People got “Fired Up” Watching “Shored Up”

Penny Hooper, NCIPL Executive Committee.

On Friday night, May 9, the movie “Shored Up” was shown at the Unitarian Coastal Fellowship in Morehead City to 40 people.

Afterwards, we discussed what we could do as coastal residents in the face of all the issues covered in the movie:  increased severe storms, sea level rise and demands by second home owners and developers for hardened shorelines, and more costly beach re-nourishment along our shores. These are part of our everyday coastal existence.

Several of the people in the audience decided to go before the Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) which met in Morehead City on May 15, to testify during the public comment period about our needs for increased action by the state government on climate change issues, specifically sea level rise. The Governor will be appointing a citizen panel following the CRC meeting to study the state’s response to inevitable future sea level rise.

We are asking to see true scientists who understand the problem appointed to this panel rather than climate change deniers and coastal developers who have large financial interest in maintaining the current unrealistic view of many of our elected officials on the problem of sea level rise.