A lesson learned from boating, and living on waterfront property: Water always wins.
Agreed. You can’t push back the ocean.
Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
41–50 of 100 posts
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#42> Local news outlet Fox59 reported that the Republican state senator Bruce Tarr was working to secure $1.5m in state funding to replenish the sand. > Tarr, noting that a more permanent seawall was not an option because hard structures like these are not allowed on Massachusetts beaches If the only alternative is to drain state funds dumping tonnes of sand that quickly get swept away, then it's time to change the (by)…
The problem is that seawalls are very expensive and make the problem worse for your neighbors. If you build a sea wall, you break the natural process which replenishes sand on the adjacent beaches and they’ll shrink and disappear. https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2023/09/26/lessons-from-califor... The real solution is to accept that anyone who bought in the last half century should have factored in the scientific evidenc…
These homeowners cleaned the beaches free of any plants that would have helped prevent this in order to make their homes look nicer.
These people just want sympathy and for someone to pay for their mistakes.
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#43Perfectly acceptable for homeowners to spend their own money to save their houses. But it’s the last sentence in the story that makes me boil over: “Now, the homeowners have asked the state to step in and provide assistance.”
Things which make sense to me: 1. Deregulate / reregulate to where residents are allowed to build a seawall instead of sacrificial dunes. 2. Bring in the Army Corp of Engineers to help with design, planning, and evaluation. Things which don't make sense to me: 1. Blocking people from doing the work. 2. Funding the actual construction with state or federal dollars. This is not an isolated problem. The Army Corp of Eng…
The problem with diverting water is that it goes somewhere else. The issue is that Salisbury is in the way of the ocean. Trying to build your way out of that is not going to work. They could establish an annual sand budget and treat it just like snow removal.
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#44How many dolos would 500k buy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolos
125 pieces, according to https://www.syracuse.com/news/2015/07/oswego_breakwater_reco... which lists them at 4,000 $
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#45> Local news outlet Fox59 reported that the Republican state senator Bruce Tarr was working to secure $1.5m in state funding to replenish the sand. > Tarr, noting that a more permanent seawall was not an option because hard structures like these are not allowed on Massachusetts beaches If the only alternative is to drain state funds dumping tonnes of sand that quickly get swept away, then it's time to change the (by)…
The problem is that seawalls are very expensive and make the problem worse for your neighbors. If you build a sea wall, you break the natural process which replenishes sand on the adjacent beaches and they’ll shrink and disappear. https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2023/09/26/lessons-from-califor... The real solution is to accept that anyone who bought in the last half century should have factored in the scientific evidenc…
>The real solution is to accept that anyone who bought in the last half century should have factored in the scientific evidence of climate change and not expect taxpayers to subsidize their failure to plan appropriately.
Glad someone said this. If you got money to buy properties at Martha Vineyard, then how much do you really believe in climate change? People who build there should just accept the risk that their properties will be destroyed with little notice.
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#46If you’re betting against the ocean, half a million bucks seems like a piddling small amount to bring to the table. Like, so small an amount that you probably shouldn’t be allowed to play the game. Part of why you have table stakes is to keep small players out of the game, and the ocean is maybe the biggest, most powerful player in the largest game on earth. (Metaphorically speaking, of course.)
There is a method of sand nourishment that works for much longer time, the sand engine. But you're talking about $10 million for a small one. The first one constructed was 70 million euro.
$500k does seem to little to play this game.
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#47If you’re betting against the ocean, half a million bucks seems like a piddling small amount to bring to the table. Like, so small an amount that you probably shouldn’t be allowed to play the game. Part of why you have table stakes is to keep small players out of the game, and the ocean is maybe the biggest, most powerful player in the largest game on earth. (Metaphorically speaking, of course.)
Looks like our carbon footprint actually is defeating the ocean’s ability to absorb it, via the phyoplankton and the acidification results in massive changes.
The ocean isn't going to disappear due to global warming. It'll just change and rejuvenate itself long after we're gone. The ocean is the house, and the house always wins.
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#48Perfectly acceptable for homeowners to spend their own money to save their houses. But it’s the last sentence in the story that makes me boil over: “Now, the homeowners have asked the state to step in and provide assistance.”
I don't know, in my place (the West coast of France) it's the government's job to protect citizens property.
There used to be a dike built in 1856 but it eroded away and in the 90s when I was young the broken sections were replaced with just big rocks[0]. It works quite fine, I believe they wouldn't count as a "hard structure" which is forbidden in this case, and they don't wash away like sand. Beaches form, naturally or with wave breakers, at the foot of the dike like they did before.
But I really don't understand why individual homeowners would be expected to conduct public works themselves like building dikes.
[0]https://as2.ftcdn.net/v2/jpg/01/78/00/19/1000_F_178001923_Pw...
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#49A lesson learned from boating, and living on waterfront property: Water always wins.
The Dutch would disagree