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In the latest season of Broken Ground, a podcast produced by the Southern Environmental Law Center, listeners travel to two Southern coastal cities most threatened by rising tides – Norfolk, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina – with host, Claudine Ebeid McElwain.
Photos by Emily Richardson-Lorente
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For coastal communities in the South, climate change is no longer a threat, but an inescapable reality. Rising sea levels gnaw away at the coastline while intense storm surges and flooding serve as a near-constant reminder of the water’s mission to reclaim the land.
The Southern Environmental Law Center’s podcast, Broken Ground, amplifies the voice of those affected in the hopes of garnering attention before it’s too late. The six-episode season focuses on the coastal communities of Charleston, South Carolina, and Norfolk, Virginia. Like many seaside towns in the South, they both face regular nuisance flooding while simultaneously bracing for severe storms and rainfall that often exacerbate the floods. To truly understand the impact, host Claudine Ebeid McElwain interviews policy makers, scientists, and locals alike. Through amplifying the voices from these communities, Broken Ground shows the real-life impacts of environmental policies for people who, when forced to bear the brunt of bad decisions, often become unlikely heroes as a result. We’re grateful for the chance to hear from Southerners facing the reality of life on our fragile coastlines. We think y’all will be, too.
> Listen to Epiode 1
Resident Marquitta White gives Claudine Ebeid McElwain a tour of Tidewater Gardens, her neighborhood in Norfolk. Photo by Emily Richardson-Lorente
> To learn more about what’s at stake, who’s affected, and the biggest surprises she found in this latest season of Broken Ground, we caught up with the podcast’s host, Claudine Ebeid McElwain.
Q: This season of Broken Ground is different from the first because it focuses solely on one major environmental issue: sea level rise. Why is sea level rise so important to the Southeast that you wanted to focus an entire season of a podcast on it?
Claudine Ebeid McElwain
Claudine Ebeid McElwain: A: Our climate crisis is no longer a threat, but a reality. Sea level rise is a direct result of climate change that is happening now and changing the way people are living in coastal cities all along the Southeastern seaboard, and beyond. I think it’s important that we tell their stories so we can start moving on solutions immediately.
What is sea level rise and who does it affect?
McElwain: Sea level rise is a direct result of global warming, which is increasing the level of our oceans across the globe. In the South, like other parts of the world, the consequences of sea level rise are more intense storm surges and flooding, including on days when there’s no rain. So not only are our coastal cities dealing with a slow deterioration of their coastlines but they are also constantly under threat of a massive storm that could cause severe and permanent damage to the places they live.
Part of your goal this season was to find out how people and cities are working to protect themselves from the immediate threat of rising tides. How well do you think the Southeast is prepared?
McElwain: The two cities we visited, Norfolk, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina, are moving rapidly to deal with flooding and storms but there is still work to do. I’m not sure this is something for which any city in America is prepared but there is now an active understanding that it’s something we have to take seriously. Both cities have Coastal Resiliency Offices and are working through how to deal with funding and slow moving bureaucracy when they are in a race against the tides and the clock.
Podcast producer Paige Polk collects audio for the podcast from Richard Habersham, president of the Phillips Community Association, a community with many descendants from families formerly enslaved on plantations in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, near Charleston.
What do we need to know about the voices we’ll hear?
McElwain: You’ll hear from folks in Norfolk and Charleston. Both of these cities experience regular nuisance flooding and also have to brace for severe storms and rains that add to their flooding problems. The people we meet in this series come from varying income levels and different circumstances, but they are all actively trying to figure out how they are going to manage the rising waters around them and what comes next.
For example, Karen Speights in Norfolk is one of the folks trying to figure out what her next steps will be. She is retired and caring for her elderly mother in the home that she grew up. She doesn’t want to leave but repeated flooding has forced her to rethink what she had planned for herself in her retirement years.
We also hear from scientists and policy makers who are all deeply invested in finding ways to adapt their cities. In Charleston, Al George, the head of conservation at the South Carolina Aquarium, is working on adaptation plans that not only involve marine animals and aquatic areas, but people too. He says one important question is: How do we interact with the land to adapt and, more importantly, how do we do so in a way that makes people whole and doesn’t further harm communities that have already been marginalized by our society.
Producer Emily Richardson-Lorente and Editor Jennie Daley play behind the scenes roles in creating and sharing each podcast episode.
Did you learn anything from your research and interviews this season that surprised you?
McElwain: I was really excited to learn more about how we can use our marshes and wetlands to deal with our flooding problems. It was eye-opening to see how both Norfolk and Charleston, like most coastal communities, are built on streams that were filled in and how the water is quickly reclaiming its place. Now that I better understand marsh migration I’m surprised that it’s not being explored more as a solution for all coastal communities.
For new listeners craving more Broken Ground content, what other episodes from the first season and conversation series do you recommend?
McElwain: One of my favorite episodes is the Real Housewives of Coal Ash from our first season. I think it highlights the lurking environmental damage that is happening across our country and the power we all have to stop it once we decide to take action. In our conversation series, I would point people to listen to author and conservationist Drew Lanham. His ability to explain the connection we all have to our planet and to each other is poetic and inspirational.
