The ocean is a constant presence in Allen Solomon's Charleston home. He can see crashing waves from his office and sea breezes blow past his deck. But the retired global ecologist knew enough about climate change to keep plenty of land between him and the wet stuff.

"We're 55 feet from mean sea level," he said.

Quoting information gathered by the Oregon Coastal Management Program, he said sea levels could rise by as much as 50 inches in the next century due to melting. Humans are producing more heat, through burning fossil fuel, which will turn more ice into water.

That won't trouble his house, but it could be devastating for estuarine ecosystems. Winter storm surges could become larger and more frequent, posing risks to roads, dikes and water systems. And warmer summer temperatures could mean more forest fires and underdeveloped trees.

"We are slated to see changes," he said. "The question is how much and how do we adapt."

Solomon will talk about these issues and answer questions about climate change at a talk at the Unity by the Bay church in North Bend.

A former White House advisor and Nobel Peace Prize contributor for his work with the Intergover-nmental Panel on Climate Change, Solomon said it's clear the climate is changing.

The questions are where, how fast and how much. He mostly studied the effects of climate change on forests during his career, but he's learned what could be in store for South Coast communities.

In Oregon, the warming has been felt in the summers, while winters have been wetter in some places. But the changes, like everything about the environment, are localized. While trees at lower elevations in Oregon may be stressed by the changing environment, those at higher elevations could thrive, he said.

Solomon was involved in one of the first efforts to model plants' response to climate change on a global scale. There have been a number of scientific advances since then, though there are still small, but important, uncertainties.

Testing those uncertainties has become more of a challenge, due to the politicization of climate change. Scientists must test their ideas, but that becomes difficult when politicians try to use their results for political fodder.

"It makes scientists far more defensive," he said. As a result, scientists spend time defending their findings instead of testing them further.

But scientists still have a responsibility to share what they know, which is why Solomon will be talking about climate change in North Bend on Sunday.

Daina Swanson, a member of Unity by the Bay's program planning committee, said the Unitarian church has designated global warming one of the planet's greatest crises. And with an expert in their backyard, Swanson said it was a good opportunity to ask Solomon to speak.