Hasta La Ideas

An undoubtedly devastating aspect of climate change is rising sea levels. It’s also one that many people in the UK no doubt find hard to visualise; severe flooding (Boscastle, 2004) and coastline erosion (Holderness, on-going) likely being the closest we get to experience its potential impact. In Bristol, a public arts project that sought to highlight the impact of rising seas comes to an end tomorrow night. Projecting watermark lines onto various buildings across the city, artist Chris Bodle has no doubt made many people stop and think. Thanks to Ben for his initial post on Watermarks at Noisy Decent Graphics…

The organisers of the Watermarks project explain their intentions as follows:

“Flood level marks will be projected on to the sides of buildings, showing how high water levels could potentially rise as the sea inundates the central, low lying areas of Bristol. By displaying these levels in real space, the project aims to help us to imagine the depth and extent of this potential future flooding – allowing us to measure them against ourselves in familiar environments.

“The complexity and inherent uncertainty involved in predicting sea level rise means there is little consensus across the global scientific community as to how much sea levels could rise in the coming decades. The Watermarks project will use current UK government predictions for the next century to set key flood mark levels. The project, however, will also acknowledge uncertainty explore other scenarios.

“Although the message is stark, the flood levels shown are as if the city is undefended and adaption measures have not been put in place. As the waters gradually rise over the coming century, there is much we can do to adapt and defend.”

More information is at watermarksproject.org.