viii
explains the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, what
we should do about the threat of climate change, and when we should do the necessary things to avoid what can only be called global catastrophe. In the months that
have followed (I am writing this paragraph in August 2019) we hear more and more
serious commentators, and, indeed, the leaders of many countries, accept the fact of
climate change and its (unfortunately) mind-blowing threat to humanity. As the
father of two great kids and grandfather to two perfect (of course) baby grandchildren, this threat is very real to me—as it should be to all of us. As a geologist, I knew
of this threat when this book was conceived in the summer of 2017, but the fall 2018
IPCC report really focuses the mind and spells out the dangers of doing nothing, or
not enough, or not soon enough.
So, the chapters in this book take on a little more significance. They are geological in scope and they deal with coastal matters. We hear in these chapters the backstory of scientists trying to understand coastal systems around the world so we can
inform those who manage these incredibly valuable natural resources. Geologists
study past coastal areas that are preserved in the subsurface and also study the processes that take place in modern coastal settings. When you read in these chapters
about sea-level rise, multiple powerful hurricanes, coastal erosion and flooding,
saltwater intrusion, barrier island breakdown, anthropogenic coastal pollution, tsunami, and the death of coral reefs— the modern version of the canary in the
coalmine, keep in mind the fact that if we humans do not act appropriately, and very
soon, to reduce the rate and amount of global warming, things will only get worse.
The economic costs of projected global warming will be far greater than the economic costs of reducing carbon emissions so that the Earth does not warm 1.5
o
C
or more.
It takes a long time to get a multiauthored book from conception to publication.
So I am putting the finishing touches to this preface in the midst of the COVID-19
global pandemic. The public reaction to the virus has been unprecedented.
Individuals and local, state, and national governments have joined together to fight
against a ruthless and unknown threat to our way of life. I have no doubt that the
doctors and scientists will find a way to combat and control the disease. Unfortunately,
there is a far greater threat to humanity, and that is the anthropogenically forced
global warming that drives climate change, the root cause of our coastal crisis that
we discuss in this book. The effects of climate change, however, are many and go
far beyond the threats to our coasts. Spread of disease, social unrest, social breakdown, and conflict readily come to mind as we battle COVID-19. But floods,
droughts, crop failures, and myriad other challenges, many of them economic, will
also occur. These issues are interrelated by the commonality of global warming.
Indeed, the Earth is a system, analogous to a human body, but threatened by the
“virus” of climate change. Perhaps we should consider the Earth to be elderly (it is
4.6 billion years old) and immunosuppressed (by the impact of humans and their
burgeoning population, mainly since the Industrial Revolution). We must come
together once more as individuals and local, state, and national governments to fight
Preface
explains the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, what
we should do about the threat of climate change, and when we should do the necessary things to avoid what can only be called global catastrophe. In the months that
have followed (I am writing this paragraph in August 2019) we hear more and more
serious commentators, and, indeed, the leaders of many countries, accept the fact of
climate change and its (unfortunately) mind-blowing threat to humanity. As the
father of two great kids and grandfather to two perfect (of course) baby grandchildren, this threat is very real to me—as it should be to all of us. As a geologist, I knew
of this threat when this book was conceived in the summer of 2017, but the fall 2018
IPCC report really focuses the mind and spells out the dangers of doing nothing, or
not enough, or not soon enough.
So, the chapters in this book take on a little more significance. They are geological in scope and they deal with coastal matters. We hear in these chapters the backstory of scientists trying to understand coastal systems around the world so we can
inform those who manage these incredibly valuable natural resources. Geologists
study past coastal areas that are preserved in the subsurface and also study the processes that take place in modern coastal settings. When you read in these chapters
about sea-level rise, multiple powerful hurricanes, coastal erosion and flooding,
saltwater intrusion, barrier island breakdown, anthropogenic coastal pollution, tsunami, and the death of coral reefs— the modern version of the canary in the
coalmine, keep in mind the fact that if we humans do not act appropriately, and very
soon, to reduce the rate and amount of global warming, things will only get worse.
The economic costs of projected global warming will be far greater than the economic costs of reducing carbon emissions so that the Earth does not warm 1.5
o
C
or more.
It takes a long time to get a multiauthored book from conception to publication.
So I am putting the finishing touches to this preface in the midst of the COVID-19
global pandemic. The public reaction to the virus has been unprecedented.
Individuals and local, state, and national governments have joined together to fight
against a ruthless and unknown threat to our way of life. I have no doubt that the
doctors and scientists will find a way to combat and control the disease. Unfortunately,
there is a far greater threat to humanity, and that is the anthropogenically forced
global warming that drives climate change, the root cause of our coastal crisis that
we discuss in this book. The effects of climate change, however, are many and go
far beyond the threats to our coasts. Spread of disease, social unrest, social breakdown, and conflict readily come to mind as we battle COVID-19. But floods,
droughts, crop failures, and myriad other challenges, many of them economic, will
also occur. These issues are interrelated by the commonality of global warming.
Indeed, the Earth is a system, analogous to a human body, but threatened by the
“virus” of climate change. Perhaps we should consider the Earth to be elderly (it is
4.6 billion years old) and immunosuppressed (by the impact of humans and their
burgeoning population, mainly since the Industrial Revolution). We must come
together once more as individuals and local, state, and national governments to fight
Preface