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Tuesday, August 28th, 2012

How One U.S. Coastal City Is Facing the Hard Fact That the Waters Are Rising

Author:     JENNIFER WEEKS
Source:     AlterNet (U.S.)
Publication Date:     23-Aug-12
 Link: How One U.S. Coastal City Is Facing the Hard Fact That the Waters Are Rising
Stephan:   While the climate deniers wave their hands and spout their cant, locales that have no choice but to face factual reality are struggling to deal with what is coming, as this report spells out. Climate change deniers, like Creationists, and Materialists are all part of the willful ignorance movement that is sabotaging our future. Links: [1] http://www.dailyclimate.org/ [2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/jennifer-weeks [3] http://www.nrdc.org/water/readiness/water-readiness-report.asp [4] http://www.norfolk.gov/flooding/ [5] http://gis.norfolk.gov/pdf/firm.pdf [6] http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/environment/rising-tide-in-norfolk-va/13739/ [7] http://www.alternet.org/tags/virginia-0 [8] http://www.alternet.org/tags/norfolk [9] http://www.alternet.org/tags/sea-level-rise [10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/climate-change [11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/global-warming [12] http://www.alternet.org/tags/oceans

NORFOLK, Va. — Water is inescapable in Virginia’s second-largest city, home to the world’s biggest naval base, three major port facilities and public and private shipyards. Norfolk is nearly surrounded by water: it sits at the mouth of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and the junction of the Elizabeth and James Rivers. Canals and creeks penetrate into many neighborhoods, and home sale listings highlight water access – ‘Within 50 feet of H2O – You can canoe and kayak!’

Yet as much as water is a resource in Norfolk and the surrounding area, known as Hampton Roads, it also represents a threat.

City and county leaders, already burdened with typical tasks of local governance – zoning, construction permits, liquor licenses, school board appointments – are also weighing multi-million-dollar flood control projects to keep the ocean at a livable distance.

While they struggle to pull together know-how and funding, those with the broader view and resources – state agencies – are absent from the discussions: In a study [3] released earlier this year, the Natural Resources Defense Council ranked Virginia as one of 29 states that were ‘largely unprepared and lagging behind’ on planning for climate change at the state level.

In many […]

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