Thick chalk lines drawn along the Mission Boulevard sidewalk in Mission Beach on Jan. 19 represented the high tide flood line projected to occur within the next 35 years by scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, and SDSU.
Members of the climate change activist group SanDiego350 drew the chalk lines, stenciled “High Tide Flood Line – 2050” along the route, and handed out flood maps indicating the areas of Mission Beach that will be flooded with progressive increases in sea level rise, as well as fact sheets about local effects of sea level rise.
According to scientific projections, by 2050 roughly half of Mission Beach will likely be flooded at high tide. Much of the rest would flood about once every five years, when higher sea levels, high tides and waves from big storms combine. And Mission Beach is not the only San Diego community at risk. Other at-risk areas identified by Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientists include South Bay, Coronado and La Jolla Shores, which are also low-lying regions.
The 35-year timeframe for the predicted 12 to 18 inches of sea level rise in San Diego is about the length of a typical mortgage and within the lifetimes of most people under 50 years of age. “We have a $15 billion per year tourism industry that could get sucked out to sea,” said Jeffrey Meyer, a SanDiego350 volunteer. “Flooding will cause an economic riptide. All the politicians should be standing on this chalk line and answering what they’re going to do to mitigate climate change and flooding.”
The chalk-art project by SanDiego350 was designed to raise awareness among residents and business owners in the coastal community about the very real impacts sea level rise will have on Mission Beach and what they can do to mitigate climate change. The project coordinator, Jeanne Peterson, said she organized this event for personal reasons. “I have two kids, aged 11 and 13. If I didn’t do everything I could to stop this climate catastrophe, I couldn’t live with myself. It’s not fair to leave them this mess,” she added.
Sea level rise could cause property damage, beach loss, shrinkage of coastal wetlands and threats to infrastructure. But aside from raising awareness of the impacts of sea level rise, the volunteers also provided information on practical steps individuals can take in their daily lives to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change and sea level rise.
“We don’t want people to be discouraged, thinking there’s nothing they can do about this,” said participant Ashley Mazanec. “Aside from supporting green energy initiatives and driving less, eating less meat and dairy can also have a profound impact, because the livestock industry contributes one-fifth of greenhouse gases worldwide.
“If people minimize water use, that helps too as transporting, purifying and heating water all require energy,” she said. The activists also collected signatures on a petition for a strong, enforceable City of San Diego Climate Action Plan, with plans to send those signatures to the San Diego City Council.
On a longer time scale, the National Climate Assessment has predicted a sea level rise of two to six feet by 2100. This high water line art project is one of multiple similar events that have taken place from New York City, to Miami, to Bristol, England since 2007.
