1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910465596803321

Autore

Pilkey Orrin H. <1934->

Titolo

Retreat from a rising sea : hard choices in an age of climate change / / Orrin H. Pilkey, Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, Keith C. Pilkey

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, [New York] : , : Columbia University Press, , 2016

©2016

ISBN

0-231-54180-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (253 p.)

Disciplina

333.917

Soggetti

Coast changes

Sea level

Shore protection

Global warming

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Control + Alt + Retreat -- 2. The Overflowing Ocean -- 3. The Fate of Two Doomed Cities: Miami and New Orleans -- 4 New and Old Amsterdam: New York City and the Netherlands -- 5. Cities on the Brink -- 6. The Taxpayers and the Beach House -- 7. Coastal Calamities: How Geology Affects the Fate of the Shoreline -- 8. Drowning in Place: Infrastructure and Landmarks in the Age of Sea-Level Rise -- 9. The Cruelest Wave: Climate Refugees -- 10. Deny, Debate, and Delay -- 11. Ghosts of the Past, Promise of the Future -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Melting ice sheets and warming oceans are causing the seas to rise. By the end of this century, hundreds of millions of people living at low elevations along coasts will be forced to retreat to higher and safer ground. Because of sea-level rise, major storms will inundate areas farther inland and will lay waste to critical infrastructure, such as water-treatment and energy facilities, creating vast, irreversible pollution by decimating landfills and toxic-waste sites. This big-picture, policy-oriented book explains in gripping terms what rising



oceans will do to coastal cities and the drastic actions we must take now to remove vulnerable populations.The authors detail specific threats faced by Miami, New Orleans, New York, and Amsterdam. Aware of the overwhelming social, political, and economic challenges that would accompany effective action, they consider the burden to the taxpayer and the logistics of moving landmarks and infrastructure, including toxic-waste sites. They also show readers the alternative: thousands of environmental refugees, with no legitimate means to regain what they have lost. The authors conclude with effective approaches for addressing climate-change denialism and powerful arguments for reforming U.S. federal coastal management policies.