Sea Level Rise Expert Spotlight:
Megan Desrosiers
Executive Director of One Hundred Miles discusses why sea level rise is an important community-wide topic, how far-reaching the effects of sea level rise are felt, and the strategies being implemented in Georgia.
Megan Desrosiers is the co-founder and Executive Director of One Hundred Miles. She is one of SeaLevelRise.org’s experts for Georgia, where she is valued for her vast experience working in local communities and on regional collaboration projects.
One Hundred Miles is an organization with the mission to preserve, protect, and enhance Georgia’s 100-mile coast and elevate it as a recognized place of historical, cultural, and biological significance. Prior to the founding of One Hundred Miles, Desrosiers was Assistant Director of the Coastal Conservation League and spent 10 years at the Coastal Conservation League in South Carolina, where she was instrumental in efforts to conserve land in the Ashley River Historic Corridor and on Johns Island.
+ Why do you believe sea level rise is an important topic for communities and policy makers to pay attention to now?
Our seas are rising. We may not notice it every day, but as a resident of a coastal community, we are noticing it more frequently every year.
As flooding becomes a more regular occurrence, whether from a storm or a high tide, we will be inconvenienced at best and devastated at worst. Data show that as seas rise, more regular events will become more extreme. Our lives will change. We must recognize this fact and work now to mitigate the future impacts. Now is the time to share that knowledge with our elected officials and others who make important community decisions to ensure that those decisions are well-informed and responsible.
+ What’s one thing that would surprise people about sea level rise and coastal flooding?
I think when people think about sea level rise, they imagine landlocked property becoming oceanfront overnight. Most people are surprised to learn that sea level rise is sneaking up on us. I also think they are also surprised to realize that sea level rise will not just affect those people living on the coast. It will affect people living on the mainland in low-lying areas; it will affect our drinking water supply; it will affect our sewer infrastructure and our road system; it will affect the resources that we all rely on a daily basis.
+ Can you share an example of how sea level rise impacts (or will impact) your state?
Sea level rise affects us in so many different ways — from our roads to our sewer and water infrastructure to our drinking water supply to our public and private property to our wildlife habitat. Coastal Georgia’s economy relies on the ability of a workforce to safely exist in their homes, enjoy a good quality of life, and be able to reliably get to work. Already, we are seeing work days missed due to the inability of certain communities to access flooded routes to work. We are seeing saltwater intrusion into our drinking water supply. And we are seeing homeowners inundated with floodwaters on sunny days.
+ How are you helping to educate/advocate the public about the urgency of sea level rise?
I run a coastal conservation organization focused on citizen engagement, education, and advocacy. As Georgia’s coastal communities grow, we work to ensure that plans to accommodate population growth incorporate data and include solutions for mitigating the impacts of sea level rise. We lobby local and state governments, offer educational programming, and highlight communities and businesses who are taking steps to protect themselves from the impacts of rising seas.
+ What adaptation measures, solutions, or initiatives to protect against sea level rise are you most excited or passionate about?
Georgia has 14 barrier islands and only four are developed. While the 10 undeveloped islands exist in various stages of conservation and ownership, in their undeveloped state, they offer a tremendous resource as we think about how to adapt. Researchers and practitioners in Georgia are working hard on all 14 islands to develop strategies to stabilize our shoreline and protect private property with a combination of soft, ecologically-friendly techniques and more traditional, hard technologies.
Every community will require a different strategy, but I believe that our protected landscape puts Georgia in a position to lead in research and conversations about the utilization of soft and hard techniques to protect property from rising seas.
+ How at risk is your house to flooding and sea level rise?
We live on a peninsula in Brunswick Georgia. We are 800 feet from the water. Our property is on a high piece of land, but projections show that in 100 years we could be living on an island.
