Climate change

NY Times - Last December a surprise storm passed through Florida’s Pinellas County, ripping away beaches and wiping out half of the sand dunes from St. Petersburg to Clearwater. The damage was extensive, and all the more painful because the county had just spent about $26 million hauling in sand to build up the dunes after a hurricane had pummeled them in August.

But this turn of events is far from unusual. Beach communities around the world are spending staggering sums replacing sand as big storms and rising seas wash it away. What used to be a maintenance task every 10 years or so is now often an annual event.

For many communities, engineering the beach is worth the hefty price tag to protect properties and tourism. But as climate change hastens beach erosion, trucking or shipping huge quantities of sand to replenish beaches is likely to become economically untenable and logistically impractical. Policymakers may soon have to make painful decisions about which shores and structures to save. This doesn’t necessarily spell disaster for beach lovers. Beaches were intended to move around, and they’re better off when they do. Unlike other effects of climate change that look bleaker the further into the future you look, migrating beaches could ultimately make America’s coasts healthier by providing coral reefs and wildlife affected by sand replenishment with the habitats they need to thrive.