Some groups, like Environmental Defense, a private conservation group, argue that local and state governments in the region should be actively preparing people for a significantly altered terrain in which some coastal areas may have to be surrendered to the rising seas.
The assessment methods of this study can be applied in regions with high population density and consequently altered terrain, though the metric, scoring ranges, and levels should be adjusted to local conditions.
Roads not taken, routes diverted, landscapes altered, terrains uneven, elevations varied.
But it does alter the terrain.
Still, the coming flood may not alter the terrain as much as you might think.
It was easy to understand, palpably, how much closer she would have been to the precipice: I had felt that simply uttering the phrase "assisted suicide" to my father could alter the terrain of our lives, might tilt his narrowing universe steeply toward death, that the echo of my words would become an insidious, lethal whisper in his ears.
How far they will reach and to what extent they will alter the terrain of daily life is anyone's guess, but it's a fair bet most of the guesses made by the growing industry of pundits and consultants will be wide of the mark.
Seeing the example of Arizona and the way the Right effectively galvanized local political action to alter the terrain of the national conversation--and also to make change locally--ups the ante for groups like Make the Road to do similar things on the Left.
Diverting the lava flow -- whether by obstructing it, rerouting it or attempting to alter the terrain in its path -- is seen as blasphemous to Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes who is believed to live in the Halemaumau crater of Kilauea Volcano.
Failures to rotate crops or excessive clearing of trees may have altered the terrain of the ancient Near East.
