CRMC, URI to host climate change conference

When: June 17, 2008
Where: The Towers, Narragansett, Rhode Island
Hosted by: Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council and the URI Coastal Institute

June 16, 2008, WAKEFIELD – The RI Coastal Resources Management Council and University of Rhode Island Coastal Institute are hosting a day-long discussion on climate change and its effects on Rhode Island’s coastline with information that all coastal property owners need to know.

“Climate Change and Rhode Island’s Coast: Where Will Tomorrow’s Shoreline Be?” is on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Towers in Narragansett. The conference will be followed by a reception and a show, “It’s a Shore Thing: Coastal Cabaret” produced by Judith Swift of URI, at 5 p.m. Lunch is included in the registration, which is free. Seating is limited, so register today.

The day’s events will include discussions led by the CRMC, URI Graduate School of Oceanography, the state’s geologist, coastal town officials other respected environmental professionals. For more information, go to www.crmc.ri.gov.

Sponsors include The Nature Conservancy of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Sea Grant Program and the 2008 URI Honors Colloquium: People and Planet – Global Environmental Change.

Peter August, director of the URI Coastal Institute, will emcee the event, introduce speakers, and field questions from the floor. He will also make a few remarks on ecological impacts of global climate change and explain that the topic requires a whole conference on its own. Grover Fugate, executive director of the CRMC, will welcome participants at the start of the day and lay out the broad objective of the workshop – to review how climate change will impact RI’s coastal communities and how the CRMC is acting now to prepare for these changes. He will also carefully review emerging new CRMC policies and discuss how they will impact land owners in coastal communities.

Kate Moran, professor of oceanography and ocean engineering and associate dean of the URI Graduate School of Oceanography will review the science of climate change and discuss the latest available data that bears on causes of climate change and how climate change will manifest itself. She will also discuss various climate change projections for the future. Jon Boothroyd, professor of geosciences and the state geologist, will review the physical and geological changes that will occur on Rhode Island’s coast in the context of climate change. His remarks will be based on the many studies he and his students have done as well as more than 30 years of research and monitoring the state’s coastline. Janet Freedman, CRMC’s coastal geologist, will review the work the CRMC has done to ensure coastal zone policies reflect the anticipated changes under climate change.

South Kingstown Town Manager Stephen Alfred will explain how local municipalities are thinking about climate change issues and what planning and analyses they are doing now to prepare for the changes expected over the next decades. South Kingstown is an especially vulnerable community with a lot of coastline and considerable property at risk. Rich Horwitz, senior fellow of the Coastal Institute and a contractor for R.I. Department of Environmental Management who handles emergency response planning will provide a summary of the day’s discussions, and capture the critical messages of the day and the views that the audience brought to the discussion.

Judith Swift, professor of communications studies and professor of theatre at URI, will lead a lively and thought-provoking musical performance focusing on various contemporary issues in coastal zone management she developed with her colleagues. It is a show that puts invasive species, fishery declines, and sea level rise to song.