We Sea Change: Climate Change in the
Cape Fear Region
By Dustin Chambers
Jessica Lama
Evan Lucas
Keela Sweeney
Mentor: Bryan Bishop
Aquarium Representative: Megan Ennes
North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher
900 Loggerhead Rd
Kure Beach, NC 28449
910-458-8257 x234
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Table of Contents
Problem Statement
Issue Components
Target Audience
Specific Action
Project Implementation
Budget
Milestones
Partners
Schedule
Community Buy-in
Works Cited
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Problem Statement:
The Cape Fear region on the coast of North Carolina will be impacted by
changes in climate due to its location and topography. The Cape Fear region is one of
the fastest growing regions in the country with Brunswick County listed as the 37th
fastest growing county in the Nation (Brunswick County Economic Development
Commission, 2007). Due to development, this area is at risk of flooding, shoreline
erosion, and storm damages. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, sea
levels on the East coast of the United States rose between .08-.12 inches a year in the
twentieth century (Environmental Protection Agency, 2009). The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change predicts that if the rate of ice melt and temperature rise
remains constant, the average global sea level will rise by 7.2 to 23.6 inches by 2100
(Environmental Protection Agency, 2009). As sea level rises, the beaches and barrier
islands of the Cape Fear region will disappear.
Sea level rise is not the only issue that will impact the Cape Fear Region.
Increased storm activity and intensity will also negatively impact the North Carolina
coast. The damage caused by storm activity will be exacerbated as sea levels
continue to rise and barrier islands disappear. Wetlands and barrier islands serve as
buffers from major storm events. As sea level rises and barrier islands migrate in
towards shore, that buffer will disappear. Without the barrier islands to slow storms
before they make landfall, the area will be impacted by stronger storms.
As the climate continues to change, many other aspects of the Cape Fear
region will be impacted including the economy and the environment. The Cape Fear
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region relies on tourism as the basis of its economy. As storm activity increases and
beaches begin to disappear, fewer tourists will want to visit the area.
Climate change is a very large issue and has many smaller issues associated with it.
Scientists believe that the best actions to decrease the impacts of climate change
must be proactive and not reactive. Among other proactive actions, healthy
ecosystems can help decrease the impacts associated with climate change. The EPA
recommends protecting key ecosystem features by decreasing human stressors and
restoring natural habitats (Baron, 2008, pp. 1-2).
Education is also key to offset the issues of climate change. By educating the
public on the causes of and the issues associated with climate change, we may be
able to decrease the severity of climate change. It is important to start educating the
public at a young age so that they do not develop the same habits that negatively
impacted our climate. It is also vital to give the public alternatives to current
lifestyles. The public wants to learn about solutions, not just the problem (Meyer,
2011).
Issue Components:
Due to changes in the climate, New Hanover County will see changes in the
ocean. Rising sea level puts us directly at risk for flooding and beach loss. The
following image shows areas of New Hanover County that are at risk of storm surge
from hurricanes. Many of New Hanover County’s best neighborhoods, schools, and
shopping areas are located within these areas. As sea level rises, these areas will be
at risk of higher storm surges and flooding.
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Figure 1: Hurricane Storm Surge Risk Area in New Hanover County (Hazard Analysis)
New Hanover County is also at Risk of losing its beaches as sea levels rise. The
following image shows beach front areas at risk of erosion.
Figure 2: Erosion Risk Areas in New Hanover County (Hazard Analysis)
The following image is a closer look at the erosion risk on Wrightsville Beach. It is
evident that the projected beach erosion will affect several homes and roads within
the Wrightsville Beach area.
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Figure 3: Erosion Risk on Wrightsville Beach (Hazard Analysis)
Since most of the beaches in New Hanover County are barrier islands they will be
impacted by changes in sea level.
Project Identification:
Our target audience includes students learning about climate change and the
general public audience at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. We hope to
create a video that will educate the community about the effects of climate change
through film while inspiring our regional neighbors to initiate climate-friendly actions
towards the environment. The Eco Club at Isaac Bear Early College will help create a
campaign to encourage our local students to take action against climate change.
The specific action we hope to accomplish with this project is to educate
others about the impacts humans have upon the natural cycle of climate change, and
how it affects our coastal environment. We also hope to help educate the public on
eco-friendly practices which will slow this process. We will host a premiere of our
video and raise money to help restore a local marsh or estuary by selling tickets to
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the premiere. Having healthy ecosystems is a great way to help offset the issues
associated with climate change.
We will also initiate a student movement to make a statement about climate
change. Two ideas are “Rock Your Ride” where students pledge to carpool and ride
the bus over a particular week or “The No Zone” where students pledge not to use
plastic bags or plastic bottles. This will give us community buy-in as well as a
measureable outcome.
The film itself is our greatest action we want to accomplish. This movie
will enable us to reach a much greater audience over a longer period of time. Even
when we are no longer students in Wilmington, teachers can use this film as a tool to
teach about climate change. To implement our project we will research experts in
the field of climatology to teach us about the impacts we could see in Wilmington. We
will next identify older residents to interview about changes they have seen in the
Cape Fear Region. Along with interviewing the older generations, we will also
interview local school children to learn how they believe they can offset climate
change. These students will range from elementary school students to high school.
Using the knowledge gained from interviews, we hope to be able to make our video as
accurate as it can be.
When the film is finished, we want to distribute it as economically and ecofriendly as possible. To achieve this, we will host the video on iTunes U. This also
allows our local schools can use the video as a part of their curriculum. We will also
meet with a local documentary company called Working Films to learn how to create
a better film.
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Once the video is completed, we will host a premiere party at the aquarium.
We will show the video and have a panel of speakers for a discussion following the
film. The speakers will include professors from the University of North Carolina
Wilmington, the Army Corps of Engineers, and several others. The money raised
through ticket sales will be donated to help restore a local marsh or estuary.
While we are working on the video, our aquarium representative will be
working on a curriculum to supplement the video. This is her portion of the project
that she has to complete for school. The curriculum will be high school level activities
that focus on climate. This will broaden the impact which our film will have upon the
widespread community. It will also make it easier for teachers to educate their
students about the growing problem of climate change.
Our budget is $1000 that we received from the Mid-Atlantic Marine Educators
Association. That money was used to purchase our video camera and memory cards.
We also received $500 from Coastal America that we have used to fund our field trips.
Our community members, such as Wilmington Water Tours, have been nice enough to
give us discounted rates.
Our major milestones in this project will be the fieldtrips we need to take to
learn about climate change, finishing our 3 minute video along with traveling to DC,
and our final movie premiere and student pledge.
Our partners will include the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher who has
been kind enough to arrange all of our fieldtrips and transportation. The Mid-Atlantic
Marine Educators Association funded our camera. The University of North Carolina
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Wilmington supplied most of our experts. Wilmington Water Tours took us up the Cape
Fear River. Working Films met with us to help us make a better film. Not to be
forgotten is Coastal America who made this whole project possible.
Our schedule looks like this:
Aug
Approach Partners
Fieldtrips
Students
Create Climate
Change Script
Students Record
Information on
Climate Change
Identify and
Conduct Interviews
With Locals
Interview Schools
on Climate Change
Solutions
Finalize Film
Student Summit
Create Curriculum
to Supplement Film
Movie Premiere
and Student Pledge
Case Study
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
April
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Our community buy-in will consist of students becoming involved in more
climate friendly behavior. We will also see community buy-in from schools that use
our video as a teaching tool. A local non-profit documentary company, Working Films,
has already asked to host our film on their website. They want to have more of a local
showing on their site. The aquarium will also use the video in their regular video
rotation. Hopefully we can get a movement started to get people to use less plastic in
our community, and therefore make a positive impact on the growing issue of climate
change in our community.
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Works Cited
(2007). Retrieved August 28, 2010, from Brunswick County Economic Development
Commission: Economic Development Commission
Baron, J. e. (2008). Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive \
Ecosystems and Resources. U.S. Environmenal Protection Agency.
Environmental Protection Agency. (2009, November 5). Sea Level Changes. Retrieved \
August 10, 2010, from Climate Change Science:
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/recentslc.html
Hazard Analysis. (n.d.). Retrieved 1 30, 2011, from New Hanover County Vulerability
Assessment: http://www.csc.noaa.gov/products/nchaz/htm/case2.htm
Meyer, D. (2011, January 12). Ocean Project Market Research .