The sea is coming for us

A list of all the places that the sea already came for

From San Francisco to Easter Island, it could all become Atlantis.

The sea is coming for us

The world will be underwater

The sea is coming for us

A list of all the places that the sea already came for

From San Francisco to Easter Island, it could all become Atlantis.

As rising sea levels due to climate change encroach iconic shores and landmarks, publications are rushing to document the loss, The Outline included. While many concerning reports describe the flooding that will devastate the world over the next few hundred years, many people in many places are already suffering the effects of climate-change-driven coastal flooding. Below are some of the best pieces we’ve seen about coastal flooding in the last few weeks.

  • Easter Island is Eroding, The New York Times, by Nicholas Casey. Rising sea levels, and the storm waves they bring, now threaten the iconic moai statues that ring Easter Island — echoing the peril of Pacific locales from the Marshall Islands to the coral atolls of Fiji.

  • Sinking Shoreline Threatens Millions in Indonesia, Reuters, by Kanupriya Kapoor. This report looks at the dire straits in Jakarta, and elsewhere in Indonesia, where residents now regularly wade through streets that look more like rivers.

  • The Sinking Brothel, VICE Motherboard, by Matthew Bremner. On Banishanta, an island off Bangladesh, rising sea levels will likely sweep away a sprawling brothel — and with it the tenuous livelihood of the sex workers for whom the island is home.

  • Nor’easter Brings Coastal Flooding, Heavy Precipitation To Mass, WBUR, by Benjamin Swasey and Lisa Creamer. Winter storms now regularly flood the coastal communities of Massachusetts, drenching roadways and iconic spots in downtown Boston.

  • Left to Louisiana’s Tides, a Village Fights for Time, The New York Times, by Kevin Sack and John Schwartz. The village of Jean Lafitte will eventually be swallowed by the sea — and the question in Louisiana is how much should be spent delaying the inevitable.

  • More of the Bay Area Could Be Underwater in 2100 Than Previously Expected, The New York Times, by Troy Griggs. Creeping devastation faces San Francisco, the world’s foremost tech hub and one of the most historically and culturally significant cities on the West Coast, where new estimates show that many of the city’s most historic neighborhoods could be underwater by the turn of the next century.

The sea is coming for us

The world will be underwater

no coral no mercy

Don’t make me do this

The sea is coming for us

Jon Christian is a contributing writer for The Outline.