Climate change is the single biggest issue that the coastal environment and coastal development will be facing for the next several decades.
We're losing salt marsh at an alarming rate, we're seeing our species shift and our ecosystem is completely changing on us right now. It won't be long before significant portions of Rhode Island are submerged, including coastal towns, even part of Providence.
And yet, it is difficult to predict exactly how climate change will affect all aspects of our natural and built environments. What is the best path to take? Do we do our best to clean up after powerful weather events, make significant changes to our coastline or make preparations that will mitigate the effects of those storms now?
One thing to keep in mind is that for every dollar spent on adaptation, we save $4 spent on recovery.
With these facts in mind, we are building tools to give each community the capability to look at this issue and be proactive and make capital expenditures to make themselves more resilient.
This approach is the only sensible one, not just for combating climate change but for dealing with transformational change in any situation.
Examine what is happening with the best tools you have (or build the ones that you need) and then make the investment upfront to defend your future.
Any other course of action just doesn't make much sense. •
