Earth911 Podcast: Oceanographer John Englander Shares a 2023 Sea Level Rise Update

Sea level rise due to melting glaciers on Greenland and in the Arctic and Antarctic could force the relocation of 267 million people and entire cities located less than 2 meters — 6.5 feet — from today’s waterline by 2100. Oceanographer <a href="https://johnenglander.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">John Englander</a> has raised the alarm about sea level rise in his books, <a href="https://amzn.to/3Iz8vi6" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">High Tide on Main Street</a> and <a href="https://amzn.to/3EmWkCp" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moving to Higher Ground</a>. John runs the Rising Seas Institute and leads regular visits to Greenland to spur awareness of the accelerating loss of its glaciers. We <a href="https://earth911.com/podcast/earth911-podcast-oceanographer-john-englander-on-adapting-to-sea-level-rise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">talked with him in 2021</a>, when Moving to Higher Ground was released, and he returns to the show to share an update on the pace of warming, the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03758-y" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Thwaites Glacier and Ice Shelf</a> in Antarctica, Greenland's rapid loss of ice, and the preparations necessary for <a href="https://earth911.com/home-garden/floating-neighborhoods-rising-sea-level-solution/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">adaptation to a world of constantly rising seas</a>. <br /><br />NASA warns that continuing warming could raise sea levels by 5 meters (more than 16 feet) by 2300. The early damage will be felt across more than twice the expected coastal land than previously expected, according to a January 2023 Dutch research study published <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/sea-level-rise-will-cause-widespread-impacts-sooner-than-expected/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">in the journal Earth’s Future</a>, because previous satellite analysis misestimated the altitude of heavily forested land. The potential cost of protecting seaside cities an