Retreat From a Rising Sea - Hard Choices in an Age of Climate Change

With its 28-foot storm surge and 174 mph winds, 2005's Hurricane Katrina was responsible for nearly 2,000 deaths and more than $100 billion in damage. The event was only a preview of what will soon hit coastal communities as climate change increases the power of storms that can lay waste to critical infrastructure, such as water-treatment and energy facilities, and create 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 need to take now to remove vulnerable populations.

List of contents

Foreword, by the Santa Aguila Foundation
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

About the author

Orrin H. Pilkey, Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, and Keith C. Pilkey

Report

"Retreat From a Rising Sea is a book that should be read. In its passion to explain the conclusion that science clearly indicates, it signals the urgency of our retreat from the coast." - Carl Hobbs, William and Mary College, author of The Beach Book

Product details

• Authors: Keith C Pilkey, Keith C. Pilkey, Orrin H Pilkey, Orrin H. Pilkey, Orrin H. Pilkey-Jarvis Pilkey, Pilkey Keith C., Pilkey Orrin H., Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, Pilkey-Jarvis Linda
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 24.05.2016
• EAN: 9780231168441
• ISBN: 978-0-231-16844-1
• No. of pages: 240
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Ecology; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; USA, NATURE / Natural Resources, SCIENCE / Global Warming & Climate Change, Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection, Climate Change, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Environmental Policy, POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / National, Environmental Management, United States of America, USA, Central / national / federal government policies, Environmental policy & protocols, Central government policies, Environmental policy and protocols