Alarm appears to be rising that melting glaciers and higher sea levels will turn booming Miami Beach into the new Atlantis.

Optimists argue the city will adapt, perhaps by erecting sea walls, rising roads, building arrays of water pumps to keep the water out, or even going the route of Venice, Italy — no cars or roadways, just canals and boats. Pessimists claim such notions are fantasy and that Miami Beach is headed for a washout unless a major assault on climate change is launched.

And it’s not just Miami Beach being threatened; 30 percent of Florida’s beaches could be subsumed by rising sea levels in the next 85 years. Seemingly unperturbed real estate developers continue erecting fantastically expensive projects.

Though the state is on the front lines of climate change, Florida governor Rick Scott has ordered his state’s Department of Environmental Protection to stop using the phrases “climate change” and “global warming” in a