Book
California against the sea : visions for our vanishing coastline
Publication Information
Berkeley, California : Heyday, [2023]
Physical Description
325 pages : maps ; 22 cm
Summary
"Along California's 1,200-mile coastline, the overheated Pacific Ocean is rising and pressing in, imperiling both wildlife and the maritime towns and cities that 27 million people call home. In California Against the Sea, Los Angeles Times coastal reporter Rosanna Xia As climate chaos threatens the places we love so fiercely, will we finally grasp our collective capacity for change? Xia, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, investigates the impacts of engineered landscapes, the market pressures of development, and the ecological activism and political scrimmages that have carved our contemporary coastline?and foretell even greater changes to our shores. From the beaches of the Mexican border up to the sheer-cliffed North Coast, the voices of Indigenous leaders, community activists, small-town mayors, urban engineers, and tenacious environmental scientists commingle. Together, they chronicle the challenges and urgency of forging a climate-wise future. Xia's investigation takes us to Imperial Beach, Los Angeles, Pacifica, Marin City, San Francisco, and beyond, weighing the rivaling arguments, agreements, compromises, and visions governing the State of California's commitment to a coast for all. Through graceful reportage, she charts how the decisions we make today will determine where we go headlong into natural disaster, or toward an equitable refashioning of coastal stewardship."--
Contents
- California against the sea
- Our vanishing coastline
- A town on the edge
- The people's law
- Protect at what cost?
- Choosing casualties
- The people's coast
- Overlooked and forgotten
- Rebirth between the tides
- Relearning the ways of the shore
- Grappling with retreat
- The little town that would
- Bridges to the future.