R.I. senator says climate change could be devastating to Newport

Climate change already is at work in Rhode Island, according to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. - but it could get much worse, based on what he saw recently in Greenland.

As the Greenland ice cap melts away, "Newport's historic waterfront could be overwhelmed by its harbor," Whitehouse said.

Whitehouse said he became more concerned about the long-term threat of global warming to coastal communities such as Newport after he returned from the Greenland trip. He went there July 27-29 with nine other senators to see Greenland's massive ice cap, which holds about 10 percent of the world's supply of fresh water.

Whitehouse went to Greenland's Kangia glacier, which today is moving twice as fast as it did 20 years ago. Scientists attribute the acceleration and melting of the glacier to rising temperatures around the world.

John King, a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, said sea levels are expected to rise three to five feet by the year 2100. That is enough to wipe out the barrier beaches and salt ponds that the Rhode Island coast is known for, he said.

The Greenland glaciers have gone from being "cold-based," meaning they rest on an iced surface, to "water-based," meaning they float on water because of the increased temperature of the atmosphere, King said.

The water acts as a lubricant and the glacier flows faster - in glacial terms - to the ocean, where it breaks up into icebergs. The West Antarctica ice sheet also is breaking up, which also slowly is increasing sea levels.

The amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is expected to double by the end of the century if the U.S. continues to do little to stem them, and China, India and Brazil continue to develop without significantly cutting emissions, King said.

Sea levels could rise by 20 feet by about 2400, he said.

Scientists already are seeing small increases in ocean levels in Newport Harbor, Whitehouse said.

These increases are not yet noticeable to Newport officials familiar with the harbor. Harbormaster Tim Mills, Planning Director Paige Bronk and Bruce Bartlett, executive director of the city's Redevelopment Agency, do not contest the data. It's just too early to see noticeable rises, they said.

Bartlett said the flood plain in the harbor area would be the first to be affected by significant sea-level increases. He said it would take a very large increase to go beyond Thames Street, since most of Thames Street is 12 feet or more above sea level.

The flooding during the 1938 hurricane was a good indicator of which areas would be inundated first. For example, Bartlett said, Castle Hill became an island.

A large group of scientists from universities in the region and beyond released a "Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment" in October 2006. The scientists and independent experts projected climate changes in New England, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, based on current and climbing greenhouse gas levels.

"Carbon dioxide concentrations are now higher than at any time in more than 700,000 years," the report says.

The report portrays what the climate in the Northeast will be like unless people are able to reduce global emissions.

"By late in the century, most cities in the region are likely to experience more than 60 days with temperatures over 90 (degrees Fahrenheit), including 14 to 28 days with temperatures over 100," compared to one or two days per year historically, according to the report.

The report also addresses sea-level increases.

"It is possible, particularly under the higher-emissions scenario, that warming could reach a level during this century beyond which it would be no longer possible to avoid rapid ice sheet melting and a sea-level rise of more than 20 feet over the next few centuries," the report says in its executive summary.

"For the Ocean State, warmer temperatures and rising sea levels could mean disaster - our financial centers, tourist destinations and historic landmarks swept away and lost," Whitehouse said.

Not only would Newport's historic harbor be lost, but "downtown Providence would be inundated," and "coastal residential communities like Barrington completely submerged," the senator said.

Whitehouse said people need to see what is happening now. For example, he said, the earlier and earlier arrival of the spring bloom in Rhode Island is a documented phenomenon, indicating a trend of warmer temperatures throughout the region.

In addition, Narragansett Bay, the state's dominant ecological feature, is undergoing a significant ecosystem shift as the water temperature gradually warms.

Whitehouse said the bay's annual mean winter temperature has increased by about 4 degrees Fahrenheit during the past 20 years. Warmer temperatures in the summer can have profound effects, he said, such as the massive fish kill in Greenwich Bay in the summer of 2003.

Climate change projections by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have confirmed "sea levels could increase substantially in coming decades if emissions continue to rise at current levels, and nothing is done to curb global climate change."

For all these reasons, Whitehouse is a co-sponsor of the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act that calls for an 80 percent reduction from 1990 levels of global warming pollutants by 2050. The bill, drafted by Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is "the most aggressive and comprehensive solution now before the Senate to reduce greenhouse gasses across the nation," Whitehouse said.

As for claims that the economy will suffer if emissions are cut so drastically, King recommends that people read the British Climate Change Report of Sir Nicholas Stern, a former chief of the World Bank. This report says significant emissions reductions can be achieved with relatively little economic loss.

However, he said, the price will be much higher if nothing is done.

"The report estimates a 25 percent to 35 percent decrease in gross domestic product internationally by the end of the century due to climate change," King said.

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