Coastal Forum Meeting - Prepare Now For Rising Seas - Asbury Park Press

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WEST LONG BRANCH — Temperatures are increasing, the sea level is rising and coastal communities should begin preparing, as well as cutting emissions of greenhouse gases leading to global warming.

That's the bottom line from a forum for coastal mayors hosted by Rep. Frank J. Pallone Jr., D-N.J., at Monmouth University on Thursday. "I think mayors set the standard and have to be leaders" on this issue, said Brick Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli, who has signed the Kyoto Protocol. It's an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "You have to elevate, and elevate everything," said Jon K. Miller, research assistant professor at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken.

The forum focused on discussing and spreading the word about the impacts of global warming and sea level rise, including more frequent storm-related flooding, and ways to address them. It was moderated by Tony MacDonald, director of the Urban Coast Institute at Monmouth University.

Scarpelli has partnered with the New Jersey Environmental Federation and the Sierra Club to devise the "Brick Township Green Initiative," according to a Scarpelli statement. "The big problem" is change, he said. "We have to change our lifestyles" and the way things are done at the municipal level.

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