Retreat in Rodanthe Interactive Feature – the Washington Post

Rodanthe Homes (by Rick Rowland CC BY 2.0 via Flickr).

Along three blocks in a North Carolina beach town, severe erosion is upending life, forcing hard choices and offering a glimpse of the dilemmas other coastal communities will face…

Early last year, a house crumbled into the sea in this small Outer Banks community, home to some of the most rapid rates of erosion and sea level rise on the East Coast.

Not long after, another house fell. And then another…

Use of Pulverized Recycled Glass for Beach Nourishment: A Review – Georgia Coastal Research Council (GCRC)

Glass Powder (by Hideya Hamano CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Flickr).

This paper reviews geotechnical, biological, and abiotic analyses conducted on the experimental placement of recycled glass on beaches in Florida. It will also describe the experiences local governments have had when considering the use of recycled glass as an alternative material for beach nourishment.

Coastal erosion caused by increased extreme weather events and sea level rise is escalating the rate and extent to which beaches are washing away. Traditionally, inland and offshore sand and dredged material from rivers, canals, and the ocean have been used to nourish beaches, but these resources are becoming increasingly expensive and difficult to obtain…

How A Used Bottle Becomes A New Bottle – NPR Planet Money

Care for a drink? (by Vincent VR CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Flickr).

The rise of curbside recycling programs over the past few decades has meant more glass recycling. But for a long time, many recycling centers didn’t have the technology to turn recycled glass into the raw material for new bottles. Instead, recycled glass often wound up being used as a cheap construction material, or even to cover landfills.

Now, with new technology that can better sort glass collected in curbside recycling, more used glass bottles can be turned back into new glass bottles. To see how this works, we went to a glass recycling facility and a bottle factory…

Outside a recycling plant in Jersey City, N.J., there are piles and piles of what looks like garbage.

But it’s actually broken glass…

Can recycled glass help restore Louisiana’s eroding coastline? – the Guardian

Glass trash at the local recycle (by Chuckcars CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr).

Dave Clements, owner of Snake and Jake’s Christmas Club Lounge, a beloved dive bar in New Orleans, has watched Louisiana’s coast shrink year after year.

“I used to go fishing quite a bit down in Delacroix area. Me and my buddy would go out in a flat boat,” he says. Clements remembers finding “a little spot, a little island” where he and his friend would take breaks while fishing for redfish, sheepshead, speckled trout and flounder. When they went back to the same spot a month later, the patch of land was gone. “I actually stopped fishing because it was so depressing..”

Restoring Louisiana’s Shoreline, One Glass Bottle at a Time – GIZMODO

Recycling (by RubyT via CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Flickr).

Glass Half Full is redirecting glass from landfills and turning it into much-needed sand.

Louisiana’s shoreline is rapidly eroding due to sea level rise and extreme weather fueled by climate change. But a scrappy New Orleans glass recycling initiative, Glass Half Full, is rounding up as many of the city’s glass bottles as possible to create sand for coastal restoration.

The team, a winner of the 2023 Gizmodo Science Fair, got started in 2020…

Is YOUR town at risk? – Daily Mail

South Bay, Scarborough, Yorkshire Coast, UK (by Roland Turner CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr).

Terrifying interactive map reveals the areas that could be plunged UNDERWATER by 2050 amid sea level rise fuelled by climate change.

With the allure of deck chairs, ice cream and amusement arcades, the Great British seaside holds a special, nostalgic place in the hearts of UK holidaymakers.

But fast forward just 25 years and scores of the country’s beaches, piers and bays could be underwater because of increasing global sea levels caused by global warming…

Beaches on Scotland’s ‘Hawaii of the North’ at risk after sand stolen – The Telegraph

The sands of Tràigh Baile a' Mhuilinn (by Rob Farrow CC BY-SA 2.0 via geograph.org).

With its stunning white crystal sands, it is known as “Hawaii of the North”. But beachcombers are said to be removing the famous sands of Tiree in the Hebrides on an industrial scale. Landowner Argyll Estates suspects sand is being “stolen” by “greedy” islanders under cover of darkness. Reports also suggest that it is “the more affluent residents” who are involved “so the reasons for this may not always be hardship but perhaps greed…”

The global impact of sand mining on beaches and dunes – Ocean & Coastal Management

USACE project Sand Replenishment 5.5 mile strech of Anna Maria Island, FL (by Carol VanHook CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr).

Beaches and coastal dunes have always supplied sand for a wide range of uses, and initially the extracted volumes were limited to buckets, wheelbarrows, or small pickup truck loads. However, starting in the late twentieth century, and thanks to urban development, especially for coastal tourism, coastal and river sand has been extracted at an accelerated pace, and on a much grander scale…

Beach Loss Through Sea-Level Rise Will Affect Underserved Communities the Most – Sea Grant California

Looking down from the cliffs that border Blacks Beach near La Jolla, San Diego, California. (by Wayne S. Grazio CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via Flickr).

A new study shows that equitable coastal access might become another victim of climate change – unless we plan proactively.

As the rising sea level slowly erodes California’s beaches, underserved communities are most affected by the loss, according to preliminary results in a new study funded by California Sea Grant and the California State University Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology (COAST)…