Surfrider Foundation 2018 Beaches Report
Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel
How would you rate your beach? Not
just on its surfing conditions and location, but on how it's holding up to
climate change, shoreline erosion and extreme weather.
The Surfrider Foundation just
released its annual State of the Beach Report Card, which grades 30
U.S. coastal and Great Lakes states and Puerto Rico on their policies to
protect their coastlines.
The results for the
past year aren't good, revealing that 23 of the 31 areas assessed are
performing at only "barely adequate to poor levels."
Just eight states - California,
Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, and
Washington - are doing a "fair or better" job. California leads the
pack with the only "A."
This is critical both to the
environment and the economy. As noted in the report authored by Stefanie Sekich-Quinn, coastal erosion
causes approximately $500 million in property loss annually in the U.S.,
including damage to structures and loss of land. Along with this, to mitigate
erosion impacts, the federal government spends an average of $150 million every
year on beach replenishment and other shoreline erosion control measures.
If something isn't done, scientists
predict that sea levels could potentially increase by up to six feet by 2100,
causing chronic flooding of up to 2.5 million homes and affecting coastal
economies, public access, recreation and healthy ecosystems.
The report emphasizes that
significant policy improvements are needed. So is continued federal support for
the Coastal Zone Management Act and funding for agencies such as the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
With the right policies and support in
place our efforts can take flight.
Sekich-Quinn gives part of the
credit for California's top rating to the California Coastal Act, which was
passed in 1976.
Protecting our oceans, waves and
beaches takes work. When it comes to making environmental decisions or taking a
side, we need to determine what’s important to us.
Please post your comment below. Comments
will appear the next day.
Sunny Magdaug and Patti
Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications
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