Should We Rebuild?
16 Nov 2012
The title of this New York Times op-ed article, We Need to Retreat From the Beach captured my attention because I’ve been ruminating over three recent conversations:
1. “This line shows where your property will be in a few years. Underwater.” ~ my husband talking to a friend after marking a measurement showing the rising sea level on the wooden planks leading up from the ocean to his beautiful beach home on Martha’s Vineyard
2. “There’s lots happening and none of it is good. We’re homeless, but we’re starting to rebuild.” ~ a phone call from my cousin after Superstorm Sandy devastated her Long Beach home, wrecked two cars and washed away a lifetime of memories
3.“They shouldn’t give those poor folks a cent to rebuild. No one should be living so close to the ocean anymore.” ~ my mother’s friend at a Mahjong game last week
We’ve now seen and experienced the edge of the ocean spilling into our homes…our lives, and as my friend, Judith Ross writes, “We are at a fork in the road.”
The NYTimes piece agrees, “As sea levels continue to rise, the surges of these future storms will be higher and even more deadly. We can’t stop these powerful storms. But we can reduce the deaths and damage they cause.”
Solutions?
There’s been talk of constructing 25 miles of coastal protection…to build a $15 billion seawall. This is the “cheapest solution.” But would “the side effects” of such a barrier with its impact on inland estuaries and coastal marshes…and might I add, an eyesore to those who choose to afford a water view, be feasible given the “complex and overlapping regulatory structure that involves multiple local, state and federal agencies?”
Then there’s the issue of insurance costs and outlays…yours, mine and ours. In some cases, should insurance money slated for rebuilding be redirected toward relocation and resettlement? Wouldn’t it be even worse to lose a home again…and possibly a life?
These are heart-wrenching questions. I would love to know your thoughts about rebuilding in the face of our climate crisis.
Photo used with permission: Ben Scott for Bluerock Design
Karen
Nov 17, 2012 @ 08:06:04
Great post. Great questions, Ronnie. Love your new, sleek newsletter look! Hope all is well.
Judith
Nov 17, 2012 @ 08:30:10
I think we have to take the current reality into consideration. It would be heartbreaking to lose one’s home once. And to live under that constant threat is another strain. In the same way that we have to make our “stuff” from materials and in ways that are environmentally sustainable, I think we also have to place our buildings in places that are also sustainable due to the new environmental reality. It’s not what we want, but as I said in my piece, this is where we are. And as you said in another piece, Ronnie, Reality Bites — but you ignore it at your peril.
Maryl
Nov 17, 2012 @ 08:31:24
I didn’t lose my house on the Jersey shore but I am rebuilding the front and putting in new heating and cooling systems. There used to be a huge mansion and gardens across the street from us back in the late 1800′s. The seawall in front of our house now was built by the Army Core of Engineers in the 1930′s. That plus the Federal sand replenishment program saved a lot of homes and businesses along our coast line. Modernizing and upgrading the methods we use to maintain shore lines is a good thing. We have to pick a fixed line and become more serious about saving our beaches.
Sharon
Nov 17, 2012 @ 14:21:51
When I see things of this nature, my mind often goes to “mother nature wants her land back”. We have a columnist here in the Bay area, by name, Jon Carroll, who has written columns when we have had storms and mudslides that have caused homes to slip off the hillsides. He gives his lesson on Erosion 101. Do we continue not to listen to Mother Nature? She has proven time and time again that her power is mighty. I don’t believe that our answer in a seawall. The lasting extensive damage that would do to the rest of the system would be long reaching [think dams] and would be unknown in the mentality of an instant fix. There are some brilliant minds out there, I hope they work together.
harriet
Nov 18, 2012 @ 08:06:15
Important questions Ronnie, and ones we need to take time to consider and answer..not in the “emotional moment” that we are in now..which is easy to say for me as I write this note from my home which is warm, safe and intact. But, we are living in a time of climate change, we can’t stop the rising seas and the cost to families that live near the rising tide, and to those of us that will be part of paying through our insurance premiums and federal and state taxes to keep “rebuilding”..raises a real need for land use zoning and planning with climate change in mind…thanks for bringing up these difficult but important questions..
Ronnie
Nov 21, 2012 @ 10:14:06
Lots of food for thought here…so many emotional sides to this issue. Saving our beaches is key. Let’s keep this conversation open.