Losing most of their beach to erosive storms over the past few years, residents of Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts, paid nearly $600,000 to create dunes with 15,000 tons of sand. Within a few days of its completion, powerful waves washed most of that barrier out to sea.
This sad saga will surely be replicated across the globe as sea levels rise and global warming intensifies storms that lash our coastlines. While regular beach "re-nourishment" may slow the destruction, it will be a losing battle in most areas. Sturdy, high seawalls and the restoration of coastal marshlands may be the only realistic options.
As we have also recently observed along the Pacific coast, living atop sea cliffs is just as dangerous when powerful waves and torrential rain undermine and erode the steep terrain. Climate change will force all but the very wealthy to abandon floodplains and coastal areas. The first step is to stop building in those high risk zones.
