When are people going to wake up?

[shark-hunter]

When are people going to realize that we are building too close to the shore on the east coast and that the oceans are rising! Municipalities need to rezone what is considered a build-able area and back it back at least a 1000-2000 feet. Compensate people for this obviously. It will be cheaper than other solutions.

If you look at these before and after pictures. The entire area to the right of that major road should have ZERO buildings. That should be non-buildable shoreline. Where all the sand was pushed is now the new NATURAL start of the beach. We are in a loosing battle against a rising ocean. People/government need to recognize that. Stop rebuilding in areas that will be destroyed again that are oceanfront. Back the line up of what is considered oceanfront or nature will do it for you It's only going to get worse. We are spending millions of tax payer dollars on re-nourishment projects/ocean walls hardening of the shoreline ect all in a losing battle!
hurricane sandy before after satellite SEABRIGHT.jpg

[Carson]

It's not the rising of the ocean, it's the natural build up and retreat of barrier islands. It has nothing to do with ocean levels. This has been happening for millenia.

[shark-hunter]

It's not the rising of the ocean, it's the natural build up and retreat of barrier islands. It has nothing to do with ocean levels. This has been happening for millenia.

On the east coast ocean levels are rising. That's a fact.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...limate-change/

The only way to deal with this is to back up what is considereded ocean front/beach.

[Carson]

On the east coast ocean levels are rising. That's a fact.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...limate-change/

The only way to deal with this is to back up what is considereded ocean front/beach.

That may or may not be true. There is science that supports both side. I'm disputing your contention that the destruction and changes in your photograph are solely from the rising ocean levels. This simply isn't true. Barrier islands build and retreat over time because of mother natures action upon them. This is an indisputable fact.

I don't disagree that we should restrict building. I just want you to make a valid argument why, not latch on to a political buzz word like "climate change" and blame that for something that has been happening for millions of years, long before man (allegedly) began to affect the climate.

[super fish]

most of that is to bring viewers in. the ocean may be rising, but the barrier islands and hurricanes have always been going back and forth. i think it would be of great cause to develop a better draining system and to build sea walls in every town.

[shark-hunter]

most of that is to bring viewers in. the ocean may be rising, but the barrier islands and hurricanes have always been going back and forth. i think it would be of great cause to develop a better draining system and to build sea walls in every town.

Sea walls in every town? So basically you don't want to surf anymore right? How bout getting rid of all beaches and putting up big walls that will cost billions and look horrible and totally unnatural. I couldn't think of a worse thing to do to a beautiful shoreline.

How about just rezoning building areas near oceanfront and deal with the fact that there will be some flooding during storms in some towns which has been going on for a century. Doesn't that make a little more sense than building a 100 mile long wall? Let's be reasonable. Storms happen.

The picture I displayed was simply to show how far back we should be building. Not as proof of rising sea levels. And the ocean is rising in areas without barrier islands as well. I just quickly google mapped an image. I'm talking about areas withOUT barrier islands as well.

See hot many buildings there are. THe beach should be backed in at least 3 blocks. That should be the start of the beach

seaside.jpg

[Carson]

The picture I displayed was simply to show how far back we should be building. Not as proof of rising sea levels. And the ocean is rising in areas without barrier islands as well. I just quickly google mapped an image. I'm talking about areas withOUT barrier islands.

Rising ocean levels is a straw man in your argument. Tying rising ocean levels to a natural occurrence like the ebb and flow of barrier islands is, plain and simple, dirty pool. The type of thing politicians do. Are you running for office?

[Carson]

There really isnt any valid science supporting sea levels on the east coast are not rising. We are coming out of a glacial period, and are in a long term trend of ocean rise, relative to land which is sudsiding in many areas.

Every long term tide gauge on the east has been measuring it since they were installed.

Portsmouth VA
Annapolis MD
Lewes DE
Atlantic City, NJ
Sandy Hook, NJ

Pretty cool Interactive map is here:

http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/slt...sltrends.shtml

I do agree that barrier island migration is being driven by SLR and other factors than SLR.

I was referring to the contention that humans are responsible for a global climate change that has created the rising oceans. My apologies for not stating that clearly.

[mitchell]

I was referring to the contention that humans are responsible for a global climate change that has created the rising oceans. My apologies for not stating that clearly.

Oh yeah...the human-impact part is being debated. Look at at the plot from some of the older stations like Battery Park....data back to the 1850s ! with a pretty flat trend line.

[andrewk529]

Regardless of your own position on anthropogenic climate change ( for which 98.6% of qualified climate scientists agree (Doran 2009)) The oceans are rising along with our climate's destabilizing. You would be a fool to purchase ocean front property.The science has been clear for decades. The only debate is among the common public. It is sad that it takes multiple catastrophic episodes before action is taken.

Examining the Scientific Consensus on Climate Change

Peter T. Doran

Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago

Maggie Kendall Zimmerman

Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago

Fifty-two percent of Americans think most climate scientists agree that the Earth has been warming in recent years, and 47% think climate scientists agree (i.e., that there is a scientific consensus) that human activities are a major cause of that warming, according to recent polling (see http://www.pollingreport.com/enviro.htm). However, attempts to quantify the scientific consensus on anthropogenic warming have met with criticism. For instance, Oreskes [2004] reviewed 928 abstracts from peer-reviewed research papers and found that more than 75% either explicitly or implicitly accepted the consensus view that Earth's climate is being affected by human activities. Yet Oreskes's approach has been criticized for overstating the level of consensus acceptance within the examined abstracts [Peiser, 2005] and for not capturing the full diversity of scientific opinion [Pielke, 2005]. A review of previous attempts at quantifying the consensus and criticisms is provided by Kendall Zimmerman [2008]. The objective of our study presented here is to assess the scientific consensus on climate change through an unbiased survey of a large and broad group of Earth scientists.

http://tigger.uic.edu/~pdoran/012009_Doran_final.pdf