A report published by the Washington-based Union of Concerned Scientists has highlighted the potential ill effects of climate change to at least 30 historical landmarks in the U.S. Should the human-induced climate change continue to escalate, there might be no other way for America's newest and oldest landmarks but to topple and bow down to rising sea levels, floods and wildfires.
Brenda Ekwurzel, senior climate scientist and co-author of the report titled 'National Landmarks at Risk,' said the predicted risks could be greatly minimized if Americans join forces to reduce their carbon emissions which exacerbate the burgeoning climate change.
"The imminent risks to these sites and the artifacts they contain threaten to pull apart the quilt that tells the story of the nation's heritage and history," Adam Markham, director of climate impacts at the union, a non-profit organization for science advocacy in Washington D.C. and the study's co-author, said in a statement.
The 'National Landmarks at Risk' include:
Alaska: Cape Krusenstern National Monument and Kivalina -- Bering Land Bridge National Monument and Shishmaref
California: Groveland -- César E. Chávez National Monument -- NASA Ames Research Center
Colorado: Mesa Verde National Park
Florida: Castillo de San Marcos, Fort Mose, St. Augustine's historic downtown, and the Lincolnville Historic District in St. Augustine -- Prehistoric shell structures at Ten Thousand Islands and Canaveral National Seashore -- NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral
Hawaii: Kaloko-Honokōhau and Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historic Parks
Louisiana: NASA Michoud Assembly Facility
Maryland: Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument -- Historic Annapolis and U.S. Naval Academy
Massachusetts: Boston's Faneuil Hall and the Blackstone Block Historic District
Mississippi: NASA Stennis Space Center
New Mexico: Bandelier National Monument and Santa Clara Pueblo
New York: Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
North Carolina: Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
South Carolina: Charleston's Historic District
Texas: Johnson Space Center
Virginia: Historic Jamestown -- Fort Monroe National Monument -- NASA Wallops Flight Facility and Langley Research Center
"The United States boasts of tens of thousands of national parks, landmarks, and historic places-many of them already affected by flooding, coastal erosion, wildfires, and other impacts," the report said.
"The range and scale of impacts are alarming. The costs of rebuilding and preparing may be high, but the cost of doing nothing would be higher," the report noted.
View the report here.
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