North Carolina, Gluttons for Punishment

Eli has an interesting post about the troubles North Carolina is having with sea level rise. The eastern U.S.  seaboard is a hotspot for sea level rise, and it seems there is a little problem with houses falling into the ocean. Eli quotes the Nags Head Town Manager Cliff Ogburn asking for guidance:

"Pick the number. ... We're just waiting for somebody to decide an accurate projection," he added. "I wish people 40 years ago would have imagined that we'd have houses falling into the ocean."

Of course, people 40 years ago did warn about sea level rise, like in this 1977 report by the National Academy of Sciences, Energy and Climate, which says (pg 8):

from a 1977 NAS report on climate change

Few listened.

The report couldn't have been more clear (pg 11):

Nobody listened. And this is from the National Academy of Sciences. Yet nobody listened. And still they won't listen.

We will pay for climate change one way or the other. We can pay to build a low-carbon economy, or we can pay for houses that wash out into the sea.

P.S. Eli also quotes a vice president of an economic development group saying

"There's been no signal of CO2 increase with any signal of temperature increase or sea-level rise," said Larry Baldwin, NC-20's vice president of regulatory affairs, who is also one of the four holdover members of the CRC.

"We need to hear not just one side of the facts, we need all of the facts," Baldwin added. "One of the things we'll hopefully be able to do is get people with the minority opinion on there."

Who knew facts have two sides?