How The North Carolina State Government Reacted To Coastal Homes "Falling Into The Sea" (... And How The Rich React)

 

Dear Ed,

Thanks for sending the article about North Carolina homes "falling into the sea." 

I was amazed by the outcome!

Although catastrophic climate change is rampant, most homo "sapiens" remain blithe.

We humans -- and I emphasize all of us --  have the ability to rationalize anything.

Anything.

As La Rochefoucauld observed in one of my favorite quotes:

Pax et amor

Alan

PS Pissed off by the blasé indifference of "the filthy rich" to the ravages of anthropogenic global warming, I once asked Air Force general friend, Arthur Clarke (who died recently at age 100), what the rich would do when it finally became clear that the coasts were being flooded and billions of humans were being displaced 

in waves of unprecedented migration. Without missing a beat, Arthur replied: 

"They will move to a higher elevation."

PPS I also reflect that just "10,000" years ago, the place where I grew up was covered by glacial ice in the last Ice Age. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Glacial_Period

At the same time, glaciation extended into present day North Carolina.

 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17736977/#:~:text=Abstract,of%2036%20degrees%2007'N.

PPS This is a good place to insert my favorite Wendell Berry quote which is highlighted in red at:

Wendell Berry: American Prophet

https://newsfrombarbaria.blogspot.com/2020/12/wendell-berry-american-prophet.html

On Tue, Oct 17, 2023 at 3:12 AM REM wrote:

The two houses at the end of East Beacon Road in Rodanthe, N.C., sit precariously at the edge of the pounding surf.

Fierce storms and rising tides have clawed away the sand beneath them, pummeled nearby dunes and undermined septic systems. The pair of homes seem destined to one day topple into the Atlantic Ocean, the way a growing number have in recent years along this stretch of the Outer Banks, where the rates of erosion and sea level rise are among the most rapid on the East Coast.

Given that reality, it might seem surprising that 23298 E. Beacon Rd. and 23292 E. Beacon Rd. sold on the same day recently. Perhaps even more surprising was the buyer: the National Park Service.

After spending more than $700,000 for the salt-sprayed vacation homes, the federal government plans to promptly tear them down and turn the area into a public beach access.

Link:

These houses are at risk of falling into the sea. The U.S. government bought them. The Washington Post