PBS NewsHour’s aired an episode last evening comparing and contrasting planning in New York City and Charleston, SC, for rising seas. Both cities are extremely vulnerable to sea level rise due to climate change. (This episode was produced prior to the Charleston shootings on June 17. Watch the episode here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/videos/#148785)
“The fact that Charleston is not planning for different scenarios of sea level rise raises great concern,” said Frank Knapp Jr., president and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce and who appeared in the broadcast. “We disagree with Mayor Riley’s contention that just because seas rise incrementally ‘there is no cause for despair’. The entire planning process of assessing vulnerability threats, developing resiliency recommendations, obtaining local government support, determining a budget and then finding the necessary funding can take years. Implementation of the necessary infrastructure adaptation will take decades. It is clear the city needs to start this process now because we don’t know nature’s timeline for rising seas.”