Opinion: Protect Bay Area shorelines for future generations

Climate crisis is washing away integral piece of our California life.

I grew up in the Bay Area, and our state’s golden coasts, beaches and cliffs were a pillar of my upbringing. However, at the same time that I kayaked in the bay, built sandcastles on the beach and enjoyed local seafood, I also witnessed wildfires that washed toxins into our ocean, rising seas that threatened cities like mine, and intense flooding paired with extreme drought.

It’s clear the climate crisis is washing away an integral piece of our California life. Sea level rise, coastal flooding and erosion pose major threats to our state — where nearly 85% of people live and work in coastal counties such as San Francisco.

Left unchecked, the climate crisis jeopardizes our health, homes, safety and economy. In San Francisco alone, for example, sea levels are projected to rise up to 55 inches by the end of the century. This increase could put nearly half a million people at risk of flooding and threaten $100 billion in property and infrastructure. Bayside restaurants and businesses already struggling to reopen are at risk of flooding because most are not designed to weather rising waters.

As we face immense threats to our future, Congress has an opportunity to invest in the restoration and protection of our natural infrastructure — our wetlands, salt marshes and shorelines — to boost coastal resilience against those rising seas and storms. Currently, there’s a proposal to invest $10 billion in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration coastal restoration projects that has bipartisan support and the endorsement of more than 110 leading environmental groups.

Many restoration projects are ready to be started if funding was available. In California, these projects include building living shorelines to protect coastal communities and wetlands, and restoring fish habitats for improved recreation. The Hamilton Wetlands and Bel Marin Keys project, for example, would restore the Bay Area coastline by creating new wetlands and habitats for wildlife while improving flood protection in the San Francisco Bay. This project and other shoreline projects around San Francisco Bay will offer buffers for coastal homes and businesses from rising seas.

Restoring our coastline is a critical and economically beneficial long-term investment that we must make now rather than waiting to pay for the costs of inaction when it’s too late. Compared to everything California stands to lose, a modest investment from Congress for coastal resilience can help us confront the climate crisis we are living through to protect our economy and our future.

As a 17-year-old student who will be voting in the next election, I and other young people cannot afford to wait for ocean climate action. While the burden of the climate crisis often falls into the hands of young people, we need our political leaders to stand with us and create policy change. I hope that someday my children will also have the chance to paddle the bay and play on the beach as I did. This coastal resilience funding is an investment in generations of Californians to come.

For years, youth climate activists, including myself, have called on elected officials to take ocean climate action, and now it’s their time to join us. I’m counting on the hard work and bold support from our elected officials — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Alex Padilla and Sen. Dianne Feinstein — to prioritize climate action and specifically include $10 billion for coastal restoration in any upcoming infrastructure legislation. They have the power to help protect our coastlines from climate change — for my generation and those that follow.

Amelia Fortgang is chair of the Bay Area Youth Climate Summit, a Youth Leadership Council member at EarthEcho, and a senior at Lick-Wilmerding High School.