There was a time a decade or two ago when society could have made a choice to write off our massive investment in a fossil fuel-based economy and begin a policy driven shift towards a cleaner renewable infrastructure that could have forestalled the worst effects of climate change. But the challenges of collective action, a lack of political courage, and the power of incumbent pecuniary interests to capture the levers of power meant we did not. The bill is now coming due.
Coastal Cities Are Increasingly Vulnerable, and So Is the Economy that Relies on Them
Miami is a perfect example.
September 07, 2017
Summary.
The reality of climate change means that low-lying coastal cities are becoming what we call “stranded assets.” This is defined by financial analysts as “something that has become obsolete or nonperforming well ahead of its useful life, and must be recorded on a company’s balance sheet as a loss of profit.” How can an entire metropolis be considered “nonperforming?” Consider the example of Miami. The physical installations, infrastructures and architecture upon which Miami are founded were built on what we now can see as a flawed assumption: that the sea’s surface would stay as it had for the entirety of human experience. That’s not happening, and the city is already suffering from flooding even when it’s not raining. When the irrational exuberance about the value of coastal real estate pops and thousands of buyers collectively mark down those assets, it will make the housing bubble of ten years ago look like a small blip. The consequences will reverberate through the economy, through society and through the political landscape.