well how do you get the public to care

about an issue they can't yet see like

rising sea levels and the impact of

climate change princeton university

visiting professor christina gerhart may

have it figured out she's leading a

series of walks in a flood-prone area of

the state using chalk to outline future

shorelines forecast by climate

scientists and what will happen if the

state doesn't heed the warnings senior

correspondent brenda flanagan reports as

part of our ongoing series parallel

promise focusing on the human stories of

climate change

for folks studying climate change

drawing a chalk border down the street

in sayervilles almost like detectives

sketching that stereotyped outline of a

crime victim on the sidewalk it shows

how far warming ocean levels could rise

in about 80 years potentially flooding

hundreds of homes they want you to

notice to raise public awareness about

the impacts of sea level rise to

encourage curiosity among communities

and to encourage engagement if we were

just walking and then we left it

wouldn't attract as much attention it

wouldn't leave as much of a trace

princeton professor tina gerhart led

this walking talking chalking tour

called high water line new jersey

designed to inform the sayerville

community about a very real threat

studies project sea levels here will

rise five feet by 2100 in a town

surrounded by water the raritan and

south rivers and raritan bay it had

submerged the homes along macarthur

avenue where residents reactions to the

chalk line differed widely it's scary to

know that

this whole place will be under water

soon julie nakvey applauds efforts to

highlight these hazards people are just

not aware of the consequences it brings

it should be brought more to attention

that this is really a serious issue i'll

be gone by the time that happens i lived

here 70 years for joe alban it's a

non-issue the river is a half mile

behind his house there's never been any

floods

except for sandy

right and we had a little water in the

garage here superstorm sandy actually

devastated neighborhoods in an arc along

the river just behind alban's house

where 250 homes were offered buy-outs

after hurricane sandy there's 18 feet of

water that inundated this area it was

the third year in a row that this area

had flooded

one resident of the street had just

finished repairing damage caused by

hurricane irene in 2010

when sandy struck a few property owners

chose to elevate their houses above

estimated flood levels or just hope for

the best but 149 sayerville homeowners

had had enough and accepted buyouts

through the dep's blue acres program

with its houses demolished this

neighborhood will become a flood buffer

zone in my estimation what it offers us

is an example of successful retreat from

the coastline gerhart's also working

with climate central to map jersey's

historic shoreline and to see what sea

level rise will look like she says the

two are connected water likes to reclaim

territory that it was previously in it's

a very common thing so one thing that i

do is i look at maps from say like 1850

this area that we're standing on which

is right here

used to all be tidal wetlands and often

you'll see there's a there's a

remarkable similarity between what is

forecast for sea level rise inundation

zones and the historical wetlands she

says the past can predict the future a

new climate resiliency studies

collecting ideas from seven middlesex

county towns the dep and other experts

with an action plan due next month in

the end advocates say the biggest

challenge is convincing people to act

it's still hard to grasp even at a local

level because it's like

what does that mean you know climate

central's christie falconer says that's

why drawing a high water line can help

it gives folks tangible evidence and the

chalk it's water soluble biodegradable

in sayerville i'm brenda flanagan nj

spotlight news

lead funding for paralymp promise is

provided by dr p roy vagalos and diana t

vagalos

major support is provided by the mark

haas foundation and sue and edgar

wachenheim iii and the cheryl and philip

milstein family

[Music]