A
deeply reported personal investigation by a Miami journalist examines
the present and future effects of climate change in the Magic City —
a watery harbinger for coastal cities worldwide.
Miami,
Florida, is likely to be entirely underwater by the end of this
century. Residents are already starting to see the effects of sea
level rise today. From sunny day flooding caused by higher tides to a
sewer system on the brink of total collapse, the city undeniably
lives in a climate changed world.
In
Disposable
City,
Miami resident Mario Alejandro Ariza shows us not only what climate
change looks like on the ground today, but also what Miami will look
like 100 years from now, and how that future has been shaped by the
city’s racist past and present. As politicians continue to kick the
can down the road and Miami becomes increasingly unlivable, real
estate vultures and wealthy residents will be able to get out or move
to higher ground, but the most vulnerable communities,
disproportionately composed of people of color, will face flood
damage, rising housing costs, dangerously higher temperatures, and
stronger hurricanes that they can’t afford to escape.
Miami
may be on the front lines of climate change, but the battle it’s
fighting today is coming for the rest of the U.S. — and the rest of
the world — far sooner than we could have imagined even a decade
ago. Disposable
City
is a thoughtful portrait of both a vibrant city with a unique culture
and the social, economic, and psychic costs of climate change that
call us to act before it’s too late.