in coastal regions. Groundwater data of coastal wells, Digital Elevation Model&#8217;s and satellite images will be used to highlight areas under high risk of soil salinization. The results will enable us to quantify the possible extent of the soil salinization as a result of SLR under different climate scenarios with the associated socio-economic consequences. Such information could support decision making and sustainable resource management under different RCPs.1. Moftakhari H.M., Salvadori G., AghaKouchak A., Sanders, B.F., Matthew, R.A. (2017). Compounding Effects of Sea Level Rise and Fluvial Flooding. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 114 (37), 9785-9790.2. Hassani, A., Azapagic, A., Shokri, N. (2020). Predicting Long-term Dynamics of Soil Salinity and Sodicity on a Global Scale. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 117 (52) 33017-33027.

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