The Changing Risks of Coastal Communities

Repost of the Changing Risks of Coastal Communities by Carolyn Kousky, Billy Fleming, and Alan M. Berger. An excerpt from "A Blueprint for Coastal Adaptation: Uniting Design, Economics, and Policy," published in May by Island Press is now available on Planetizen.

From San Francisco and Venice Beach to the Gulf Cost of Texas and Louisiana to the neighborhoods of Miami and New York City, the effects of climate change and rising seas are already obvious and alarming. The time to adapt coastal communities to these effects is upon us, and, collectively, we're already falling behind the timeline set by a changing planet.

A new book, A Blueprint for Coastal Adaptation: Uniting Design, Economics, and Policy, written by Carolyn Kousky, Billy Fleming, and Alan M. Berger and published by Island Press, provides a path forward through the rapidly approaching crisis, mustering professional expertise to untangle the web of interrelated threats and risks of climate change. Planetizen is pleased to share the following excerpts from the introduction of A Blueprint for Climate Adaptation, describing both the many risks facing coastal communities in the United States—sunny day floods, extreme storms, extreme heat, and retreating coastlines—but also beginning to craft an optimistic but pragmatic framework for the climate adaptation to come.

Read the excerpt here.