Undergraduate Research: An Archive - 2021 Program

John Wesley Wiggins ’21
GEOSCIENCES
Certificate in Environmental Studies
POLICY, NORMS
AND BEHAVIOR
THESIS TITLE
Sea-Level Rise on the
Eastern Shore of
Maryland: Vulnerability,
Adaptation,
Environmental Justice
ADVISER
Michael Oppenheimer,
Albert G. Milbank
Professor of
Geosciences and
International Affairs
and the High Meadows
Environmental Institute
The global sea level is rising at an accelerating
rate and adaptation measures have to be taken to
protect coastal communities. In the past, these
efforts have either not considered — or outright
ignored — the injustices and inequalities facing
the most vulnerable populations, which leads
to these groups experiencing disproportionate
harm from sea-level rise. My study surveyed
counties on the Eastern Shore of Maryland
along the Chesapeake Bay and analyzed the
effects of sea-level rise in Cambridge, Maryland.
The purpose of my project was to describe the
impacts of rising seas on the Eastern Shore,
explain preferences for adaptation measures, and
understand how African American communities
are disproportionately vulnerable to coastal
hazards. We found a greater than 35% probability
that sea levels will rise by one meter or more in
Cambridge regardless of emissions reductions
and that the majority of individuals surveyed
prefer to defend rather than retreat from the
coast.
47