“A continuous sandbag wall on North Topsail Beach, N.C. shows the shore-hardening effect of such structures on beach loss, either by initial placement or by causing beach narrowing and loss.”—© William Neal, Orrin Pilkey & Norma Longo.
Photo courtesy of: Ken Blevins/Wilmington StarNews.
Excerpts;
Building a road, a school, a bridge in Hampton Roads? Think about how long you want it to be around, and whether it might be underwater by then.
That’s what regional planners recommend in light of sea levels projected to rise nearly 5 feet over the next century…
Read Full Article; The Virginian Pilot Online (10-19-2018)
Sea Level Rise Will Reshape U.S. Population In All 50 States; Yale E360 (04-19-2017)
Sea level rise could cause mass migrations that will affect not just the United States’ East Coast, but reshape communities deep in the heart of the country, according to new research…
How rising seas and coastal storms drowned the U.S. flood insurance program; Yale E360 (04-19-2017)
Sea level rise and more severe storms are overwhelming U.S. coastal communities, causing billions of dollars in damage and essentially bankrupting the federal flood insurance program. Yet rebuilding continues, despite warnings that far more properties will soon be underwater…
We can’t ignore the rising sea; By Orrin H. Pilkey (06-15-2016)
Surrendering to rising seas; Scientific American (08-2018)
Coastal communities struggling to adapt to climate change are beginning to do what was once unthinkable: retreat…
The only answer to rising seas is to retreat; By Orrin H. Pilkey & Keith C. Pilkey; The News & Observer (10-18-2017)
Except for the timing, there is no controversy among scientists regarding sea level rise. Defending the coast and holding the shoreline in place ultimately will be futile. With a three-foot or a six-foot sea level rise, we will retreat, probably beginning within the next 50 years…
Let’s end war with ocean, Op-Ed by Orrin H. Pilkey
The immediate future most certainly holds more miles of sandbags, resulting in more narrowed and ugly beaches.But this trend can be halted and reversed. Now is the time to make peace with the ocean.The time is now to stop sandbagging, both physically with no more shore-hardening structures, and politically with no more exceptions to the intent of the rules, no more undermining existing legislation, and a return to enforcement…
