Hawaii's Politicians Ignore Sea Level Rise
Make Tax-Payers Liable For Future Disaster
DROWNING HAWAII
by
Kip Aoki Honolulu
Star-Bulletin Sunday,
September 23, 2007
Warmer waters.
Melting ice caps. Disappearing glaciers.
They are all expected
to raise ocean levels by 39 inches in the next century,
forever reshaping
Hawaii.
STORY SUMMARY »
Oceanfront property in Honolulu, about the year 2100:
»
McKinley High School.
» The Blaisdell Center.
» Iolani School.
» Honolulu Stadium Park in Moiliili.
That's
using the projection of one meter, or 39 inches, of sea level rise, a figure
many scientists and planners who have reviewed global climate change
predictions say is likely for Hawaii.
Specific projections for areas less populated than urban
Honolulu haven't been made, but every island would be affected by climate
change in one way or another.
Photo by DENNIS ODA
Marine geologist Charles "Chip" Fletcher uses a yardstick to show what could be the approximate sea level at the Ala Wai Canal in 100 years. "I think this is a slowly emerging catastrophe," Fletcher said.
Marine geologist Charles "Chip" Fletcher uses a yardstick to show what could be the approximate sea level at the Ala Wai Canal in 100 years. "I think this is a slowly emerging catastrophe," Fletcher said.
"I think it's going to slowly dawn on us."
Generally, the
more gently sloping land is, the farther inland the new sea level will reach,
said Mike Field, a U.S. Geological Survey marine geologist.
"I think 1 meter is a reasonable number," Field
said. "Most people agree there is an increase in rise now and that the
rate of rise is going to increase over the next century -- conservatively half
a meter, more realistically half a meter to a meter."
Said Douglas Tom, manager of the state Coastal Zone
Management Branch: "It's a subject that's been on the minds of many
different people in many different agencies."
Chip Fletcher is a marine geologist at UH who studies coastal changes caused by climate change. Projections show the ocean water level will rise about three feet in the next 100 years. Fletcher places a meter stick at about the high water mark on Waikiki Beach to illustrate the eventual water level, which would submerge this beach scene.
COURTESY UH-MANOA SCHOOL OF OCEAN AND EARTH SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
In the next 100 years ocean levels are expected to rise 39 inches due to global warming. Here is
In the next 100 years ocean levels are expected to rise 39 inches due to global warming. Here is
What Waikiki could look like, according to researchers at the University
of Hawaii-Manoa.
