Coastal infrastructureHelping coastal communities to visualize sea-level rise

As part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) initiative to encourage communities to become more aware of the effects of climate change, the agency has awarded Marin County, California a $150,000 grant to engage residents in climate change issues by allowing them to visualize the effects of sea level rise. According to city planners and climate change activists, the psychological distance from and lack of visuals of the effects of climate change are among the greatest barriers to action on climate change. The grant will pay for two sophisticated viewfinders programed to envision how the landscape will appear in projected sea level rise scenarios, as well as how the landscape appeared in the past. The twelve-week viewing period will begin after the devices, called “Owls,” are installed next spring at the Almonte entrance to the Mill Valley-Sausalito pathway.

“The interactive device is intended to capture the responses of viewers, and would also direct them to a Web site where they could get additional information about the individual and community actions to address flood risk associated with climate change,” said Ron Miska, Marin County assistant parks director. “The county and its project partners … anticipate reaching, motivating and obtaining input from thousands of individuals of all ages and walks of life through this project, which if successful, could be repeated elsewhere for similar purposes,” Miska added.

Project partners include Autodesk — the design software firm, Climate Access — a nonprofit aimed at educating people about climate issues, and Owlized, the designer of the Owls.

The Marin Independent Journal reports that during the project’s observation period, volunteers will ask passers-by to use the Owls, and their responses will be logged through audio recordings and a digital survey. Program supervisor Kate Sears expects thousands of people who regularly use the path to interact with the Owls and help start conversations about how the county should plan for sea level rise. “This is such an exciting way to learn about future sea-level rise,” Sears said. “I’m very curious to see how the community interacts with it, especially kids … I hope that the Owls will intrigue people and inspire action,” she added. The twelve-week observation period will be documented by Stanford University professor Susanne Moser as part of a social science study of the project.

Climate Access will administer the project and oversea Moser’s study, as well as facilitate a community forum on climate change and issue a final report.