Why a Green Climate Deal Needs More Blue

This story was originally published by David Helvarg and Jason Scorse (Middlebury College) in the August 2019 edition of Sea Technology. It can be viewed here.

From Texas to Alaska, Saipan to the Florida Keys, sea level rise and intensified hurricanes are making our coastlines more dangerous and unstable. At the same time, most of the U.S. population and the majority of the nation’s economic activity is now located in coastal states. This is why we need to put the “blue” front and center in any major climate action plans, such as the proposed and widely discussed Green New Deal (GND).GND addresses the climate crisis with policies to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. It was introduced to the U.S. Senate earlier this year, but was voted down by Republicans. GND is expected to be up for debate in the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign. For most of U.S. history, the shoreline was viewed as a chaotic and unpredictable place, best fit for fishing (and whaling), shipbuilding, trading ports and the poor. Some of today’s most iconic coastlines were once populated almost exclusively by immigrants, including the Italian fishermen and Mexican cannery workers of Monterey, California, and the African-American Gullah Geechee communities of the South Carolina and Georgia sea isles.When, in the late 19th and early 20th century, the wealthy were attracted to living by the ocean, including on storm-barrier islands, followed by coastal land rush developers whose hotels, second homes and rental units were subsidized by the 1968 National Flood Insurance Act, a process of ecological decline began. Today the U.S. coast’s natural protections, including dunes, salt marshes, coral and oyster reefs, mangroves and sea grasses, are extremely fragmented and less resilient to the growing impacts of climate change. That’s why any Green New Deal must be built on opportunities around coastal adaptation, mitigation and habitat protection. A focus on the blue economy can improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in coastal states and territories, while also providing powerful benefits in terms of jobs, environmental improvement and social equity for the entire nation.Our report, published in the environmental science news journal Mongabay, outlines eight priorities for making the coasts more resilient and developing the blue economy. We call for a complete reformation of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency; major coastal infrastructure investment, focusing on protection and restoration of natural barriers and coastal habitats; new guidelines and systems for expanding offshore renewable energy production; new forms of assistance to ports and fishing communities; a network of marine protected areas like National Parks in the sea; increased aquaculture investment; and a revised National Disaster Recovery Framework, including creation of a new combatant command within the Department of Defense.The most recent U.S. National Climate Assessment, a report produced by 13 federal agencies including the Department of Defense, suggests that up to 50 percent of projected coastal damage from climate disruption in this century can be mitigated through good planning. The agenda we’re proposing could yield even greater returns on our nation’s investment. Without major reforms, the threat from climate change will continue to devastate our most vulnerable populations. Whether it be low-income communities of color in coastal Texas and Louisiana, Native Alaskans currently losing their villages in northern and western Alaska, or urban and island communities from Far Rockaway, New York, to Puerto Rico whose people are still recovering from 2017’s Hurricane Maria, our proposals will promote justice and equity while strengthening the national economy.The challenge is to mobilize the political will to enact climate solutions. To address the existential threat of climate change to our coasts, public seas and the larger society, we need to elect leaders willing not only to implement a Green New Deal but also to restore the blue in our red, white and blue.