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It’s All About Water!

A short while ago I read a book titled  The First Americans: In Pursuit of Archaeology’s Greatest Mystery by Jake Page.  It was fascinating to learn of cultures  that were in this country as far back as 40,000 years.  Previous Archaeological thinking had suggested that the Clovis people, a name taken from the arrow points they made, came over the land mass in the Bering Straits approximately 12,000 years ago.  It has been quite a struggle to convince Clovis diehards that the Americas were populated before that time.

The part that fascinated me most, however, had to do with arguments made around  advances and receding of the various ice ages. What stuck in my memory is that these climate changes occurred  rapidly and not over tens of thousands of years as I had previously thought. 

In paying attention to the Paris talks and listening to climatologists speak of rising sea levels, I am reminded that hundreds of thousands of people will face displacement.  As mentioned in my last newsletter, “When we speak of migrations from Syria, we haven’t seen anything like what will happen when low lying countries are flooded.

This week my cousin’s wife brought to my attention an article about the Quinault Indian Tribe in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. They gained recent press by taking it’s environmental plea to Paris. The tribe has a small village at the mouth of the Quinault River, relying on a sea wall that was recently repaired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect them from the encroaching Pacific Ocean. The temporary fix will not last, so the tribe has decided that it is going to have to move their 700 members, school,  court, police and homes to another location. 

The tribe has also experienced the drying of a glacier that used to bring cool water during the summer.  Now the river’s low water level effects salmon runs that support the Indian Nation. 

Those who live in coastal cities throughout the world are going to have to prepare now by protecting natural shoreline buffers and building protective barriers. Without preparation, coastal wetlands, that protect the shore from flooding are going to be damaged, leaving local wildlife with less habitat.

Of the 20 countries the largest populations at risk  from flooding are in China at about 50 million people, followed by Vietnam, Japan, India, and Bangladesh.   By percentage of population the Netherlands is first at 47%, then Vietnam, Thailand and Japan.  The US is not immune, with about 3.1 million people at risk. 

Other causes of projected migration have to do with desertification of land due to global warming, over grazing of animals, and expansion of crop-growing ares. These are among the reasons that have led to fighting in the middle east today. Areas like the Amazon  also are in danger of becoming deserts due to deforestation.  Forests and rivers running dry affect wildlife and drinking sources, contributing to war over who controls water resources.  

It is important not to bury our heads but to take action, to prepare for a future with continuous mass migrations.  The climate summit in Paris is rightfully concerned with decreasing greenhouse gasses but that is not enough.  A second world wide conference needs to be called to prepare for widespread displacement of populations due to climate change. 

I look forward to reading your comments below.

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References:

http://www.npr.org/2015/12/01/455745765/facing-rising-waters-a-native-tribe-takes-its-plea-to-paris-climate-talks  - About the Quinault tribe.

http://www.weather.com/science/environment/news/20-countries-most-risk-sea-level-rise-20140924 - 20 most at risk countries.

http://www3.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/impacts/effects/coastal.html - about climate change and coastal regions. 

http://www.worldpreservationfoundation.org/topic.php?cat=climateChange&vid=23#.VmdmXISsZHg - desertification.