Retreat from a rising sea : hard choices in an age of climate change / Orrin H. Pilkey, Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, Keith C. Pilkey.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In the wake of severe storms such as Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, this work from Orrin H. Pilkey (James B. Duke professor emeritus, division of earth & ocean sciences, Duke Univ.), Linda Pilkey-Jarvis, a geologist at Washington State's Department of Ecology, and Keith C. Pilkey, an administrative law judge with the U.S. Social Security Administration (coauthors, Useless Arithmetic) outlines how climate change and global warming are contributing to rising sea levels and urges coastal residents to retreat in the face of continued, inevitable habitat destruction. With an in-depth examination of two "doomed" cities, Miami, FL, and New Orleans, and two more prepared metropolises, Amsterdam and New York, the authors explain how these and other densely populated areas located at or below sea level are either ignoring or confronting the growing challenges they face in dealing with the effects of climate change. While the narrative is bleak, it does provide some hope with suggestions for action that concerned citizens and policymakers can take, although the authors still caution that time is running out. VERDICT An important book for those interested in climate change, particularly the effects it will have on sea level rise and cities, and storms of increasing intensity and frequency.--Venessa Hughes, Buffalo, NY © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Orrin H. Pilkey (The Rising Sea), a Duke University professor emeritus of geology, joins geologist Pilkey-Jarvis and attorney Keith C. Pilkey to provide further warnings about the rising oceans that accompany climate change. After explaining the mechanics behind the irreversible surge in sea level, the authors contend that coastal residents worldwide must prepare to move inland ("We can walk away methodically, or we can flee in panic"). By examining past responses to rising sea levels, particularly in Miami, New Orleans, New York City, and the Netherlands, the authors convincingly argue for retreat, taking into account expenses and repercussions, including the displacement of environmental refugees from vulnerable areas such as river deltas and arctic villages. While "immediate retreat is already being forced" on millions around the world, the U.S. largely refuses to face the inevitability of the rising ocean, instead building ineffectual seawalls, subsidizing beachfront development, and bailing out coastal homeowners. This accessible, impassioned argument considers the scientific, political, and socioeconomic dimensions of climate change and fervently presses for Americans to come to terms with the disastrous changes to the world's oceans sooner rather than later. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

CHOICE Review

The authors examine the fragile state of global coastal developments arising from the concurrent pressures of sea-level rise and increasing coastal population and infrastructure. Inspired by his own experiences during Hurricanes Camille (1969) and Katrina (2005), O. Pilkey (emer., earth and ocean sciences, Duke Univ.) effectively makes the case that humans have continually failed to manage coastal regions in ways that honor past experiences with loss. Given the certainty of sea-level rise this century, there is an urgent need to devise and implement strategies for coastal retreat where it is possible and fortify critical infrastructure where it is not possible. The book covers the basic physical science of sea-level rise, provides examples of impacts in the most vulnerable US cities (New Orleans and Miami), compares US coastal policies and climate change preparation with that of the Netherlands and the vulnerable Amsterdam, and discusses current obstacles to action, including climate change denialism and financial benefits of continued coastal development. This book also builds on O. Pilkey's previous The Rising Sea (CH, Jan'10, 47-2582), which summarizes the science and debunks myths regarding the dangers of current coastal habitation. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; professionals; general readers. --Justin T. Schoof, Southern Illinois University