Delray Makes List of Future Global Warming Victims

Photographer Gary Braasch used a series of pictures around the world to get his point across in his new book, Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming Is Changing the World. He's got an ice sheet melting away in Antarctica, an Alaskan polar bear walking on barren ground that used to hold snow, kids in China playing in a drought-ravaged field. And then, oh yeah, South Florida.

Braasch, a photographer who's based in Portland, Oregon, says by phone that he included a shot from the Delray Beach-Highland Beach border to emphasize that it's not just poor countries that will be affected by global warming.

"Even us in these rich countries, there are a lot of people who live within feet of the ocean. It's not just people who grow rice and live in Bangladesh," he said. "In Miami, if the sea rises as much as it's supposed to in this next century, the water will be over the seawall every day."

Braasch shot the photo of Delray back in 2001 during a trip he took to South Florida for the book. He also snapped photos of parking lots in Coconut Grove that are so low that they flood and of eroded oceanfront in Vero and Dania Beach.

He hopes his photo will get the attention of South Floridians. "This should be a real warning sign to residents," he said. "It's time that the infastructure along the coast needs to be reimagined."