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We are losing our coastlines.
Current policies and practices are accelerating this process. Every major dredging project for navigation or beach nourishment creates more erosion and increases storm damage (Minerals Management Service, 2000). Traditional erosion control structures -seawalls, jetties, et al- are also major factors. As erosion removes our protective coastal landforms, natural ecosystems are extinguished, fresh water supplies are compromised and economic activity dies. Now, global warming is causing sea levels to rise and increasing storm intensities hastening this crisis.
This crisis is mostly manmade. The only thing natural about our current erosion problems is nature's attempt to respond to our own self-inflicted wounds.
There are viable options available to mitigate this damage and provide for sustainable coastlines. The politics of our coasts, however, favor the current, harmful policies and practices. To save our shorelines, we must educate ourselves and others as to the realities of coastal processes. We must also advocate for those options shown to be sustainable.
Time is short; sand is short ... and the water rises.
Sustainable Shorelines is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to documenting current environmental events on our shorelines, identifying and seeking to change those coastal policies and practices which are harmful and advocating protecting our coastal habitats and the ecosystems these support with methods proven to be environmentally sound and sustainable.
Contact Jerry Berne
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