Good news for gondoliers

The Gallup poll showing increasing public skepticism about the climate change threat, which Holly blogs about below, does not bode well for Venice, California–unless you’re a gondolier.   A report was released yesterday, sponsored by several California agencies, giving more detail than ever before about the threats to California’s coast from rising sea levels.  Margot Roosevelt of the LA Times has a nice story about it here.

The visuals showing flooding of southern California’s Venice canals and associated neighborhoods are striking.  But I have confidence we’ll engineer a way to protect those tony homes.   Less clear–especially given that recent polling–is whether we’ll recognize the more significant threats to public health and public infrastructure in time to lessen harm in areas farther from the spotlight, including in low income communities.   Very un-sexy tasks, like figuring out how to protect or move the state’s many coastal sewage treatment plants and power plants, need to start winning attention.

Why does it seem the public is increasingly (and creepily) calm on this issue just as those most in the know are beginning to shout about the dual tracks we need to take to reduce emissions and prepare for the changes to come?  Is the skeptical public not hearing from the right messengers (move over Al Gore, make room for some PSAs from the firefighters and John McCain)?

Adaptation, California Climate Action Team, California coast, Climate Change, Environment, Gallup Poll, sea level rise, Venice California