Sea levels will rise, chaos will reign

To the Editor:

In the July 1, 2008 edition of The Kings County Advertiser (“The dykes: chaos will come”), Ed Coleman mused about "...the possibility that sea levels will rise."

For the last 4,000 years, sea level relative to land in the Maritimes has risen at a relatively constant rate of about one foot per century (Grant, 1975, N.S. Inst. Sci. 27, Supp. 3, 82-102). One may be confident that rise over the next century will be at least one foot. And with melting glaciers and warming oceans, it may reach 2-3 feet.

But based on the present level of inaction with respect to applicable infrastructure planning at the county level, there will be chaos in the future.

Yours truly,

David H. Webster

Kentville