Mangroves - more important than ever

Most of you have probably never seen or visited a mangrove forest.  They are by and large inaccessible, a muddy tangle of roots and stems at low tide, and flooded at high tide. But mangrove forests are vitally important.  Mangroves are the primary producers and nursery locations for coastal fisheries. Not only that but mangroves buffer storm surges protecting villages and cities just inland. But in too many places mangroves have been destroyed looked upon as wasted space by developers ever lusting after still more coastal property. in one case in Thailand mangroves were being destroyed to create ponds for growing shrimp, but at the same time damaging coastal fisheries.  However some progress is being made when local people begin to see the relationship between mangroves and their food and storm survival. In a world of rising seas levels, mangroves will be more important than ever. So if you live in southern Florida or other low areas, plant mangroves, don't build condos. That's TPP's wise but certain to be ignored advice.

North Carolina takes new approach to global warming - make it illegal.

States and countries with significant coastlines should be quite concerned as Greenland's ice cap melts because low lying areas along their shore lines will be submerged, although NC is luckier than most because most of its significant cities are not coastal.  A meter rise in sea level is predicted within a century, but since the melting is probably not a steady rate, things may change significantly faster.  So what do concerned leaders do about a rising sea level?  It's so simple!  Make it illegal in North Carolina for the sea level to rise.  You hear that Atlantic Ocean?  You hear that Arctic ice?  And to really cap it off, they made it illegal to measure rising sea levels so that politicians who don't like what science tells them never, ever have to confront reality.  Wow!  Those NC politicians really know how to take care of things, in never-never land.  Good bye Wilmington; hello Asheville!  Actually the reason for posting this is that it's one way to feel good about your own state representatives.  HT to Scientific American blogs.

Beach front property - Invest for the future

Our family home was on a lake shore, in the Pliestocene. The current shore of Lake Ontario was some 3 miles north. My Father explained that he never had good timing on real estate. So here's your chance. Get out a topographic map, guess how much sea level will rise due to glacier and ice cap melting, and buy land at the appropriate point above sea level. But get going on this because a large percentage of the world's population lives near the coast, and they're going to get displaced. Oh, man, the payoff on this investment could be huge! Never much liked Long Island anyways. HT Greg Laden.