A report published by the Washington-based Union of Concerned Scientists has highlighted the potential ill effects of climate change to at least 30 historical landmarks in the U.S. Should the human-induced climate change continue to escalate, there might be no other way for America's newest and oldest landmarks but to topple and bow down to rising sea levels, floods and wildfires.
Brenda Ekwurzel, senior climate scientist and co-author of the report titled 'National Landmarks at Risk,' said the predicted risks could be greatly minimized if Americans join forces to reduce their carbon emissions which exacerbate the burgeoning climate change.
"The imminent risks to these sites and the artifacts they contain threaten to pull apart the quilt that tells the story of the nation's heritage and history," Adam Markham, director of climate impacts at the union, a non-profit organization for science advocacy in Washington D.C. and the study's co-author, said in a statement.
The 'National Landmarks at Risk' include:
Alaska: Cape Krusenstern National Monument and Kivalina -- Bering Land Bridge National Monument and Shishmaref
California: Groveland -- César E. Chávez National Monument -- NASA Ames Research Center
Colorado: Mesa Verde National Park
Florida: Castillo de San Marcos, Fort Mose, St. Augustine's historic downtown, and the Lincolnville Historic District in St. Augustine -- Prehistoric shell structures at Ten Thousand Islands and Canaveral National Seashore -- NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral
Hawaii: Kaloko-Honokōhau and Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historic Parks
Louisiana: NASA Michoud Assembly Facility
Maryland: Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument -- Historic Annapolis and U.S. Naval Academy
Massachusetts: Boston's Faneuil Hall and the Blackstone Block Historic District
Mississippi: NASA Stennis Space Center
New Mexico: Bandelier National Monument and Santa Clara Pueblo
New York: Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
North Carolina: Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
South Carolina: Charleston's Historic District
Texas: Johnson Space Center
Virginia: Historic Jamestown -- Fort Monroe National Monument -- NASA Wallops Flight Facility and Langley Research Center
"The United States boasts of tens of thousands of national parks, landmarks, and historic places-many of them already affected by flooding, coastal erosion, wildfires, and other impacts," the report said.
"The range and scale of impacts are alarming. The costs of rebuilding and preparing may be high, but the cost of doing nothing would be higher," the report noted.
View the report here.
The Las Pulgas Fire burns near an athletics field at Camp Pendleton, California in this May 16, 2014 handout photo from the USMC. The Las Pulgas Fire is one of four fires at Camp Pendleton Marine Base north of San Diego which prompted evacuations of several outposts within the installation. REUTERS/Cpl. Sarah Wolff/USMC/Handout via ReutersREUTERS/Cpl. Sarah Wolff/USMC/The Las Pulgas Fire is seen burning near military structures at Camp Pendleton, California in this handout photo taken May 15, 2014 and released to Reuters May 16, 2014 by the USMC. The Las Pulgas Fire is one of four fires at Camp Pendleton Marine Base north of San Diego which prompted evacuations of several outposts within the installation. REUTERS/Sgt. Trevon Peracca/USMC/Handout via ReutersREUTERS/Sgt. Trevon Peracca/USA house is seen reflected in flood waters in Obrenovac, southwest of Belgrade, May 20, 2014. Soldiers and energy workers stacked thousands of sandbags overnight to protect Serbia's biggest power plant from flood waters expected to keep rising after the heaviest rains in the Balkans in more than a century killed dozens of people. REUTERS/Marko DjuricaREUTERS/Marko DjuricaVillagers paddle during heavy floods in the village of Prud, May 20, 2014. Communities in Serbia and Bosnia battled to protect towns and power plants on Monday from rising flood waters and landslides that have devastated swathes of both countries and killed dozens of people. REUTERS/Srdjan ZivulovicREUTERS/Srdjan ZivulovicA girl reads a book on her balcony as smoke rises from chimneys of a steel plant, on a hazy day in Quzhou, Zhejiang province in this April 3, 2014 file photo. The Beijing municipal government has proposed new rules that will set tight restrictions on offsets in its carbon market, aiming to avoid the fate of schemes in other countries where a glut of offsets has undermined carbon prices. The capital is one of six Chinese cities and provinces that have launch CO2 trading markets to help the world's biggest-emitting nation slow its rapid growth in climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions. REUTERS/StringerREUTERS/StringerThe sun is seen behind smoke billowing from a chimney of a heating plant in Taiyuan, Shanxi province in this December 9, 2013 file photo. The Beijing municipal government has proposed new rules that will set tight restrictions on offsets in its carbon market, aiming to avoid the fate of schemes in other countries where a glut of offsets has undermined carbon prices. The capital is one of six Chinese cities and provinces that have launch CO2 trading markets to help the world's biggest-emitting nation slow its rapid growth in climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions. REUTERS/StringerREUTERS/Stringer
