Rising sea levels could cause drastic changes along California’s coast in the decades ahead, posing significant challenges for both San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area.
As chief deputy director of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), Steve Goldbeck is considered an expert on the impact of sea level change. Goldbeck will discuss challenges and solutions in a lecture at UCSD 6 p.m. on Monday, April 13 at Ledden Auditorium. A reception will follow.
Goldbeck’s free lecture is part of the Environments in Motion lecture series presented by John Muir College and the Division of Arts & Humanities.
In the Bay Area, the consequences of sea level rise are likely to be drastic. Scientists expect global sea levels to increase by at least 2.5 feet. Along California’s coast, as the Pacific Ocean rises so too do San Francisco Bay and San Diego Bay. In the Bay Area, some seven million residents could be effected by the impact on neighborhoods, job centers, transportation, water and wastewater infrastructure, schools, fire stations, and vital ecosystem services.
“We found that over a quarter million bay residences could be inundated, as well as a good chunk of Silicon Valley, which is home to Google and other Internet giants,” Goldbeck said in a 2012 interview.
“The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation estimated that we could be facing $60 billion just in replacement values for infrastructure, displaced residents, goods and services, and that would be a gross underestimation of the actual impact. These are real, potential impacts. While mitigating climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions is essential, adapting to climate change and its impacts is unavoidable.”
Goldbeck has served as BCDC’s chief deputy director since 2010. He holds a B.A. in environmental planning and public policy from UC Santa Cruz and has been on the BCDC staff since 1985, specializing in policy and management of technical planning issues including climate change, water quality, and sediment management. He also oversees the climate change and sea level rise program. The 27-member commission was created by the California Legislature in 1965 in response to broad public concern over the future of San Francisco Bay.
For more information about Steve Goldbeck and the Bay Area Conservation and Development Commission, visit www.bcdc.ca.gov.