VeniceNice has been flooded for more than half recently. Fortunately, the state of emergency has been lifted, the disaster has begun to subside and people are trying to return to normal life.
I don’t know if the name “Water City” is too foreshadowing. This year Venice has entered a more urgent state: The water level has reached the highest level in half a century, and almost 85% of the city is soaked in water. Many famous tourist attractions were flooded.
The momentum is so fierce that many people are worried about whether Venice will be spared from natural disasters this time. This not only reminds people of the "doomsday prophecy" that has been on the head of Venice, Italy for many years -
Experts have warned for more than a decade: If the climate warming trend continues and if no rescue is done,Venice is expected to be completely submerged by seawater in 2050.
No coincidence. Recently, Thai media reported that the International Sea Level Organization released a list of the 10 fastest sinking cities in the world, and Bangkok, Thailand, was on the list. It is predicted that by 2030, 40% of Bangkok will be submerged.
Seeing that both Indonesia and Myanmar are preparing to move their capitals,ThailandThe Prime Minister is also anxious and even raised the issue of considering moving their capitals.
It seems that no city or land can be spared . In the latest list of cities predicted to disappear soon, even Shanghai, London, and New York are on the list and are threatened.
Netizens panicked and said: One of the apocalyptic tourist cities is missing. If you don’t check in, you will be flooded!
Wait, is it really that serious?
The places that were once prophesied to disappear are still alive and well.
For Venetians, they have coexisted with floods throughout history.
Venice experiences a "flooding mountain" every year. There are also statistics saying that St. Mark's Square is flooded at least hundreds of times every year. This is all based on experience.
Therefore, they have always been calm about the predictions of imminent sinking.
This year is said to be the worst flood in half a century, but shops are still open normally, residents are still standing in the flood to buy bread, and a Venetian man was even photographed swimming in front of St. Mark's Square with a water depth of more than one meter.
△Venetians swim calmly even if they encounter floods/Video screenshot
The Venetians are not in a hurry, but the travel agencies and merchants are.
Over the past 30 years, businesses that attract tourists with the slogan "If you don't come to Venice, you will be flooded" have made a lot of money.
This is a completely unbalanced ratio:In 2007, there were only60,000 permanent residents in Venice, while there were 20 million tourists visiting Venice every year.
Venice is more expensive than Rome, Florence and other places. A 40-minute gondola ride costs 80 euros (equivalent to 670 yuan), and 11 euros (equivalent to 90 yuan) can buy a drink in a coffee shop. .
In order to avoid the huge number of tourists and high prices, many locals also choose to escape and live outside the city.
In their view, Venice's problem is not only the rising tide, but also the flood of tourists.
△Is Venice a disaster caused by floods or tourists?/unsplash
The population decline year by year makes Venice less and less Venetian.
Those people who were going to be too late if they didn't check in, probably came over to sigh about the fashionable buzzword "global warming" , but they didn't expect it The number of tourists is more deadly.
Also favored by doomsday tours is the Maldives.
The Maldives has been cast as a "tragic scene" for a long time.
I don’t know when I started to be labeled like this - "Still not going? The Maldives will disappear in a few years" "Will the Maldives really sink? "...
△The Maldives is also a low-lying island country/unsplash
The country's sea levels have risen by about 20 centimeters over the past century, and global sea levels could rise by 0.18 to 0.59 meters in 2100, the study said.
The Maldives, which is only 2.4 meters above sea level, may remain in everyone's memory.
If this is true, the many tourists that the Maldives has welcomed in the past 10 years are still witnessing the length of this apocalypse.
The Maldives is currently building high-end resorts instead of building breakwaters and other protective measures.
△Kuradhoo Island in Maldives/nytimes
The permanent population of Guradhu in the Maldives is about 1,900, but there are 12 inns on this small island alone, and 1,000 tourists visit here every day.
The island is being eroded step by step by the development of the resort, not by flooding.
At least for now, the old artist believes that what the Maldives should fear more is not natural disasters, but There are profiteers who use the doomsday gimmick, and there are tourists who are more powerful than the tide.
Is this alarmist or urgent?
Of course, the old artist feels that rather than believing in the common trend of global warming and rising sea levels, we need to look at the reasons behind it.
Let’s take a look at which cities will face the “sinking” doomsday judgment:
The first is Jakarta, which is assessed to be the fastest sinking city in the world. According to satellite map data, the urban area of Jakarta is sinking at a rate of 25 centimeters per year.
△Jakarta is sinking/BBC
A recent heavy rainstorm has exposed the frail side behind Jakarta's glamorous appearance. Don’t look at this city as the capital of Indonesia, the political, economic and cultural center . Now even the president has decided to move the capital away from Jakarta.
In the past 40 years, with the process of industrialization and urbanization and the influx of large numbers of immigrants, Jakarta has become one of the densest cities.
△The tragic floods faced by Jakarta recently
A large number of high-rise buildings have been built, and the population has increased dramatically. Jakarta's tap water supply has always been a problem. Uncontrolled extraction of groundwater has long become Jakarta's no choice.
Asian countries appear to be the most affected in these studies. These include Bangkok, Thailand, Mumbai, India, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and even Shanghai, China.
As Shanghai, the city with the lowest terrain in China, based on predictions from experts at home and abroad, Shanghai's relative sea level will rise by 12 centimeters by 2030 compared with 2010, and by 25 centimeters by 2050.
In other words, in 2050, if no measures are taken, Shanghai will also be threatened by seawater intrusion.
△View of Lujiazui and the Bund from the observation deck of Shanghai Tower/wiki
As early as 1921, experts from the China Meteorological News pointed out that the Shanghai Central Business District had sunk by more than 2 meters.
In a 2012 study on the global flood index of coastal cities, Shanghai topped the list, with groundwater extraction still being the main reason.
Climate experts have issued warnings again, constructing a very "scary" new world map.
Think about what would happen if China lost Shanghai, Europe lost London, the Netherlands was completely engulfed, Venice was "reclaimed" by the Adriatic Sea, and the United States lost New York and New Orleans... Is this alarmist, or should it be urgent?
For the Nordics, this can turn into an obsession. Countries that are closer to the poles are more sensitive to climate change.
Greta Thunberg, an environmentally friendly 16-year-old Swedish girl, became the leader of the global youth anti-climate change movement in just a few months, mobilizing millions of people to participate in global protests against climate change. Demonstration action.
Of course, this radical environmentalism was later questioned and criticized by many people. , overexposing themselves and being easily instigated and exploited. This kind of fanaticism seems too different from their peers.
△Swedish girls have an extraordinary obsession with environmental protection/foreign media screenshots
In comparison, we seem to be more Buddhist. Floods in the Pearl River Delta have also been raging for hundreds of years.
Every time there is a flood, although the media reports that this is an unprecedented situation for many years, as usual, a lot of Buddhist news like this spreads like wildfire:
"A man named Pang became famous overnight. He used an umbrella to catch fish, and when he returned home, he used the fish heads and tails to stew soup. "
△In Shenzhen, about 70% of the mangroves have disappeared/nytimes
Although it is seen that with climate change, the ecosystem around Qinghai Lake is gradually "drying out and warming", the water surface of Qinghai Lake is gradually expanding, and urban sinking is not necessarily an alarmist thing.
Perhaps in the near future, if we continue to ignore the environment, we may be attacked at any time.
But think about it from the other side. In the past ten years , warming has also brought rainfall in arid areas of North China and Northwest China to increase year by year . For China's vegetation restoration and ecological improvement, Maybe that's not necessarily a bad thing.
△Qinghai Lake is expanding year by year/Tu Chong Creative
It is always easy for everyone to fall into doomsday panic, and it is even easier to get out of such a panic situation.
The "apocalyptic" color of Shanghai has been used as a landmark in disaster movies such as "The Wandering Earth" and "2012".
In the year when the movie "2012" was released, how many people were running for gimmicks like "2012 Noah's Ark China Tickets" and "2012 Escape Skills", and how many people have already forgotten about such doomsday panic. .
△Shanghai appearing in "The Wandering Earth"
Rather than spreading panic, it’s better to think about how to take it seriously.
Who says that the Chinese who can afford to build the Great Wall can’t build a dam along the coastline? There are problems, but there are always solutions.
The old saying "When soldiers come, the earth will be blocked and flooded " is our philosophy of life.
No matter if it's flooded or not, we'll still play
"If it were predicted that Shanghai would be submerged by seawater in 70 years, would you still buy a house now? "
"I'm going to learn to swim right away! "
This is a joke from the Internet. It also reflects our doomsday prophecy attitude in the face of sinking in another dimension - Whether it is submerged or not, we still have to play, life has to go on.
If you think about it more optimistically, if is flooded, it might become a water city and become a unique urban attraction.
This is how Venice came to be. It is not the "sad city" that everyone imagined. Even though it was flooded, the citizens still ate ice cream, fed pigeons and listened to the bells.
The floods in 2008 paralyzed Venice for a time. The very interesting Venetians can still have breakfast in the water and sit on chairs soaked in the water to bask in the sun.
There are also tables and chairs on the street specially designed for flooding. When the water level is high, you can still walk on the tables and stools.
△Tables and chairs complement high water in St. Mark’s Square/Tu Chong Creative
Of course, they seemed a little too optimistic. After the floods occurred in 1966, the Italian government did not launch the "Moses Plan" to control floods until the 1980s.
It was not until 16 years ago that ground was broken to build a movable sluice to intercept the tide.
△Mose project/industrytap
As a result, the project that was originally scheduled to be completed and opened in 2011 was delayed due to the mayor's alleged corruption and is still being rushed to the present day. Therefore, the citizens who are currently fighting against the floods feel that this is not a natural disaster rather than a man-made disaster.
Japan is also a country that suffers from natural disasters all year round.
During the recent Typhoon Hagibis, the horrifying information that "predicted 8,000 deaths in Tokyo" went viral on the Internet is actually not true. There was only one death in Tokyo this time.
The flood control systems in and around Tokyo have withstood the test, especially the "Capital Circle Peripheral Drainage System" located in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo , also known as "Underground Temple".
△Japanese Underground Palace/japan.videoland
As a "low-lying country", the Netherlands has long had experience in this regard.
From the 13th century when the Zuiderzee stretched into the North Sea Bay of the Netherlands, through medieval embankments until the large-scale reclamation project in the 20th century, the Netherlands has been dealing with floods We have fought so hard that water management has now become world-famous.
Even though scientists have predicted that "the Netherlands will sink" for many years, the Netherlands has always been at the top of the world in terms of flood prevention and relief.
They started from the earliest stage of "land reclamation" and building dams to control floods. Now is the time to gradually realize the ecological cycle concept of coexistence with the ocean.
The Dutchare upending centuries of tradition.
They reclaimed land and "returned the land to the sea" (Room for river) by building huge storm surge barriers like "water parks" to create natural flood plains for rivers, And rebuildmangrove swamps.
This not only serves as a buffer zone against seawater, but also becomes a unique landscape in the Netherlands.
△Return the Earth to the Sea/nlintheusa
I got addicted to playing "Noah's Ark" in 2012, and now I am still playing it in 2050 years which is new.
There is no need to worry unfoundedly and use such doomsday gimmicks for personal gain.
Global warming is an issue that requires our attention, but we believe that there is no need for doomsday judgment. There will always be new opportunities waiting for us.
However, for We still have too many imaginations about the end of the world. We like to use the apocalypse to ask ourselves:
What will we do if comes to that day? What would you be most reluctant to part with?
△"Doomsday Collapse"
The old artist recalled a line from Eason Chan's song "My End of the World" that goes like this:
"If I had you by my side, who would be afraid of the end of the world? When you don't do it, it's as if I'm doomed immediately."
This is the most interesting meaning of doomsday for us: Instead of shrugging and sighing about global warming, it is better to live in the present and cherish what we have now.
References:
1. Venice floods:The worst in 50 years, Italy declares a state of emergency BBC
2.Shanghai, London and New York are threatened:Global sea level rise unexpectedly accelerates BBC
3. Experts say Venice may sink in 40 years. Local residents respond calmly Guangzhou Daily
4. 8 scenic spots that will disappear due to global warming Nandu Weekly
5.The “Paradise on Earth” Maldives is facing the risk of sinking The New York Times Chinese
6. Global sea levels continue to rise and may submerge major coastal cities. The New York Times Chinese
6. Save the Water City Venice Weekend Pictorial
7. By 2050, these Asian cities may be submerged... Lianhe Zaobao
