Getting the public involved is key, said Leslie Alden, an aide to county Supervisor Kate Sears, who represents southern Marin. Now, faced with rising waters, the county is starting pilot restoration projects and vulnerability assessments of bay- and oceanside towns in earnest. The region has one of the most liberal and well-off populations in the country. The local government has pushed initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for decades. Marin County doesn’t need much convincing about the threat of climate change. This was just a quick visual,” said Steinhofer about the different construction suggestions. “I knew the flooding was bad, and I knew it was going to get worse, but I need to get more info. A survey built into the Owls gathers input from passers-by about what they see, both the sea-level rise and the ideas for infrastructure, to feed back to the county. Others present what the area could look like with construction to protect against sea-level rise, like a sea wall or an eco-berm, a landscaped levee. Only the top row of the football bleachers would poke out from the bay, one image shows. With the approximately 3 extra feet of sea-level rise projected for the region within the next 50 years or so, it could happen more frequently and at a higher cost. In one visualization of the flood, the Owls show water stretching back onto the bustling road and football field. The floods also closed roads, including the highway to San Francisco downed power lines and damaged businesses and homes. In December of last year, torrential downpours combined with a king tide to put this area under around 3 feet of water. The project, funded by a $150,000 Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, aims to bring the local community into discussions about climate change adaptation.įlooding is no stranger to Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The two viewfinders, called Owls, show panoramic virtual-reality images of how sea-level rise would change this area. Her mother, Tanya Steinhofer, had never stopped at the devices before, but now she took a look. “Look, Mommy, it’s the floods!” exclaimed Ashlyn. MILL VALLEY, Calif.-A 7-year-old with her bike helmet still on saw more than marshes and the shimmer of an inlet in the northern San Francisco Bay when she looked through a black viewfinder next to a popular bike path near her home.

Virtual viewfinder