Dont Worry About Sea Level Rise. Virginias Tangier Island is drowning. Its accessible only by boat, besieged by both sinking land and rising sea, and has shrunk to one third the size it was in 1. On Wednesday, President Trump called its mayor, James Eskridge, to say not to worry about sea level rise. Shockingly, he agreed. Mayor Eskridge relayed their conversation to Washington Post Trump thanked the mayor and the entire island of Tangier, where he received 8. Then the conversation turned to the islands plight. He said we shouldnt worry about rising sea levels, Eskridge said. He said that your island has been there for hundreds of years, and I believe your island will be there for hundreds more. Eskridge wasnt offended. In fact, he agreed that rising sea levels arent a problem for Tangier. Like the president, Im not concerned about sea level rise, he said. Im on the water daily, and I just dont see it. Tangier, a tiny island of mostly fishermen in the center of Cheseapeake Bay, voted 8. Trump, and overwhelmingly want to remain on the island, even as constant flooding disrupts transportation and makes it hard to get to work and school. But relocating introduces a new set of complex problems. Tangier has roughly 5. Do you move them all at once Do you move individual families or entire neighborhoodsWhere do you move them to Most of Tangier residents are fishermen. What will they do when they relocateTangier is gonna find itself showing the rest of us how it can be done, Erika Spanger Siegfried, a senior analyst in the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists told Gizmodo. As sea level rise threatens more coastal communities, Spanger Siegfried notes, they will be placed in a similar dilemma of balancing the needs of the community with the immensely costly logistical feats of either moving the community or radically transforming the surrounding infrastructure to stave off sea level. Nobody should be deciding for a community what happens, Spanger Siegfried says. You want the community to be calling those shots. But at the same time, relocation takes considerable resources and state and federal decision making comes into play. Thats why Trumps call to Eskridge is somewhat unnerving. Whether residents decide to stay or go, theyll need significant help. Eskridge hopes that Trump will encourage the Army Corps of Engineers to accelerate their plans to build a protective jetty or even a sea wall around the island, citing the presidents reputation as a decision maker and de regulator. The jetty will cost nearly 3 million and isnt expected to be completed until 2. Thats obviously a significant engineering feat and something that would be extremely costly, Spanger Siegfried explains. The corps has criteria it uses to make decisions. Or frankly, that it should make it a given that Tangier is at the frontline of what is a long and growing list of communities that are gonna need substantial investment if theyre to stay in place. While the sea level rise in Tangier is extreme, coastal communities across the US are making decisions about how to deal with the rising tides. In Florida, city planners and environmental scientists have considered converting miles of public land into retention basins to hold back floods. In Louisiana, the total costs of building new levees, gates, dams and manmade barrier islands is projected at over 5. Rather than responding to floods as they occur, more communities are being proactive. That means having difficult conversations on relocation and resources years in advanceand yes, fighting climate change. As Spanger Siegfried says, rising sea levels are not partisanthey impact people regardless of politics. It only does what the laws of physics tell it to do, Spanger Siegfried says. And thats rise and rise faster. Motorheads Lemmy Will Live On as a Vicious Prehistoric Crocodile. When much beloved Motrhead frontman Lemmy left our planet for a more metal one back in 2. But now, the iconic musician has been immortalized in a way we know hed approve ofby getting a prehistoric beast named in his honor. Recently, scientists studying the fragmentary skeleton of a marine crocodile relative at the Natural History Museum in London realized the bones had been wrongly classified for over a century. The group fossils had originally been dug up near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in 1. Apparently, researchers dug up a bunch of bones at this particular clay pit and mistakes were made. It happens. Now, a team of scientists from the University of Edinburgh have given the fossils a new classification and name, inspired by the aforementioned rock god. Lemmysuchus, or Lemmys crocodile, was as brutal as its name suggests, terrorizing the waters around modern day Britain and France 1. Middle Jurassic. According to the researchers, the. Lemmysuchus used its broad, flat teeth to snack on sea turtles. All the gruesome details are in the researchers new study, published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. So while the man who once invited people to love him like a reptile, is gone, a terrifying reptile bearing his name will live on. In a museum. Although Lemmy passed away at the end of 2. Lemmysuchus, one of the nastiest sea creatures to have ever inhabited the Earth, Natural History Museum curator Lorna Steel, a co author on the study, said in a press release. TearfullyNice. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.