California’s fabled beaches are shrinking, with waves and tides eventually expected to slosh over thousands of coastal homes and businesses. That’s the entirely plausible prediction from scientists studying climate change and rising ocean levels linked to hotter temperatures.
In less than 30 years, rising waters will flood about 20,000 homes along the state’s shoreline. A warmer ocean is expanding and polar ice sheets are melting, pushing up sea levels here by nearly 2 feet. And it’s coming faster than ever, with lapping water noticeable by 2035 and the serious trouble a decade later.
There could be a miraculous change, or the numbers may be all wrong. That’s the outlook from naysayers and the White House, where no one takes climate change seriously. The latest numbers from the Union of Concerned Scientists should grab the attention of the doubters shrouded in their dangerous and negligent ignorance.
California’s coastal communities aren’t waiting for Washington’s turnabout. San Francisco voters will pass on a $425 million bond measure in November to raise a seawall along the Embarcadero. Bay Area voters approved a parcel tax to improve low-lying coastal and bayside estuaries. San Francisco and Oakland are suing major oil companies to pay for sea level rise costs.
The sea level adds another layer: a major impact on real estate, housing and even California’s image. The shrinking beaches will eat into coastal communities all along the 1,000-mile coastline. Public assets such as San Francisco International Airport are threatened. Marin, San Mateo and Santa Clara will be among the hardest-hit counties. The real estate value of the threatened homes is estimated at $15 billion statewide.
The effect of rising waters now has a timeline and cost. It’s also a warning. Climate change is under way, deepening the problem and posing a direct threat. This state must prepare itself.