The Concept of Global Change

Abstract

The year is 2040. Sam and Melissa are both in their 60s now. They live on the coast of Maine, having moved with their families there shortly after the turn of the century. They arrived when Maine still experienced cold winters and abundant snowfall. But they consider themselves lucky now, for the state of Maine hasn’t lost much of its coastline as other states along the eastern seaboard, or the Gulf Coast. Their town sits at the mouth of a tidal river, on the kind of solid granite outcroppings that give the Maine coast its distinctive look. But further south during the past 40 years the land has seen many changes. The beaches of New Jersey are only a memory. The city of New Orleans, as well as other cities along the Gulf Coast, are still livable only because of the massive systems of earthen dikes surrounding them, keeping the rising water levels out of the area. Much like the Dutch, the New Orleans residents take great pride in their ability to live and carry on merely at arm’s length from disaster.