The future rate and extent of sea level rise are highly uncertain, and responses to higher water levels will need to reflect this uncertainty. Sea level rise was a major topic of the annual meeting of the National Academy of Engineering on October 9-10, 2016, and the second day featured a forum on adaptation to it. This summary of the forum, which also incorporates material from Robert J. Nicholls' plenary presentation, outlines a rich and challenging set of problems for engineers, scientists, and those who work with them.

Climate change threatens historic coastal communities, and reducing vulnerability through adaptation will not be easy - but it is necessary. Differing values of government agencies and local communities - contingent on attitudes to risk and cultural restrictions on action - may limit the options for adaptation.

Climate migrants have been invisible for many years on the migration and climate debates. Our work at IOM has been focused for over 10 years on bringing climatic and environmental factors to the light and on building a body of evidence proving that climate change affects - directly and indirectly - human mobility. Hence, it might seem paradoxical in this context not to encourage the establishment of a climate specific legal status, parallel to the existing refugees' status.

Isle de Jean Charles, home to the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw band of Native Americans, has lost 98 percent of its land since 1955. Its 99 remaining residents have been dubbed "America's first climate refugees." 'There's just a little strip of it left,' said resident Rita Falgout. 'There used to be a lot of trees; we didn't have so much salt water.' Like many of the houses on Isle de Jean Charles, her home is raised on 15-foot stilts to evade the increasingly omnipresent floodwaters. But the stilts can't protect her from the island's isolation.

For many, the concept of "adapting" to climate change feels equivalent to admitting defeat. But climate change's effects are already being felt today, so adapting will be necessary - and it doesn't have to hurt. Explore how building resilience can have a silver lining.

The term "gentrification" tends to evoke images of luxury condos rising from the rubble of public housing developments and the replacement of community-run businesses with high-end commercial real estate development. Officially, it is defined as the renovation of under-developed neighborhoods to make them suitable for more affluent residents, often resulting in the displacement of low-income people of color who can no longer afford to live in their homes.

There is currently no international legal framework to address environmental disasters and climate change as drivers of migration. There is also no consensus on what terminology should be used to describe individuals moving due to environmental factors. The 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Refugee Protocol, multilateral agreements that define "refugee" and set states' obligations for protection, were not crafted with the environment, climate change, or environmental disasters in mind - and therefore do not mention them as grounds for refugee protection. U.S.

What would you do if your job was to manage a small coastal community besieged by job loss, irate voters, hurricanes, oil spills, and hipsters? Here's a way to find out: boot up your laptop or tablet and check out the new "serious game," Digital Cards Against Calamity. Cards Against Calamity is designed to be not only entertaining, but also educational by raising awareness of the issues surrounding coastal resilience, backed up by government data.

In the wake of this summer's record-breaking heat - hottest June on record, the hottest month ever in July - students and teachers have returned to their classrooms. But in what classes should the diverse causes and consequences of climate change be covered? If meeting the challenge of climate change will affect, in some way, nearly every aspect of contemporary life, should it be covered, in some way, in every course? This month's bookshelf features books about climate change education. The first part covered books that address the general theory and practice of teaching climate change.

In this lesson, students view a photo essay which documents an island in Alaska impacted by climate change and discuss connections between community, traditions, and place.