Friday, March 02, 2007

Outer Banks Threatened by Rising Sea Levels

Bruce Babbitt, a former secretary of the interior during the Clinton administration and former Governor of Arizona, met with officials in Raleigh this week to discuss the state's ongoing plans for global climate change. Babbitt predicted North Carolina would be one of the states most affected by rising sea levels from global warming, along with Florida and Louisiana, and could see the disintegration of the Outer Banks within the century. An international panel has projected that sea levels could rise from about 7 inches to 2 feet in the next century and few parts of the country are as threatened as NC's Outer Banks - every inch of sea level rise just exposes more of the Outer Banks to hurricane storm surge. Babbitt was also impressed that North Carolina's legislature had established a panel to grapple with the topic of climate change, but that our head start over other states wasn't saying much. The meeting also discussed the state's plans for fresh drinking water supplies in light of the fact that NC is the 6th fastest growing state. NC's population is expected to jump 50% to 12 million by 2030. More on Babbitt's visit is available from the News and Observer; more on rising sea levels in NC is available from NOAA.

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