Artwork on BI ferry walkway depicts sea level rise

Artwork on BI ferry walkway depicts sea level rise

Some effects of climate change can be hard to conceptualize, but for an island community, sea level rise is a very real threat.

That’s the message of a new art installation in the Bainbridge Island Ferry Terminal walkway — a triptych of decals on the window panels that demonstrate the rate at which the oceans may rise over the next 75 years, if global emissions are left unchecked.

The project is the culmination of about six months of work by about a dozen private Hyla School students and two years of community surveys by environmental nonprofit EcoAdapt. Sea level rise will have drastic effects on the shoreline of BI, and EcoAdapt wants to open up the conversation, senior scientist Deb Rudnick said.

“There’s a high level of awareness of climate change on BI, and people are really interested in this issue. It won’t just affect folks who live on shorefront property, but infrastructure and roadways that are vulnerable to sea level rise,” she said. “Sea level rise is largely baked into the equation at this point, so the question is: it’s coming, how do we respond to this?”

Students worked with Washington State Ferries to determine the ideal location for the piece. The team reviewed alternate locations in the parking lot, on the concrete pilings leading to the ferry, on columns, but finally landed on the walkway due to its longevity, visibility to commuters and ease of installation. The art design team incorporated the bird-safety dots on the terminal’s windows to scale with the rising sea level: every two dots is about six inches of water.

“We want to inspire people to start thinking creatively. Many of the students said they often heard narratives that climate change is ‘too big’ or ‘too scary’ to think about, but we have a lot of energy as a community,” Rudnick said.

Decals explaining the range of sea level rise that could occur by 2100.

The present-day decal explaining the threats of sea level rise.