How can New York prepare for the next Hurricane Sandy?

Is more extreme weather inevitable?

On Monday, Dec. 3, 2012, The New Yorker's editor, David Remnick, moderated a panel of experts, including the Stony Brook University oceanographer Malcolm Bowman, the New York City Deputy Mayor for Operations Cas Holloway, the Columbia University seismologist Klaus Jacob, and the staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert.

On the topic of climate change (around four-and-a-half minutes in), Bowman points to CO2 emissions - "Although it is one of the main 'greenhouse gases,' it has what we call a half-life of 100 years or more. That means every time you drive your car to the suburbs, those exhaust fumes don't just disappear into the air. It's there for 100 years or more."

Bowman also speaks about storm surge barriers (about 21-and-a-half minutes in; again at about 46-and-a-half minutes in): "In the long-term, maybe 200-300 years from now, the city [New York City] as we know it will no longer be. However, in the meantime, in what I call the next 100-150 years, there is a lot we can do to save the city before we have to run for the hills." For years now, Bowman has called for 'regional protection,' the construction of a series of barriers in the ocean that he says will keep the storm surges out. These and other response options are explored in-depth by Bowman and the other panelists.