global warming? not my problem

I guess we should have all listened to Al Gore because he was right about global warming. The oceans have already risen one-hundred feet and are expected to rise an additional hundred feet within the next three years. Most of Orange County is underwater now and I think everyone was surprised at how quickly we have flooded. Once a Mecca of business, it now lies halfway submerged with buildings rotting in the saltwater. Newport Beach on the other hand continues life as usual, well almost.

Can I just start off by saying that I am very happy to live in a city as affluential and wealthy as Newport Beach? Not because I am rich, I am far from rich when measured according to the world, but because since the flooding, I have been able to remain residing in the area that I love. You see, as soon as it was apparent that the ocean was in fact going to rise up and swallow Southern California, our residents came together in order to save our beautiful city. They built a two-hundred foot seawall around the city along with walls where all the roads used to be. The roadways are no longer paved, but are water channels that use locks, ala Panama Canal, and boat lifts in order to connect the channels for traffic. The resulting landscape inside of our seawalls is a beautifully terraced city that looks like the rice paddies of the mountains. Boats motor along the waterways much like Venice and life continues seemingly uninterrupted. The residents homes are all well below sea level and most are even below the channels, so there are little boat elevators that bring people down into their homes and communities. The residents of Pelican Hill are level with the wall and can see the ocean straight outside of their homes and can look down to the bustling city, below the massive ocean held back by its money.

I went for a bike ride along the top of the walls, touring the city, and marveled at what we have accomplished. Here we are living in a bowl in the ocean and it really is a sight to be seen. Sure, we create a large amount of pollution, but in order to not live in a bubble of noxious gasses, we pump that out of our paradise, over the wall, into the neighboring cities and enjoy beautiful blue skies practically year round. I feel blessed to live in such a beautiful place as I ride my bike further up the walls in the city. I look out at sailboats on every terrace and it all seems so surreal. I begin to think, “what if the ocean rises even more or what if the wall breaks under the sheer weight of the ocean that it is holding back?” Then, I see the money of Newport Beach; I can smell it and can almost taste it. I feel secure in knowing that the money of this city will save us from anything. Maybe they will just build a glass dome to cover us with and we will turn into the lost city of Atlantis. Whatever happens, I hope they don’t figure out that I am not one of them and kick me out.