Study examines coastal erosion, drawbacks of standard setback requirements

Photograph: © SAF — Coastal Care Excerpts; Research on the Big Island’s coastal erosion, led by a University of Hawaii at Hilo graduate student, is being used to shape county planning policies. Hawaii County is the only county in the state that hasn’t done research to understand the island’s shoreline changes. Despite the island’s differing […]

Can these giant dams keep Europe from drowning?

A plan for a giant a 400-mile enclosure, The Northern European Enclosure Dam (NEED), would cut off the North and Baltic Seas from the Atlantic Ocean to protect 15 European countries from those rising seas. The project’s scale is unprecedented. Its cost phenomenal. But it’s still cheaper than all the alternatives—including doing nothing.

On rising Great Lakes, backyards are disappearing overnight

Document and near-record water ranges in all 5 Nice Lakes are inflicting tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in injury from Minnesota to New York as eroding shorelines and monster waves trigger properties to plummet into the water.

As climate risks worsen, U.S. flood buyouts fail to meet the need

The U.S. approach to buying out properties vulnerable to flooding is rife with uncertainty and delays. Now, as climate change drives more extreme coastal storms and precipitation events, the system must undergo a drastic overhaul or risk stranding millions in flood-prone homes.