Smith Island and Sea-Level Rise

Here's a long story by CBS News on Smith Island in the Chesapeake Bay, a tiny island that is shrinking due to erosion and sea level rise. Of course, the islanders are determined to stay.

 

Erosion eats away up to 12 feet of shoreline a year, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, writes CBS News. 

One resident said:

"When I was a little girl they used to say, 'The island's sinking. Now, this weren't yesterday. This has been a long time ago," Marshall said. "Well, fast forward 60-70 years, we're still here."

and

"While Maryland's 2013 offer to buy and demolish Smith Island homes was shot down, it did sound alarms for residents. Watermen and retirees learned how to apply for grants and lobby legislators. They've been successful, receiving more than $43 million for elevating roads, building jetties, restoring buildings and drawing in tourists." 

That's for an island of about 200 people, so $200,000 per resident. Add that to the cost of climate change. 

A similar island in the Bay, Tangiers Island, is in the same predicament and has the same denial. They want money to build a wall around their island. (What's the point of living on an island if you can't see the ocean?) They're asking for $20-$30 million.

These stories aren't new; they've been coming since decades. Here's an article from 2010.

This is sad and infuriating. Of course the residents want to stay--it's been their beautiful home for decades if not longer. For some it's the only life they know. Their denial is equally sad, and we know it will ultimately be futile, probably sooner than later. And it's infuriating because such situations will become more and more common in the next few decades, and everyone will want to stay, stay, stay until they too give up and, defeated, paddle ashore. What's infuriating is that US politicians simply don't care. Trump thinks the ocean will rise "one-eighth of an inch over the next 400 years" and thinks that's fine because it will create more oceanfront property. There is simply no end to the amount of stupidity that comes out of his mouth, which presumably started in his brain. America elected this dumbass. This is the most shameful election result in the history of the US, so bad that I think it portends the end of the country (which, to be honest, has been coming on for awhile, about since 9/11 and the resulting Gulf War, certainly since the 2008 financial crisis). Or at least a country continuing--faster now--on its way to a shambles of a society. 50% of Americans deserve it. 50% will suffer along with them. Some will presumably drown in their own homes.