水之国
每年夏秋两季的热带风暴和冬春两季的东北风, the Outer Banks barrier islands and Inner Banks villages and lowlands take a severe beating. 这些风暴给那些不因变化而繁荣的当地经济带来了沉重的打击, 他们离开了北卡罗来纳州，努力修复对旅游业的破坏, 渔业, 农业是该地区的基础设施. 然而，当60年代的海岸地质学家斯坦利·里格斯告诉我这些周期时，他并不感到惊讶. “你不能把罗利、夏洛特、芝加哥或其他任何地方带到海滩，”他解释说. “在流动沙堆和低湿地上，你能做的是有限的.”
图片来源:Jared Lazarus Photography1964年里格斯开始在这个地区工作, 气候变化研究仍然相对模糊. It would be another 11 years before renowned geoscientist Wally Broecker introduced the phrase “global warming” in a scientific paper. Yet rapid industrialization following World War II was already making its mark on the coastal system, 特别是在堰洲岛(见侧栏). Increased development there has led to an unfortunate cycle that 里格斯 calls the “perfect conflict” between natural processes and human modification. 风暴之后, 人们投入大量资金进行重建, 只是为了让这个过程重演.
这是一个西西弗斯式的任务，根据里格斯的说法，这是一个不可持续的任务. 而不是, he advocates for learning to live with natural dynamics and the economic imperatives of the area’s residents. He draws an analogy from the human body: Just as physical health can’t be achieved by focusing on just one organ, coastal conservation can’t be attempted without understanding how various scientific and cultural systems influence each other.
他在这个领域的经历强化了这一观念. “我们已经到了这样一个地步, 作为这个星球上的一个物种, 我们是和火山活动一样重要的地质力量, 地震, 或风暴.” He points out that drill cores into glaciers reveal distinctive marks of human industrial progress. The isotopic elements found in these ice layers tell us when the Romans began to mine and smelt metals, 或者当核弹试验达到顶峰的时候. 他补充说:“人类和地球之间有着绝对的、不可分割的关系。. “You can’t do research on the last 10 to 15 millennia of Earth history if you don’t understand that.”
他小时候在威斯康星州的格林湾长大., 里格斯在探索当地的冰川沉积物时经常会发现乳齿象的牙齿和象牙, 这是冰河期和气候变化的具体结果. Later, he enrolled at 贝洛伊特, where he met two people who would shape the course of his life. 第一个是1960年的安·格雷, 一个成为他妻子和伴侣57年的艺术家，而且还在继续, 也是这对夫妇两个女儿的母亲. 另一位是唯一的地质学名誉教授汉克·伍德德. 里格斯将伍达德描述为他的“人生英雄”之一，并说这对他和安来说都是如此, 贝洛伊特“打开了通往世界的大门.”
“Dr. 伍达德带我们进行实地考察，研究圣. Peter Sandstone that formed 450 million years ago in Southern Wisconsin as the result of an ancient ocean that existed during the Ordovician Period,里格斯回忆道. “最初, the concept that Southern Wisconsin was the shoreline of a former ocean was hard to imagine.”
This fascination with the scope and scale of time propelled 里格斯 through a master’s program at Dartmouth, Ph值.D. 在蒙大拿大学, 并在美国东南部研究了几年的海岸地质学. 他来到东卡罗莱纳大学时，该校刚刚获得大学地位, 作为新地质系的五名新员工之一. 里格斯最初被雇来启动这个项目的沿海海洋部分, 1999年以特聘教授的身份退休. In 2000, he was re-hired as a distinguished research professor to kick start an interdisciplinary research program on the origin and evolutionary processes of coastal systems.
来源:新闻 & 观察者，罗利，n.n.C.
沉浸式教学是里格斯首选的教学方法. He routinely leads field trips that allow groups to get up close and personal with these dynamic environments. Participants range from journalists to science teachers to average citizens who simply want to learn 更多的 about the natural world. 尽管他很高兴有机会教育他们所有人, 里格斯对与老师交流特别感兴趣. “如果你能激怒一位老师，那么这位老师就能激怒数百名学生，”他说. He’s also deeply concerned with what he sees as a disconnect between young people and the natural world. “More of the kids of today are from urban environments and do not have the feeling for our Earth that most of the rural kids had 20 to 40 years ago,他说.
不过，他并不认为一切都完了. 正相反, the last few chapters of the book focus on a variety of solutions that can protect the dynamics of the region while also promoting economic and cultural well-being. 例如, noting that some major roads are unsustainable for low wetland areas and eroding barrier islands, 里格斯 and his colleagues have proposed implementing a variety of alternative transportation models, including high-tech ferries that could safely and efficiently shuttle people between islands and villages. 首批潜艇计划于2018年首次亮相, 这证明了当地居民对海岸的长远看法开始发生转变. 里格斯说:“这是缓慢发生的，但它正在发生。.
Stephen Culver是北卡罗来纳州的地质学家，也是《 北卡罗来纳海岸之战自1999年以来一直与里格斯合作. “I think the most important thing about the book is that it presents the science in such a way that the general public can understand it,卡尔弗说. “我们为所有人写了这本书, 包括有政治信仰的人, 不仅要帮助他们了解事情正在发生变化, 还有它们变化的原因.他补充说，这是里格斯为该领域带来的一个重要特质. “他是个普通人. 他不是象牙塔里的人. 他浑身是泥，脚也湿了. 你让他站在观众面前，他就能引人入胜. 他是一个真正的沟通者.”
图片来源:Jared Lazarus Photography
里格斯的激情也影响了一代又一代的情人. John Huss’87 recalls experiencing it first-hand on a field trip to the Outer Banks as a 贝洛伊特 student in 1986. “他是一个总是与错误的模型作斗争的人,他回忆道. 现在是阿克伦大学的哲学教授, Huss says his experience in the Outer Banks helped him to realize that the knowledge systems utilized by scientists are forever shifting and expanding, and that aspects of the world that once seemed unknowable are often discovered over time as new research and techniques develop.
很少有人比里格斯更能体现这一过程. 在1983年的奥斯卡获奖感言中. Max Gardner Award (considered the University of North Carolina system’s highest faculty honor) 里格斯 said that “Geology’s contribution to society is its ability to make man aware of the underlying unity of the changing Earth system,这是他至今仍遵循的哲学. 尽管他在2017年5月从东卡罗莱纳大学正式退休, 他还在努力和NC LOW合作.
对他来说，气候变化及其影响从来不是抽象或遥远的问题. 站在经济增长的交汇处, 地质力学, 以及气候变化的现实, 他毫不犹豫地介入或介入.
“堰洲岛是地球上最艰难的生态系统, 他们会一直在这里, 他们只是不会在同一个地方,里格斯说. “脆弱的是我们放在它们上面的东西. 我们无法阻止风暴或海平面的持续上升, 我们也不能在沿海地区制造稳定. But we can learn to live with the dynamics of ongoing change if we understand the science of change, 这需要受过良好教育的公众和领导.”
Kiernyn Orne-Adams今年16岁，现居明尼苏达州明尼阿波利斯市，是一名作家.
了解水之国
资料来源:东卡罗莱纳大学RENCI
北卡低气压系统由北卡罗来纳州东北部的23个沿海县组成. The area is defined by a series of major lowland peninsulas separated by rivers and larger water bodies or estuaries with their perimeter 沼泽 and swamps. The Outer Banks barrier islands form a sand dam between the estuaries and the Atlantic Ocean.
而这个系统自1.8亿年前海洋形成以来就一直存在, 它的特点是海平面和陆地高度随时间的变化而持续波动.
在20世纪中期之前, 堰洲岛是包括10个在内的沿海地区的一部分,000英里的河口海岸线, 3,500平方英里的河口水域, 四大流域, 和大西洋——人烟稀少. 大多数建筑都是小型企业，或者是简单、朴素的海滩小屋. 二战后, 旅游业和人口爆炸式增长, 导致城市基础设施的繁荣.
“2009年，北卡罗来纳州沿海县的旅游业带来了大约2万美元的收入.5 billion dollars, 85 percent of which was associated with the barrier islands,” according to 北卡罗来纳海岸之战.
总的来说, 北卡低海岸系统大致相当于佛蒙特州的大小，大约有475人居住,000人. 正如里格斯所说:“如果你不喜欢湿脚，你就不应该出去. 一切都是关于水和变化.”
