The Numbers on Sea Change and Hurricane Ferocity

I. Sea Change Numbers
21 - Years until the sea level is projected to rise by 12 inches in Florida's Miami-Dade County.

20% - Area of Miami that will be underwater if the sea level rises by 12 inches.

380 - Estimated number of tidal floods that Miami-Dade County will experience every year with a 15-inch rise.

$1.7T - Property value at risk of being wiped out by a sea-level rise in South Florida by 2030.

2.4M - Number of people who live less than four feet from the current high-tide in Florida.

$3.2B - Amount needed to build barriers to shield just Miami-Dade County from sea-level rise. (Source: Molly Minta, "By the Numbers," The Nation, September 23, 2019.)

II. Hurricane Numbers
4 - Consecutive years with at least one Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic -- a record set this year.

2017 - Year when three of the five costliest US hurricanes occurred: Harvey, Maria and Irma.

$1.7T - Total cost of the 250 weather and climate disasters with damages of at least $1 billion that the US endured since 1980.

185 mph - Hurricane Dorian's wind speed at landfall -- tied for an Atlantic record with the Labor Day hurricane of 1935.

76K - Number of people left homeless on Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands as a result of  Dorian.

1 - Number of news segments (out of 216) on ABC, CBS, and NBC from August 28 to September 5 that linked climate change to hurricanes like Dorian, according to Media Matters. (Source: Teddy Ostrow, "By the Numbers," The Nation, September 30, 2019.)

III. Popularity of Vaping
Percentage of high schoolers who, in the  last month, have smoked cigarettes: 16% in 2011, and 6% in 2019. Percentage who have vaped: 2% in 2911, and 28% in 2019.

Percentage of vapers among adults: 3%, versus 28% of high schoolers.

Addictive Nicotine: One Juul pod delivers the same amount of nicotine as a pack of cigarettes. (Sources: NATIONAL YOUTH TOBACCO SURVEY; CDC; Juul Labs Inc.; Truth Initiative: Pediatrics, Vol. 141.

IV. EPA Rule Rollbacks
A recent New York Times analysis found that the [Trump] White House has killed, stymied, or targeted 84 environmental rules. Among the regulations the administration has set its sights on are those regarding chlorpyrifos, a toxic pesticide linked to neurological damage in children.

In March 2017, shortly after meeting with the CEO of Dow Chemical, the leading manufacturer of chlorpyrifos, the  then-EPA administrator Scott Pruitt rejected the prohibition in July, despite a court order, the EPA again refused to implement a ban. Last year, at least 5 million pounds of chlorpyrifos was applied to US cropland. (Source: Molly Minta, "EPA Rule Rollbacks," The Nation, September 30, 2019.)

V. U.S. Intervention in Latin America
"From 1900 to 2006,power changed hands in the region 162 times via military coup, typically announced from the studio of a state broadcaster. In a striking number of cases -- at least 41, by the count of a Harvard study -- the force behind the coup was the U.S., which maintained a proprietary hold over the hemisphere it regarded as its realm." (Source: Karl Vick, "The U.S. watches, Venezuela teeters," TIME, May 3, 2019.)

VI. Understanding Currency Devaluation
On August 5, China allowed traders to push the value of its currency below the psychological barrier of 7 yuan to 1 U.S. dollar. That move was designed to hurt the U.S. company by making U.S. products more expensive for Chinese consumers and companies to buy, and to help Chinese producers by making Chinese products more affordable in the U.S. In that sense, it weakens the impact of the Trump tariffs.