President Obama has established the first national marine monument off the coast of New England, calling the conservation efforts of his administration a key step in making the oceans more resilient to climate change.
Speaking at the annual "Our Ocean Conference" in Washington last week, Obama also singled out Boston as being particularly vulnerable, saying that one in five homes in the port city could be at risk by the end of the century.
Boston is preparing to release its Climate Ready Boston report this fall, which includes a citywide vulnerabilities assessment and proposed resiliency strategies. Austin Blackmon, Boston's Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space, is spearheading the report. He says preparing Boston for the effects of climate change can be more difficult than meeting carbon emission goals.
"It's a bit of coordination challenge, right? You do have quite a few cities, municipalities, as well as stakeholders across the state, and potentially even the federal government that you have to coordinate with. And you're talking about making decisions that could cost billions of dollars."
Blackmon says that issues like rising sea levels, flooding, and extreme weather require a city-wide master planning effort - the city's first in 50 years.
This past June, a group of academics, business leaders, and city officials visited a series of European cities that are climate resilience leaders.
City Council President Michelle Wu was impressed by many of Amsterdam's initiatives: "It was everything from the very small - outside every home there was a little pocket garden to catch runoff so that water could be absorbed into the ground, little things that every resident can do - way up to the scale of the Maeslant Barrier."
Amsterdam's famed storm-surge barrier, constructed in 1997, has two arms that are each as long as the Eiffel Tower. They stay open so boats and ships can pass through, but an intricate computer system linked to weather and sea level data can float the doors to close the barrier.
Wu says Boston could learn from the scope of climate change planning she saw Europe.
"Amsterdam is dealing with water in a way that Boston will very realistically be dealing with in twenty to fifty years. What we need to do is expand our time horizon. We're planning out to 2030 here in Boston, which is our long-term plan...but in Amsterdam, they have a plan out to the year 2100."
But the reality is that few cities - or countries - change unless they're forced to out of necessity, or in reaction to a natural disaster.
When Hurricane Sandy tore through New York and New Jersey in 2012, it caused about $20 billion in damage. Since then, New York City has worked to change the way buildings are designed and constructed in case it faces another disaster of that magnitude.
Boston, on the other hand, has not been as careful about building along shorelines and in flood zones.
Blackmon says "South Boston and the Seaport, as well as the Four Point Channel are all areas where the vulnerability assessment of Climate Ready Boston has identified as real challenges to protect."
Despite this, development in the Seaport District is booming. General Electric decided to move its global headquarters there earlier this year.
Blackmon says Boston has been lucky so far, but that's no guarantee for the future - and the damage from a disaster like a hurricane could be catastrophic.
"The damage estimates in New York were staggering, and that's what we're looking at here in Boston as well. To kind of put it in perspective, we're expecting those estimates to be measured in the billions of dollars, not millions.
Blackmon says the city will release a new Climate Action Plan this fall. It will outline more strategies for preparedness. But what he wants to see is major institutions, the private sector, and residents pooling their efforts before any threats become imminent:
"It's always difficult to say what your actual goal is. You always want to be more and more prepared."
