Paros Island Council Backs Take Back Beaches Movement – Next Year – the National Herald
Limited in its authority, the municipal council on the island of Paros that’s overrun with unlawful businesses occupying public beaches and charging users for umbrellas and lounge beds said there should be inspections.
But officials on the island said the overall jurisdiction belongs to the Finance Ministry, with the government leasing space on prime spots to private operators although there are many that have unlawfully taken over beaches…
Angry Greeks Take Back Public Beach Movement Grows, State Reacts – the National Herald
The spread of take back public beaches movement in rebellion against private interests blocking access and charging for renting sunbeds and umbrellas has spurred Greece’s government into promising violators would be punished.
The ruling New Democracy has, like previous governments, done little to prevent the takeover of public beaches that has proliferated, especially on islands, in a bid to lure more foreign tourists, enriching the companies using public lands…
Venice Isn’t Alone: 7 Sinking Cities Around the World – How Stuff Works
Many big cities sit near the ocean. They became cities in the first place because their ports facilitated trade and travel by sea.
Coastal cities all over the world are sinking — a geological process called subsidence — and it’s happening at a rate that makes scientists nervous. If these bits of land didn’t have important cities on them, it’s likely nobody would notice, or, in some cases, that they wouldn’t be sinking at all…
New York City Is Sinking under Its Own Weight – Scientific American
The weight of New York City’s 1.1 million buildings is making the city slowly sink.
Home to 8.8 million people as of 2020, New York City is by far the most populous city in the U.S. And the mass of the buildings needed to support all those residents—and the work they do—really adds up. New research published on May 8 in Earth’s Future suggests that the weight of the city itself is pressing down on the land it occupies and contributing to local sea-level rise that increases flood risks…
Cities Are Rapidly Reclaiming Land at Risk of Extreme Sea Level Rise – Hakai
As the sea rises and the population booms, builders around the world are in a race to transform coastal bays and shallow seas into new land. Yet don’t mistake this rush of land reclamation as a response to the challenges we face. “It’s built for rich people,” explains Dhritiraj Sengupta, a physical geographer at England’s University of Southampton. Sengupta’s latest research shows there’s been a huge increase in the use of reclaimed land for luxury hotels, shopping areas, and high-end living spaces—developments designed to boost a city’s global reputation…
New Land Creation on Waterfronts Increasing, Study Finds – AGU
Humans have added approximately 900 square miles of land to urban coastlines this century, and we’re building more…
Humans are artificially expanding cities’ coastlines by extending industrial ports and creating luxury residential waterfronts. Developers have added over 2,530 square kilometers of land (900 square miles, or about 40 Manhattans) to coastlines in major cities since 2000, according to a new study…
A chunk of Rancho Palos Verdes is sliding into the sea. Can the city stop it? – the Los Angeles Times
A drive along the ocean on the Palos Verdes Peninsula is Southern California at its finest. Sunlight dances on the water. Coves are pristine, unsullied by development. Catalina Island appears so near you can almost spot the bison.
Look a bit closer, though, and you’ll see signs of a disaster waiting to happen…
Shifting Sands: Carolina’s Outer Banks Face a Precarious Future – Yale Environment 360
Cottages have been tumbling into the ocean for as long as humans have been building along the Outer Banks. The difference now is that they appear to be falling in at a faster rate, and scores of homes are now at risk.
Areas of the Outer Banks have retreated over 200 feet in the last two decades and are currently losing about 13 feet a year…
The uninsurables: how storms and rising seas are making coastlines unliveable – the Guardian
With 10% of Canadian homes now uninsurable due to extreme weather, the climate crisis forces people to make hard choices about where they live . . .