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Climate change could swamp this island. Home sales are surging.
The Washington Post ^ | July 5, 2023 | By Justin Jouvenal

Posted on 07/05/2023 5:21:37 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Maryland’s iconic Smith Island faces one of the nation’s most dire forecasts for rising seas, but real estate is booming.

... More homes have sold on Smith Island in the last three years than in the previous 11 combined, according to sales data. Locals see a story of hope. Their efforts to rescue a 400-year-old way of life tied to tide and season are beginning to bear fruit. Many question the doomsday predictions for the island or hope they can find a way to ride out rising waters.

Environmentalists see a dangerous kind of denialism. They say Smith Island’s long-term survival is doubtful, so the only rational path is retreat. They see the recent interest in the island as part of an unsettling national trend — studies show more Americans are moving into climate danger zones.

By the time Hurricane Sandy arrived in 2012, Smith Island had suffered a long decline. The population had dwindled from a peak of around 800 in the 1900s to less than 200 and an economy centered on crabs and oysters was fading. Roads were crumbling and a sewer plant failing.

Another threat was also looming: climate change.

William Sweet, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the island, which averages a couple feet above sea level, could see bay waters rise by roughly a foot by about 2050, meaning even moderate flooding could send waters sloshing across the land. By 2100, Sweet said, an additional foot of sea-level rise is expected — a scenario that could submerge most of the island.

Sweet said Smith Island’s situation is worse because it is sinking, a process caused by land settling after the last ice age, groundwater pumping and the compaction of earth stirred up by an ancient meteor strike.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: globalwarming; hoax; justinjouvenal; maryland; propaganda; realestate; realty; socialism
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1 posted on 07/05/2023 5:21:37 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
groundwater pumping

A new front opens in the war against living in First World comfort.

I've been seeing that phrase a lot lately.

Rust, and GreenTards, never sleep.

2 posted on 07/05/2023 5:25:49 AM PDT by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
the island, which averages a couple feet above sea level, could see bay waters rise

Any documented rise in the last 10 years?

20 years?

50 years?

3 posted on 07/05/2023 5:26:08 AM PDT by grobdriver (The CDC can KMA!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Islands in the Cheasapeake Bay come and go. It isn't global warming. It's an estuary, and islands are built of alluvium. Currents shift causing sand banks to shift causing currents to shift causing....

It's a cycle of nature.

4 posted on 07/05/2023 5:26:10 AM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

it’s sinking...nothing to do with climate


5 posted on 07/05/2023 5:28:56 AM PDT by Sacajaweau ( )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“Sweet said Smith Island’s situation is worse because it is sinking, a process caused by land settling after the last ice age, groundwater pumping and the compaction of earth stirred up by an ancient meteor strike.”

That doesn’t sound like climate change.


6 posted on 07/05/2023 5:29:19 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (The Democrat Party - Dumbing Down America Since 1965.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Leftists are always flummoxed when people don’t buy into their BS.


7 posted on 07/05/2023 5:31:17 AM PDT by LIConFem (This Space For Rent)
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To: EQAndyBuzz
If you put the words "climate change" at the front of the article title, that's the only thing that the gnat-like intellect of most ballot contributors perceives.

Mission accomplished! :)

8 posted on 07/05/2023 5:33:32 AM PDT by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
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To: AndyJackson

Oh, pshaw. Don’t let facts get in the way of a good ideological struggle for power!


9 posted on 07/05/2023 5:33:39 AM PDT by rlmorel ("If you think tough men are dangerous, just wait until you see what weak men are capable of." JBP)
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To: AndyJackson

-—alluvium-—

Ooops...... four syllables

Enviro wackos can’t pronounce nor understand words containing four syllables


10 posted on 07/05/2023 5:33:39 AM PDT by bert ( (KWE. NP. N.C. +12) Joe Biden is a kleptocrat)
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To: kiryandil
Couldn't the island tip over and capsize?




11 posted on 07/05/2023 5:35:32 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
”Smith Island is sinking because of the compaction of earth stirred up by an ancient meteor strike.”

There’s greater probability a new meteor strike would wipe out Smith Island than climate change. We need a new trillion dollar program to end the threat of meteor strikes.

12 posted on 07/05/2023 5:35:32 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (I don’t like to think before I say something...I want to be just as surprised as everyone else.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Inner Party members are Double-Think experts.

It pays off when they can frighten outer party members out of spaces that they want for themselves.

That’s a bonus extra that Orwell didn’t go into. Soviet bigwigs had their Dachas, so it’s not like he didn’t know the game.


13 posted on 07/05/2023 5:36:04 AM PDT by Avoiding_Sulla (You can't tell where we're going if you don't know where we've been)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
--- "Environmentalists see a dangerous kind of denialism."

Obama's homes are ocean front properties in several states. Must be "denialism."

14 posted on 07/05/2023 5:36:38 AM PDT by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“More homes have sold on Smith Island in the last three years than in the previous 11 combined”

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Gee, what happened about 3 years ago that might drive these increased sales?

Oh yeah, a phenomenally corrupt administration in DC stole the election and now dirty, dirty money is flowing to all the corrupt politicians, bureaucrats, lobbyists, and attorneys in the region.

And where does a lot of that massive pipeline of dirty money end up? Waterfront property! Ding ding ding!


15 posted on 07/05/2023 5:36:43 AM PDT by Eccl 10:2 (Prov 3:5 --- "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding")
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To: SaveFerris

If Chinese troops land on one side of the island.


16 posted on 07/05/2023 5:37:11 AM PDT by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
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To: kiryandil

SOMEBODY WARN HANK JOHNSON!!!


17 posted on 07/05/2023 5:38:38 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: grobdriver

Environmentalists see a dangerous kind of denialism.”

“Environmentalists “ are mostly deluded fools or hucksters getting rich off of endowments


18 posted on 07/05/2023 5:41:09 AM PDT by iamgalt ( )
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To: AndyJackson

Yes. I remember back in the 80s, before Global Warming was a hot topic (fear of a coming Ice Age was still sort of a thing). At that time, there was a lot of talk of “beach erosion”. And that is actually a real topic. Winds and waves do eat at the shoreline. The coast changes. Always has. Always will. Erosion is not a myth. But, today, people see erosion, and islands in estuaries coming and going and they just say, “We must deindustrialize. All of this climate change is out fault.” I find it unbearably stupid.


19 posted on 07/05/2023 5:41:18 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (It's not a government. It's a criminal enterprise. Fear it, but do not respect it.)
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To: grobdriver

When you drive along Florida’s coast and stop in restaurants, they often have historic photos of the beach. Some date back to the nineteen tens. You can often recognize landmarks and they tide line hasn’t changed in all that time.


20 posted on 07/05/2023 5:42:29 AM PDT by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud? )
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