Earth Day Update

Happy Earth Day!

We are certainly living in an interesting time. If you’re like me, you woke up this morning wondering what is coming next. Setting aside everything happening on the global and national stage, here in Georgia, it’s been busier than ever. The legislature wrapped up a few weeks ago. Last week, the Georgia Supreme Court considered arguments related to the Sapelo petition. Glynn County is expected to release the next draft of its long-overdue zoning ordinance any day now, and the Georgia Ports Authority is hosting meetings to help us understand impacts from the last Savannah Harbor Deepening Project—as they now prepare for a new larger project to bring the harbor from 47 to 52 feet deep by 2030. It is hard to wrap my head around all these proposals and the resulting impacts to our coastal environment and communities. But I have to…because it’s not going to slow down anytime soon.

Consider these facts:

• Between 1935 and 2013, sea levels rose just over one foot—most of that rise occurred after the year 2000. Today, GA DNR recommends that communities plan for four to six feet of sea level rise by the year 2100.
• Between 2011 and 2021, 76,000 people moved to coastal Georgia. 80 percent (61,000) of those people moved to Bryan, Chatham, or Effingham Counties.
• Meanwhile, the rural counties of Charlton, Ware, Brantley, Liberty, and McIntosh lost more than 2,200 people. Today, Georgia Tech predicts that the North Coast will need 41,000 more residential units just in the next five years to accommodate growth from the Hyundai plant. All the while, rural communities are predicted to continue to struggle with economic development opportunities and population loss.

You may remember that last August, I wrote an update sharing my opinion that the biggest environmental threat facing Georgia’s coast isn’t development pressure or climate change, but stems from the lack of leadership here on our coast. Whether counties are growing or struggling for growth, this lack of leadership results in a lack of strategy and planning that causes chaos and unpredictability for the people who call our coast home.

Specifically, that means that people and wildlife who once lived surrounded by greenspace and dark skies now find themselves in the middle of pavement and light pollution. Many who have lived here for generations can no longer afford their property taxes. Our drinking water supplies are inadequate. Trucks driving through neighborhoods (whether from warehouses, the port, new construction, or rural mining operations) are polluting the air and clogging our roads. And sprawling developments are increasingly encroaching on conservation lands that public and private entities have worked for generations to protect.

We know the solution. Over the past 12 years at One Hundred Miles, we have been building a statewide movement of people who want to know more about and are motivated to take actions to support coastal conservation in Georgia. This movement helps to shape our community leaders’ response to the inevitable changes occurring on our coast. On this Earth Day, I’m writing to remind you that you are an essential part of this movement. OHM exists to keep our coalition active and growing, and we do that by offering you opportunities to remain engaged.

The foundation of OHM’s advocacy is education. Knowledge about and experience with our coast is what inspires action. By participating in OHM programs, you’ll develop a better understanding of how our people and environment are affected by the decisions being made at the local and state level. And you will be given opportunities to help influence those decisions.

As you reflect on your environmental ethics today, I encourage you to explore our coast and share it with others so that they too may come to value it. Join us, whether it’s for a naturalist walk during a member meet up, an online Advocacy 101 training, or a Naturalist 101 field trip to one of our barrier islands. (And save the date for February 28, 2026, when our popular Choosing to Lead conference returns to Jekyll Island!) As uncertain and as tumultuous as life often seems these days, now is the time to build our knowledge and skills so we’re poised to act whenever our coast needs us most.

Education, engagement, and action create a cycle that results in protection. But OHM’s definition of protection does not mean that we want to keep Georgia’s coast a secret so that nothing ever changes. We’re working to ensure our movement not only helps preserve what we love about Georgia’s coast but also makes it better. Georgia’s coast is spectacular because of the change that is always occurring. It is an ever-evolving ecosystem of people, wildlife, landscapes, communities, habitats, cultures, histories, and promise. It is in this evolution that our act of protection happens.

This work takes time. But you know it’s already begun. This movement we are creating together is strong and will only get stronger. Thank you for loving our coast—and for staying involved and supporting this important work.

Thank you for ALL you do!