Citizens for East Shore Parks Marks Earth Day with Striking Banners Showing Land that will be Submerged Under Water
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sally Douglas Arce at 510-525-9552 or sdarce@lmi.net
Visualizing Sea-level Rise
Citizens for East Shore Parks Marks Earth Day with Striking Banners Showing Land that will be Submerged Under Water
Saturday, April 22 from noon to 2 p.m.
Oakland, California – April 13, 2017 – Citizens for East Shore Parks (CESP), a non-profit organization, will commemorate Earth Day with a sea-level rise outdoor display and talks from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 22. Volunteers will meet at 333 Broadway (at Fourth Street), Oakland from 12:00-12:30pm then move to Second Street and Broadway at 12:30pm. Our new shoreline will be at Second and Broadway with a two-meter sea rise, projected to take place by the year 2100 or sooner.
At the event, CESP invites the public to join in holding light blue fabric sea rise panels along the 2-meter mark, creating a continuous banner some 300 feet long to visually demonstrate the parts of S.F. Bay’s shoreline will move inland, submerging whole neighborhoods, thousands of acres of habitat, miles of freeway, the Oakland airport, and the land around the Oakland Coliseum by the year 2100 or sooner. Each panel is five feet high and ten feet across with volunteers holding both ends.
Robert Cheasty, CESP Executive Director, will speak at 12:15 p.m. In addition, large graphic maps will be on display to show how sea-level rise will impact the entire Bay Area.
“Addressing the threat of sea-level rise is a critical task for communities around San Francisco Bay,” says Doris Sloan, retired professor, Department of Earth & Planetary Science, U.C. Berkeley and member of the CESP Board of Directors.
In the Jack London Square area, Broadway up to Second and Third Streets will be underwater impacting Amtrak, apartments, small businesses, and commercial buildings, according to projections. In general, Oakland will be particularly hard hit. Portions of Highway 880 in East Oakland will be under water. According to a U.S. Geologic Service press release posted online on Jan. 24, 2017, salt marshes worldwide are being lost to sea-level rise, erosion, and land use changes. These marshes protect the coast against storms and erosion, filter pollution, and provide habitat for fish and shellfish, the researchers said. (From: https://www.usgs.gov/news/new-technique-quickly-predicts-salt-marsh-vulnerability)
“The debate about climate change is over,” Cheasty says. “Now is the time to work on solutions to protecting our treasured shorelines and shoreline parks. CESP is working to build a coalition of community leaders, scientists, elected officials, and environmentalists to get the funding for solutions. CESP calls on friends to carry this message – VISUALIZING SEA RISE – home to their communities and stage similar events and to join the coalition to bring the problems of Climate Change to the front burner in local, state, and national government.”
Practical Solutions to Start with Now
Researchers at Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals Project, led by the State Coastal Conservancy, recommend strategies for functioning, dynamic baylands:
- Restore complete baylands systems – Factor in the interconnected habitat types and what sustains them. Provide wildlife with refuges during high-water events. Provide for a way for the baylands to move landward as sea levels rise.
- Restore tidal flows to strategic areas and manage sediment to establish tidal marsh ecosystems. Tidal marshes re-established now provide ongoing habitat benefits and buffers against sea-level rise as it accelerates.
- Plan ahead. Create regional policies for the shore that anticipate change over time, using projections of sea-level rise. Plan for shifts in habitats,, and plan to help them function well.
- Regional coordination – Create a resilient shoreline and one open to the public. New buildings should be restricted from the shoreline. Ensure that the regulating agencies work with the stakeholders.
“Sea levels are projected to increase rapidly in the middle decades of this century, with the National Research Council projecting a likely regional sea-level rise for San Francisco Bay of 0.6 to 1.1 feet and a maximum of about 1.9 feet by 2050,” says Jeremy Lowe, Resilient Landscapes Program, San Francisco Estuary Institute. “If we do not significantly limit or reduce global emissions by 2100, the likely regional sea-level rise for San Francisco Bay is projected to be 1.6 to 3.4 feet with a maximum of about 6.9 feet.”
Speakers will address the group in a parking lot at 333 Broadway (at Fourth Street), Oakland. Then, event participants will carry the horizontal fabric panels and pennants to mark where Bay waters meet land in 2100. Volunteers will hold fabric panels and pennants along the 2-meter mark extending along Second Street St. on both sides of Broadway.
Visit www.resilientshoreline.org for more information.
What: Visualizing Sea-level Rise
When: noon to 2:00 p.m. Sat. April 22
Where: noon to 12:30 p.m. at 333 Broadway (at Fourth St.), Oakland
Where: 12:30 to 2 p.m. at Second and Broadway, Oakland
Cost: Free
Info: cespmanager@eastshorepark.org or 510-524-5000
For info about upcoming Visualizing Sea-level Rise events, visit www.resilientshoreline.org
CESP thanks Golden Gate Audubon, The Sierra Club, Save the Bay, and Committee to Complete the Refuge. CESP continues to engage with mayors of East Bay cities and state politicians as the Resilient Shoreline initiative and its Visualizing Sea-level Rise events take place.
About Citizens for East Shore Parks
CESP is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization founded in 1985 to counter development proposals put forth by Santa Fe Railroad to build large-scale developments on its shoreline properties in Albany and Berkeley. Although a number of people shared the dream of an open shoreline and the idea of a park along the shore, no group existed to advocate for this dream to become reality. Environmentalists from the Citizens for the Albany Shoreline, Emeryville Shoreline Committee, Golden Gate Audubon Society, Save the Bay, and the Sierra Club banded together to form the CESP. Other like-minded environmentalists quickly joined, as did elected and appointed officials who shared the vision of a shoreline park. Over a period of 30 years, area residents and organizations have fought to preserve more than 2,000 acres of open space in one of our nation’s most densely populated urban regions. The mission of CESP is to create a necklace of shoreline parks from the Oakland Estuary to the Carquinez Strait.
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