Unlimited Sand and Money Still Won’t Save the Hamptons

Here’s a great piece—wonderfully written and expertly illustrated with maps—about how climate change is going to effect houses and beaches in the Hamptons:

“Are we going to take this opportunity to reenvision the way we live with water, or are we just going to fight against it until we lose?” asks Alison Branco, coastal director for the Nature Conservancy in New York. “You can continue to pour sand and build beaches if your money is infinite and your sand is infinite. Of course, ­neither of those is true.”

As I was reading this piece I couldn’t stop thinking about a possible/maybe future where mansions are scattered along the coastline now empty (the rich having abandoned them in search of more temperate playgrounds). I can imagine poor folks moving into those empty neighborhoods, walking through beautiful, empty-shelved libraries and empty Olympic-sized infinity pools, overlooking barren, rocky shores without sand.

Happy weekend, everyone!