Rising Seas, Falling Villas
by Jesse Fox, Tel Aviv, Israel on 12.11.07
Luxury beachfront houses in Israel.
One unpleasant fact of climate change is that it is expected to harm the poorest countries first, as rising sea levels inundate low-lying cities. In Israel, however, the rich will apparently be among the first to experience the damage caused by the rising sea.
According to a lecture given by Professor Nurit Kliot of the University of Haifa on Sunday on the effects of global warming on Israel's geography, a sea level rise of a third to half a meter will cause numerous problems in the coastal areas where most of the country's population lives.
Beachfront lots, especially for private homes, are some of the most expensive places to live in Israel, with individual plots of land next to the ocean reaching prices of several million dollars. During recent decades, several new luxury neighborhoods were built on cliffs just above the beach (think Malibu), and in artificial marinas built as real estate schemes. Many of these cliffs are already eroding, as a result (ironically) of the construction of the marinas, which block the flow of sand along the beach.
Kliot believes that, as the sea rises, many of Israel's coastal, upper-class neighborhoods will either be flooded or the ground beneath them will simply become unstable, causing these neighborhoods to empty out and their residents to flee to higher ground. Land appraiser Ron Virnik, however, argued that until concrete evidence of rising sea levels exists, coastal land prices in Israel will continue to rise and luxury housing will continue to be built by the sea.
Via:: Globes
Image:: www.niliportugali.com
We can only hope that the beach wealthy don't come crying for public support when they can't get affordable insurance. These are the people that are disproportionately responsible for global warming. Now they'll ignore the dangers simply because they know they have the power to not endure any pain latter by getting a government bailout. All the while complaining when their tax dollars go to subsidize someone's bus fare, health or education, because that's anti-capitalist.
Unfortunately, rarely do governments have the will or integrity to stand up against pressure from the elite.
Is there not some way to help protect these cliffs from eroding?
Dennis,
Sure, there are methods. Huge breakwalls in the ocean or turning the cliff into a reinforced concrete wall or repeatedly adding sand to extend the beach, etc. As oceans rise and storm intensity increases these measures will only get more costly. In general cliff erosion is simply a natural process.
In California, where I live, many individuals and developers build homes in areas that nature would dictate are prone to erosion, mudslides, brush fires and/or flooding. Rather than asking what can be done to try to alter these natural processes (often at great public expense), shouldn't we be asking why we allow so much development in areas which are so obviously subject to these natural processes.
There are actually many places in California not prone to any of the above mentioned problems, such as my little place here in Long Beach. The houses one sees on the news being destroyed by these forces of nature are simply people who choose to take the gamble of building in risky places. I suppose I'm ok with that as long as I don't end up helping to pay for it through higher insurance rates or higher taxes.
Dennis,
Sure, there are methods. Huge breakwalls in the ocean or turning the cliff into a reinforced concrete wall or repeatedly adding sand to extend the beach, etc. As oceans rise and storm intensity increases these measures will only get more costly. In general cliff erosion is simply a natural process.
In California, where I live, many individuals and developers build homes in areas that nature would dictate are prone to erosion, mudslides, brush fires and/or flooding. Rather than asking what can be done to try to alter these natural processes (often at great public expense), shouldn't we be asking why we allow so much development in areas which are so obviously subject to these natural processes.
There are actually many places in California not prone to any of the above mentioned problems, such as my little place here in Long Beach. The houses one sees on the news being destroyed by these forces of nature are simply people who choose to take the gamble of building in risky places. I suppose I'm ok with that as long as I don't end up helping to pay for it through higher insurance rates or higher taxes.