Erosion and resculpting of beaches as a result of storms and
currents along the coasts of the world are nothing new. They are
the forces that made the beaches in the first place. Only when
we decided we wanted to build homes, roads, resorts and other
businesses on the edge of the beaches – where it is admittedly a
wondrous place to live and play and even work – did beach
erosion become such a problem for us. To protect beach-edge
property, roads, communities and economies, we have built
seawalls and jetties that have generally made things even worse.
Only when the homes finally tumble into the ocean, the roads
slip beneath encroaching sand dunes, and resorts lose their
shorelines do we finally accept the inevitable and migrate a
little ways inland to try again. There are unlimited versions of
this story. One recently in the news concerns Matunuck, an old
community that faces the open ocean on the south coast of Rhode
Island. The inevitable erosion has occurred, the future of the
community is blatantly obvious