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www.us-tech.com
Tech-Op-ed March, 2014
SOUNDING OFF
By Walter Salm Editor
There’s a Flood in Your Future
all blue, the color of the oceans. It is indeed ironic that the oceans, which per- colated and developed life on our spaceship Earth, may now be trying to take some of it back. Global warming and the melting of the icecaps and glaciers is a very real part of our past, present, and future. Indeed, some climatolo- gists rightfully point out that we are still emerging from the last ice age, and we can expect the oceans to continue to rise. Virtually everywhere on spaceship Earth is becoming endangered, if it’s near water. The incredibly watery city of Venice, Italy, has been dealing with higher and higher water levels for centuries, and is increasingly hard-pressed to find ways to protect its historic buildings. People in the Low Countries have lived behind dikes for centuries, depending on good engineering and pumps to keep their below-sea-level land arable and livable. The city of St. Petersburg, Russia, is particularly vulnerable to storm surges, so has in- stalled a huge and costly ($6 billion) storm gate to protect it from Mother Na- ture’s worst efforts. On the other side of the world, St. Petersburg, Florida, and in fact the
T
entire state of Florida are in dire danger of being totally submerged by rising oceans. Florida has no mountains, and much of it is swamp or reclaimed be- low-sea-level land. New York City and its nearby suburbs all had their vul- nerability proven by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Much of New York City is underground, and much of it is on reclaimed land. A recent National Geo- graphic cover showed the Statue of Liberty standing in water that was almost waist-high. That same magazine showed a world map with radically altered coastlines somewhere down the timeline — 80 years? 100 years? Putting up better and higher seawalls will become the order of the day for most coastal areas in the world, at least in those countries that can afford to build them. But sea walls can only go so high. Unfortunately, the next big storm is going to kill a lot of innocent and helpless people. It has already happened in the Philippines, a particularly vulnerable area, as is almost any archipelago that has attracted people and development. There is one area of the Netherlands where floating houses are anchored
in place on steel plungers that allow the buildings to rise and fall with the changes in tides and sea level while being held in place. It’s one of many in- genious solutions that will probably find adherents in other parts of the world.
The inevitability of the coming deluge can be disheartening, but it will
certainly be a good time for construction companies that make and install sea walls and other engineering marvels that may appear on the horizon. It will also be a good time for boat builders. There will come a time when property values will be inverted, with low-
cost inland protected areas suddenly becoming highly desirable. New York State’s Catskill and Adirondack Mountains could transition from being resort areas to population centers. California’s Central Valley, which currently pro- duces about 50 percent of all of America’s food, may soon find itself becoming a more desirable place to live by hordes of displaced coastal city dwellers. Many of them move there now upon retirement, since property values are so much lower — for now. Much of the valley would be largely protected from ris- ing oceans by substantial coastal mountain ranges. Estimates place about 150 million coastal city dwellers in flooded areas
by 2070. And about $35 trillion worth of property would be destroyed or sim- ply made unusable. That’s only 56 years away! Most of our coastal communi- ties will be under water and will be useful only as breeding grounds for fish, while city dwellers trek to new homes in the mountains. It’s coming. And the next big storm may make Superstorm Sandy look like child’s play. r
o a visitor from another planet, it would become immediately obvious — we live on a water world. In fact, land makes up only about 30 percent of the Earth’s surface. Seen from outer space, our world appears to be
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
By Jacob Fattal Publisher
What Happened to Analog? N
ow that IPC/APEX is upon us once again, it may be time to consider what the year ahead has in store for our industry. Business is getting better and better, the Dow has settled firmly in its new home above
16,000, and onshoring is alive and well in the USA. Much of today’s problems are rooted in the fact that the burgeoning
world population continues to rise at an alarming rate. As we go to press, the population total is well over 7.2 billion and will break through the 8 billion ceiling very soon. Problem number one: where do we put and how do we feed all these new people? In the past, technology has always provided answers, but technology can do only so much. The only thing we can be sure of right now is that there will be enough cell phones for all of these new people. In fact, the cell phone has become such a ubiquitous item, it’s unusual for
someone not to have one, or to be busily texting to someone somewhere in the world. Not too many years ago, placing a transatlantic phone call was a very big deal, and very expensive. Today, just about anywhere in the world is in- stantly available by phone. But nobody answers the phone any more. Call any- one, anywhere, and it’s a 95 percent chance that you will immediately be con- nected to voice mail. Sending a text message or an e-mail will usually get a faster and better response, but to cover all bases today, you also have to use social media to send your messages. There are people who have given up on e- mail and only use Facebook or Twitter for messaging. In just two decades, the cell phone has gone from a nice-to-have and cost-
ly luxury, to a must-have item for every member of the family. It helps us to keep track of our kids, it disseminates news, and is often an entertainment center as well. Now the cell phone has become so miniaturized that it can be worn as a wrist watch. Question: How many APEX attendees will be looking at their wrists to check their messages? The screens get smaller, and the connectivity just keeps ramping up. Does anyone wear a plain old analog watch any more? r
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