Panel Rejects Plan for Matunuck Retaining wall, Rhodes Island
A state environmental panel has rejected plans by South Kingstown officials to build a 200-foot retaining wall to protect the only road leading in and out of Matunuck, RI, from beach erosion.
Oceanic Islands’ Topography and Erosion Impacts on Ecosystems
Oceanic islands are born, they grow, they are eroded and they disappear beneath the sea. Throughout this process, which takes millions of years, the islands change form and therefore change their ‘tenants’. The species adapt to the new environmental conditions,
Chilean Court Approves Huge Patagonia Dam
Chile’s Supreme Court has green-lit the highly controversial HidroAysén dam project in Patagonia, which environmentalists say will wreck a unique and pristine habitat in the southern tip of South America.
Shrinking Britain will force land to be abandoned to the sea
Geologists take the long view, which can lead to some striking thoughts, and here is one: Britain is shrinking. As the waves crash onto the shores of this island, the rock is worn away or falls off in chunks, and, as the adage goes, they are not making land any more in Britain.
Energy Companies Pledge to Measure Impacts of Large Dam Projects ?
The sixth World Water Forum ( held this year in Marseille, France from March 12-17) the world’s largest meeting devoted to water, is to create solutions to the water, energy, and food challenges presented by climate change and economic growth. But critics say new scorecard to evaluate social and environmental impacts of hydropower projects serves dam builders not local communities and denounced the protocol as an attempt to “greenwash” the industry.
Dubai’s Staggering Growth
To expand the possibilities for beachfront development, Dubai undertook a massive and controversial engineering project to create hundreds of artificial islands along its Persian Gulf coastline. Built from sand dredged from the sea floor, the islands are shaped in recognizable forms such as palm trees. The construction of the various islands off the coast of Dubai has resulted in changes in area wildlife, coastal erosion and alongshore sediment transport, and wave patterns.
White cliffs of Dover suffer large collapse, UK
A large section of the white cliffs of Dover has collapsed into the English Channel following a “substantial” rockfall, according to the coastguard.
Controversial dam projects – in pictures
To mark the international day of action for rivers on Wednesday, a look is taken at some of the world’s most contentious dam projects, from the Three Gorges in China to Brazil’s Belo Monte dam.
Rethinking Living Shorelines
In response to the detrimental environmental impacts caused by traditional erosion control structures, environmental groups, state and federal resource management agencies, now advocate an approach known as “Living Shorelines” that embraces the use of natural habitat elements such as indigenous vegetation, to stabilize and protect eroding shorelines. By Orrin H. Pilkey, Rob Young, Norma Longo, Andy Coburn.