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Hi, my name's Colin, and I live on West Shore Park, Walney Isle, just off the coast of Cumbria
West Shore Park's a delightful little seaside village arrangement for over-fifty years old's who appreciate
the quiet things in life
I've always adored the sea,
so you might think that living here would be pretty idealic, and so it would be if it weren't
for the quiet crisis that's happening just round the corner
Let's nip round the sea front and I'll show you something that's been keeping me, and a few other people,
awake at night quite a bit lately
Not bad eh?
this is Earnse Bay
and it's under attack
at first glance it's a gorgeous place to live
but if you look a little closer you might notice something pretty disturbing about the shore line
in early 2006...
almost three meters of land at the side of the road dropped straight into the sea
and nothing at all obvious was done about it
and gradually throughout the course of 2006
the roads concrete foundation became exposed as well
and of course they too began to fall into the sea broken drains and all
and still nothing was done
and this year, 2007
this little road will be expected to serve not only all the regular local visitors
but also several tens of thousands of additional visitiors to two major national events
an important round of the national kitesurfing championship
and the biannual Walney Air Show
will we still be able to access Earnse Bay this time next year?
at a guess I'd say no, it's not very likely
but compared to what most scientists reckon is going to happen world wide...
this isn't worth wasting sleep over
erosion has always happened
though it's not always been man-made as it is here
but add another two or three meters to the sea level
and it won't just be this road and these houses that are under water
it'll be a fair percentage of just about everybody's roads and houses
it makes you wonder doesn't it
King Canute couldn't turn the tide, and I've no reason to think that the next dozen or so
prime ministers will have any better luck
exactly what do you think it'd take to fix this sort of thing on a worldwide basis?
with sea leavels rising...
and erosion spiraling out of control, not only here on Earnse Bay
but in every low-lying area of the world
what chance has a lonely little voice such as mine have of being heard?
apart from going as green as you can and keeping your fingers crossed
I haven't a clue what's going to happen
all I know is that ignore it as they might
this kind of crisis isn't gonna go away