Rising seas threaten nearly $1 trillion worth of US homes, and most of them are moderately priced
Photograph courtesy of: © William Neal, Orrin Pilkey & Norma Longo.
Coastal real estate in America is so often depicted in images of sprawling mansions with long lawns leading down to boat slips and sandy beaches. But the reality is that the majority of coastal homes are not super swanky, and they are most in danger of rising sea levels.
If sea levels were to rise 6 feet, 1.9 million homes, or $916 billion worth of U.S. residential real estate, could be lost, according to a new report from Zillow…
Sea level rise threatens U.S. historic sites, CBS News (04-13-2016)
Many of the most threatened sites in North America lie along the East Coast between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and southern Maine, where the rate of sea level rise is among the fastest in the world…
Developers don’t get it: climate change means we need to retreat from the coast, Guardian UK (15-03-2016)
It is preposterous to build in areas that are bound to flood. So why are real estate companies still doing it?..
Sea levels rose faster in 20th century than in previous 2,700 years, says study; CNN (02-23-2016)
Scientists have modeled a history of the planet’s sea levels spanning back 3,000 years, and concluded that the rate of increase last century “was extremely likely faster than during any of the 27 previous centuries.”
Sea Level Rise Will Reshape U.S. Population In All 50 States; Yale E360 (04-19-2017)
Sea level rise could cause mass migrations that will affect not just the United States’ East Coast, but reshape communities deep in the heart of the country, according to new research…
How rising seas and coastal storms drowned the U.S. flood insurance program; Yale E360 (04-19-2017)
Sea level rise and more severe storms are overwhelming U.S. coastal communities, causing billions of dollars in damage and essentially bankrupting the federal flood insurance program. Yet rebuilding continues, despite warnings that far more properties will soon be underwater…
Let’s end war with ocean, Op-Ed by Orrin H. Pilkey
The immediate future most certainly holds more miles of sandbags, resulting in more narrowed and ugly beaches.But this trend can be halted and reversed. Now is the time to make peace with the ocean.The time is now to stop sandbagging, both physically with no more shore-hardening structures, and politically with no more exceptions to the intent of the rules, no more undermining existing legislation, and a return to enforcement…
“Retreat from a Rising Sea: Hard Choices in an Age of Climate Change,” A book by Orrin H. Pilkey, Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, and Keith C. Pilkey
“Retreat from a Rising Sea: Hard Choices in an Age of Climate Change” is a big-picture, policy-oriented book that explains in gripping terms, what rising oceans will do to coastal cities and the drastic actions we must take now to remove vulnerable populations.