In our previous article we focused on the threats that come with sea level rise. Now, we’re going to focus specifically on the threats to marshlands, and the ecosystem services they provide, from sea level rise.
Hi! I’m your friend, the marshlands. You can call me Marsha.
I’m hard at work, every day, all the time, working for you.
I make oxygen, and clean the air.
I keep the temperature nice and mellow here in the Bay.
I filter and clean the water, even water from waste treatment plants.
When storms surge or high tides come, I soak up the extra.
I capture more carbon than a rainforest, and I do it all naturally, for free!
I’m Marsha, your marshlands.
I can even deal with sea level rise.
Normally, the tides flow in and out of the marshes and all is well. But with sea level rise, the plants in the marshes do not get enough oxygen and they literally drown. We can survive sea level rise by migrating gradually up shore. All I need to migrate is space, wide open space, to grow into, to keep the rising sea level from drowning me. But, more and more buildings are being proposed, and they’ll take up more and more of my marshlands, which I need to survive.
We’re proud the Bay Area is such a great place to live and work. Cities and companies and developers want to build more and more. If we allow the shorelines to get sold to the highest bidder, then the whole shoreline will just be buildings right up against seawalls. Then I, Marsha, would get squeezed out and our living wetlands would ultimately drown with nowhere to go. And the Bay would simply become a kind of a bathtub of rock walls around a sloshing, smelly body of dead water.
Building directly onto the shoreline is unsustainable. Raising the foundation of a building may keep it above water, but what about the roads to the building, the water, the sewage and electrical systems. All those support systems are also at risk of being submerged. Companies don’t last forever. As the water rises, eventually, the owner will leave it as a loss, and taxpayers will be left with the cost of protecting the building, or cleaning it up, or even removing it, as well as all of its support systems. Not building on the shoreline in the first place will save billions of dollars in the long run.
With sea level rise creeping up behind me, and new buildings on the shoreline built closer and closer, I’m really starting to feel the squeeze. Once our living wetlands are gone, drowned, and squeezed out, they are gone for good. And their benefits for all of us, will also be gone. So tell your local leadership, do not build on the existing shoreline. Build inland, closer to transit and amenities. It’s better for both residents and ecosystems. Undeveloped shoreline should be reserved for wetlands to migrate into as sea waters rise.
Join the Sierra Club’s Bay Alive Campaign to help our wetlands survive and even thrive to keep our Bay alive in spite of sea level rise.