How is shoreline "hardening" not regarded as desecration?Where are the Protectors when we need them?

Rewards_Card · 1 year ago

We may want to rethink Hawaii's definition of shorelines and how can we actually protect it against climate change (versus allowing it to erode away). Today it's someone's vacation rental. Tomorrow it will be Waimanalo or some other shorelines where Hawaiians and Locals live. Strategic retreat sounds catchy, but REALLY, where will tens of thousands of households retreat to? We already don't have enough homes for the people we have now (after decades of neglect). Where will we retreat Honolulu Airport and our docks and seaports to?It is hard to imagine that when the times comes and Waikiki is under threat, that our politicians will simply let it wash away as we do with North Shore homes. It may be better for us to learn from nations such as Netherlands (a quarter of their land is below sea level) now on how to tame the sea than to face a crisis later. I too want to maintain and protect our beautiful shorelines, but most of them will be gone due to sea level rise if we do nothing now and allow them to erode away. If we don't protect our shorelines from erosion and sea level rise now, then in the coming decades we may not have a livable island worth to protect.

Mnemosyne · 1 year ago

Most of these waterfront homes are vacation rentals owned by people who live elsewhere. There should no longer be allowed to ruin the shoreline for people who live here. It's time for DLNR to get serious about enforcing the law. These scofflaws need to pay their fines out of their exorbitant profits to discourage other absentee landlords.

WR351 · 1 year ago