The Massachusetts coast is one of the most vulnerable regions in the country to the changing climate, and one area is taking a unique approach to adaptation.

What's happening?

Locals are working with a team of researchers from Harvard University to assess the impacts of rising sea levels and how best to keep communities safe in the future, David Trilling of the school's Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability wrote.

Cape Ann — home to Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and Essex in the northeastern reaches of the state — regularly floods during storms, cutting off neighborhoods and creating infrastructure crises. 

Trilling listed various issues, from how to keep a sewage treatment plant from overflowing to the potential removal of berms that would allow marshes to be restored so they can "absorb future storms."

Why is this important?

The Cape Ann Climate Coalition has partnered with the researchers to figure out how to protect the area, developing a five-year conversation on choke points, projections for the next 25 years, and a response plan. 

"And how to pay? The municipal math is unforgiving: As rising seas claim high-value waterfront homes, the property tax base erodes," Trilling wrote.

This project benefits from local, state, and federal funding as well as nonprofits, modeling what would happen in the event of a Category 3 hurricane, for example. The challenge is for the towns to work together to address overlapping as well as individual needs.

"Climate change doesn't stop at a town boundary," project adviser Diane Davis said.

In November, the team issued its final report at Gloucester City Hall, but they stressed that residents should make decisions and have the final say.

What's being done about sea-level rise?

Whether in the Bay State or elsewhere, citizens and governments are organizing to mitigate the impacts of rising sea levels. The most promising solution, however, remains to eliminate the air pollution that is warming Earth, melting ice, and expanding water.

You can put your money where your mouth is and explore cleaner transportation. Larger actions include redesigning ecosystems, infrastructure, and housing to preserve and support communities well into the future, per the report's conclusions. This will only be possible with significant engagement, investment, and governance.

"We must learn lessons from the past about what we care about and what, for us, resilience and survival mean," Valerie Nelson of the Cape Ann Climate Coalition said. "There is absolutely no central plan."

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