Sea level rise and property values

While the news story is several months old, I was struck when I read this story from Key Largo. It details how the streets of Key Largo are flooding with increasing frequency. The article includes a picture of a flooded street on what appears to be an otherwise nice day - just a high tide with a super moon will do it. But the interesting twist was this quote:

"So far we have not been seeing buyers being concerned with sea level rise, which I'm a little surprised given all the media attention it has garnered lately," said Lisa Ferringo, president of the Marathon/Lower Keys Board of Realtors.

When will shore towns see that change? How much flooding is a meaningful inconvenience? Is this a bubble about to burst or a new standard of social resilience. Seems like there should be some sociologists building predictive models on this.

A 300-year plan

I like long-term planning, but the 300-year plan for a pine plantation by the recently departed M.C. Davis goes beyond most of my timelines.

Stake in the Sand

Shortly before the Supreme Court issued its decision in Stop the Beach Renourishment v. Florida DEP, the NYTimes Sunday Magazine sent Andrew Rice down to Destin to talk to some of the impacted residents. Stake in the Sand is his look at the conflict without the knowledge of the resolution.

Class reading

In 2010, the NY Times' Sunday magazine ran a piece by Andrew Rice called a Stake in the Sand.  It is a closer look at the Supreme Court case that was named, STOP THE BEACH RENOURISHMENT, INC. v. FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ET AL. 

We will be re-reading this NY Times magazine article for class.  


But you might also enjoy this old photo and news clip from Pruned blog.

Old SCOTUS case in Florida

In a case of reliving past glories, I am encouraging our studio students to go back to this old NY Times Sunday Magazine piece on a case known as Stop the Beach Renourishment v. Florida. Since it was published before the decision was issued, it focused on the issues rather than the outcome. And you can see how it is going to come up again.

Book: The Everglades: River of Grass

In class today we heard how River of Grass impacted on researcher's life. Published in 1947,
Marjory Stoneman Douglas' The Everglades: River of Grass presented an eloquent argument for considering the Everglades as both a precious and endangered natural place. Her vivid descriptions of the amazing landscape still ring true. Proof? How about a recent NY Times travel piece that was compelled to quote Douglas' book demonstrate the extraordinary beauty of the area.

The end of Miami?

Jeff Goodell writes in Rolling Stone that Miami is a doomed city.  He writes about an imagined Hurricane that hits the city in 2030 and an ultimate demise of the city that leaves it as an unusual tourist destination. "And still, the waters kept rising, nearly a foot each decade. By the latter end of the 21st century, Miami became something else entirely: a popular snorkeling spot where people could swim with sharks and sea turtles and explore the wreckage of a great American city." after the future scenarios,  he analyzes the overall situation making it clear how many different factors contribute to the problem in Miami: rising sea level, more intense storms, high water table, nuclear reactors on the coast (with more proposed), and startlingly flat terrain (half of the land, he reports, surrounding Miami is less than 5 feet above sea level). With only modest inundation, Miami starts getting cut off from the rest of Florida. And, writes Goodell, those reactors get isolated from the mainland with only three feet of sea level rise:

"I went out there anyway. I was denied access to the inner workings, but I got a very nice view of two aging 40-year-old reactors perched on the edge of a rising sea with millions of people living within a few miles of the plant. It was as clear a picture of the insanity of modern life as I've ever seen."

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Coupled with the Bill McKibben piece in Rolling Stone last year that distills the latest depressing science on climate change, things seem stark for South Beach. Here are his three numbers that should scare you:

• 2° Celsius 
• 565 Gigatons 
• 2,795 Gigatons 

This isn't exactly news. The NY Times  mapped out scenarios for a variety of cities last year and Miami instantly stood out. But together these two Rolling Stone pieces get a strong Places and Spaces recommendation. And we recommend readers visit the beaches around Miami and the Everglades now, while they can.

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