New research findings disclosed in Wilmington on Tuesday, Oct. 27 by one of NASA’s chief scientists suggest that sea level is climbing at a rate previously unheard of by the international community.

The new findings, unveiled at the University of North Carolina Wilmington Executive Development Center on Military Cutoff Road, paint a bleak picture for the future of Wrightsville Beach and other waters’ edge communities on the East Coast.

Fresh data from the poles indicates the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are melting at an alarming rate, said Dr. Robert Bindschadler, chief scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. This data has drawn predictions that sea level will rise by a minimum of 3 feet by 2100.

Computer models show that such a rise would result in the flooding of Wrightsville Beach and the disappearance of portions of Harbor Island.

The new data undermines previous estimates put forward by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which asserted that sea level will rise about 17 inches in the same time period, considerably less than NASA’s predictions.

A 3-foot rise in sea level would weaken the local infrastructure, increase the level of storm surges, damage property, erode the beaches, degrade the water supply and result in a host of consequences that authorities said would be dire.

"As a coastal community we need to take an active role in this because we’re the most affected by it," said Mayor Mac Montgomery of Kure Beach in response to the findings that scientists released to a group of state and local officials during a set of roundtable presentations Tuesday. Speakers recommended reducing emissions through legislation and planning for infrastructure changes that will mitigate the impact from greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere.

The roundtable in Wilmington was part of an East Coast tour being conducted by leading experts on melting polar ice, and appeared to be strategically scheduled to coincide with the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference, planned Dec. 7-14 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

With the conference a month away, local attention has shifted to encouraging government leaders to adopt policy aimed at lessening greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists say is the leading cause of global climate change.

During a presentation, the adoption of policies that would reduce short-lived impacts on global climate change, such as black carbon and methane were pushed.

Reducing the short-lived impacts—like those produced by fossil fuels, agricultural burning, incomplete combustion of diesel engines, industrial plants, etcetera.—will give the international community the time it needs to cut carbon dioxide emissions in an economically viable way.

On Saturday, Oct. 24, members of UNCW’s Environmental Concerns Organization (ECO) grouped in the basement of the Soapbox Laundro Lounge in downtown Wilmington to urge action on the part of politicians at the Copenhagen conference.

The phone numbers of senators Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) were posted to the wall.

"We want our leaders to stop playing politics and formulate real solutions," said Mary Nicol, a representative from Greenpeace at ECO’s event, Turning the Tide: Wilmington’s Global Day of Climate Action.

Authorities have used gatherings like these to debunk skeptics of global climate change, who argue that the scientific community has exaggerated its findings and used unsubstantiated data gathering methods.

Global climate change is an issue that has been embraced by government leaders across the globe, Bindschadler said. Scientists are now attempting to bridge the gap between scientists and government leaders so that policy makers can make informed decisions.

"That interaction between scientists and decision-makers is a new one," he said. "We have to practice it."

ECO members marched through downtown Wilmington Saturday night holding candles and carrying a banner that said: "Obama: Leadership, no Politics. Stop Global Warming."

"We’re asking him to step up and really be a leader like he said he would on the campaign trail," Nicol said.

The march garnered mixed reactions from people on the street.

"I personally see it (global climate change) as a pseudo-science," said Richard Rearden, who was standing on the sidewalk while the demonstration passed. "I don’t actually see any validity in the argument itself based on what science finds in empirical data."