The Flooded Earth: Our Future In a World Without Ice Caps

Sea level rise will happen no matter what we do. Even if we stopped all carbon dioxide emissions today, the seas would rise one meter by 2050 and three meters by 2100. This—not drought, species extinction, or excessive heat waves—will be the most catastrophic effect of global warming. And it won't simply redraw our coastlines—agriculture, electrical and fiber optic systems, and shipping will be changed forever. As icebound regions melt, new sources of oil, gas, minerals, and arable land will be revealed, as will fierce geopolitical battles over who owns the rights to them.

In The Flooded Earth, species extinction expert Peter Ward describes in intricate detail what our world will look like in 2050, 2100, 2300, and beyond—a blueprint for a foreseeable future. Ward also explains what politicians and policymakers around the world should be doing now to head off the worst consequences of an inevitable transformation.

Peter D. Ward is a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including the highly acclaimed Rare Earth with Donald Brownlee. He has appeared in the PBS documentary Shape of Life and as chief scientist in Animal Armageddon, a multipart series on species extinction on Animal Planet. He lives in Seattle, Washington.