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The article discusses the relationship between land use and climate change in America, focusing on the environmental conditions in the nation and a 2009 report from the U.S. Global Change Research Program which addresses flooding in the Northeast portion of the nation, as well as droughts and fires in the Southwest region of the U.S. The judgment of the nation's Supreme Court in the case Massachusetts v. EPA is examined, along with Greenhouse Gases, U.S. common law, and rising sea levels.

The article discusses the increasing prominence of reports citing the potential environmental risks associated with rising sea levels. Driven by greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and the melting of icecaps, sea-level rise has attracted the interests of governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and academicians. A multiagency study involving the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (USCCSP) discussing the encroachment of sea level onto the nation's mid-Atlantic coastline is presented. The implications of this process for creatures such as horseshoe crabs is discussed, and Delaware state biologist Stewart Michaels is quoted.

The article discusses the implications to the U.S. of the rise in global sea level as a result of climate change. Topics discussed include the risk for flooding in the shorelines of the U.S., possible causes of rising sea level including the expansion of water at it heats and the melting of glaciers and ice sheets, and the government's policy challenges with regards to the sea level rise.