Understanding the Need for Sea Level Rise Adaptation

Our speaker is Charles Schafer, Sierra Club Loma Prieta Activist and Outings leader.

Most of us are aware of climate change, but some are not aware of the impact it will have on Sea Level Rise (SLR) and the impact that will have on our local Bay Area. Predictions are that the water in the Bay will rise by roughly 1 foot by 2050, and 6.6 feet by the year 2100. Estimates for the cost to adapt to the rise are huge, and estimates of the costs if we don’t do a good job of adapting are enormously huge. To the uneducated the obvious choice is to build sea walls to protect us, but that is asking for even more trouble and will create a large bathtub which is devoid of sea life, and which will ruin the west coast’s largest estuary, one of international significance.
State legislation has been passed (BS 272) that seeks to get the cities and counties around the Bay to start developing Shoreline Adaptation Plans, and authorizes an agency called the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) to approve those plans. In response BCDC has developed a Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan (RSAP) which lays out guidelines for what those plans should include, and thankfully it takes a regional approach (we all need to be working together) and emphasizes Natural and Nature-Based Solutions (NNBS) instead of sea walls whenever possible.
I will talk a bit about the history I’ve just skimmed over and go into the reasoning regarding why NNBS is so important to a successful adaptation effort. I will also lay out a few other considerations that need to be addressed.
Please join me for an informative discussion of a critical topic.”