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Title details for Disposable City by Mario Alejandro Ariza - Available

Disposable City

Miami's Future on the Shores of Climate Catastrophe

by Mario Alejandro Ariza
Ron Butler
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
A deeply reported personal investigation by a Miami journalist examines the present and future effects of climate change in the Magic City — a watery harbinger for coastal cities worldwide.
Miami, Florida, is likely to be entirely underwater by the end of this century. Residents are already starting to see the effects of sea level rise today. From sunny day flooding caused by higher tides to a sewer system on the brink of total collapse, the city undeniably lives in a climate changed world.
In Disposable City, Miami resident Mario Alejandro Ariza shows us not only what climate change looks like on the ground today, but also what Miami will look like 100 years from now, and how that future has been shaped by the city's racist past and present. As politicians continue to kick the can down the road and Miami becomes increasingly unlivable, real estate vultures and wealthy residents will be able to get out or move to higher ground, but the most vulnerable communities, disproportionately composed of people of color, will face flood damage, rising housing costs, dangerously higher temperatures, and stronger hurricanes that they can't afford to escape.
Miami may be on the front lines of climate change, but the battle it's fighting today is coming for the rest of the U.S. — and the rest of the world — far sooner than we could have imagined even a decade ago. Disposable City is a thoughtful portrait of both a vibrant city with a unique culture and the social, economic, and psychic costs of climate change that call us to act before it's too late.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 14, 2020

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781549101786
      • File size: 279196 KB
      • Duration: 09:41:39

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      April 15, 2020
      How rising sea levels will test the resiliency of Florida's coastal city. Miami-based journalist Ariza, who grew up in his native Santo Domingo and Miami, makes a compelling book debut with an urgent analysis of Miami's vulnerability to climate change. Interviewing more than 150 sources, including city officials, geophysicists, realtors, climate scientists, and frightened residents; combing public records; and drawing on many scientific studies, Ariza argues persuasively that Miami must take "radical and swift action" to avert disaster. Although sea levels have risen 3 inches globally, in Miami, that figure is 5 inches, "influenced by the temperature of the ocean, localized atmospheric pressure, the persistent direction of the wind, and, most importantly, the relative strength of the Gulf Stream." Because of its particular geology--the city is cut from a swamp, and its limestone soil "is ludicrously porous"--the land cannot sustain that influx of water: Roads, buildings, bridges, and septic tanks will be overwhelmed. Besides detailing Miami's particular geography and geology, Ariza points out the economic inequality, greed, and myopic public planning that affect Miami's future. The city, he asserts, "rests on a sodden foundation of merciless racial and environmental exploitation." While realtors work to get the highest prices they can from properties, "the city's already yawning gap between rich and poor" is stretched "past its breaking point." Foreign investors, who often are absentee owners, exacerbate the problem, looking at Miami's expensive real estate "as a good place to park capital instead of as places to live." Ariza notes the popularity of the word "resilience" in discussions about climate change, but, he maintains, "resilience without massive carbon cuts and immediate state and federal aid is the policy equivalent of hospice care." Miami's problems, and the nation's, require leaders "willing to tear down icons, bust norms, and shift debates rapidly toward recognizing the increasingly dire scientific reality." A forceful depiction of a global crisis viewed through the lens of one of the world's most vulnerable cities.

      COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      As Ron Butler narrates Mario Alejandro Ariza's kayak tour of Miami's waters with a friend, listeners will get a sense of the crisis facing the city yet be amused at the same time. Butler lets Ariza's affection for the city come through, even as the author's anger over climate gentrification emerges. Miami's geographic high ground has long been home to many people of color. Now neighborhoods such as Little Haiti are being eyed for development as fears of rising sea levels loom. As Ariza calls for action on local and national levels, Butler's voice gradually builds in emotion, conveying urgency. With an assist from science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson, Ariza wraps up his audiobook with a futurist's tour of a sunken city. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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