‘Risky Business’ Report Says Two Things about Water — One Is Obvious, the Other Is Not

Risky Business is concerned with numbers.  The 56-page report, stuffed with graphics and photos, focuses on the economic risks for four areas in which the climate data are clearest:

• Sea level rise and storm surges
• Agricultural production
• Energy demand
• Heat-related changes in labor productivity and health

“Impacts that are likely to occur between now and 2030 are largely the result of past [historical] emissions, and thus less avoidable.”

Water is ignored  in many of the quantitative assessments.  Changes in the amount of available water are important, the report states.  But that’s about all it states.

Despite the broad neglect, water does make an unusual appearance:  in the sections on rising seas.  The report notes that one of the lesser factors in sea-level rise is groundwater pumping along the coasts, which can cause the land to sink in relation to the ocean.

New Jersey, the report claims, will see a greater net sea-level increase than its neighbors because it pumps more groundwater.

‘Risky Business’ Report Says Two Things about Water — One Is Obvious, the Other Is Not