Pilkey’s Call: Save The Beaches

Beaches move, and with rising sea levels they are moving faster. People try to slow or halt the process by dredging up sand or erecting imposing seawalls, but those are destructive and doomed efforts. To save the beaches, we must let beaches go where and how they want.

The Barrier Islands: Islands in Motion

North Carolina is famous for its beautiful set of coastal barrier islands. But did you know that those islands are mobile? Around 14 thousand years ago, as the last ice age was coming to a close, sea level began to rise as water was released from the glaciers.

Rain, Storm Surge Combine to Put Coasts at Risk

Many more coastal residents are at threat from the meteorological double whammy of freshwater flooding and storm surge, (compound flooding events) which a new study finds is a serious threat for large stretches of U.S. coast, where more than half of the country’s population lives in densely populated areas and where development has been steadily rising in recent decades.

Climate Change Threatens China’s Booming Coastal Cities, Says Expert

A recent study led by Georgina Mace, ecosystem professor at University College London, indicated that governments across the world have failed to grasp the risk that population booms in coastal cities pose as climate change continues to cause rises in sea levels and extreme weather events.