An In-Depth Look at Sea Level Rise in the San Francisco Bay Area

John King writes of a profound challenge facing the San Francisco Bay Area: "to accommodate the bay’s impending expansion as it rises because of our warming planet."

An abundance of scientific studies says the bay’s average tide could climb several feet or more by 2100, with most change coming in the decades after 2050. It’s an inexorable shift that threatens low-lying neighborhoods as well as the fish, birds and wildlife that need tidal flats to survive.

After an aperture that tends toward the dire, King sounds a note of optimism: the Bay Area is presented with a window of time to prepare for the effects of climate change. Moreover, there are already success stories that exemplify the larger project facing the Bay Area. A concern emerging from those success stories, however, is how many years of planning, review, and construction required to deliver their benefits. To create the additional wetlands necessary to "absorb the worst impacts of sea-level rise later this century," according to King, "the Bay Area must overcome a protective mind-set that values time-consuming review processes above all else."

The political work King prescribes will have to take place at the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, created in 1965 for a different era of environmental and conservation concerns. The commission has taken steps, as recently as May of this year, but King notes how that effort still falls short of changing existing regulations.

The article is a long read, with a whole package of infographics, beautiful photography, and videos. The San Francisco Chronicle promises more coverage from King on the challenges of sea level rise, including the perils facing the city’s crumbling Embarcadero, the potential rebirth of the South Bay’s salt marshes and the creation of a small city on man-made Treasure Island. If the first article is any indicator, expect more thoughtful dialogue between the necessary steps to prepare the Bay Area for sea level rise and the forces that must be overcome, some human and some environmental, in the process.