dence . They needed to defend the Narragansett Bay vantage point . You have access to the ocean right there — literally , as an oceanography school , our ship is right out front . That ’ s not common . You can still see where the gun turrets were for the large guns that defended the campus and the fort that was there . We have a nuclear reactor on campus that is not for power — it ’ s for experiments — that is on top of the biggest bunker that ’ s out there . Over time they converted some of the bunkers into laboratory space .
Why is it important that the Bay Campus be upgraded so extensively now ? The Blue Economy , or the economy driven by the ocean , is worth about $ 5 billion in the state of Rhode Island . And that ’ s expected to double worldwide by 2030 if you believe some of the UN and World Bank predictions . That potential for leading the nation and leading the world in certain areas like renewable energy , climate change solutions , water and waste management , tourism and recreation or maritime transportation — there ’ s so much potential for the state in those sectors . I have this dream that we can help train a climate-literate workforce for all the blue jobs that will be in the state in the future . And I really would like to work with our government , our industry , our NGO partners in the state to figure out what it is those partners are looking for in their workforce and make sure we ’ re training the students and the professionals in the state and beyond for those careers .
You mentioned the idea of training a climate-literate workforce . What do you mean by that ? What I mean by climate-literate workforce is people who understand the ocean , the Earth system and aspects of it , and actually work in careers where they need to understand that information . Just one example : If you work in the insurance industry in the state , insurance companies are constantly contacting us going , ‘ Can you guys help us with risk assessment for sea level rise ? Because we ’ ve got 413 miles of coastline and 7,000 properties and businesses along that coastline , and we just need to figure out a better way to set rates . Can we insure these properties ? How at risk are they for climate change impacts , whether that ’ s
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