I'm currently taking an online geography course that's been focusing on global warming and how we're going to combat the resulting problems. It's only one semester, so my final project is due on the 18th of December.
Like a good child, I decided to do the project. (It seemed like the natural thing to do since it's worth about 20% of my grade.) I whipped out my maps of Europe, my world atlas, some ArcGIS data, and Google Earth and started working. Apparently, after a 5 meter rise in sea level (which could result from the melting of just one of the many ice features in Antarctica), not only are places like Venice and the Netherlands going to have a little excess drinking water, but cities like Odesa, Ukraine will also find themselves oddly underwater. My job is to come up with an action plan to deal with a theoretical (and highly exaggerated) 50 meter rise in 50 years. Where 5 meters floods the lower city, 50 meters floods out the whole thing, and this is a city built along the slopes of a hill (which, funny enough, is almost exactly 50 meters at its peak).
So, I start looking for information on the internet about Odesa (or Odessa, if you prefer), and I find that Odesa, England and Odessa, USA are much more popular. In fact, the only websites besides the encyclopedias that seem to care about Odesa, Ukraine are travel websites advertising hotels. That's great, but I really don't care about hotels. I want to know about the industries (Odesa has an institute for eye-diseases, a jute mill, and an oil refinery, among other things) and where they are. If the factory is 40 meters above sea level, then it wouldn't make sense to try to transplant the industry when the institute will flood after only six years.
And of course, with my current streak of luck, there's a naval base at Odesa, so the government is a little touchy with some information, which makes it even more difficult to find any information. If I had the money, I think I'd just go to Odesa myself and find out where everything is. I even know where the best hotels are now. Sadly, that can't happen. The other sad thing is that I can't just say, "Let her sink!" (well... I could, but then I'd fail.)
And overall, this project was rather depressing... After a 50 meter rise, the entire eastern seaboard of North America, from the Yucatan, along the Gulf Coast, all of Florida, through up into Canada until about Labrador. My house would be save, which is a nice thought, but looking at Europe isn't a fun time either. Humans have some sort of tendency to build on water (as if they needed it to live or something). They're attracted to it like flies to a dead carcass.
So, my advice to everyone who reads this: Move to Tibet!
So, five hours later, I decide that I've had enough, and I starting reading Lord of the Rings. That makes me happy. I still can't get over the fact that the Black Gate of Mordor is actually three doors.
