By Stephan R. Leimberg
unseenimages.com
September 22, 2020
Steve Leimberg captured this amazing photograph of an an extreme high tides in our area. “For those who are denying climate change, I suggest they look at our marsh. Usually, the entire picture is a shade of green or yellow. All of this is happening without a major storm or hurricane! This flooding of the marsh is yet another sign that we need to take these increasingly violent and more frequent events as yet more warnings that we need a national climate task force charged with making changes to how we are polluting and contributing to the demise of our planet,” said Leimberg.
Thanks for this! Time for action!
The marsh has never done this before? How do we know?
If you read the Bible; specifically the book of Revelation, it becomes quite obvious why events such as fire, earthquakes, plagues and other natural disasters are occurring with greater frequency and intensity. God is in control of our climate. If we continue down a path of sin and separation from God, expect it to get worse, not better. It’s that simple.
No doubt the climate is changing, as it always has. I live on the marsh so I really do not need advice or an opinion from a financial planner on high tide and 30 mph winds blowing up Egan’s creek. Stick to what you think you know best and leave forecasting to those that get paid a lot, for getting it mostly wrong.
The fact that you use the word “denying” tells me all I need to know about your ability to think or have a conversation in a rational manner. Climate change has become your religion. Since I have not been around for 500 years, I cannot say this with 100 percent accuracy, but- I’m pretty sure that the marsh has flooded like this before. It’s called, say it with me, weather.
The only thing you need a national task force for is your mental illness! Climate change is permanent and was here long before man ever set his foot on the planet.Enough with the environmental propaganda, what a waste of cyberspace.God bless our dumbed down country.
The only thing you need a national task force for is your mental illness! Climate change is permanent and was here long before man ever set his foot on the planet.Enough with the environmental propaganda, what a waste of cyberspace.God bless our dumbed down country.
Steve, when was this photograph taken? While I am not one that denies there is sea level rise, our island has been experiencing flooding in the marshes during King tides and when weather conditions match normal high tide cycles for decades and decades. The abnormal tidal wave height experienced earlier this week is primarily attributed to Tropical Cyclone Teddy that was around Bermuda – more than 1,700 miles away!
I’m not going to debate climate change or why it is occurring, many people (wiser and dumber) than me are already involved in espousing their views.
However, this week’s high tides are not definitive proof of climate change. I have seen many similar high tides in my seventy years of viewing the Amelia River. These “marsh hen” tides (you other locals know what that is) are a normal September phenomena. Water levels don’t rise this high every year but when the normal four or five days of seven foot tides in September are accompanied by very strong northeast winds that push ocean water onshore these extraordinarily high tides are the result. I saw similar high tides created by this combination of tidal forces and northeast winds in the 1950s and every decade since then. I hope to live long enough to see it several more times in my life.
Wow! I can’t believe how many people are in denial about human influence in our climate change. We humans are pretty much selfish about our wants and needs. It’s all about me, me, me. How much money I can get no matter the cost to the environment, morals, ethics. I think it’s ashame that people don’t even want to try and protect our earth. It’s our home. If we don’t wake up and try and do something for the betterment of our home, soon it won’t be here. Please care…
King Tides and other weather are inevitable. So are climate change and sea level rise. The question is not IF we need to address all of this in the coming years but WHEN? Many great photos were taken this weekend downtown at Front & Centre in addition to this great shot by Mr. Leimberg. Study them and think about the impacts on our homes, our businesses and our cultural features. Many of them will be in danger while we dicker over what to do and how to get it done.
Hilarious and on-point rebuttals: the profound depth of ignorance, combined with absolute, unshakable certitude that “the sky is falling” and it’s all our fault, is mind-boggling. It’s called WEATHER, as JB already noted! We, in our lifetimes, will see but a nano-slice of it. Relax, enjoy, respect and marvel at it all. Nice photo!
We do have a “coast impact” issue to discuss. Let’s forget the causation issues for a moment and think about what we must do to prepare as the Arctic Circle ice continues its natural, cyclical meltdown. That is a concrete problem that will affect all islands and coastal development before the second half of the 21st century, with increasing dire effects over the next 30 years and beyond. Aggressively fighting to reverse global warming–regardless of the causes–is worthwhile. But, based upon the rate of change being recorded today, even success on that front may not be adequate to preserve our way of life in the marsh and beach paradise we enjoy now on the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts of the United States of America. Effectively slowing the pace of atmospheric heating cannot defeat a natural warming cycle. Arctic and Antarctic ice packs are in a melt cycle not seen in North America since colonization. That is indisputable. Sea level rise in Virginia since 1950 has been 14 inches and recent acceleration of the Arctic melt has made unusual changes in Iceland, Greenland, Siberia, and Alaska. We are seeing concrete changes regardless of the causes. We must think, plan, and act now, not to prevent the inevitable but to live through it. We must act as if time were running out. It is.
I have lived in the downtown historic district for 15-years now, in that time I have been told several times by professionals, that I live in one of the “lowest points” on Amelia Island. I have gauged the flood water level at my home since Hurricane Irma hit us in September 2017. BTW, it was my 2013 Honda Civic Si floating in the water on the front-page of the News Leader on 9/15/17. In the last 4 floods here in the past 15-years, this was no doubt, the “WORST” of them all!!! I almost lost my new 2018 Honda Civic Si again early Saturday afternoon on 9/19/20. As I left my home at 10:45am to meet a friend for lunch at 11:30am at the Sandollar Restaurant on Hecksher Drive, there was quite a bit of flooding from Friday, when I left, but nothing to worry about loosing another car. When I later arrived home at 1:30pm, the traffic was backed up almost to Centre Street, so I suspected what awaited me as I got closer to my home. If I hadn’t left when I did, I would have been filing another “total loss” claim with my insurance company. I was forced to park my car next-door for the next 4-days. The flooding now had almost “ALL” of Calhoun Street underwater from the Eastside of North 8th Street all the way to the Eastside of the building that houses pump station #5. I believe whether or not we have “REAL” environmental climate change or not, we have a “VERY SERIOUS ISSUE HERE” on Amelia Island that needs to be addressed ASAP!!!