Off the Lip Radio Show: Gary Griggs & Dan Haifley
Sponsored by Santa Cruz Works
This past Tuesday, February 10th, Gary Griggs — UCSC Professor of Earth & Planetary Sciences, and Dan Haifley — American environmentalist, newspaper columnist, 2025 Titan Award Recipient and Executive Director of the O'Neill Sea Odyssey program from 1999 to 2019, joined Neil Pearlberg on Off the Lip Radio Show to discuss Santa Cruz West Side climate change, off shore oil drilling, the "new" Santa Cruz Downtown, and more.
Gary, Dan, and Neil tackle how sea level rise has altered the bluffs of Santa Cruz since the late 1800s, flooding in Capitola, damage to the piers, and how weather and ocean trends have changed throughout their time living here in Santa Cruz.
Gary, known for his expertise in coastal geology and oceanography, brought up how the wrong combination of high tides and huge surf can create devastating effects. December 2023 and December 2024 are a case study on this. With offshore significant wave heights that arrived alongside abnormally high tides, we saw massive damage along the California coastline, including when approximately 150-180 feet of the end of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf collapsed into the ocean on December 23, 2024, which is still being repaired today.
Their discussion reminds us that the Pacific Ocean does not care about our capital plans, our bike paths, or our emotional attachment to West Cliff. The next few decades are likely to be defined by the frequency and intensity of extreme storms, with sea level rise quietly raising the baseline underneath them.
The interview then pivots from erosion to politics, specifically offshore oil, and how coastal communities have historically fought it — an issue that has become prevalent once more as The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has released its Draft Proposed Program (DPP) for the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program, a five-year plan that would open vast areas of U.S. federal waters to new oil and gas leasing.
This is an issue Dan is incredibly familiar with, as he led the effort against offshore oil drilling on the California coast from 1986 to 1993, as Executive Director of Save Our Shores, where he spearheaded the creation of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
The episode highlights the fact that you can’t hold back the Pacific forever. You can choose smarter Band-Aids, retreat where possible, and keep organizing, because sea level rise, extreme weather, and more will continue to happen. What we can change is how we approach it.
This episode is sponsored by Santa Cruz Works, and is available on Spotify, Pandora, iHeart Radio, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, as well as the Off the Lip Radio Show social media pages & Santa Cruz Waves Facebook page.
