Beachfront property might become oceanfront property a lot sooner than originally predicted, according to retired UNF professor, Allen Tilley.
Tilley was the guest speaker at the Ponte Vedra Beaches Coalition meeting Aug. 26, which was hosted at the Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library. The discussion addressed sea level rise in Florida and what residents can expect in the coming years according the latest research.
In addition to being recognized as a distinguished professor, Tilley is a member of Sustainable Jacksonville, the Sierra Club of North East Florida and the U.S. Green Building Council North East Florida’s Regional Planning and Development team, where he helped explore sustainable community models. Tilley also served on the Sierra Club’s national Climate Adaptation Task Force. He has been actively following the effects of global warming since the 1980s, although, these days his messages to the public always include the phrase, “get ready.”
Sea level rise is the prediction that melting of land-based ice, such as glaciers and ice sheets as a result of global warming, will eventually cause most of the coastal United States to be submerged or threatened with an increase of storm surges. Florida is considered to be the most at-risk among the states by far, particularly in the southern region.
Although, according to Tilley, most estimates tend to err on the conservative side, some predictions look to be as devastating as a 16-foot sea level rise within this century.
In order to offset rapid rise, Tilley said the biggest solution was to switch to a “Planetary Health Diet,” which greatly reduces the amount of meat an individual consumes.
“We've got to mitigate,” Tilley said. “If you want to know the absolute best thing for mitigation, it’s to cut down on meat consumption. We will not be able to get a handle on emissions unless we change our diet.”
On a local level, cities are just starting to listen to what both environmentalists and scientists have been saying.
In fact, the very day of Tilley’s Coalition presentation, Jacksonville announced the mandated sea level task force wrapped up its work, approving proposals for a list of recommendations that will go before the City Council in an effort to have the city reduce its contributions to climate change, according to WJCT.
Regardless of plans to alleviate impact, Tilley said eventually the final decisions will come down to relocating and re-evaluating the areas we live.
“As we think about this stuff coming, I recommend us thinking in terms of community,” Tilley said. “What will get us through this is community. It may be that you have friends or family in areas that are going to be more secure and you can join a community there…. Or we can decide that we can build our own community. We're going to have a sustainable community and we are going to take this as an opportunity to develop a place that we want to live. A place that is storm safe and produces a lot of its own power and food.”
“We are not all going to fit in Ashville, North Carolina,” he said.
