Mayor Bloomberg launches $20 billion climate adaptation strategy for New York

In a bold statement on June 11, 2013 from a former Naval Yard on Staten Island that was flood damaged by Ex-Tropical Cyclone Sandy, Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, launched a plan of climate adaptation and resilience for the city.

Much of the adaptive defences being planned are to prevent damage from future storms, rising seas and storm surge projected for the next century.

Flood resistance and resilience of buildings and essential services was also emphasised, including measures elevating or protecting critical building equipment, fire protection systems, electrical equipment, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

But more than preparing for the next super storm, Bloomberg emphasised the importance of building resilience and preparedness for a range of climate related extreme weather disasters from "droughts, heavy downpours like we had last week, and heat waves, which may be longer, and more intense, in the years to come."

Global Warming to exacerbate Heat related deaths, more storms for New York

The residents of Manhattan and New York are already feeling the effects of global warming after experiencing Hurricanes Irene and Superstorm Sandy. But more is in store with more frequent large storms, rising sea levels, and higher temperatures and heatwaves in summer. The latest scientific study identifies that rising temperatures and heatwaves are likely to substantially increase temperature related deaths in the city.

The study by public health and climate reserachers at Columbia University in New York projects that in the 2020s there will be a mean increase of about 20 percent in deaths due to heat, set against a mean decrease of about 12 percent in deaths due to cold, with a net result of a 5 or 6 percent increase in overall temperature-related deaths. Heat related mortality is expected to rise steeply in projections for the 2050s and 2080s, despite alternate emissions scenarios. The worst case scenario is projected to cause over 1,000 annual heat related deaths by rising temperatures and heatwaves.

Global Warming: Rising Seas creates 70,000 Climate Refugees

Rising seas attributed to human induced global warming have submerged Lohachara island, once the home to 10,000 people. Unhinhabited Suparibhanga has also vanished, while the inhabited island of Ghoramara has lost two thirds of its area to the rising seas in the Bay of Bengal.

While we were all distracted by Christmas festivities, this sober news on the impact of climate change was published in The Independent (UK), about the inundation of various Sundarban islands in the Indian part of the delta region of the Ganges and Brahmaputra river, where they empty into the Bay of Bengal.

The region is considered remote and researchers at Calcutta's Jadavpur University discovered the submergence through examining satellite photos of the area. According to the report in the Independent, Dr Sugata Hazra, director of the university's School of Oceanographic Studies, said that there are now a dozen "vanishing islands" in India's part of the delta.