Imagining what rising ocean levels will do to the Lowcountry is a little scary, but that didn’t keep Clemson School of Architecture students from taking a hard look at scenarios and plans to deal with it. Everything from a Venice-style peninsula to a New Orleans levee system were looked at. As covered by the Post & Courier, the students developed plans to deal with increased water levels of 1 foot all the way up to 12 feet.

“These 1-foot and 3-foot scenarios are things we should be thinking about,” said Greg Carbone, a University of South Carolina professor who frequently lectures on climate change issues and attended the Clemson presentation.

“Do we want walls here? Do we want retention ponds? These are things that ought to be discussed now rather than later,” Carbone said.

He’s right you know - we should be talking about this now rather than later, and that’s one of the reasons we started this site. All of this needs to be on the minds of your family, neighbors, coworkers, and political representatives. We really can do this together.

If you’d like to see what the students came up with, their findings will be exhibited at the Charleston Civic Design Center from May 24 to June 29.