→ For more on how sea level rise is affecting Rhode Island and how one community has a plan to adapt, sea our special section: When Is It Time To Retreat From The Sea?
Sea levels are going up because greenhouse gas emissions are heating up the atmosphere and almost all of that extra heat has been absorbed by the ocean. When water warms, it expands, so this warming causes the ocean to take up more space.
Climate change is also melting ice on land. When that ice melts, the water pours into the ocean and fills it up like a bathtub. This also raises the level of the sea.
According to the best estimates, sea levels in Rhode Island will rise between six and 18 inches by 2050. Higher water, combined with high tides and storms, will cause frequent flooding in places that rarely flooded in the past.
Unfortunately, sea level is going to keep going up for decades – our past greenhouse gas emissions have guaranteed that. So, a big part of solving sea level rise is accepting that it’s coming.
Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers.
I’m Megan Hall.
If you want to freak out about climate change, take a look at those maps that show which parts of the world might be underwater in the next thirty years.
These are all examples of what’s known as sea-level rise.
We were curious how these rising waters might affect us here in Rhode Island.
So, we had Dana Altoaimi and Isha Chawla from our Possibly Team look into this topic. Welcome, Dana and Isha!
Dana Altoaimi: Hi!
Isha Chawla: Hello!
Megan: Let’s start with the basics. Why are sea levels going up?
Isha Chawla: Well, for starters, greenhouse gas emissions are heating up the atmosphere. Almost all of that extra heat has been absorbed by the ocean – which warms the water.
Dana Altoaimi: And when water warms, it expands, which makes the sea level rise.
Megan: What about melting ice? Like glaciers and icebergs? Don’t they have something to do with this too?
Dana Altoaimi: Melting icebergs floating on the ocean actually don’t change sea level, just like melting ice cubes in a glass doesn’t make it more full.
Isha Chawla: But climate change is also melting ice on land, like in Antarctica, Greenland and on mountains around the world.
Dana Altoaimi: When that ice melts, the water pours into the ocean and fills it up like a bathtub.
Megan: How fast is this happening?
Isha Chawla: Well, in the past couple of decades, sea level in RI has been rising about 3 to 4 millimeters a year. That may seem like a slow process, but it’s accelerating.
Dana Altoaimi: According to the best estimates, sea level around here will rise between six and 18 inches by 2050.
Megan: What will that look like?
Isha Chawla: Higher water, combined with high tides and storms, will cause frequent flooding in places that rarely flooded in the past.
Dana Altoaimi: For example, The Port of Providence and Bowen’s Wharf in Newport.
Isha Chawla: Rising waters will have other effects too. Curt Spalding used to work for the EPA in New England. He says we’ll have to rethink a lot of the infrastructure that helps our cities and towns function.
Curt Spalding: Ironically, all the storm drains we use to move water from the land into the bay become conduits for water to come back in.
Dana Altoaimi: That means you might see rising water flowing through our storm drains and back onto the streets.
Isha Chawla: And then there are resources like the sewage treatment plant at Fields Point in Providence. It’s right on the bay and so it will be affected by rising waters and storm surges.
Megan: This is too much. I’m getting really overwhelmed. What’s something I can do to prevent all of this from happening?
Isha Chawla: Unfortunately, sea level is going to keep going up for decades – our past greenhouse gas emissions have guaranteed that.
Dana Altoaimi: But in the long term, Cornelia Dean, the author of a book called Against the Tide, says we need to go back to the roots of the issue.
Cornelia Dean: the most important thing, I think, almost anybody would say, is to do whatever it takes to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases down to the lowest level possible.
Isha Chawla: So do the kinds of things we talk about on this show- drive an electric or hybrid car, insulate your house, invest in renewable energy, and eat less red meat.
Dana Altoaimi: This will help us avoid the worst consequences, like a permanently flooded downtown Providence.
Isha Chawla: If you want to better understand this issue, the University of Rhode Island has a website called StormTools, with maps of projected sea-level rise.
Megan: What else can I do?
Dana Altoaimi: Unfortunately, part of solving sea level rise is accepting that it’s coming. We won’t be able to adapt if we don’t prepare.
Isha Chawla: That means being realistic about where we choose to live and work.
Megan: Thanks for filling us in, Dana and Isha. For more information or to ask a question about the way you recycle, use energy, or make any other choice that affects the planet, go to “the public’s radio dot org slash possibly.”
Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society and the Public’s Radio.
To see how sea-level rise might affect where you live, check out the University of Rhode Island’s STORMTOOLS.
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