“And in some places, it doesn’t even make sense to try.”
The evidence of this has been significant for decades now, but Americans have kinda sorta ignored it since it always seemed to affect faraway places like the Solomons and Maldives, or little-known island countries with exotic names, like Nauru and Tuvalu.
Now, however, some of America’s natural treasures, the low-lying Florida Keys, are in immediate danger, and their county is evaluating engineering projects that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to benefit very few people – in one case affecting only 20-30 homes. Their decision will likely be to give up.
“How do you tell somebody, ‘We’re not going to build (up) the road to get to your home’? And what do we do?” Mr. Gastesi asked. “Do we buy them out? And how do we buy them out — is it voluntary? Is it eminent domain? How do we do that?” Administrators and elected officials are going to have to start to rely on a “word nobody likes to use,” Mr. Gastesi said, “and that’s ‘retreat.’”
