Category: Sea Level Rise
Posted inClimate Change, Economy & Business, Housing, Land use, News, Sea Level Rise

Promising to Prevent Floods at Treasure Island, Builders Downplay Risk of Sea Rise

by Kristi Coale

Sea level rise is forcing cities around San Francisco Bay to weigh demand for new housing against the need to protect communities from flooding. Builders say they can solve this dilemma with cutting-edge civil engineering. But no one knows whether their ambitious efforts will be enough to keep newly built waterfront real estate safe in coming decades.

Meanwhile, developers are busy building — and telling the public that they can mitigate this one effect of climate change, despite mounting evidence that it could be a bigger problem than previously believed.

Posted inClimate Change, Environment, News, Sea Level Rise, Utilities

Sea Level Rise in S.F. Will Affect More Than the Waterfront

by Noah Arroyo

Professor Kristina Hill, of the University of California, Berkeley, outlines how sea level rise is likely to affect San Francisco, the danger posed by toxic waste and how the city could adapt.

“Places that people think are not going to flood because there’ll be a levee or a wall may actually flood as that groundwater comes right up through the surface of the soil.” — Kristina Hill

This story was produced in collaboration with Covering Climate Now. Covering Climate Now is a global journalism initiative committed to bringing more and better coverage to the defining story of our time.

Posted inClimate Change, Environment, Government & Politics, Housing, Land use, Neighborhoods, News, Sea Level Rise

State Looking to Require Cities to Plan for Rising Seas

by Kevin Stark

California officials are taking their first, tentative steps toward requiring cities to plan for severe sea level rise that scientists now say could conceivably elevate high tides by up to 22 feet by the middle of the next century. A state-funded study recommends that local planners adopt a risk-averse approach to permitting developments such as hospitals and housing in areas that have even little chance of flooding in the coming decades.

Posted inArts & Culture, Climate Change, Economy & Business, Environment, Land use, Neighborhoods, Sea Level Rise: 2nd in a Series

By Weakening Law, Developers Shift Sea Rise Burden to Cities

by Kevin Stark

Two years ago, the California Supreme Court overturned decades of land-use law by upholding lower court rulings that cities could no longer require developers to take into account the effects of climate change on their projects. That decision has unsettled public officials and planners, and critics say it will allow real estate interests to saddle taxpayers with a gigantic bill to defend against rising seas.

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