Over the Seawall: Tsunamis, Cyclones, Drought, and the Delusion of Controlling Nature

Journalist Miller’s unsettling debut investigates three initiatives intended to protect humans from the ravages of nature that did “more harm than good.” According to Miller, Japan’s seawalls provided residents with a false sense of security before the devastating 2011 tsunami, with many choosing not to evacuate under the assumption that they would be protected. Nonetheless, the government’s response was to build bigger, stronger walls, despite lingering questions about their effectiveness. Examining how the Bangladeshi government has promoted shrimp farming in rice paddies overrun by saltwater as a way to adapt to rising sea levels, Miller warns that the shrimp industry’s expansion has destroyed the viability of cropland around the brackish shrimp ponds and “poisoned shallow wells that supplied village drinking water.” The author profiles individuals affected by the failed projects, describing how third-generation Arizona farmer Jace Miller’s father joined with other farmers in the 1970s to partially fund a canal redirecting water from the Colorado River to their fields, only for drought to cut off their supply and leave Jace saddled with his father’s debt from paying for the canal. Miller, by his own admission, “shies from championing solutions,” but the picture that emerges from his thorough reporting illuminates the hidden dangers in apparently easy solutions to climate problems. The result is a thought-provoking exploration of the “unintended consequences” of climate policy. (Oct.)