The hottest months on record, and subsequent warming of the oceans, and melting ice caps and glaciers, are all contributing to sea level rise.
Looking at the miles of coastline in our counties, it seems obvious that over the next 25 years, sea level rise will swallow up many square miles of shoreline, and cause arable inland areas to become wetlands.

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science issues annual evaluations of the rate of sea level rise, depicted in the most recent report on a graph that accompanies this article. The annual report card can be found at this site: https://vims.edu/research/products/slrc.

VIMS further breaks down its report by locality, including Gloucester and Mathews counties. These provide a grim forecast for the future appearance and protection requirements for our shorelines. Here is a link to those reports: www.vims.edu/ccrm/research/climate_change/impacts/maps.

We’re not just vulnerable here because of our location, but also our population. The Earth’s heating up coincides with another major shift … an aging population. We see that here with a fast-growing population of retirees in Gloucester and Mathews counties.

Climate change has potentially dire consequences for the health and well-being of older adults. And, according to a paper published last week in Nature Communications, the number of older people regularly exposed to both chronic and acute heat will grow by about 200 million people worldwide by mid-century. And slow climate action in the present day may push that number much higher.

Summer is here, and as usual, the politicians of this nation are kicking around climate change like the political football it has become. It boggles our imaginations to know why this should be an issue that makes people take sides. Everyone should be working together to help turn the tide, so to speak. Fighting and trying to minimize the effects of climate change should involve everyone, from individuals, to corporations, to government at every level.

With each report that the past February, March, April, July, August, whatever, is the hottest on record, we should be working together to cool things down.

(Not, as in the fantasyland that is Florida, passing legislation that deletes most mention of climate change from state law. It’s not happening?)
Summer is here. Feel the heat.