Global warming can be difficult to properly visualise. If you’re not directly threatened by rising sea levels, suffering water shortages or ravaged by wildfires, how do you know it’s really happening?
That’s why projects like Climate Central are essential. This website creates maps that show which parts of the world could find themselves underwater due to rising sea levels as early as 2030
There are plenty of variables at play. We could build flood defences, adapt our cities and take dramatic action to halt global warming.
But if none of that happens, here are the potential consequences 👇
📍Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague sit low, flat and close to the North Sea. The Dutch are famed for their flood defences, and it seems the country’s dikes, dams, barriers, levees and floodgates will become even more essential in the years to come
📍Basra, Iraq
Due to its network of canals and streams, as well as neighbouring marshland, Basra is vulnerable to a rise in sea levels. It also already suffers significantly from waterborne diseases – so increased flooding carries even more of a threat
📍New Orleans, USA
Without the city’s system of levees, New Orleans would be severely threatened by rising sea levels. Even with them, the damage looks catastrophic. The Biloxi and Jean Lafitte wildlife preserves look particularly vulnerable to being totally submerged
📍Venice, Italy
Venice faces a twin threat: sea levels are rising and the city itself is sinking – by two millimetres every year. Like New Orleans, it has flood-defence systems in place, but as the crisis worsens, these will be more difficult (and expensive) to maintain
📍Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
The areas most at risk are its eastern districts – particularly the flat, heavily built-up marshland of Thủ Thiêm. While the centre is unlikely to be underwater by 2030, it will almost certainly be more vulnerable to flooding and tropical storms
📍Kolkata, India
Much of west Bengal has thrived for centuries because of its fertile landscape, but that has become a cause for concern in Kolkata. Like Ho Chi Minh City, it could struggle during monsoon season as rainwater has less land to run off into
📍Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok could be the city worst hit by global warming in the short term. It sits just 1.5 metres above sea level. It's also built on clay soil, which makes it more prone to flooding. By 2030, its main airport, Suvarnabhumi International, could be underwater
📍Georgetown, Guyana
For centuries, Guyana has relied on sea walls – or, more accurately, one 280-mile long sea wall – for protection from storms. Some 90% of Guyana’s population lives on the coast, so it will need to substantially bolster its sea wall to avoid massive damage
📍Savannah, USA
Savannah sits in a hurricane hotspot. The Savannah River in the north and Ogeechee River in the south could spill out into the nearby marshland. By 2050, the city is predicted to experience once-per-century historical flood levels every year
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London is perhaps the perfect pub city. There’s a boozer for almost every kind of person. We’ve tried and tested inns, taverns and pubs across the city to bring you a list of the very finest.
A wonderful place to take your main (or future) squeeze, @ivyhousenunhead has comfortable furnishings, private booths and Moth Club-esque stage
🍻9. The Salisbury Hotel
A grand Victorian gin palace of some repute, The Salisbury is massive. There’s a hidden ballroom that hosts regular swing-dance nights and comedy shows, but it also has a cosy energy despite its size
An unimaginable tragedy hit west London five years ago when Grenfell Tower caught fire. Against that terrible backdrop, these five men and women have achieved amazing things. Here are their stories 👇
🥊Heavyweight boxer David Adeleye used to train at a gym in Grenfell Tower. In 2019, he turned pro and, eight fights in, he remains undefeated
'I knew people who lived in Grenfell – we’re all connected. We lost Tony in the fire: he was the father of three boys who trained with us, and a big part of the gym. He used to come on trips with us, make sure all the kids were being looked after'
Netflix’s new Marilyn Monroe movie Blonde has been slapped with an NC-17 rating, or an 18 in UK terms, for sexually explicit content, making it the first release on the streamer to be given the adult-only certification
Monroe’s on-screen depictions have typically been fairly chaste (see Michelle Williams in My Week With Marilyn), but the bombshell really goes off in Blonde, which is sure to drive clicks and generate headlines in the run-up to its debut in the world’s living rooms
In another massive blow for London’s endlessly suffering commuters, rail union the RMT has announced three days of train strikes for the capital, on Tuesday June 21, Thursday June 23 and Saturday June 25. Weird days to choose, you might think
Well, in the spirit of the recent threat to disrupt the Platinum Jubilee weekend celebrations, these days have not been chosen at random, but to coincide with people travelling to Glastonbury Festival and to an England v New Zealand test match
Have you ever spotted a small green hut while walking through the city and wondered what it’s all about? These curious little sheds are rare pieces of London history that have survived against the odds
Cabmen’s shelters were first built in the nineteenth century to stop cabbies from getting pissed on the job. Back then the capital’s cabbies drove horse-drawn carriages which meant that while the customer got a seat inside the carriage, the drivers were exposed to the elements
A trip to Oxford Street used to mean getting a blow-dry at the big Topshop, drenching yourself in House of Fraser sample perfume, then CD-browsing in HMV. Not anymore. The once-leading shopping destination is now home to a mish-mash of American candy stores and souvenir shops
Even the iconic His Master’s Voice sign has been covered up and transformed into Candy World. Windows are filled with stacks of Cheetos, super-size Oreos and Jolly Ranchers, while Capital FM blasts obnoxiously into the street