[CINC] Sea Level Rise Conference/UCSB

[paul jr petrich]

Ocean and Sea Shore People,
  Today was the culminating event of this year's UCSB Critical Issues in America series. The topic was "Risk and Uncertainty and the Communication of Sea Level Rise." The 2 p.m. session, "Responding to the Unknowable and planning for the Future" featured Rear Admiral (ret.) Dr. David Titley, Former Deputy Under Secretary for Operations, NOAA and Dr. Kathryn Yusoff, from the Lancaster Environmental Center, Lancaster Univ.UK. 
 Rear Admiral Titley focused his talk on what NOAA is concerned most about, and what the Navy is most concerned about, in regard to climate change. All their mutual concerns relate to national security. His message:
 It is Not about Polar Bears! It is about you ( people )! 
It's All about Water, and the food and energy we get from it, or transport over it.
It is All about relative Change, compared to the past.     
Highlights of his discussion: We have had stability in regard to climate during the time  civilizations have developed, while prehistoric humans had immense climate instability. Now, we have to prepare for the advent of that immense climate instability again, and seek ways to mitigate it. He explained ways the US Navy is doing this- as well as NOAA. He said for the first time in over 500 years the Navies of the world face the reality of dealing with world politics and transport on a newly opened ocean ( the Arctic)! The US Coast Guard is already active in regions along our Alaskan north it never had to cover before.
In contrast, Dr. Yusoff highlighted the problems facing those excluded in the stories about climate change, describing it as  a need for "climate justice". Indigenous people and small low elevation island nations were not , in her mind, included enough in the Western thought about the whole issue. 
She made a strong case for the reality that our human imprint upon this planet is on par with all previous natural forces that shaped human livability on our planet.
The 3:30 session featured Paula Apsell, Senior Exec. Producer. NOVA and NOVA Science Now  and Dan Kahan, Professor of Psychology, Yale Univ. Their sub-topic was " Communicating Risk and Uncertainty." 
Paula did a great job on covering how NOVA has approached educating it's viewers about climate change since 1983. She showed how they kept up viewer ratings while not diluting the primary message, as some other channels did. NOVA never shied away from connecting the human factor in contributing to climate change. She said " That would have been like doing a documentary on lung cancer, without mentioning cigarettes."
Prof. Kahan, in contrast, convincingly showed how people of very different cultural and political outlooks can come together on facing very real local threats , but continue to deviate on on "cause and effect" explanations even while gaining more scientific knowledge. He emphasized getting contrary people politically and culturally together on local issues they see as real necessities in their local economic and cultural lives. For example, in Florida everyone has always been concerned about helping overcome the economic and personal devastation from hurricanes and salt intrusion into farm lands. So, local media efforts are effective if they focus on the aspects of climate change mitigation that everyone realizes will attack these increasing threats to comfortable living in Florida.
Morning sessions were not attended by yours truly, but we found out that Roberta Reyes Cordero, of the Coastal Chumash tribe, was a main presenter with a focus on !indigenous Communities and Climate Change, moderated by Georgiana Valoyce-Sanchez, Elder, Governing Council of the Barbareno Chumash Council.      For Your Interest, Paul Petrich and Tara Brown.
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