California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline

Los Angeles Times reporter Xia debuts with a vivid exploration of how communities along the California coast are dealing with rising sea levels. She describes how the mayor of Pacifica, a “stretch of seaside hamlets” just south of San Francisco that has already been forced to abandon numerous homes to the crumbling bluffs, lost his 2018 bid for reelection after supporting managed retreat, incensing those who instead wished to fortify the region’s seawall despite research suggesting it might not be enough to contain the rising sea. Other towns show what might be accomplished by implementing “all the policies being laid out by experts and state officials.” For example, residents of Marina, 10 miles north of Monterey, have committed to restoring damaged ecosystems by limiting beachfront development and relocating the town’s water treatment facility and sewer pump away from the ocean. Brief profiles of the homeowners, politicians, and scientists shaping municipal responses to climate change add color and humanity to the stories of coastal decay, and the discussion of how California’s claims of eminent domain have excluded Black people from the coast (in the 1920s, Los Angeles pushed “an entire Black beach community out of town” to build a park in Manhattan Beach) illustrate the need to build a more equitable future. It’s an unsparing look at California’s contentious battle to cope with a changing climate. (Sept.)