After putting words on the rising sea levels theme, I’d like to illustrate the actual issue threatening a whole bunch of coast lines worldwide.
I think many readers have heard about North Carolina and South Carolina coast lines and the slimming beaches. Scientists argue that it’s the very first visible effect of Global Warming but also pretty much the fact that coast lines are at the forefront of the assault of the sea and as a consequence, at the forefront of climate change impact. The tide and several other variables are put forth to understand how those coast lines are that damaged and in what extent people would still live there in the next decades. In the end it highlights the fact that having structures built on such exposed places is a very short term vision of a sustainable way of life. It is not specifically pointed at the USA at all as plenty other places in the same case are now threatened and people and governments out there are trying to prevent the sea from damaging their bits even more, obviously.
The latest strong winter storm that went on January the 24th 2009 in France, caused a notable coast erosion and in some places, the effect is very visible. It struck southwestern France in particular in Soulac, precisely. Nature has a strong impact there not only tides add their contribution twice a day but the river Garonne comes out of land a couple of kilometers away, right above Soulac. As a result it’s an highly exposed coast line both on a human side of things and on a natural side of things. Camp sites popped out like daisies decades ago along the coast and a couple of them are now threatened by extreme weather events and rising sea levels. See below.

Southwestern France. Arranging the beach side before the touristic rush.

It’s all the more striking that in that kind of place, people decide to build barriers that would eventually deter water from damaging the site. But once again it’s a very short-term sort of strategy. Just think of the WW2 “blockhaus” that remain there. Then you instantly bear in mind that only 60 years ago they were well standing at the top of sand dunes to monitor what was going on the sea. Today they’re lying in shallow water.

Southwestern France, nearby Soulac. A campsite highly exposed to the sea. Engineering works took place to build a stronger barrier.

Writing this article, I felt compelled to illustrate it with pictures taken a couple of days ago. They do deal with a short-term perspective but they enhance the fact that humans are now trying to play the problem down and we can assume that with a long-term perspective, those places will be wiped out due to rising sea levels.