Should We Stay or Should We Go? Low-Lying Coastal Towns Debate Choices

Two U.S. coastal communities are debating the merits of staying or leaving due to effects from climate change and rising sea levels

1 minute read

July 17, 2016, 5:00 AM PDT

By urbanguy


Tangier Island

A fishing pier on Tangier Island in Virginia. | dmvphotos / Shutterstock

Molly Peterson and Carolyn Beeler of PRI report on low-lying coastal communities around the world beginning to reckon with climate change and rising global sea levels. "[I]t's not just happening in far-away places like Bangladesh or the Maldives. It's happening right here in the US. On Tangier Island, Virginia, in the southern Chesapeake Bay, residents are facing the inundation of a place some local families have called home since the 1600s. They are determined to stay. On Isle de Jean Charles on the Louisiana Gulf coast, a disappearing Native American community has made the opposite decision. They are the first community to receive federal money to relocate due to climate change. It's a tale of two towns, confronting a decision no community would ever want to make, but that more and more will have to."

Tuesday, July 12, 2016 in Public Radio International

"Planetizen federal action tracker" logo superimposed over black and white image of US Capitol dome.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

October 28, 2026 - Zachary Whalen

A car drives through a puddle, making a large splash. Rain pours down.

California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour

If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.

October 28, 2026 - Grist

Lake Powell with much of the water evaporated.

Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River

Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.

October 30, 2026 - Yale Environment 360

Mamdani behind a microphone, in front of a snowbank

Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge

A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.

November 6 - CNN

A road in north eastern Nebraska with power lines on either side, and grassy fields.

Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity

Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.

November 6 - Grist

People board a bus in Seattle.

Seattle passes record-breaking transit services expansion

Proposition 1 will double the city’s transit tax to add 95,000 more bus trips and preserve 180,000 bus trips annually.

November 6 - KOMO News

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.