{"id":151699,"date":"2020-01-27T09:05:39","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T17:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=118093"},"modified":"2020-07-06T14:10:24","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T21:10:24","slug":"all-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/all-rise","title":{"rendered":"All Rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

A version of this story appeared in the winter 2020 issue of\u00a0Uncommon Path<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

T<\/span>o live in Charleston is to live with water. Come to the Low Country, and you\u2019ll see why: Creeks and tributaries meander through wetlands. Rivers bisect the city. Twice daily, they\u2019re all flooded and then emptied by ocean tides\u2014which partly explains why one of America\u2019s fastest-growing cities is also a leading outdoor-recreation destination. Water is fun.<\/p>\n

But all that water also creates havoc. Building so close\u00a0to a water-swollen landscape is inviting trouble. \u201cCharleston is heavily developed and growing,\u201d says Sarah Watson, a coastal climate and resilience specialist for the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium and the Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments team. And now, climate change is creating trouble on a scale never before seen in the 237 years since the city was incorporated.<\/p>\n

Watson says that when the city was built, no one imagined the sea would rise the way it has\u2014by more than an inch per decade in the past century, nearly double the global average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Furthermore, much of the downtown lower peninsula is built on fill that is sinking, and many of the rivers and creeks are showing signs of erosion.<\/p>\n

\"Flooding

By the end of the century, experts say that on average Charleston may face wide-scale flooding every other day of the year. (Photo Credit: AP Photo\/Mic Smith)<\/p><\/div>\n

What\u2019s more disturbing, Watson says, is how these dynamics will play out in coming decades. Precipitation is expected to increase. Researchers predict a sea-level rise of between 4 and 9 feet by 2100. Then there are high-tide flooding events\u2014also known as sunny-day flooding. Fifty years ago, Charleston experienced about two per year; today, it sees more than 50 per year. By 2100, half of the year will feature a high-tide flood. City officials estimate each one costs more than $13 million in damage, lost tourism dollars and work stoppages.<\/p>\n

Factor in worsening hurricanes, ocean acidification and pathogen-borne illnesses, and, to some, Charleston\u2019s future may look pretty bleak. So why stay?<\/p>\n

Here, five area residents share their thoughts. They span generations and social classes, political affiliations and value systems. What unites them is their love for this place\u2014and their belief that they can be part of a solution.<\/p>\n

The Pastor<\/h4>\n

Paul Rienzo, 60<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perched about 10 miles inland from Charleston Harbor, Crosstowne Church was flood-free for more than a decade. But in 2015, Hurricane Joaquin dumped 20 inches of rain, and more than 3 feet of water accumulated in the church. Similar flooding occurred after storms in 2016 and 2017. Along the way, Rienzo realized that dealing with what such storms have wrought is part of his calling. At first, his congregation spent weeks repairing the damage. In time, they just started to live with the mess, and that\u2019s the way Rienzo likes it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve all learned to embrace reclamation,\u201d he says, pointing to tables fashioned out of water-stained doors. \u201cIt\u2019s the living embodiment of redemption. Our church is proof that God has a place for watermarked people.\u201d<\/p>\n

What isn\u2019t fine with Rienzo is why this flooding happens. He takes issue with Charleston\u2019s building plan and flood-mitigation proposals, which, he says, are based on bad science and overly optimistic notions of how much precipitation this region can manage. The problem started after several major housing developments were built and bolstered by fill, followed by the opening of an elevated four-lane road outside the church. \u201cWe can\u2019t deny the ways in which this is also a man-made problem,\u201d he says in his flood-stained office.<\/p>\n

That rainfall in 2015 broke every record for precipitation in Greater Charleston, and records continue to fall. An Environmental Protection Agency white paper reports that rain during powerful storms in this region has increased 27% in the past 50 years, a trend that scientists predict will continue as the planet warms. But more building is in the works, even as the city razed 32 chronically flooded townhouses as part of a Federal Emergency Management Agency-funded buyout program.<\/p>\n

In response, Rienzo and his congregation pooled $60,000 to hire an independent hydrologist, Joshua Robinson,\u00a0who confirmed the cause of the flooding. Then, working with Robinson and landscape engineers, they developed a plan of cascading inline storage ponds set in grassy berms. During flood events, the area would become a wetland. When not inundated, it would be a nature preserve with boardwalks for hiking and bird-watching stands. The\u00a0cost is a fraction of what Charleston would have paid\u00a0to acquire and raze the church\u2014and the city council unanimously approved it.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod tells us in Genesis that we are harmony bearers,\u201d Rienzo says. \u201cWe were put here to properly steward the Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

27 percent: The increase in Charleston rain during big storms in the past 50 years, according to the EPA<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Waterkeeper<\/h4>\n

Andrew Wunderley, Esq., 44<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a blustery morning and Wunderley is fueling up for his weekly testing. Those waters that rise around the city? They roll in carrying bacteria, and it\u2019s Wunderley\u2019s job as the Charleston Waterkeeper executive director to keep an eye on problematic organisms and speak for local waterways. His group is a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance, an international network of more than 300 groups dedicated to preserving waterways. Today, he and a volunteer will take about 15 samples from creeks, mooring fields and several terminals that make up the Port of Charleston.<\/p>\n

As waters here warm because of climate change, they also lose their ability to maintain healthy oxygen levels\u2014a critical factor for all aquatic life. Sometimes bacteria\u00a0levels are too high for humans to safely tolerate. The chief culprits are sea-level rise and increased precipitation, combined with Charleston\u2019s unique layout. Wunderley points to downtown Charleston, which at its highest point is less than 20 feet above sea level. Plum Island\u2014the main sewage-treatment facility\u2014sits at an elevation of about\u00a07 feet. It doesn\u2019t take much to inundate both.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard for us as a community to accept that you can\u2019t keep the water at bay,\u201d he says. \u201cFor too many people here, sea-level rise is still just a vague existential threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wunderley says the next 100 years will challenge Charleston in ways no one can predict, but the community and sense of place are worth fighting for. \u201cI\u2019m motivated by a desire to lend a hand,\u201d he says. \u201cI want to be able to say I saw the problem and got off the couch and did something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

600 million: Number of coastal urban residents worldwide living less than 33 feet above sea level, according to the United Nations<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Captain<\/h4>\n

David Richardson, 77<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Richardson was 15, he began captaining shrimp trawlers. He was 9 when he experienced his first major hurricane. It\u2019s all part of growing up Gullah\u2014descended from slaves brought here from West Africa. \u201cMy people have always been close to the waters here,\u201d he says. \u201cBut those waters are changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richardson was raised on the docks of his father\u2019s business, Backman Seafood, Inc. With each approaching storm, he\u2019d help move the seven fishing vessels inland, where creeks and marshes would protect them. But the installation of private docks over the past two decades has made that impossible. The fleet gradually dwindled until, in 2016, Hurricane Matthew grounded the Backman Enterprise, the family\u2019s last shrimping vessel, and took out its packinghouse and commercial dock. Then, a rare winter tornado ripped out part of the retail shop and dragged a 100-foot freestanding oyster cooler across the property.<\/p>\n

But for Richardson, this land still holds value\u2014it\u2019s one\u00a0of the only remaining ties to his cultural heritage. And it\u2019s a heritage, he says, that is as political as it is personal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is so much pressure among us Gullah folks to get rid of our land,\u201d Richardson says. \u201cWe have encountered ingrained discrimination at every level, from the power Jim Crow laws had over our fisheries to indiscriminate development that unfairly relieved African Americans of our land.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d like to see a truly sustainable business there: a fishing co-op, or his mother\u2019s dream of a soul-food restaurant. He knows that will mean expensive new infrastructure. But\u00a0it\u2019s worth it, he says: \u201cOnce land has been relieved from us, opportunities for African Americans are gone forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Flooding

\u201cThe storms have always been a threat,\u201d says boatman Richardson. \u201cBut it\u2019s gotten a lot worse.\u201d (Photo Credit: AP Photo\/Mic Smith)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Farmer<\/h4>\n

Caitlyn Mayer, 29<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mayer, her husband, Peter Bierce, and his twin brother, Thomas, are the joint owners and operators of Charleston Oyster Farm, the first of its kind in the city\u2019s watershed. Mayer has seen the disturbing results of the Charleston Waterkeeper sampling tests, which show raised bacteria in these troubled waters. She knows that climate change is only going to make those results more intractable.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also really confident that one solution is oysters, which sequester carbon\u2014meaning they remove carbon from the ocean and atmosphere to make their shells. They also naturally recycle, creating their new shells from old ones. Each oyster can filter upward of 50 gallons of water a day, fostering the growth of phytoplankton and zooplankton for a richer growing environment. Even farmed oyster cages serve as a nursery for other species.<\/p>\n

Oysters are also more sustainable than many forms of animal protein, such as beef, the development of which contributes to greenhouse gases. \u201cOysters are going to save the world,\u201d Mayer says. \u201cWe\u2019re fortunate enough to get to experience them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Activist<\/h4>\n

Ainsley Payne, 10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Payne would much rather be surfing\u2014now in fifth grade, she\u2019s a two-time regional medal winner\u2014but lately, she hasn\u2019t had much time for shredding. The reasons are all around her: almost a mile of beachfront erosion on her native Folly Beach. Her streets see chronic flooding; the community librarians have removed books from the bottom rows of their stacks to keep them dry.<\/p>\n

So Payne forgoes surf time for advocacy playdates. At school, she collects petition signatures, which she sends to Sen. Lindsey Graham in support of the Coastal and Marine Economies Protection Act. (She says she could have gotten more signatures, but the kindergartners take up so much space with their neophyte handwriting.) And then there
\nare the speeches she gives and the rallies she organizes for climate change advocacy and against overdevelopment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people still don\u2019t think global warming is real, but 90% of the kids in my class are behind me on this,\u201d Payne says. \u201cIf just 50% of adults were with us, we could stop this chaos once and for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Urban Action<\/h4>\n

More than half the world\u2019s population lives in cities, which account for over 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. To mitigate this, some cities are developing innovative solutions. Here\u2019s a sampling.<\/p>\n

London:\u00a0<\/strong>Drivers of cars built before 2006 now pay about $16 to enter the Ultra Low Emission Zone along with the existing almost $15 congestion charge. The larger plan is to accelerate a shift to low- and zero-emissions vehicles and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n

New York:<\/strong> The city hopes to cut greenhouse gas emissions by setting caps on large buildings. The legislation\u2014part of a group of bills in the Climate Mobilization Act\u2014passed this past spring, and the city\u2019s largest structures will have to reduce their pollution or pay a steep fine.<\/p>\n

Houston:<\/strong> The Sunnyside neighborhood is developing an urban solar farm on an abandoned 240-acre hazardous landfill. It will generate electricity to supply 12,000 homes with power and will also include an agriculture hub (housing aquaponics and beekeeping, among other endeavors), recreational paths and more.<\/p>\n

Paris:<\/strong> The city\u2019s first zero-carbon neighborhood, Porte de Montreuil, aims to reduce harmful emissions by 85%. Features include on-site geothermal energy production, locally and bio-sourced construction materials and spaces that can convert from commercial to residential.<\/p>\n

Chicago:<\/strong> The East Garfield Park area is morphing from a neglected neighborhood into a net-zero carbon and net-zero energy community that will process 100% of its stormwater and generate its own power on-site. Aptly called Garfield Green, the new residential area will employ Passive House building standards, focusing on green spaces, biodiversity and bioclimatic design.<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A version of this story appeared in the winter 2020 issue of\u00a0Uncommon Path.\u00a0 o live in Charleston is to live with water. Come to the Low Country, and you\u2019ll see why: Creeks and tributaries meander through wetlands. Rivers bisect the city. Twice daily, they\u2019re all flooded and then emptied by ocean tides\u2014which partly explains why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":118116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[685],"tags":[795,1984,727,1542,1986,1934,2024],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-151699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-climate-change","tag-issue-2","tag-latest-posts","tag-south","tag-south-carolina","tag-uncommon-path","tag-uncommon-path-issues"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/news\/all-rise","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"All Rise","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/all-rise","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/all-rise"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/12\/AP_633875310239_hero.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/12\/AP_633875310239_hero.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["climate change","issue 2","latest posts","south","south carolina","uncommon path","uncommon path issues"],"dateCreated":"2020-01-27T17:05:39Z","datePublished":"2020-01-27T17:05:39Z","dateModified":"2020-07-06T21:10:24Z"},"rendered":"