Stamp-Sand Beach, Gay Michigan: A Harmful Mining Legacy – William J. Neal et al.
The book, Vanishing Sands, examined global beach losses due to direct mining of beaches and other sources of beach sand. However, natural beaches can be lost from having gained sediments as the result of mining operations. Such is the case of mining impacts in the form of stamp-sand beaches on Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula shores and shallows of Lake Superior…
Sandbags on the Beach: Quick Help, Long Term Trouble – Frontiers for Young Minds
Have you ever seen big bags of sand stacked along a beach or near a house during a storm? These… big bags filled with sand (are) used to stop water from flooding streets, buildings, or beaches during storms….Sandbags can be helpful during emergencies, but what happens when the storm is over, and the bags are left behind? It turns out that sandbags can cause serious problems for nature…
The Unsustainable Harvest of Coastal Sands – Science
Although coasts form a crucial part of the natural wealth of the planet, their conservation is increasingly jeopardized owing to the growing human footprint. With 50% of the world’s population living within 150 km of a coastline, increasing urbanization and population pressures are threatening these fragile ecosystems…
Is Earth in a New Time Period: The Plasticene? – Frontiers for Young Minds
Earth has a special calendar called the geologic time scale…We are currently in the Holocene Epoch, but some scientists believe we have entered a new time called the Anthropocene or the “Age of Humans” because of our impact on the planet. One of the biggest changes humans have made is inventing and using plastic..Because plastic is now found everywhere, some scientists, like us, think we have entered a new stage in Earth’s history called the Plasticene…
The global impact of sand mining on beaches and dunes – Ocean & Coastal Management
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…
Vanishing Sands: How Sand Mining is Stripping Away Earth’s Beaches by Orrin Pilkey, et al – Duke | Nicholas School of the Environment
A new book from Duke University Press, “Vanishing Sands: Losing Beaches to Mining,” casts light on the shadowy world of sand mining through case studies that illuminate its disastrous impacts and a concluding chapter that proposes common-sense solutions.
Because of the tradition of viewing beaches as public land, people have historically thought of beach sand as a free and limitless resource, Pilkey and his co-authors explain in their preface to “Vanishing Sands…”
Beaver Island Michigan, 2016 – 2020: Beach Perspectives; By William J. Neal
Most readers probably have heard of Mackinac Island, either for its strategic place in early American history, or as today’s high-end resort. In contrast, lesser known Beaver Island has a more colorful history.
Skara Brae Beach, Scotland: Thoughts on the Short and Long of Sea-Level Rise; By William J. Neal
Perceptions based on the present bias our perception of the past and future. A static view of our environment is misleading. The human association with water, particularly shorelines, is a case in point. We do not perceive the history of place, and globally we occupy sites as if they are unchanging, not realizing that in fact they are of high risk.
Santa Veronica Beach, Atlantico, Caribbean coast, Colombia: A model of small community, beach loss, wrong responses; By Nelson Rangel-Buitrago, Adriana Gracia & William J. Neal
Santa Veronica is one of numerous recreational beach developments along Colombia’s Caribbean Coast most sharing a similar history of shoreline retreat, perceived as shoreline erosion, and the attempt to hold the shoreline in place through the use of shore-hardening structures.