As if warning about a nonexistent ballistic missile isn’t enough, state officials Thursday alerted Hawaii to the perils of climate change.
Fake news?
Not this time, state Department of Land and Natural Resources officials said at a Honolulu news conference.
“It’s not a drill. It’s happening,” said Bruce Anderson, administrator of the Division of Aquatic Resources.
“Climate change is here,” DLNR Chairwoman Suzanne Case added. “We’ve been looking at it coming for decades, but we’re at a time now when the impacts are starting.”
| RISING CONCERNS
Potential impacts of 3.2 feet of sea level rise on Oahu alone:
>> The loss of $12.9 billion in structures and land
>> The loss of 3,800 structures, including hotels in Waikiki
>> Displacement of 13,300 residents
>> The loss of 17.7 miles of major roads due to flooding
Source: Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report
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Case, Anderson and other leaders in the department urged Hawaii residents to join the conversation about human-induced climate change, get involved, support conservation efforts to help to make the islands more resilient and work to reduce carbon footprints.
Hawaii, they said, has recently witnessed a preview of the impacts of climate change with the North Shore erosion, king tides, drought, forest fires and coral bleaching.
“2017 kind of gave us a look into the future through this crystal ball,” said Sam Lemmo, administrator of the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands.
The Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report, adopted by the Hawaii Climate Commission at the end of December and delivered to the state Legislature, projects climate change-driven sea level rise of 3.2 feet over the next 30 to 70 years.
The report forecasts a future of coastal flooding, erosion and property damage affecting hotels, businesses, malls, schools and community centers as well as displacing more than 19,800 people from their homes.
“Many of the decisions we are going to have in the future will be very difficult and expensive,” Lemmo said.
Coastal highways, he said, already are experiencing significant erosion, requiring the kind of emergency repairs that will become more frequent in the near future.
“Let’s think of what actions we can take today,” Lemmo said. “Perhaps pick that highway up and move it, rather than continue to repair it day in and day out. Let’s just deal with the problem today and move on and protect ourselves.”
David Smith, administrator of the Division of Forestry and Wildlife, said the state’s forests are especially vulnerable to a changing climate and will need special attention enabling them to thrive.
“Managing our forests is crucial to protecting our water, plants and animals and our way of life,” he said.
Anderson said Hawaii already has seen episodes of bleaching, resulting in the death of 50 percent of corals in some areas. This has happened in recent years with water temperature increases of only 2 degrees.
Future bleaching appears inevitable, he said, and the state can only expect to slow down the process by, for example, implementing new fisheries management strategies that aim to make reefs more resilient and better able to recover.
Citizens can help by not using sunscreens with oxybenzone, a chemical that recently has been shown to be stressful to corals, Anderson said.
“I would urge that everyone do their part in reducing the carbon footprint we all make and support the changes necessary to make our oceans recover,” he said.
There are those, of course, who do not believe in human-caused climate change. President Donald Trump, for one, removed the United States from the Paris climate accord and is pushing for coal and renewed exploration of other fossil fuels that will generate even more greenhouse gases.
The folks at DLNR rejected that line of thinking Thursday.
“I think we should just be clear that the science is overwhelming in regard to the impacts of human-induced climate change,” Case said. “So while some people would say it’s controversial, in the scientific world, it’s not at all.”
Case said Hawaii is “ahead of the curve” in understanding the impacts of burning fossil fuels.
“We just need to plow ahead and make the changes that we need to do to ensure the best future possible,” she said.
Lemmo noted that Gov. David Ige in June joined the 16-state U.S. Climate Alliance, an organization committed to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, which has broad-scale global support.
“A lot of these issues reside at the local level,” he said. “In the grand scheme of things, things are going to happen despite what’s going on at the national level. So we’re very happy about that.”
