The East Coast continues to recover from Hurricane Sandy, which produced waves and storm surge that destroyed portions of the New York and New Jersey coastlines and flooding that inundated downtown Manhattan. These impacts reveal how vulnerable coastal communities are to climate extremes and have been a valuable lesson for those in charge of protecting coastal cities around the world.
Months since floodwaters have receded and the storm debris removed, businesses are still struggling to get back on their feet and residents trying to rebuild their lives. Costs for these recovery efforts will exceed $60 billion, and these devastating impacts represent but two of the possible threats facing coastal communities like our own.
One problem that hinders recovery in New York is that the electrical and heating equipment of many buildings was in flooded basements and on ground floors. Once flooded, this equipment has been extremely difficult and expensive to replace quickly. In response to this recognized vulnerability, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has prioritized $9 billion in repairs to protect the New York power grid and cellphone system from future disasters.
Locally, Santa Cruz city and county climate-adaptation plans document this as well as other vulnerabilities to climate change, demonstrating that we share many of the same vulnerabilities of East Coast cities. These adaptation plans maintain that making the investments needed to adapt will be difficult and expensive but New York's price tag for recovery proves that waiting till after a disaster to respond can cost significantly more and can impact the local economy for months or years to come.
How California will respond to the vast range of climate threats was the focus of a statewide workshop this week called Successful Adaptation in Coastal California. Representatives from state agencies and coastal communities reflected on these common threats and worked together to devise innovative answers. Several themes emerged including the importance of coordination among agencies and communities. Leaders all recognized the need for a shared vision and standard tools for how coastal communities become resilient to predicted impacts.
"Climate adaptation should be our next Apollo mission," one participant said. "To succeed we must create a common vision rather than dwell on our individual hurdles."
It also became clear that California has the necessary tools to adapt to a changing climate if we choose to work together.
As local residents, we can also prepare for climate change. Future climate impacts will include higher temperatures, more frequent droughts and more intense rainfall. Adding drought-tolerant and native plants to our landscaping will safeguard our gardens from heat waves and drought-driven water restrictions. Our local adaptation plans highlight the importance of improving our urban/rural boundaries by reducing combustible brush and planting native species like oaks that suppress fire. For those with properties along creeks, selecting the proper types of native plants will help stabilize banks without restricting flows and exacerbating flooding; critical to protecting our creek side homes.
Reducing risks to new development will require greater setbacks for buildings on coastal bluffs and changes to structural design for buildings in low-lying areas. Local researchers are working with the Coastal Commission and local governments to identify how best to plan coastal development given predicted increases in coastal erosion.
Local planning is critical to climate resiliency and is the best insurance for a rapid recovery. Understanding and preparing for climate change will let us minimize impacts and ensure a rapid response so that businesses reopen and families are made whole. The workshop this week confirmed that early planning is our best strategy for living in harmony with a less certain climate.
Ross Clark is climate action coordinator for the city of Santa Cruz. He's also director of the Central Coast Wetlands Group and chair of the county Commission on the Environment. Contact him at firstname.lastname@example.org.