Surrounded on three sides by the San Francisco Bay, residents of Richmond are used to being near the ocean. But as rising seas threaten to bring it even closer, Mayor Tom Butt is candid about the risks.
"It basically takes out a significant chunk of Richmond," he said from the low-lying peninsula city, where little more than a road or narrow beach separates the ocean from densely populated neighborhoods, elegant seaside mansions and cliff cottages.
Parts of Richmond are estimated to be at risk from a 91-centimeter increase in sea levels, even as the waters of the Pacific Ocean along California's coast are projected to rise by more than twice that due to climate change this century.