The Brunswick News
2/2/2013
Is now the time to prepare for a rising sea?
Gordon
Jackson
The Brunswick News Daniel
Parshley has watched the sometimes raucous debate over climate change rage on
for a long time. The executive director of the Glynn Environmental
Coalition, an environment watchdog group in Glynn County that is supported by
grants, membership fees and donations, is somewhat perplexed. He is
at a lost to understand why the issue continues to generate so many sparks
between people who want to respond to scientific findings with meaningful
actions and those who question the validity of what they fear could lead to
more government regulation.
Parshley is especially concerned
when legitimate discussions of rising sea levels become garbled when associated
with the term "global warming." To Parshley, seeing is
believing. "All people need to do is look around," Parshley
said. "I don't have a crystal ball, so I don't try to predict the future.
I go with what we're seeing, and what we're seeing is more flooding on
Newcastle Street every year."
Scientists with the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been warning coastal communities
like Brunswick and the Golden Isles about rising sea levels for decades. Even
the acclaimed Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia,
the state's flagship university, is offering to help communities prepare for
higher tides in the future. It received a Georgia Sea Grant to assist cities
and counties dotting the seaboard to begin thinking about measures to protect
critical infrastructure from the effects of salt water.
"People just need to be more
observant," Parshley said, puzzled by nonbelievers. "Look at the
marshes and look at how your flood insurance is going up. Put the pieces together,
folks. "I just go with what I see, and what I see is we need
to be making plans for our infrastructure."
The rising sea level is predicted
to be the result of the melting of the polar ice caps, which is a result of
those two politically flammable words: global warming. "It's
so embroiled with political hyperbole, so intermingled with other issues, and
with people protecting their turf, that the message is not clear,"
Parshley said. "It's just so wrapped up in special interests. The politics
of it all has obscured any meaningful discussion."
There have been some takers of
offers of help from the Carl Vinson Institute. Tybee Island, its beaches
drawing thousands of visitors who yield the small city millions of dollars in
business and tax revenue annually, is receiving advice through a partnership
with the institute.
To the south, in St. Marys, an
environmental group wants the state to tell the Camden County community what
kind of tides it might expect in the years ahead. Experts from the
institute and Georgia Sea Grant will discuss the rising sea level at a public
meeting at 7 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Theatre by the Trax, 1000 Osborne St. in St.
Marys.
Alex Kearns, discussion organizer,
says she invited the experts after learning about a similar presentation on
Tybee Island. "St. Marys is approximately 10 feet above sea level,
and so is vulnerable to both sea level and climate-related events," she
said. While the seminar will address concerns specific to Camden
County, Kearns says the recommendations will apply to other Coastal Georgia
communities. "Given the astronomical costs associated with
weather-related events - such as Superstorm Sandy - climate change and sea
level rise can no longer be viewed in environmental terms alone, and must be
seen as major factors that could cripple our economy, both locally and
federally," Kearns said.
One of the speakers will be
Jennifer Kline, coastal hazards specialist with the Coastal Resources Division
of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Kline said elected officials
and residents she has met are taking the issue seriously. In Chatham County,
for example, there have been growing concerns about flooding in downtown
Savannah. "We're not waiting for the Feds to tell us what to
do," she said. "I think we have a good idea where sea levels will
be."
The seminars make recommendations
on where and how coastal communities should build schools, parks, government
buildings, infrastructure and residential communities. "Our
approach is to continue education and outreach," Kline said. "It's
just getting the public to understand what the science is."
Other areas of the Georgia coast
have been quiet. Glynn County Commission Chair Mary Hunt says she will ask
fellow commissioners if any of them want to attend the seminar at St. Marys to
determine if the speakers should be invited to Glynn County to discuss the
issue. "It sounds like something that would be of interest,
because of where we're (situated)," she said.
Brunswick Mayor Bryan Thompson
says no one in the city has asked for a sea-rise seminar in the city. "I
understand that sea levels are indeed slowly inching up," Thompson said.
"I believe that this is something we need additional information on now,
so that if it continues, as some anticipate over the next several decades, we
can have reasonable plans in place to appropriately address the rise in sea
levels."
And continue it will. That warning
resurfaced Jan. 21 in President Barack Obama's inauguration speech. The
president, after being sworn in for a second term, said it is time the nation
began seriously addressing "global warming" in earnest. Finding new
forms of energy would be a step in that direction, he said. Finding
alternative energy sources is a battle cry that has wide support among faithful
Democrats like Mike Berion, chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia. "In
addition to cleaner water and air for future generations, it would also produce
cheaper energy and create jobs," Berion said.
Some Republicans don't see
eye-to-eye with that. U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., says anything the
president comes up with should be evaluated and its value determined before
being enacted into law. "It is crucial that the Senate carefully weigh the
risks and benefits of any proposed climate change legislation," Chambliss
said. "I have concerns with any legislation that might increase
electricity costs on Americans, send more American jobs overseas, or put our
economy at a distinct disadvantage at a time when we can least afford it."
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