Making Seawalls Out of Coal

On my way out to pick up some lunch I was listening to Glenn Beck on the radio^[1]. He had on George Allen, who is running for the Senate in Virginia. Allen was going on about the "plentiful American energy resources" and how if Obama wins it will mean the death of the coal-dependent southwestern part of Virginia. Etc. (Of course, not two words about carbon dioxide.)

Then I remembered that this morning when I woke up NPR^[2] had a story about flooding in Norfolk, Virginia, which has been increasing in recent years, partly due to the sea level rise hot spot along the east coast. They're already spending millions a year to improve drainage, raise roads, etc. One city official estimated it would cost a billion dollars to build a seawall to protect the city, for which, of course, they would need huge state and federal assistance.

People will pay for climate change one way or another. It's too bad they can't just build the seawalls out of coal, and solve the problem from both directions.

[1] My drive was only a couple of minutes, so I was able to avoid going insane.
[2] As you can see, I try to listen to all sides.