BRACK: The climate is changing and we need to act

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  As a south Georgia boy growing up in the 1960s, we’d occasionally see armadillos and brown thrashers, the state bird.  Now that the climate is warming, the armadillos are marching north and are showing up in South Carolina yards.  And who knows where the brown thrasher is – it’s no longer found in Georgia.

Climate change is everywhere.  Ocean temperatures in Florida are being reported in the 90s, which seems unreal because air temperatures are cooler.  The Florida Keys and Caribbean islands are having more coral bleaching from overheated waters.  Blue land crabs, an invasive species in South Carolina, are coming out of burrow holes for higher land thanks to recent rains. And good gracious, the summers are hotter – just look at three weeks of 100+ degree days in Arizona – while the winters here generally have become milder.

“Climate change is a real threat that the state and communities have to take action on – both reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and adapting and becoming more resilient to current and future challenges,” said John Tynan, executive director of Conservation Voters for South Carolina. “We’re already seeing more intense weather events that lead to more extreme flooding. But the impacts can be seen more subtly too – changing growing seasons, changing wildlife migrations, more sunny day flooding.”

Camden lawyer Tom Mullikin, who chaired Gov. Henry McMaster’s state Floodwater Commission, is also worried about what’s happening across South Carolina and the world.  This month, he’s been hiking in the heat across the state with the SC7 expedition to raise awareness about what’s happening outside.

“I am concerned with the micro-manifestations of global climate change,” Mullikin said. “In South Carolina, those changes are mostly related to flooding, sea level rise, and associated coastal erosion and salt water intrusion.  The macro atmospheric issue of climate change is one that is being addressed by South Carolinians through reduction of our anthropogenic [human] interference.”

The folks at the S.C. Coastal Conservation League say climate change has become the defining issue of our lives.  So what can be done?

At the top of any list should be investing in the best-available science, said CCL spokesman Lily Abromeit.

“Our world is constantly changing, and we need the best and most up-to-date information to provide solutions for a dynamic environment,” she said. “From tidal gauges, groundwater monitoring and marsh migration mapping – we need to leverage science to inform how we adapt and respond to climate pressures, and put the funding mechanisms in place to achieve this goal.

Other important ideas for the state to move on:

Wetlands. Protect more isolated wetlands to serve as sponges for water and habitats, especially since federal courts stripped protections to favor developers, Abromiet said.

Cleaner energy.  Replace coal power plants with clean energy generators, such as solar and stored sources from wind, Tynan said.  Mullikin agreed, saying, “We need to invest in efforts to crack the code on advanced storage so that we can continue to move rapidly to sustainable energy.”

Boost efficiency.  “South Carolina ratepayers have some of the highest energy bills in the nation — most of which is due to not using energy efficiently,” Tynan said.

Conserve land and plant more trees.  “Each mature tree absorbs approximately 11,000 gallons of water annually,” Mullikin said. “These trees also sink 1 metric ton of carbon over the life of the tree.”

There’s a lot more that South Carolina leaders can do to keep its natural places special – and to show other areas of the world that it can be done.  But first, everyone in the legislature needs to make climate and conservation a top priority – and then get to work.  Let’s get to leading, legislature!

Andy Brack is an award-winning columnist who is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper.  Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.