Question
Hawaii Is Losing Its Beaches
Earth and Space Science Studies: Earth's Systems and Interactions
Alice Lunt didn't worry too much when she saw waves splashing close to her home on December 24, 2013. Lunt, who lives on the North Shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, had seen the water come close in the past. But before dawn, a neighbor woke her with a call.
"Everything is washing away," Lunt's neighbor told her.
The water claimed Lunt's deck that day and washed away a concrete slab the next night, part of a fast-moving collapse of the shore that also ripped out a neighbor's backyard and forced another neighbor to cut away rooms to save the rest of the house. The December swell occurred not because of a freak storm but due to large amounts of water that regularly hit the North Shore. The event rekindled a debate about how best the state of Hawaii and homeowners there should respond to beach erosion and the rising waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Erosion and rising waters are chronic problems in Hawaii, and they are causing havoc on the coastlines. Sea levels have been rising for years. And erosion is a problem at 70 percent of the beaches on Hawaii's Oahu, Maui, and Kauai islands.
What's causing these problems? The burning of fossil fuels has led to climate change, including an overall warming of the atmosphere. The oceans absorb much of this heat, and when water gets warmer, it expands. In addition, the glaciers and ice caps at and near the Poles are melting. For these reasons, sea levels are rising. Rising sea levels are one major factor leading to increased erosion.
The existence of so many houses on the coast is also contributing to the problem. At Rocky Point, the neighborhood where Lunt lives, homes were built on sand dunes. Those dunes would now be feeding the beach with sand if they didn't have structures on them.
Facing the likelihood of future sea swells, many homeowners want to be able to install a seawall or something similar between the ocean and their properties. But scientists say that doing so will lead the sand on the nearby coastline to disappear. Chip Fletcher, a geologist from the University of Hawaii, said that building seawalls always comes to mind wherever severe erosion occurs. He said it's understandable that homeowners would want to protect their homes. But Fletcher pointed to studies showing that seawalls built on chronically eroding shorelines only lead to more erosion down the coast. This creates a dilemma.
"Do you build a seawall and potentially condemn the beach to extinction in front of the seawall, but at the same time buy a lot of time for homeowners on the nearby land to figure out how to move away from that situation?" asked Fletcher. "Or do you not build a seawall, condemning the homes and the developed land to extinction, but [allowing] the beach to survive?"
In the short term, residents received emergency authorization to place sandbags and tarps in front of their properties to deflect the waves.
But sandbags and tarps can't work forever. In the long term, both Fletcher and coastal lands office administrator Sam Lemmo believe that government agencies should encourage people to move away from the coast. This would eliminate the question of whether seawalls should be built.
"We need to accommodate the erosion, allow it to occur, and we need to move away from it so it doesn't affect our lives," Lemmo said. Fletcher added that the government could buy up the property and turn it into public parks.
Erosion like this will likely recur, Fletcher said, as sea levels rise. This is especially true, he said, in places where sand dunes have been landscaped out of existence or are locked up by development.
"The event on the North Shore is a warning for all of us in Hawaii that these sorts of occurrences are part of our future," Fletcher warned.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Question 1
1 / 8
The best alternate headline for this article would be __________.
Rocky Point Neighbors Work Together to Face Rising Waters
Hawaiian Homeowners Concerned About Coastline Erosion
Sandbags and Tarps Help Hawaiian Homeowners Protect Homes
Geologist Researches Erosion on the North Shore of Oahu
Earth and Space Science Studies: Earth's Systems and Interactions
Alice Lunt didn't worry too much when she saw waves splashing close to her home on December 24, 2013. Lunt, who lives on the North Shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu, had seen the water come close in the past. But before dawn, a neighbor woke her with a call.
"Everything is washing away," Lunt's neighbor told her.
The water claimed Lunt's deck that day and washed away a concrete slab the next night, part of a fast-moving collapse of the shore that also ripped out a neighbor's backyard and forced another neighbor to cut away rooms to save the rest of the house. The December swell occurred not because of a freak storm but due to large amounts of water that regularly hit the North Shore. The event rekindled a debate about how best the state of Hawaii and homeowners there should respond to beach erosion and the rising waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Erosion and rising waters are chronic problems in Hawaii, and they are causing havoc on the coastlines. Sea levels have been rising for years. And erosion is a problem at 70 percent of the beaches on Hawaii's Oahu, Maui, and Kauai islands.
What's causing these problems? The burning of fossil fuels has led to climate change, including an overall warming of the atmosphere. The oceans absorb much of this heat, and when water gets warmer, it expands. In addition, the glaciers and ice caps at and near the Poles are melting. For these reasons, sea levels are rising. Rising sea levels are one major factor leading to increased erosion.
The existence of so many houses on the coast is also contributing to the problem. At Rocky Point, the neighborhood where Lunt lives, homes were built on sand dunes. Those dunes would now be feeding the beach with sand if they didn't have structures on them.
Facing the likelihood of future sea swells, many homeowners want to be able to install a seawall or something similar between the ocean and their properties. But scientists say that doing so will lead the sand on the nearby coastline to disappear. Chip Fletcher, a geologist from the University of Hawaii, said that building seawalls always comes to mind wherever severe erosion occurs. He said it's understandable that homeowners would want to protect their homes. But Fletcher pointed to studies showing that seawalls built on chronically eroding shorelines only lead to more erosion down the coast. This creates a dilemma.
"Do you build a seawall and potentially condemn the beach to extinction in front of the seawall, but at the same time buy a lot of time for homeowners on the nearby land to figure out how to move away from that situation?" asked Fletcher. "Or do you not build a seawall, condemning the homes and the developed land to extinction, but [allowing] the beach to survive?"
In the short term, residents received emergency authorization to place sandbags and tarps in front of their properties to deflect the waves.
But sandbags and tarps can't work forever. In the long term, both Fletcher and coastal lands office administrator Sam Lemmo believe that government agencies should encourage people to move away from the coast. This would eliminate the question of whether seawalls should be built.
"We need to accommodate the erosion, allow it to occur, and we need to move away from it so it doesn't affect our lives," Lemmo said. Fletcher added that the government could buy up the property and turn it into public parks.
Erosion like this will likely recur, Fletcher said, as sea levels rise. This is especially true, he said, in places where sand dunes have been landscaped out of existence or are locked up by development.
"The event on the North Shore is a warning for all of us in Hawaii that these sorts of occurrences are part of our future," Fletcher warned.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Question 1
1 / 8
The best alternate headline for this article would be __________.
Rocky Point Neighbors Work Together to Face Rising Waters
Hawaiian Homeowners Concerned About Coastline Erosion
Sandbags and Tarps Help Hawaiian Homeowners Protect Homes
Geologist Researches Erosion on the North Shore of Oahu
Answers
Answered by
GPT-4o mini
The best alternate headline for this article would be **"Hawaiian Homeowners Concerned About Coastline Erosion."**
This headline effectively captures the main theme of the article, which discusses the broader issue of beach erosion and rising sea levels affecting homeowners in Hawaii, particularly in the context of the challenges they face and potential solutions.
This headline effectively captures the main theme of the article, which discusses the broader issue of beach erosion and rising sea levels affecting homeowners in Hawaii, particularly in the context of the challenges they face and potential solutions.
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