In the wake of Hurricane Ian, we must acknowledge that more disastrous storms are inevitable.
 | By Eliza Barclay Climate Editor, Opinion |
After another fierce hurricane that's left coastal communities destroyed and even unlivable in some places, we're discussing what we knew about the vulnerability of those areas, and what we know about how that vulnerability will deepen as climate change accelerates. |
In a guest essay this week, the coastal geology scholar Robert S. Young argues that as Florida begins to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Ian and moves into the rebuilding phase, it should not ask taxpayers to foot the bill for more "irresponsible development." Specifically, oceanfront areas of "known hazard" that are likely to flood or be flattened by wind again should not receive federal, state or local aid for rebuilding, he says, so that history won't keep repeating itself. |
Young's point is apt — there are currently few strings attached to rebuilding funds in the wake of climate-fueled disasters, even as our ability to predict their severity (if not their exact timing) has grown far sharper. The government knows extreme weather will eventually come for the most vulnerable places and that those disasters will burden us with billions of dollars in costs, not to mention the human toll and lives lost. Yet we do little to soften the inevitable blow. |
Why? As Young notes, one reason is that "communities are often reluctant to give up even a small portion of their tax base." And so they rebuild to attract the tax base back, maybe even to grow it a little more. Florida towns have a particularly strong incentive to rebuild, because the demand for beachside living is so potent. As the writer Michael Grunwald points out in The Atlantic, "Florida has always been about now, mine, more." Longtime observers like him have little faith that Hurricane Ian will represent any kind of turning point for what he calls the "ecological Ponzi scheme" state. |
If state and local government won't check a rebuilding spree, then it's probably up to the federal government to find ways to pump the brakes on certain types of coastal development. At some point, we'll all grow tired of this sad, expensive movie. |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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