Sea Level Impact on Venice Term Paper

Alaska is experiencing a tourist boom of those who want to see glaciers before they disappear. One Hostel in Switzerland is welcoming up to 800 people per day, twice their normal capacity. The guests hope to watch a rock the size of two Empire State Buildings collapse onto a canyon floor about 650 feet below when the glacier which is holding it up finally melts. Meanwhile, they watch boulders the size of buildings roll down the sides of the Eiger, a mountain which has been held together for eons by permafrost. This is just one example of stories of resorts either losing or gaining clients as a result of the glaciers losing up to a tenth of their volume in a year. Today the ice occupies a third to half the volume it did in 1850 (Reuters, p. 1).

Sea Level Rise (1 reference)

All over the world, coastal cities in Mexico, Brazil, Bangladesh and Holland are scrambling to stem the encroachment of the rising seas. In London the British have built floodgates on the Thames River and in Venice they are doing the same thing on the Adriatic Sea.A precipitating 1966 flood caused widespread damage and economic stress in Venice and prompted an ambitious plan, the Moses Project, placing 78 enormous gates on the floor of the Adriatic Sea which would rise if dangerous tidal surges threaten the city again. "Long debate over the project's merits repeatedly delayed the start of construction until May 2003. Opponents claim that the $4.5 billion effort will prove ineffective while threatening to kill the fragile lagoon in which Venice sits. In theory, the gates are to be completed by 2010" (Broad, p. D1)

Examples of Resort Cities Affected by.....