As an El Niño winter tears away its shoreline, San Francisco tries to figure out how or whether to protect homes, a $220 million wastewater treatment plant, and a world-famous road.
The question facing at least eight local, state and federal agencies boils down to this: With California officials expecting climate change to raise sea levels here by 14, »read moreTags: climate change, infrastructure, planning
The Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) and the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) recently released the Best Practices Manual for Development in Coastal Louisiana website.
What's novel about this site is that it provides strategies for creating sustainable and resilient coastal communities based on "geotypes" (pick from chenier, »read moreTags: adaptation & mitigation, infrastructure, planning, publications
From a FEMA press-release:
We are pleased to announce the release of the first edition of the National Preparedness Goal, which is available for download at http://www.fema.gov/PPD8. The National Preparedness Goal is the first deliverable called for by Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) 8 and was signed by the Secretary of Homeland Security on September, »read moreTags: adaptation & mitigation, funding & assistance, infrastructure
Hard truths from a local official facing sea level rise in his community.
"Fighting a losing battle with the sea" The Boston, »read moreTags: case study, infrastructure, planning, sea level rise, weather & climate
Tying in with their Climate Ready Water Utilities program, the EPA has released four case studies looking at specific adaptation steps communities are taking. The communities are East Bay (CA), New York City, Seattle (WA), and Spartanburg (SC). You can download the case study from EPA's, »read moreTags: adaptation & mitigation, case study, infrastructure, planning, publications
EPA has released another set of tools to help communities adapt to climate change: this time they're focusing on water and wastewater utilities.
If you only have a moment, start with the Climate Ready Water Utilities Toolbox. I know—another toolkit. But the EPA has taken an interesting strategy to address the primary challenge of toolkits: they're, »read moreTags: adaptation & mitigation, infrastructure, planning, publications, weather & climate
Orrin Pilkey, always a lightening-rod for coastal climate change issues, has written a gloomy forecast for the world's beaches, and has the photos to justify his positions.
He acknowledges that predicting the effects of sea level rise on beaches is complex, and that results will vary greatly depending on many factors. But overall, the picture isn't, »read moreTags: adaptation & mitigation, Building, editorial, infrastructure, Insurance, legal, planning, regulations, weather & climate
A new paper looking at structural shore protection in Massachusetts and Hawaii finds a few things to like, and a lot to cause consternation.
Among the benefits:
Stabilizes the upland
Protects infrastructure
Maintains property values for some
. . . And the detriments:
Source sediment impoundment resulting in increased erosion of the fronting and, »read moreTags: adaptation & mitigation, Building, case study, infrastructure, research
A new article reiterates that seawalls may increase erosion rates of beaches, so while they (temporarily) protect what's behind them, it's at the expense of the beach in front of them.
"We thought we could engineer and control nature by these techniques, but you’re fighting a losing battle,” [Rick Murray of Scituate, MA] said. “And the conservation, »read moreTags: adaptation & mitigation, Building, editorial, infrastructure
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