If current luck holds, North Carolina may well escape the 2013 hurricane season without the widespread damage that has so frequently plagued the fragile coastal region in recent years. Unfortunately, this brief respite is almost certainly only that — a temporary breather.

Experts assure us that the impacts of climate change (including rising oceans and frequent, damaging storms) are sure to remake the coast in myriad ways over the decades to come and will, quite likely, permanently submerge large tracts of real estate.

So, what does our best science predict? And what can and should we do — especially in a state in which policymakers have actually passed a law denying that sea level rise is even occurring?

Dr. Robert Young of Western Carolina University, professor of geology, an accomplished author and a nationally recognized expert on the future of our developed shorelines, explores answers to there and related questions.

NC Policy Watch presents — a Crucial Conversation Featuring Dr. Robert S. Young, professor of geology and Director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University.

See their Storm Surge Viewer, especially if you are interested in buying or developing shoreline property.