New York Times Identifies the Real Threat To Guam And It Isn’t North Korean Nukes

Guam has been in the news a lot mostly because North Korea has threatened to nuke it if the mood strikes them. But, according to the New York Times, Guam has real issues bigger than tipping over from the weight of troops stationed there or being flattened by North Korean missiles.

Scientists in Guam, however, say they have at least one other major threat in mind: climate change.

“We know that it’s serious,” said Austin J. Shelton III, a marine biologist and the executive director of the Center for Island Sustainability at the University of Guam. “Some of the impacts are here, and a lot more are coming.”

Like other Pacific islands, Guam may be affected in the coming decades as climate change prompts shifts in weather, temperature and oceanic acidity, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Experts said in interviews that the primary consequences may include people suffering heat stress because of an increase in heat waves, a rise in the intensity of tropical storms, and the damage or destruction of Guam’s exceptionally biodiverse coral reefs.

A key concern is how reef damage could affect a $1.4 billion tourism sector that, according to the Guam Visitors Bureau, accounts for 60 percent of Guam’s annual business revenue and nearly a third of its nonfederal employment.

This is like reporting Syria has a clean energy deficit. “Guam Faces Another Threat: Climate Change” via @nytimes https://t.co/HV0pcif7fm

— janewells (@janewells) August 11, 2017

We’ve just had an article comparing the potential impact of a fanciful problem to nuclear war. The next time you criticize anything Trump says think about how you’d react if he’d said this.

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