The (Slow) Greening of America

摘要

Americans who don't believe in global warming should visit my Miami Beach neighborhood at high tide, when Biscayne Bay surges through our storm drains and swamps our streets. In May, the New York Times ran a photo of sunny-day flooding outside my local Walgreens, above an article headlined, "Miami Finds Itself Ankle-Deep in Climate Change Debate." Really, the debate should be over. Scientists have already documented 5 in. to 8 in. of sea-level rise around South Florida over the past 50 years. This kind of phenomenon has encouraged President Obama to start emphasizing that climate change is not a someday thing. "This is not some distant problem of the future," he said recently. "This is a problem that is affecting Americans right now."