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Hello, my name is Chris Watson. I'm a researcher with the University of Massachusetts Boston
School for the Environment. My research focuses on sea level rise and
coastal flooding. I work with educators and advocates, and also with urban developers
and waterfront building owners concerned with how climate change and rising sea levels are
going impact the future. I'm going to provide a presentation divided
into three distinct segment, all based on two projects that I co-developed for The Boston
Harbor Association with my colleagues Ellen Douglas from UMass Boston School for the Environment
and Paul Kirshen from the University of New Hampshire. The first project was for the 2010
Boston Harbor Association Sea Level Rise Forum, where we developed a presentation called "Sea
Level Rise and Coastal Flooding due to Climate Change." The proceedings of that forum are
available on the web at tbha.org/slr. The second project was the 2013 TBHA Preparing
for the Rising Tide report, also available on the web at the TBHA web site.
In the first segment of my presentation I'm going to first focus on climate change science
and some misconceptions about climate change. My second segment will cover climate change
at the local level here in Boston. We'll examine diagrams that address key concepts regarding
how tides, storm surges and sea level rise interconnect and present our projections for
sea level rise in Boston through the end of the century.
In my third and final segment, I'll present some basic steps we can take to prepare for
future sea levels, locally and globally, to accommodate what the science indicates will
come to pass at some point in our future.