"You can't hold the line everywhere"

The National Trust owns more than 740 miles of coastline around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, around a tenth of the total coastline for the three countries.
Peter Nixon, the trust's director of land, landscape and nature, said: 
"We're expecting more extremes, less predictability, more stormy events, combined with an underlying issue of rising sea levels."

He warned against the trap of believing "we can engineer our way out of this".

He said: "We all have to be sensitive to those who have become dependent on artificial defences, but if you keep up defending, you build up the risk of a catastrophic event.

"A false sense of security in artificial defences can lead you to a catastrophic collapse, as opposed to a managed impact.


"You can't hold the line everywhere, it's physically impossible and it's not good for society." 
From BBC  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26277373

Good Erosion

PIDDOCKS

Lessons from the Shore: Piddock Clams and Moon Snails copy

Posted by Julie Hall on July 25, 2012 at 9:24 am
by Leigh Calvez July 25, 2012, 9:24 a.m.

Piddock clam hole in stone

Then Gerlind pointed out the holes in the hard-packed mud all around us, some with tubes sticking out of them. She bent over to touch the creature with one finger and water squirted up as it retreated into the hole. She identified these creatures as Piddock clams and told their story. The Piddock clam starts its life as a larvae drifting along with the currents until it finds a nice patch of hard mud it can latch onto. As its shell starts to grow it begins to bore into the sea floor. Each year it adds another layer to its shell and digs deeper into the hole with only the long siphon emerging from the hole to filter its food from the water. It will spend its entire life in that one hole. “I know some people like that,” whispered someone next to me. I shuddered as I looked into the holes that reminded me of tiny graves.

We continued down the beach, stopping now and again to examine other tiny creatures. The life of the Piddock clam stayed with me as I walked. What would that be like to stay in the same hole for your whole life? For me, with my deep desire to travel and explore, the Piddock’ life sounded like a death sentence. The story of the Piddock clam would stay with me for a long while.

Then one of the naturalists found an adult moon snail alive with its muscular foot extruded from its shell. I was thrilled! I love moon snails with their beautifully rotund, white spiral shells.

I admired the moon snail’s freedom, going wherever and whenever it pleased, taking its home with it, unlike the Piddock clam that buries itself for life.

Why, I wondered, was I so repulsed by the Piddock clam and so in awe of this fat, pink snail? Then I understood something I’d not wanted to admit to myself. I had become a Piddock clam. For all the courageous, moon snailish wandering I had done in my life, my life had become a tight shell of fear of looking foolish, stupid, or bothersome. I had let fear bury me in layers of mud that kept me stuck. And I didn’t want to see it.

Fascinating Research Blog by Fran Rylands

http://jurassicresearch.wordpress.com/

Sun Bathing Safety Cage

A prototype sunbathing safety cage has been unveiled and it is hoped will be available for use along the Dorset Coast in the coming months. During early trials, volunteer sun-seekers were treated to simulated tanning in a controlled environment (indoors). Despite a few teething problems and participants claiming they looked like they had been cooked in a waffle maker due to the grid lines all over them, the manufacturers (Kenchef Waffle Makers Ltd.) have claimed 110% success.

Thought for the Day

Listen to Thought for the Day by Canon Angela Tilby here Thought for the Day

Signs

Hi Jeff and Julia

There have been signs up.  A huge one was at Burton Bradstock (which people ignored) - Last time I looked, it was no longer there, as a rock fall had landed on it!

http://www.bridportnews.co.uk/news/11024250.Sightseers_ignore_warnings_following_West_Bay_rock_fall/?ref=var_0

The above Bridport News story tells of people ignoring warnings - even after 400 tons have fallen down..

Shock, Awe and Ellipsis: art and climate change

http://www.publicartonline.org.uk/whatsnew/news/article.php/Shock,+Awe+and+Ellipsis%3A+art+and+climate+change

"Most people think erosion is a terrible thing, but that’s why the coast is here. The sea will eventually win. It might not be for 100 years, but there will come a point where it will no longer be possible to stop this from happening.”

Richard Edmonds, earth science manager at Dorset County Council’s Jurassic Coast Team

 Signage Experiments -

 for development (or deletion?)

Safe Tea First

Badges

Non-slip matting being tested

 I bought this roll of NON SLIP matting. Thought it might help with the Erosion Project.

If we cover all the paths and cliff tops with it and employ a cleaner once a week, that should stop accidents?

But we won't stop trying to Stop it.

But we won't stop trying to Stop it.

EROSION CONTROL MAGAZINE

Get Your Free Subscription to Erosion Control Magazine Today!

http://www.erosioncontrol.com/EC/EChome.aspx 

January-February 2014 Vol. 21, No.1

 

FEATURE ARTICLE  

More Than Just a Pretty Face

Issue Highlights

Geosynthetics and RECPs    Sediment Control  

Silt-Fence 

IN THIS ISSUE

Strong Streambanks: Beauty and Function

More Than Just a Pretty Face

Of Erosion, Soils, and Seeds

Finding a Strategy for Sediment

Get Your Free Subscription to Erosion ControlMagazine Today!

Shoreline Strategies

The fight against coastal erosion means planning for any contingency.

It’s home to 153 million people, or about 53% of the total US population. It generates tens of billions of dollars each year through industrial and business activities.

It is the coast: the 95,331 miles of ocean and Great Lakes coastlines. And while the population continues to increase in coastal areas—3,600 people relocate to coastal areas each day, according to the Office of Coastal and Resource Management of the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—the land is also becoming increasingly eroded.   

The erosion is due, in part, to human activity and to natural processes of sand erosion and deposition. Another potential cause for which many communities are now planning is that of rising sea levels due to climate change. Sea level rise exposes coastal communities to floods and increases their vulnerability to storm surges.

It’s a topic of growing interest to academicians, politicians, and coastal residents and business owners. Questions abound: How severe will it get? Should construction still be allowed in erosion-prone areas? Should there be a buyout of homes or other structures in high-risk zones?

Key elements of the technical letter include the following:

·             Establishing a strategic decision context for the project area, including an assessment of the potential for significant or catastrophic consequences in the near and far term. This would include awareness of strategic development investments that have the potential to shape future and long-term community development.

·             Using a variety of planning options—anticipatory, adaptive, and reactive—depending on the cost and the risk of getting the answer wrong.

·             Creating an awareness of critical thresholds, system connectivity, and cumulative system effects.

·             Framing and guiding the discussion “so that all involved can feel comfortable that we have adequately and realistically assessed the risks,” notes Moritz—from low risk to high risk—over the adaptation horizon of 100 years. 

While many project analyses are focused on a particular project and the impact on its immediate area, “in some cases, there is connectivity with other factors in the community,” Moritz points out.

“There are potential negative impacts if you do something in one place versus another,” she adds. “We are trying to be aware of the system and cumulative effects of what any particular action could have. Additionally, we’re trying to be aware of critical thresholds or tipping points beyond which an alternative is not sustainable.”

'While the rationalisation, organisation and intellectual dissection of the natural world is an activity that humankind has engaged in for centuries, it is important to remember that nature still retains the capacity to undo our orderly constructs and reclaim the landscape for its own.' 

R.O’Reilly 2014