Climate change and the Chesapeake, through the eyes of an artist

My blog posts often contain facts and graphics from just-released reports that show the hard science warning of the threats of climate change. This week, I try something different: letting art tell the heart-breaking story of climate change.

A dear friend recently sent me a link to an award-winning art video, "The Ballad of Holland Island House" by artist Lynn Tomlinson. It's a poignant, beautifully artistic (and oh so sad) piece about the impact of rising sea levels on the Chesapeake Bay. It's told through folk songs and animated paintings from the point of view of a house on an island in the Bay -- a house that stands no more on an island sunken by the Bay's rising waters.

Tomlinson, a multimedia artist, describes making the video using a "clay-painting technique." She explains that she wanted the piece of art to show her concern for climate change-induced rising sea levels that have already taken their toll on the islands in the Chesapeake Bay.

The artist tells the story of an oak tree that became the boards that a fisherman used to build his house on Holland Island. He lived there with his family for years until the ever-rising tides forced the abandonment of all the houses on the island.

The story is true -- the house did indeed collapse into the Bay in 2010. Read the fascinating story, including recent attempts to save the house, in the Washington Post.

Joy Bergey is PennFuture's federal policy director. She is based in Philadelphia and tweets @joybergey .

Sensible solutions for managing extreme weather

Millions of Americans who live along our coasts and rivers are at risk of personal harm from floods and hurricanes as are their properties and economic livelihoods. Sadly, our policies to deal with these threats are inadequate.

A recent report from the National Wildlife Federation details how we can use natural defenses to protect our communities and ecosystems from hurricanes and floods.

We can reduce our exposure to severe weather events and become more resilient by using natural approaches that rely on existing or restored natural systems (wetlands, dunes, barrier islands) to reduce risk by dissipating and attenuating waves and slowing inland water transfer. Nature-based approaches to reduce risk are designed to offer the same protections as natural systems but are man-made (engineered oyster reefs, shore lines, and dunes). This natural infrastructure offers equal or better flood and hurricane protection than built infrastructure such as levees while avoiding maintenance and construction costs.

In addition to these free or low–cost protections, natural infrastructure provides a host of other benefits including floodwater storage and habitat for wildlife as it reduces wave energy. In the Chesapeake Bay, every dollar spent on vegetative shoreline stabilization results in as much as $1.75 returned to the economy through improvements in ecological resources including aquatic vegetation, shellfish, and waterfowl.

Our current policies undervalue the importance of these natural protections and encourage development in coastal areas and floodplains. From 2004 through 2009, coastal watersheds of the lower 48 states lost 80,000 acres of wetlands per year. Further, roughly 66 percent of all natural riparian areas in the U.S have been lost or severely modified by human activities.

Fortunately, leaders at all levels of government have the chance to safeguard people and conserve nature through better policies. These include prioritizing natural infrastructure and investment in protecting or restoring nature; better planning and zoning; closing the loopholes in the Clean Water Act; and reducing our risks from extreme weather by reducing the carbon pollution that is causing climate disruption. These policies would provide many benefits beyond flood and hurricane protection, from wildlife and habitat conservation to taxpayer savings. A win-win-win.

Jen Quinn is central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg. She tweets @QuinnJen1.