Retreat from a Rising Sea: Hard Choices in an Age of Climate Change

Author: Orrin H. Pilkey,Linda Pilkey-Jarvis,Keith C. Pilkey
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Category: Migration, Immigration & Emigration, Central Government Policies, Philosophy Of Science, Deltas, Estuaries, Coastal Regions, Management Of Land & Natural Resources, Global Warming, Natural Disasters, Environmental Science, Engineering & Technology
Book Format: Paperback

Melting ice sheets and warming oceans are causing the seas to rise. By the end of this century, hundreds of millions of people living at low elevations along coasts will be forced to retreat to higher and safer ground. Because of sea-level rise, major storms will inundate areas farther inland and will lay waste to critical infrastructure, such as water-treatment and energy facilities, creating 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 must take now to remove vulnerable populations. The authors detail specific threats faced by Miami, New Orleans, New York, and Amsterdam. Aware of the overwhelming social, political, and economic challenges that would accompany effective action, they consider the burden to the taxpayer and the logistics of moving landmarks and infrastructure, including toxic-waste sites. They also show readers the alternative: thousands of environmental refugees, with no legitimate means to regain what they have lost. The authors conclude with effective approaches for addressing climate-change denialism and powerful arguments for reforming U.S. federal coastal management policies.

Table 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 Orrin H. Pilkey
Orrin H. Pilkey is James B. Duke Professor Emeritus, Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences, at Duke University. His books include A Celebration of the World's Barrier Islands and Useless Arithmetic: Why Environmental Scientists Can't Predict the Future. Linda Pilkey-Jarvis is a geologist at the Washington State Department of Ecology, where she helps manage the state's oil-spills program. She is the coauthor, with Orrin H. Pilkey, of Useless Arithmetic: Why Environmental Scientists Can't Predict the Future. Keith C. Pilkey is an administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration. He has an undergraduate degree from Appalachian State University and a juris doctor from Wake Forest University School of Law. He is coauthor, with Orrin H. Pilkey, of Global Climate Change: A Primer.

(BK-9780231168458)

SKU BK-9780231168458
Barcode # 9780231168458
Brand Columbia University Press
Artist / Author Orrin H. Pilkey, Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, Keith C. Pilkey
Shipping Weight 0.5000kg
Shipping Width 0.250m
Shipping Height 0.017m
Shipping Length 2.200m
Assembled Length 1.650m
Assembled Height 25.000m
Assembled Width 220.000m
Type Paperback

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