Keepin’ it real [or natural] How coastal structures are threatening our beaches
Man's quick fix is destroying our coastlines.
![Keepin’ it real [or natural]](http://www.huckmagazine.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/issue-06_coastline.jpg "Keepin’ it real [or natural]")
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Coastal erosion is a natural phenomenon that the planet has endured since the beginning of time. Natural forces such as wind, waves and currents have sculpted our shorelines for centuries.
But, as you might imagine, it’s the evil hand of man that poses the greatest threat to our beaches. For one, global warming caused by human activity is causing sea levels to rise, increasing erosion.
Like most quick fixes, man’s efforts to combat natural erosion processes often do more harm than good. Hard structures, like bulkheads, seawalls and groins, are built on beaches to reduce the impact of strong waves and prevent erosion, but they usually backfire. Seawalls can disrupt the natural flow of sand, starving our beaches and turning naturally sculpted land into anorexic strips prone to landslides.
But there’s hope – even for the filthy rich homeowner whose multi-million dollar pad is slowly falling off a cliff.
In the US, the town of East Hampton just passed coastal legislation restricting hard structures that can, in fact, increase erosion.
In similar news, the Long Island Sierra Club has joined the Surfrider Foundation in its campaign to stop the plan to re-armour Montauk Point. The lighthouse at the point is in jeopardy from coastal erosion, and the US Army Corps of Engineers can only think of building another massive rock revetment, which would be the fifth in less than sixty years. This hard engineering technique could lead to further erosion. Instead, the community is proposing to protect the lighthouse by moving it away from the bluff.
In Spain’s Ebro delta, coastal authorities have planned a similar managed retreat in response to coastal erosion. This is encouraging, especially since a large chunk of Europe’s coastline is protected by man-made structures that are meant to protect the coastline, but in practice do little good.
This engrained mind-set regarding hard engineering techniques will not change overnight. Luckily, the adverse effects of hard structures are argument enough for the benefits of managed retreat plans.
Nothing like properly fucking things up to make you stand up and mend your ways once and for all.
This story originally appeared in Huck #006.
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