The effects of climate change upon civilization can be profound. Please read and consider the following:

Climate change is already hurting seven national seashores on the Atlantic Coast and threatens to submerge some of their land within a century, according to a report Wednesday by environmental groups.

In five of the seven parks, more than half of the land lies low enough (less than 3.3 feet) to risk becoming submerged by the year 2100, says the report by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Those parks include Fire Island in New York, Assateague Island in Maryland and Virginia, Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout in North Carolina and Canaveral in Florida.

The report says there are more immediate risks, too, as rising waters and stronger coastal storms destroy the park's bridges and roads as well as barrier islands. It says higher summer temperatures could make some less desirable, predicting that Florida's Canaveral could become as hot as Desert Rock, Nev.

"These parks are already changing," said Stephen Saunders, president of the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization, a Colorado-based group that works to mitigate climate change. For example, he said higher temperatures are causing more sea turtles to hatch as females, which could lead to the species' extinction if the trend continues. The seven seashores cited in the report attract 11 million visitors a year. They also include Massachusetts' Cape Cod, the most visited, and Georgia's Cumberland Island.

Courtesy: USA Today