Whether one believes, or not, that the human use of fossil fuels is primarily responsible for accelerating world-wide climate change, the fact remains that the climate is changing and warming at rates not seen in human history.
To assist local communities deal with the impending, and already occurring, impacts of climate change, a three-day workshop titled, “Climate Adaptation Training for Local Governments in Southeast Massachusetts” was conducted this past week at the beautiful Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (WEBNERR) in Waquoit.
Present at the all-day-long workshops were 30 people, from a variety of different governmental and non-profit organizations. Included among the group were energy managers, planners, town conservation commission and sewer commission members, as well as several members of the public. The curriculum for the workshop was developed by, among others, the NOAA Coastal Services Center.
Like our nation’s military and insurers around the world who are already working out the contingencies for what the effects of climate change might be, those who participated in the workshop understand that climate change is for real, and that especially here, on Cape Cod - the quintessential coastal community - there will be no escaping the effects of climate change.
Already the effects caused by sea-level rise are being felt in Waquoit Bay. As part of the workshop, participants were guided down along the beach on the northernmost point of the bay, next to where the Research Reserve’s long-existing boathouse is precariously located. In several places we were shown where higher sea level is already causing a barrier beach to be overflowed by the incoming sea water that is then flowing inland, damaging a salt water-sensitive coastal eco-system.
The group was also shown how high the tide now regularly gets on the boathouse – higher by far than in its 100-year existence. The Reserve must now “adapt” to the change caused by the rising sea level. The Reserve must decide whether it can, or should, attempt to save the building, either by raising it or moving it altogether. Over the next decades, questions like the one WEBNER must decide about its boathouse will have to asked and answered by many, many more Cape Cod residents and businesses.
While there are still some “climate change deniers” who challenge the role mankind has in the warming and the changes that are taking place, no one can now deny that the planet is getting warmer and that the sea level is rising at unprecedented rates. The scientific and anecdotal evidence are incontrovertible. From the world-wide retreat of glaciers, to the disappearing summertime arctic sea ice; from the more intense weather phenomenon, to Kiribati, the small island nation of 33 atolls spread out in the South Pacific that is becoming uninhabitable due to the rising sea levels, even the skeptics can’t dispute that the planet is warming up.
The workshop curriculum was divided into six segments delivered over the three days, and covered such topics as the latest “Climate Science,” how to determine the “Risk and Vulnerability” of a particular coastal asset and how to develop appropriate “Adaptation Planning” to respond to the risk. Another chapter focused on how best to communicate with the public and the decision makers regarding climate change issues, and finally, a closing chapter on how to actually “Implement” effective climate adaptation strategies.
One thing that was particularly interesting was to hear the workshop presenters describe how when they do this workshop in places down south, like Louisiana, they have to be very careful to not even mention the words, “climate change.” It would seem that below the Mason-Dixon line coastal resources defenders want to hear how to adapt to rising sea level, they just don’t want to hear about why the sea level is actually rising.
While this column is too short to allow a discussion of the whole panoply of potential “adaptation” measures that were discussed at the workshop that might be useful in different parts of Cape Cod for trying to hold back the worst of climate change’s impacts, the evidence presented made clear that unless we start now to plan ahead to adapt to climate change, sooner, rather than later, there won’t be enough fingers to put in all the dike’s holes.