Experts Urge Caution As $50 Billion In Sandy Aid Passes House

The House of Representatives passed a bill this week to spend $50 billion to help states struck by Hurricane Sandy. Several billion dollars are pegged for projects to reduce risk of future storms, and this alarmes some scientists who studied what happens to structures built along coastlines…

Hurricane Sandy Relief Bill Fails to Face Coastal Realities

As part of the sorely-needed aid package to help victims of Hurricane Sandy, Congress is also considering spending billions on ill-advised and environmentally damaging beach and coastal rebuilding projects that ignore the looming threats of rising seas and intensifying storms. By RobYoung.

Why We Underestimate the Costs of Climate Change

The wastewater infrastructure of New York and New Jersey was badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy, the systems failed. It is just one manifestation of a larger danger. Once we start to think about how climate change can undermine the basic structures we have built and upon which we rely, it becomes clear that virtually everything is at risk…

History Has Lessons for Post-Sandy America, by John R. Gillis

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Americans are finally beginning to ask themselves whether or not it might be advisable to build up to the edge of the sea. It is dawning on us that we are dealing with a human-made rather than natural disaster…

Jersey Shore Development Failures Exposed By Hurricane Sandy

Many experts say Sandy presents an opportunity to rethink New Jersey’s future development patterns. Some argue that the most sensible approach would be to pull back from vulnerable coastlines and relinquish some real estate to nature. But already the pressures are building, from homeowners, and from municipalities hungry for property tax revenues, to put everything back the way it was…