New Rights Challenge to Belo Monte Dam in Brazil
A group of independent Brazilian scientists, who recently studied the environmental impact report, concluded that the project was not viable. The Xingú river basin is home to four times more biodiversity that the whole of Europe.
Winthrop Beach’s Crumbling Sea wall and Acccelerated Erosion
Once a playground for the elite, who traveled from as far as Chicago to spend time at the hotels that lined the Winthrop beach in the early 20th century, the beach has been eroding over the past century. The process was accelerated by the installation of walls that were put up, which removed the source of natural sediment that once helped create the beach. Visitors can find evidence of what waves can do to manmade structures.
Sebastian Inlet, Florida; By Eddie Jarvis
A surfer’s view of shoreline engineering.
Beach Renourishment Projects in Doubt
On a narrow stretch of Sand Key, Fl., the beach has eroded from months of rushing waves. Tides eat away at the coast, sweeping sand back into the gulf. Unstopped by the shore, water rolls to the seawall, 20 feet from condominiums. Bordered by 825 miles of sandy shoreline, Florida tops the nation in federally funded beach renourishment.
County Kills Singer Island Breakwater Project, Siding With Environmentalists
Palm Beach County commissioners killed a controversial proposal Tuesday to build a series of breakwaters off of Singer Island intended to buffer its beach from eroding.
Leave The Sea Alone!
Sea erosion is a natural phenomenon, it is an interplay between water, wind and sand, and this process helps keeping the intricate balance of coastal ecosystem. By erecting manmade structures in the sea, or on the beach, this process becomes crippled and the sea must find “other methods.”
Collapse in Big Sur highway 1, California
A stretch of Highway one, roughly a 40-foot section, near Big Sur, slid into the ocean.
Belo Monte hydroelectric dam construction work begins
With most Brazilian eyes firmly fixed on the country’s annual carnival, construction work officially started this week on the controversial Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon, after reversal of a February suspension ruling.
The Problems With Dams
Project to build world’s third-largest hydroelectric plant is suspended after failing to meet environmental requirements. Dams block sediments going to the ocean, which implies accelerated erosion.