Growing Returns

3 urgent steps for North Carolina to build back stronger and smarter

By Will McDow / Bio / Published: October 2, 2018

Hurricane Florence’s arrival so soon after Hurricane Matthew serves as an urgent reminder that new, effective and rapidly implementable solutions are required to meet the challenges of a new normal of extreme weather.

“It’s clear that we’re going to have to build back not only stronger, but smarter. When you have two so-called 500-year floods within a 23-months period, you know we’re not talking about 500-year floods. We’ve got to work to make sure we make smart decisions.”
– North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper after surveying extreme flooding from Hurricane Florence

It’s time to invest in three proven approaches to flood preparedness and economic development so that our communities can bounce forward to a more prosperous, safe and resilient future. Read More »

Posted in Coasts and Watersheds / Tagged buyout, climate change, extreme weather, flood storage, flooding, governor, Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Matthew, legislature, North Carolina, policy, resilience, roy cooper | Read 1 Response

Coastal communities must plan for the future instead of planning from the past

By Devyani Kar / Published: September 28, 2018

Ecosystem restoration planning has traditionally been based on a desire to restore a system to some historic condition – even as conditions are constantly evolving because of climate change. Rather than planning for the future, we often look back at what the system once was and try to replicate it. But in a rapidly changing world, this model is not sustainable.

A paradigm shift, from restoration projects that solve past problems to those which address future conditions, is necessary if we’re to continue living in coastal areas.

Photo Credit: USGS

Where I work in Louisiana, the Mississippi River Delta is facing an ongoing land loss crisis, due to a host of man-made and natural causes that is further exacerbated by the increasing effects of climate change.

To face this challenge, my Restore the Mississippi River Delta coalition colleagues and I, in collaboration with Tulane University, University of New Orleans and The Water Institute of the Gulf, began an effort to improve the future performance of coastal restoration projects. We started by identifying approaches and investment opportunities that support the long-term viability of the ecosystem – and the communities and industries that depend on it.

It’s our hope that this work will help Louisiana and other coastal areas around the country better plan for the future. Read More »

Posted in Coasts and Watersheds / Tagged Coastal Master Plan, coastal protection, Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, coastal resilience, Louisiana, Louisiana Coastal Master Plan | Comments are closed

Following Florence, lessons from Harvey in recovery and resilience

By Shannon Cunniff / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: September 17, 2018

With the impacts of Hurricane Florence continuing to unfold, coastal communities in the Southeast will soon be looking to other coastal areas, like Houston, as models for rebuilding resiliently. By doing so, they can speed their recovery and build back in smart ways – because that’s what resilience is all about.

For Houston, it wasn’t a single event that triggered discussions of resilience. Houston residents have faced a decade of intense storms and floods, with Hurricane Ike in 2008, the Memorial Day Flood of 2015, the Tax Day Flood of 2016 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Together, these repeat catastrophic events sounded the alarm that past approaches to managing flood waters are not sufficient.

Last week, I went to Houston to help decision-makers explore how the city can realize its aim to become more resilient. One year after Harvey, Houston is still learning from its experiences and building upon lessons learned from mega-disasters like Katrina and Sandy to move more rapidly into resilience-building phases. That’s good news, because with more frequent, intense weather events, communities across the nation are going to have to rebuild smarter.

Once communities and officials in the Southeast begin thinking about recovery from Florence and preparing to rebuild, there are four key lessons they can learn from Houston after Harvey that will ultimately help them strengthen the social, economic and environmental fabric of the region. Read More »

Posted in Coasts and Watersheds / Tagged climate resilience, coastal resilience, environmental impact bonds, Florence, Harvey, Houston Advanced Research Center, hurricane, Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Harvey, Marvin Odum, resilience, risk management, Stephen Costello, storm | Comments are closed

What a New York Times op-ed misses about living with climate change

By David Festa / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: August 27, 2018

There’s so much that Dr. Erle C. Ellis gets right in his recent op-ed in The New York Times, “Science Alone Won’t Save the Earth. People Have to Do That.”

We’re exceeding Earth’s planetary boundaries. We need to adjust our expectations about what a new normal will look like. And there’s no single optimal solution for thriving in a changing climate.

Photo Credit: NOAA Photo Library

But in making the case that it is people who will decide the future and not science or natural limits, Dr. Ellis falls into the binary trap he’s encouraging us to avoid. It’s not an either/or proposition.

We need both science and people to make our land and water systems more resilient so humanity and nature can prosper. Heck, we need every tool in the shed, including community engagement, flexible policy, money and good old-fashioned political will.

It may sound like an impossible order, but it’s already happening in some surprising places. Read More »

Posted in Coasts and Watersheds / Tagged Changing Course, climate change, Coastal Louisiana, humanity, Louisiana Coastal Master Plan, Mississippi River Delta, nature, New York Times, Rebuild by Design, resilience, Resilient by Design, science | Read 1 Response

Environmental impact bonds can help make coastal communities safer, sooner. Here’s how.

By Shannon Cunniff / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: August 14, 2018

Last year’s hurricane season was the most destructive disaster season in U.S. history, causing $265 billion in damage and forcing more than one million Americans from their homes.

As climate change causes weather to get more extreme, coastal communities across the country are struggling to find cost-effective solutions to enhance their resiliency to storms and develop new ways to finance that work.

Photo Credit: Karen A. Westphal, Audubon Louisiana

How can we help make coastal communities more resilient more quickly? How can we engage the private sector in coastal resiliency efforts and generate a financial return for investors?

Together with my EDF colleagues and partners, I set out to explore how one innovative financing mechanism – environmental impact bonds – might help. Read More »

Posted in Coasts and Watersheds / Tagged climate change, coastal communities, coastal resilience, coastal restoration, environmental impact bond, Louisiana, Quantified Ventures, restoration, restoration finance, wetland restoration | Read 2 Responses

This new technology allows you to visit coastal Louisiana from your couch

By Steve Cochran / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: July 3, 2018

There is nothing like a boat ride through Louisiana’s Wax Lake Delta. This lush landscape, teeming with birds and wildlife, is an example of what Louisiana’s coast can look like if we use the Mississippi River to build land and increase the state’s resilience to storms and rising seas. It’s truly a beautiful place.

In stark contrast, a short plane ride over the region from New Orleans shows the true reality: Much of Louisiana’s coast is disappearing, as coastal wetlands cut off from the Mississippi River turn into open water. This Swiss cheese effect is startling when seen from the air. Read More »

Posted in Coasts and Watersheds / Tagged 360 video, coastal resilience, coastal restoration, land loss, Louisiana, resilience, restoration, solutions, technology, virtual reality, wildlife | Comments are closed

Coastal resilience is getting high-tech, but there are still information gaps to fill

By Shannon Cunniff / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: June 20, 2018

Coastal communities are struggling to accurately understand their flooding risks and identify appropriate solutions for mitigating the effects of rising seas and increased storm surges.

Fortunately, new technologies are emerging that facilitate more rapid acquisition of more accurate data and improve data visualization to support efforts to build coastal resilience.

[Tweet “New technologies are emerging that can help communities understand risk and build coastal resilience. https://www.edf.org/Ejp”]

Leaders in the private sector have already developed bold new technologies – from satellites and sensors to machine learning – to help understand risks and develop solutions. But this fourth wave ingenuity is not limited to the private sector. Several public sector entities offer innovative and readily usable resources to help build more resilient and safer coastal communities.

Posted in Coasts and Watersheds / Tagged Census Bureau, coastal protection, coastal resilience, coastal restoration, department of energy, department of interior, department of transportation, FEMA, flood, flood protection, flooding map, inundation risk, NASA, NOAA, resilience planning, sea level rise, storm surges, UCS, USGS, water use | Comments are closed

Less talk, more action: It’s time to get serious about floodplain management

By Shannon Cunniff / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: May 16, 2018

I was recently cleaning out old files and came across notes from a presentation I made after the Great Midwest Flood of 1993. It was on the state of the nation’s floodplain management, a topic even more relevant today.

Many no longer recall the Great Midwest Flood despite its record-breaking precipitation, flooding and $13 billion price tag. Sure, 1993 seems like a long time ago, but I believe the reason the flood has left most people’s memory is because, over the last 25 years, the nation has experienced one devastating, record-breaking flood after another. Our memories are diluted by the frequency of such events.

Sadly, many of the lessons I shared in my presentation back then remain true today.

It’s time we stop talking and get serious about improving our nation’s floodplain management by putting these lessons into action.

Photo credit: Association of State Floodplain Managers via FloodStorageEricJohnson (license)

Posted in Coasts and Watersheds / Tagged dams, flood insurance, flood protection, flooding, floodplain management, floodplains, floods, Great Midwest Flood, natural infrastructure, risk reduction, water storage | Read 1 Response

What the world can learn from Louisiana about living with climate change

By Natalie Snider / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: May 3, 2018

Louisiana is emerging as a global leader in how to sustainably plan for the future in the face of increased storms, coastal erosion and rising seas. By combining nature-based solutions with traditional flood protection measures, Louisiana is a proving ground for living with climate change.

The lessons Louisiana can teach are not new, but they build upon those first taught by the Dutch. The Netherlands has taught the world innumerable lessons in flood protection – but historically, the Dutch have been primarily focused on building walls to keep water out, rather than finding more sustainable ways to protect coastal communities.

That is until recently, when the Dutch began embracing a more nature-based approach of “living with water,” similar to what is happening in Louisiana.

We can change the way we face coastal flooding challenges if we blend coastal restoration, protection and community resiliency measures. Louisiana’s multiple-lines-of-defense approach is a model for other coastal places, including the Netherlands, that are planning their futures in the face of climate change. Read More »

Posted in Coasts and Watersheds / Tagged climate adaptation, climate change, coastal protection, coastal restoration, coastlines, community resiliency, Delta Works, Dutch, flood protection, flooding, floodplains, floods, Katrina, Louisiana, Netherlands, Rita, sea level rise, wetlands | Comments are closed

In a race against time, officials collaborate to speed up coastal restoration. Here’s how.

By David Festa / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: April 19, 2018

Louisiana is in the midst of a catastrophic land loss crisis. The state has already lost over 2,000 square miles of land, and it could lose as much as 4,000 square miles more if nothing is done to restore the coast.

As these wetlands disappear into the Gulf of Mexico, so do the natural protections that shield New Orleans and other coastal communities from rising sea levels and increasingly violent storms.

It’s a dilemma that’s playing out in coastal communities across the United States and around the world.

So it came as welcome news when state and federal regulators this month agreed to shave nearly two years off the five-year permitting process for a diversion project that will allow the mighty Mississippi River to do its natural business of building much-needed land.

It’s an acknowledgment that we’ve no time to lose in preparing for the unavoidable impacts of climate change. Read More »

Posted in Coasts and Watersheds / Tagged Coastal Master Plan, coastal protection, coastal restoration, community resilience, federal policy, Louisiana, Mid-Barataria, Mississippi River, sediment diversion | Comments are closed