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Rising sea levels, an ocean growing more acidic, a warming climate and rising ocean temperatures could combine to threaten the future of the state's economy, said officials from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that promotes responsible energy choices. The group is funded through foundations and private donors.
Melissa Meehan, the organization's Southeast coastal coordinator, urged a small group at the Coastal Discovery Museum on Tuesday to find ways to cut back on personal energy consumption, promote clean energy initiatives and lobby government representatives to move global warming to forefront in legislative agendas.
"The most expensive thing we can do is nothing," said Meehan, who studied at Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment. "Scientists are screaming that we have about a 10-year window to start fixing this problem, and it's time that everyone take notice."
Video: "Treasured Places" is an educational film produced by the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy that explores the potential impacts of global warming in South Carolina, from the Lowcountry to the Upstate. The film is the third documentary in the non profit's film series, "Treasured Places in Peril: Global Warming Impacts on the Southeast"
Meehan also addressed the Hilton Head Island Audubon Society on Tuesday, and is scheduled to give presentations today at Hilton Head Island High School, Callawassie Island Ecology Club and at Beaufort High School.
Her organization's goal is to raise public awareness of the threat global warming poses, and push legislation that places a cap on U.S. greenhouse emissions.
Over the past few years, the issue has escalated in importance among policy issues and captured the attention of South Carolina's top environmental officials, local and national scientists and municipal leaders.
By the year 2100, scientists predict sea levels will rise nearly 2 feet, jeopardizing coastal structures and economies around the world. That also could lead to a loss of marshes -- the natural buffers that protect against storm surges -- raise the likelihood of flooding in coastal areas and destroy essential marine wildlife habitat
Projected climate changes could lead to rising ocean temperatures, fueling more active and severe storms in coastal areas, scientists say. Elsewhere, rising global temperatures could lead to more severe droughts.
An increase in carbon emissions from fuel consumption and burning fossil fuels for energy is causing the world's oceans to become more acidic, threatening marine life, including shrimp, crabs, oysters and other crustaceans that have calcium-based shells, Meehan said.
"There is no debate on ocean acidity changes," she said. "It's straight chemistry."
The good news, she said, is that South Carolina is ahead of the curve.
The state is a leader in hydrogen-based energy research, which, if proven viable, may decrease the use of carbon-emitting fossil fuel burning.
Earlier this year, Gov. Mark Sanford organized a Climate, Energy and Commerce Committee, a group tasked with reviewing possible climate change impacts and developing strategies to address those changes.
A group of South Carolina mayors, including Joseph Riley in Charleston and Robert Coble in Columbia, signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, in which cities commit to meet the Kyoto Protocol targets and urge state and federal governments to enact policies to decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
"We've got a good start," Meehan told the Hilton Head group. "But we need more coastal voices speaking out for change."
