Salon: If the current state of affairs were to continue as usual - if global warming continues on its current path and no significant measures are taken to adapt - the impact of sea level rise on life as we know it would be unimaginably severe. If you can imagine a number this high, researchers put the cost of coastal flood damage in the hundred trillions, or about 9 percent of global GDP, by the end of the century.
Currently, flood and storm surge damage costs the world about $10 billion to $40 billion...