Rising sea levels put over 400 US cities 'past the point of no return' study claims

Say goodbye to Miami and New Orleans.

No matter what we do to curb global warming, these and other beloved US cities will sink below rising seas, according to a study released Monday.

But making extreme carbon cuts and moving to renewable energy could save millions of people living in iconic coastal areas of the United States, said the findings in the October 12 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed US journal.

Scientists have already established that if we do nothing to reduce our burning of fossil fuel up to the year 2100, the planet will face sea level rise of 14-32 feet (4.3–9.9 meters), said lead author Ben Strauss, vice president for sea level and climate impacts at Climate Central.

The big uncertainty is the issue of when.

More