A North Carolina beach under threat Credit: Juli Leonard

Sea-level rise is upon us, and in the near future we will be forced to retreat from the shoreline. Two new peer-reviewed studies have suggested that a 3.5-to-6-foot sea-level rise by 2100 is a real possibility because of the increasing instability of the ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica.

Already in North Carolina, widespread killing of trees in the lowermost coastal plain is evidence of sea-level rise. The trees die when intruding salt water pushes up the lighter freshwater and drowns the roots.

Globally, coastal dwellers are beginning to pull back from low-elevation lands and eroding shorelines. For instance, coastal inhabitants of the Alaskan and Canadian Arctic shorelines are actively contemplating relocation. Thousands of Pacific islanders from coral atoll islands have already moved to safer high ground, many of them choosing to relocate to other countries since there is little high ground on atolls.

Retreat from river deltas, where hundreds of millions live, is just beginning. Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, on the […]