Inform
The health, beauty and ecosystem of our beaches is under threat
The driving cause for most of these problems is overdevelopment and poor coastal management. If no buildings crowded the shoreline, there would be no shoreline armoring, beach nourishment, threats to the beach fauna and flora or shoreline erosion problems.
Coastal Care Introduction
“Beach sand: so common, so complex, so perfect for sandcastles; and now it is a precious and vanishing resource.”
—Orrin H. Pilkey
Beaches are the most visited natural attraction on the planet. The coast attracts millions of vacationing people each year. People love the sand, the surf, the sea breeze, and the vacation ambiance so much that many come to the beach to stay. There is a magical feeling living near the ocean, but human migration towards the coast comes with a high environmental price tag.
A majority of the world’s population lives within 50 km of the coast and the projections are 75% by the year 2025. This strip of land represents only 3% of the total land mass of the planet. In this context, it is easier to understand the environmental impact. Over 70% of the earth is covered by water and with so many people living on the coast, we are polluting a major source of food, the oceans.
A beautiful undeveloped beach in Indonesia.
The loss of life and economic impacts of major storms – cyclones, typhoons, and hurricanes – and tsunamis would be reduced drastically if beaches were not developed. Unfortunately, recent examples of the problem are numerous: 1999 Indian cyclone Orissa (over 10,000 dead and $5 billion in damage), 2004 Indian Ocean tsumani (over 250,000 dead), 2005 Hurricane Katrina (over 1,800 killed and $80 billion in damage), and 2008 Hurricane Ike (over 30 killed and $30 billion in damage).
Today, the health, beauty, and ecosystem function of the world’s beaches are under threat and the driving causes for most of these problems are over-development and poor coastal management. If no buildings crowded the shoreline there would be no shoreline armoring, beach nourishment, threats to the beach fauna and flora or shoreline erosion problems.
It is important to distinguish between erosion and erosion problems. Erosion refers to the landward retreat of the shoreline. Most of the world’s shorelines are eroding, a very few are building out (accreting). There is no erosion problem, however, until someone builds something next to a shoreline. All over the world in remote areas, shorelines are slowly retreating and no one cares. In a global sense, our continents are slowly shrinking, and in a very real sense, erosion problems are man made. On a high-rise, condo-lined shoreline like those in Spain and the Florida coast, erosion is a huge problem and will only worsen in the future as sea level rise accelerates. Sea level rise will accelerate erosion of the shoreline and have a dramatic impact on our infrastructures, our economies, and our way of life.
Sea level rise is one of the most important causes of global shoreline erosion. If the coastline is developed, shoreline armoring is often used in an effort to save the buildings from the eroding shoreline. Once this begins, the beaches will degrade and eventually be lost. In the long-term, however, these armoring efforts are in vain. The ocean will continue to rise as the rate of sea level rise is expected to increase as the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets continue to degrade. The situation is made worse now because beach houses and condominiums are being built closer to the ocean than they were 25 years ago. Many of us are familiar with images of large beach houses about to fall victim to the oceans simply from daily erosion accelerated by the ever rising sea.
The work of the Santa Aguila Foundation will emphasize the impacts of sand mining and shoreline armoring: the first because the effects of sand mining have been largely ignored on a global scale and the latter due to its overwhelming negative impacts on the world’s beaches.
Surfing in / Inform
Discovery Sheds New Light on Wandering Continents
Although the basic process that drives plate tectonics —the movement of the Earth’s crustal plates—is understood, many details remain a mystery…
Chemical pollution in Europe’s Seas
According to a recent poll of citizens from ten European countries, pollution is the primary concern of the public at large among all issues that threaten the marine environment. Such public concern is not misplaced and is supported by scientific evidence.
Dog Excrement in Plastic Bags Threatens Beach Safety
Dog excrement wrapped in plastic bags discarded by careless owners, has emerged as a growing trend and one of the biggest single threats to the health and safety of beach visitors, the Marine Conservation Society has warned.
World Water Day 2012: Water and Food Security
Water is precious. All living things need it to survive. But we are failing to take care of it. Many struggle to get it while others believe their taps will never run dry. The UN has designated March 22nd World Water Day to focus attention on the importance of fresh, clean water and to advocate for the sustainable management of fresh water resources.
Global Sea Level Likely to Rise as Much as 70 Feet in Future Generations
Even if humankind manages to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit)–as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends–future generations will likely have to deal with a completely different world.
Venice hasn’t stopped sinking after all
Sea-level rise isn’t the only thing that has Venice’s famous canals rising ever-so-slightly every year: The city is also sinking, a new study shows, in contrast to previous studies that suggested the city’s subsidence had stabilized.
Avoiding the Tragedy of the Commons
Management of fisheries at the community level can help curb overfishing and the ‘tragedy of the commons’ which is driving humans to decimate the planet’s dwindling fish stocks, an international scientific team concluded. In an analysis of 42 coral reef sites where coastal resources are managed by partnerships between governments, conservation groups, and fishers, they found that such co-management is largely successful in both sustaining fisheries and improving livelihoods.
Hydrogen Sulfide Emissions off of Africa
Pale green patterns tinted the water along the Namibian coast. But unlike other bright hues that occasionally show up in the ocean, these colors didn’t result from a phytoplankton bloom.
Comments Off
New Greenpeace Research: Washing Big Name Brands Makes Consumers Polluters
Greenpeace today released evidence that hazardous chemical residues in clothing items sold by major brands are released into public waterways when they are washed by consumers. Once entering our rivers, lakes and seas these chemicals then break down into even more toxic and hormone-disrupting substances.
Comments Off
