 Aloha, I'm Kirsten Baumgart-Turner and this is Sustainable Hawaii, streaming live every Tuesday at noon at ThinkTechHawaii.com. Today I'm going to talk about the impacts of sea-level rise on two specific places, Barbados and Oahu, and one specific event which I experienced first-hand. All reputable scientists, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, say that sea-level rise is endangering coastal communities, where 40% of the world's population lives. According to the UN Environment Program, sea-level rise in small island nations is up to four times the global average and costs trillions of dollars in annual economic loss. The 52 small island developing states, or SIDS, are home to over 62 million people. These islands emit less than 1% of global greenhouse gases, yet they suffer disproportionate likely from the climate change caused by global emissions. The UN Environment Program's SIDS foresight report identifies climate change-related sea-level rise as the chief concern for the environmental resilience and sustainable development prospects of small island developing states. These islands' vulnerability to climate change and sea-level rise is magnified due to their relatively small land masses, population concentrations and high dependence on coastal ecosystems for food, livelihood, security and protection against extreme events. The UN report warns that the magnitude and frequency of many weather and climate-related hazards will increase as climate warming accelerates, especially in small islands. Unless green economy approaches and policy options are put into action, this will lead to disproportionate and compounded climate change impacts, which will adversely affect multiple sectors, from tourism, agriculture and fisheries, to energy, fresh water, health and infrastructure. Last December, I had the privilege of visiting Barbados, a major English-speaking Caribbean island tourist destination and former British colony. A 2010 UN Development Program study co-produced by Oxford University suggests that just for the 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean nations, which make up the caracom regional grouping shown here in this map, the cost of the damage and necessary rebuilding caused by sea-level rise could reach a staggering 187 billion by 2080 just in these nations. The same study in the English-speaking nations. The same study states that with the sea-level rise of one meter, which is now regarded as highly likely by the end of the century, the region would see at least 149 multimillion-dollar tourism resorts damaged or lost, and would also see loss or damage of 21 of the caracom airports and the inundation of land surrounding 35 of the region's 44 ports. Erosions associated with a two-meter sea-level rise would result in 60 percent of the entire Caribbean coastal resorts being at risk. Importantly, the beach assets so critical to tourism would be affected much earlier than the erosion damages to tourism infrastructure affecting property values and the competitiveness of many destinations. Tourism in Barbados is the main economic driver. Half a million people each year visit this tiny island that you see here in the map, which is just 21 miles long and 14 miles wide, and hosts a population of 285,000 plus more than half a million visitors each year. The UNDP study estimated the sea-level rise impacts on Barbados alone would be dominated by losses to tourism, amounting to between 283 million and 368 million in 2050, not that far off, both through rebuilding costs of resorts like this one in Bridgetown, and loss of amenities. This study, however, like many others, greatly underestimates the full impacts of climate change in small island nations like Barbados, where low-lying land is extensive and is therefore more exposed to the impacts of sea-level rise and storm surge. Condominiums include damage to agriculture, industry and infrastructure, as well as saltwater intrusion into groundwater reservoirs. The following photos I took in Barbados in December 2015 show much more than 368 million in damage and rebuilding costs. There are scores of condominiums, hotels, resorts and homes that have been shuttered and abandoned already due to sea-level rise. In this abandoned resort, you can see where the sea has washed up into the swimming pool. Actually, that's the last photo where you could see the sea going into the pool. And then the next photo, you can see an abandoned condominium. The following photos show all the derelict condos, hotels, boutique hotels that dot the beachfront in St. Michael's Parish, one of the island's most popular areas. Here you can see the wave-damaged buildings and eroded walls. It's been quite a while that these waves have been hitting, as you can see. In this slide, you can see how the sea-level has swallowed the beachfront entirely up to the road that navigates the island in this upcoming slide. The road goes right up there, forcing people to abandon and sell their properties if possible. You can see this from the roadside, but the beach is hitting this right on the other side. In 2006, the Barbados government, with help from the Inter-American Development Bank, launched the 24 million coastal infrastructure improvement project as a way to save access to the sea front and valuable tourism in the area. A boardwalk opened in 2012, which you'll see in this slide, that was designed to provide property protection against storm waves and high-energy events and preserve continuous public access along the shoreline. You can see this boardwalk has no natural shoreline left. And this resort is shuttered despite the boardwalk that was built there. The Barbados boardwalk is not dissimilar to the Waikiki beach improvements made over the years. Hawaii scientists, economists, and policy makers share similar concerns about compounded climate change impacts on our island state that adversely affect multiple sectors, from tourism, agriculture, and fisheries, to energy, freshwater, health, and infrastructure. Indeed, a highly-quoted 2013 study, co-led by Giorgio Spada, a professor of earth physics at the University of Urbino in Italy, and reported in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, states that as global sea levels rise, Hawaii will suffer the most. Under the study's high-end model, the rate of sea-level change in Honolulu will exceed three-tenths of an inch every year during the second half of this century. University of Hawaii's own Dr. Chip Flatcher tells us the rate of sea-level rise today in Hawaii is much less at about 1.5 millimeters per year due to a phenomenon called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, which for now is pushing the Pacific Ocean surface westward. He reminds us, however, that this effect may not last. Indeed, as Senator Gabbard and Representative Yomani pointed up in their Honolulu Advertisers Editorial this March, over the past 30 years, as temperatures have risen, our beloved trade wind days have declined by 28 percent, from an average of 291 trade wind days in 1973 to only 210 in 2009. Dr. Flatcher reminded us that, overall, the 2013 study is one more twig in the bundle of concerns that low-lying coastal cities, and especially Pacific Islands, are highly vulnerable to this problem of sea-level rise. Last year, Dr. Flatcher was my guest on this show. He told us that over 70 percent of the beaches on Oahu are chronically eroding, and almost 90 percent of Maui beaches are eroding. This is due mainly to sea-level rise, sand availability, and human interference in sand availability. We humans make sand less available when we build seawalls, jetties, and other artificial defenses that impede the sand's natural back-and-forth migration. Rather than protecting the on-shiller, built environment, Dr. Flatcher and others advise we move our built infrastructures, including our roads, further back from the sea. In order to protect our vital natural beach and wetland resources from further erosion. Here are some photos that I took from my kayak late last August in 2015, demonstrating the beach erosion in front of Oahu's north shore houses. You can see the huge cutaway in the beach here. And the seawalls in the next slide erected to protect the homes. More protection with plywood, but here are those seawalls where you can see the original walls had to be further fortified with the addition of large rocks in the next slide. And in the next one you can see concrete poured in front of the walls. One more. See the concrete that's further down. And now let me show you some of the further beach loss. Well, this is the seawall after the big waves hit on the north shore. So I'm going to show you some of the further beach loss here after the monster waves that the north shore experienced this winter. This is, you can see the big difference now with the beach loss that occurred here. Weeks of high surf in January and early February culminated in the worst damage ever to many north shore seafront homes. The sea in Kaya Hulu Bay at Mokule'ia in this next slide was like an overflowing bathtub. Let's go back one. In this first slide you can see the way Camp Mokule'ia looked before the big waves. This was actually taken several years ago when there was a wide calm beach. Now the next slide you'll see the overflowing bathtub this winter with higher sea levels and an El Nino weather effect that has been the strongest ever. Phenomenal if you can see how high the sea level is here. With higher sea levels the El Nino weather effect that has been the strongest ever recorded this slide also shows a wide calm beach that's turned into a bathtub effect. And this is what it looked like when the big waves started to hit. You can see waves hitting the seawall in the usually placid bay and the iconic reef that extends in a perpendicular arch from the beach is completely submerged. Now here the constant wave break over the seawall has made a series of sinkholes marked by orange cones along the Malka side of the wall. Then on February 26th and 23rd as you can see in this slide an unusual combination of waves and strong currents and strong winds simultaneously coming from the northwest along with a full moon high tide pounded the coastline from Sunset Beach to Ga'ana Point causing flooding and severe erosion. Haleiva Beach Park, Alii Beach Park, Waimea Bay Beach Park and Ga'ana Point were closed as waves run up flooded parking areas on Monday the 23rd. That day up to 70 foot faces that that's high enough to cover the White House washed over Kamehameha and Farrington Highways. The waves also breached the Camp Mokalea seawall and look out in these last slides that you just saw on the front yard of the Camp Mokalea Executive Director's House. Maybe we can pull that up again. On the left is the Executive Director's House and you can see on the right the cabins that were threatened. We're going to go to a commercial and we'll be right back to show you the rest of these amazing monstrous North Shore wave events. Aloha! Big Jackal! University of Hawaii football team under Rolovich is going to kick butt this season. In case you didn't understand me, University of Hawaii football team is going to kick butt under Rolovich this season. So be sure to follow us on Think Tech Hawaii and Iwachi Top. I'll be at every game. And remember, alooha! Aloha everyone. I'm Mari Ameda and I'm here to invite you to my bilingual show Viva Hawaii on Think Tech Hawaii every other Monday at 3pm. We are here to talk about news, issues and events local and around the world. Join me. Aloha! Aloha! This is Reg Baker with Business in Hawaii. We're a show that broadcasts every Thursday at 2 o'clock. We would love to hear from you and you can reach us in several different ways. We have a hotline that you can call in at 415-871-2474 or you can email us at thinktechhawaii.com or you can tweet us at thinktechhi. Looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you on our next show. Aloha! Aloha! I'm Shantel Seville, host of the Savvy Chick Show on Think Tech Hawaii. Now we are on a mission to help young women and girls achieve their dreams and looking forward to sharing with you one episode a month where young women or girl will share her dream or ultimate goal with you and hope that we can all get together behind her to achieve that goal. Look forward to seeing you there. Aloha! I'm Richard Emory, host of Condo Insider, a weekly Thursday show at 3 o'clock. It goes all summer long talking about issues living in a condo association. Each week we bring experts to talk about the rights and obligations of owners and boards of directors to successfully run their condominium. It's a great educational show, answers a lot of questions. We hope you'll visit us sometime. Aloha! We're back with Sustainable Hawaii talking about the monstrous sea level this year with the waves that we had on the North Shore. And we're going to pull up that slide again of Camp Mokule'ia with the sea levels so high, waves also breach these sea walls fronting the camp cabins, lodge, chapel and dining hall. Notice the phenomenally high water level even with the sea wall which usually rises 6 to 8 feet above the beach. It's almost level. And the executive director's house where I happen to live was saved because the camp executive director, my husband, along with the camp facilities maintenance manager, our awesome camp chef and security guard jumped into action. Between wavesets they and some helpful volunteers including Wailua, friends, family and soccer team built a huge shield over the house. We can see the house here with the shield. This is the beginning of working between those waves that soften the waves blows and enable the water to wash back into the sea. Pretty ingenious last minute invention by our facilities manager and executive director at camp. More than 50 foot high waves hit again on February 25th the day of the Eddie I. Cow surf event. But we were ready this time. In this slide you can see the incredibly well engineered dome that protected during the Eddie I. Cow wave. So while everyone else was enjoying surfing we were standing back watching them roll back off the house and also back from the berm that was created. So all these folks and their families turned out to keep the beach house and all of the cabins from sliding into the sea. As I mentioned with additional help from Wailua high school soccer team we built a huge protective berm covered it with plastic so the wave water would flow back into the sea and waved it down with over 1,000 sandbags filled by our cadre of volunteers. So while everyone was focused on the Eddie I. Cow again we were safe and sound knowing that the camp was protected. Our efforts paid off and there was no further damage to the camp. While the facilities were not damaged however the camp sea walls including the front of the executive director's house require a great deal of repairs as you'll see in this next slide. These repairs unfortunately as in many cases around the island insurance does not cover sea walls or sea front repairs which have been estimated to be more than one million dollars. Camp Mokolia like many other beachfront facilities wants to keep its doors open for the numerous church schools community organizations and families that enjoy it. Herein lies the crux of the problem for all facilities on Oahu that are on the shore like those in New Orleans who live below sea level and Easterners who want to continue to enjoy their Jersey shore homes and boardwalks. We want to maintain our beaches, parks and homes situated on our shores. But the sea level is continuing to rise and so are the costs of maintaining our shoreline existence. In 2012 a joint public-private partnership headed by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources spent 2.2 million dollars on beach replenishment at Waikiki. As you can see here Waikiki is already built very close to the beach and it's been experiencing encroachment for years. Approximately 24,000 cubic yards of sand was placed along a section of beach with the goal of increasing the width by an average of 37 feet. The sand was recovered from deposits located approximately 2,000 feet offshore. The University of Hawaii Coastal Geology Group's 2013 replenishment monitoring and history of engineering interim reports stated one year following replenishment survey data confirmed a net volume beach loss of 6,270 cubic yards or 27%. This slide that you're about to see demonstrates severe beach loss in Waikiki. A UH study that appeared in the September 2013 issue of the journal Global and Planetary Change showed that sea level rise is an important factor in historic shoreline change in Hawaii and that historical rates of shoreline change are about two orders of magnitude greater than sea level rise. A 2014 memorandum of agreement between the DLNR and the University of Hawaii to provide data and technical support regarding sea level rise states quote, unfortunately sandy beaches in Hawaii have been lost at an alarming rate due to natural processes as well as poor management practices including the construction of shoreline armoring, i.e. sea walls, sand mining, the destruction of coastal sand dunes, the inferred impacts of sea level rise, and imprudent siting of structures in close proximity to eroding shores, unquote. It does go on to say however that scientific data on sea level change indicates that global sea level is rising and the rate of rise is accelerating and is expected to increase this century. This slide shows a huge portion of Waikiki would be underwater with the expected three foot sea level rise to occur within just 100 years. That is probably within my grandchildren's lifetime. In 2014, Act 83 was passed, establishing the Interagency Climate Adaptation Committee, the ICAC, with representatives from the University of Hawaii and more than a dozen state and county agencies. In 2015, the DLNR launched the Hawaii Climate Adaptation Portal, a website with a wealth of information about climate change impacts on Hawaii and all things related to the new committee. Sam Lemo, the administrator of the DLNR Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands and co-chair of the committee said, the impacts of climate change are far reaching and will have dramatic effect on Hawaii's economy, their health, our health, environment, and way of life. These impacts are all related and it's important that we consider them all as we prepare adaptation strategies. I'd like to take note here of the Hawaii Climate Change Adaptation Portal website. I urge you to go to this website and become informed about this growing issue and I hope you will join me next week, Tuesday at noon when Honolulu Planning Director George Ata will discuss how the city and county is addressing the impacts of sea level rise. Mahalo for your time and aloha. Thank you.