The Ocean Is Coming. We Need To Act ASAP.
Featured Image Credit:dcraig.blogs.redding.com
The proof is in the pudding. Or rather, the proof is all around us.
American shorelines are watching as rising sea levels are slowly creeping up. For years, Florida has dealt with high flood levels. The coastal communities of Northwest Alaska are unable to stop their land from disappearing as ice sheets melt. Louisiana, as one of the most low-to-the-ground states, could be incredibly at-risk.
Now, an entire Native American community about 50 miles south of New Orleans will become the largest and one of the first populations in the United States to be resettled because of climate change.
For 170 years, the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians have lived on the Isle of Jean Charles. The small strip of land has sustainer the tribe through trapping, fishing and agriculture. But over the last 60 years, 98 percent of the tribe’s land has vanished due to coastal flooding, erosion and rising sea levels.
Image Credit:Karen Apricot / Flickr
Once 15,000 acres, the island and its population has been reduced to less than a square mile of land (for reference 1 mile = 640 acres). In the 1950’s, the population numbered around 400, but as tribe members have increasingly left in favor of higher ground, now only 100 remain.
The tribe’s deputy chief, Boyo Billiot, said,
“As the people leave, our culture goes with it. We are looking for a place we can be a community. That means a place we can care for each other, celebrate with each other and be together as family and friends on a daily basis.”
Before their culture is lost and their home gets completely swallowed by the rising seas, the tribe will be resettled with the help of federal aid.
A program through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is aimed at disaster-proofing communities. The Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians are receiving $48 million in federal aid to relocate their entire community inland to higher ground.
Image Credit:Karen Apricot / Flickr
A study published in Nature Climate Change predicted a 1.8 meters rise in sea level by 2100. As climate change continues to progress, many more communities on the Gulf Coast will face a similar predicament. Moving into the future we have helped create, this relocation will serve a guide for other communities losing in the struggle against the rising seas.
This problem does not affect just island and border towns but a large portion of our country. Sea levels rising by 1.8 meters is predicted to cause the loss of 13 million American homes.
We say better safe then sorry. We need to take action ASAP, because as much as we love the ocean, we love our homes too.
Read more from our source: Inside Climate News via Gizmo
