Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) Secretary Shawn Garvin hosts a beach clean up to celebrate Earth Day.
Garvin and his team collected trash at Delaware Seashore State Park on Monday, which Garvin notes was the site of coastal flooding a few weeks ago, causing the temporary closure of Route 1.
He explains he wants to bring attention to this site in particular to highlight the effects of climate change and the importance of sand dunes.
The breach was caused by several circumstances, including a full moon, high tide cycle and coastal storm.
Garvin notes the storm was not particularly harsh, but believes it foreshadows what’s to come.
“With climate change, we’re getting more frequent storms and they are becoming more severe. The storm that breached that dune was not a particularly hard storm. We got rain over the weekend, and it was still offshore, kind of churning, and it turned up the ocean and the waves and we had a breach," Garvin said.
He reminds the public not to walk on the dunes and keep an eye out for bay grass, both of which help to provide natural coastal protection against storm surge and high waves.
“We just want to make sure that everybody is understanding, you know, climate change is real. The impacts are real — we’re seeing it every day. We’re in the process here, as you see the trucks running up and down, moving sand continually to rehab this beach, which is an ongoing challenge.”
Garvin also asks Delawareans to be conscious of their energy usage by keeping electric and solar alternatives in mind, touting the Advanced Clean Car II program, which he hopes will bring more electric cars into the state, as well as the state’s Weatherization Assistance Program to increase home energy efficiency.
In commemoration of Earth Day, he also highlights the importance of environmental justice when looking toward the future: "It's a key — making sure that all of our communities, particularly our overburdened and underserved communities, not only have a seat at the table, but know that there's a table they should have a seat at and working with our communities on both getting communication in, as well as communication out, to make sure we're protecting them as well."
