Eight years ago today, Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, flooding the city and leaving a wake of irreversible damage in its path. The stage had been set for a storm of this magnitude, as coastal Louisiana residents watched the seas rise and their land sink in prior years.

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That sounds all too familiar when we look at the coastal conditions of Hampton Roads. This week, CCAN climate activists took to the Virginia Beach oceanfront to call attention to the parallels between pre-Katrina New Orleans and present day Hampton Roads. Without strong action on climate change, a child born today could live to see a future of their coastal community devastated by climate-induced rising seas and more extreme storms.

So we took our message to the beach, lining the Boardwalk at Neptune Park with big images presenting the options for Hampton Roads’ future: hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed by increasingly severe storms, or a future of climate stability powered by wind, solar and energy efficiency.
The message was clear: Our actions today will determine which future our children and generations to come will experience. As people came down the Boardwalk, our display caught their attention. Faced with the stark contrast, they were inspired to take action right then and there. Dozens of new supporters signed cards to Senators Kaine and Warner urging them to support the climate solution that matches the scale of the problem: offshore wind power.
 
 

Our choices are to take action and demand leadership from our elected officials, or watch as Hampton Roads confronts more and more water lapping at residents’ front doors. Our leaders’ choices are to make offshore wind power and clean energy a reality, or leave us on a path to worsening climate change.
Join the call for clean energy — email Sens. Kaine and Warner today urging them to support offshore wind power, not more fossil fuels.
A booming offshore wind power industry is key to building a safe future for the next generation. It would reduce our carbon emissions and bring good-paying, local jobs to coastal Virginia.
This week we marked the anniversary of Katrina by looking to the future, the opportunities for climate action in Virginia. It was inspiring, and only the beginning.
Check out more pictures below, and the full set from the event, and then take action today for clean energy.