What are we doing to our planet? If we aren’t careful, we may not have one left…
We used to use a canary when men would venture to work in the coal mines because the bird was a natural warning system about the safety of the mine. Well, it seems now an update is in order and that in Florida at least, it might be an octopus in a parking garage.
All week long, photos of an octopus in a flooded Miami Beach parking garage have been floating around the internet. While some have called it fake, still others are sounding the alarm that the reason for its appearance is climate change.
From the article:
“Both appear to be all too real. University of Miami associate biology professor Kathleen Sullivan Sealey examined the photos and identified the octopus as likely one of two species common in South Florida waters. And she said Miami Beach residents ought to get used to seeing strange new creatures making sporadic appearances as rising sea levels push ocean waters deeper and more frequently onto land, along with some of the creatures that live in them.
Richard Conlin, who lives at Mirador 1000 West, posted video of water spurting through his parking garage drains and photos of the octopus on Monday morning, during the latest king tide — a seasonal phenomenon exacerbated this month by a super moon. He did not respond to requests for comment, but he wrote on the Facebook post that he saw schools of fish alongside the slimy creature.”
When the drainage system in the building was designed, they were safely above the high-water marks, but rising seas mean the pipes are now partially submerged during extreme high tides. Conlin says that in the last 6 months there hasn’t been a day without some type of seepage in their garage. In fact, he says, it gets worse with each new moon.
But it’s not just his building, a study from the University of Miami last year, found that tidal flooding in Miami Beach has increased 400 percent since 2006. And conservative estimates show sea levels will rise three feet by 2100. Might be time to learn to live with the fishes!
Thankfully, the sea friend made it safely back home because someone from building security put it in a bucket of saltwater and dropped it in the ocean.
Source: Miami Herald
