{"id":10170,"date":"2018-08-13T15:13:40","date_gmt":"2018-08-13T19:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=10170"},"modified":"2024-08-15T14:22:57","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T18:22:57","slug":"the-long-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/the-long-view\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long View"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
On June 14, Ben Cahoon, mayor of the Town of Nags Head on the Outer Banks, testified before a Congressional subcommittee in Washington, D.C. While the focus was offshore oil drilling, the discussion touched on climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At one point, U.S. Rep. Nanette Diaz Barrag\u00e1n, from California, posed a question to Cahoon: \u201cIs climate change something that you talk about in your city? Is this something that, when you guys talk about sea level rise, you guys make that connection?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the query surprised Cahoon, he answered right away. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a number of community forums, and we\u2019ve had community discussion about the issue \u2014 what the potential impacts will be,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, climate adaptation is official business in Nags Head. In 2015, the town launched a new project called FOCUS Nags Head<\/a>, an effort to overhaul its land use policies and ordinances. Last summer, the town completed the project\u2019s first phase: a comprehensive plan<\/a> that explicitly addresses climate change and sea level rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The new plan makes the town \u201cthe first in northeastern North Carolina to adopt some kind of policy on sea level rise,\u201d says Jessica Whitehead, Sea Grant\u2019s coastal communities hazards adaptation specialist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whitehead has witnessed first-hand Nags Head\u2019s commitment to coastal resilience. For the past three years, she has been part of a collaborative team that has been engaging the community in conversations about the town\u2019s unique vulnerabilities \u2014 and how to adapt to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe residents of the Outer Banks are extremely resilient to coastal storms, but they will continue to be exposed to sea level rise and climate change in the future,\u201d Whitehead says. \u201cSea Grant has extensive expertise at helping communities build on their resilience today and continue to adapt and improve that resilience for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nLiving on the Edge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n