Dr. Paul Connolly:

We are not beyond explaining it. We have found that when one gets into the nitty-gritty of things, some people are confused by adaptation and change and the difference between them. There was no lecturing when we went into coastal communities; we just listened to them. They outlined how valuable the ocean is in terms of their jobs and livelihood. They are worried about the future and asked us to explain what will happen. For instance, one big issue that keeps coming up is storm damage to piers on the west coast. The communities wanted to know whether we will keep repairing such damage. They are concerned that such repair might cease at some point. All of these are big issues for coastal communities. Our focus in the coastal communities with which we have been working has been on adaptation, change and showing the difference between the two. We alerted the communities to work done by the Office of Public Works on sea level rise and its impact. That research is freely available on the OPW website but nobody knows about it. We alerted the communities to it and they can look at the potential impacts predicted by the models. It is about listening, discussing and relaying information. There are challenges and opportunities in that regard.