This article was originally published in UCSB's ' The Current '.
A brief stroll along the Santa Barbara seashore leaves no doubt that our beaches are in peril. Stronger storms, bluff erosion and sea-level rise all threaten our coast. Without intervention, two thirds of Southern California’s beaches will be inundated by 2100, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. But rather than merely reacting to what the ocean throws at us, the state of California has commissioned a strategic plan to prepare for the future.
“In California, the beaches have long been understood as an important part of our way of life,” said Charles Lester , director of UC Santa Barbara’s Ocean & Coastal Policy Center . “But climate change and sea-level rise are bringing tremendous changes to our shoreline.”