Can’t we keep trash and debris out of the ocean?

One of my favorite places in the world is the Outer Banks of North Carolina. A friend took me there to go surf fishing more than 30 years ago and I was hooked.

Sure, there are areas that are a bit more commercial, but it is still essentially wild. I’ve dived wrecks there. My friends and I helped a stranded bottlenose dolphin get back out past the trough to rejoin its friends. I saw my first whale breach at Oregon Inlet.

It has broken my heart this week to see houses falling into the ocean. They never made landfall, but Imelda and Humberto continued to erode the beach. In just a decade, the ocean has reclaimed more than 100 feet of beach, putting vacation homes that were built behind sand dunes right at the water’s edge.

I’m not sad about the loss of the houses, although I’m sure their owners are. But I don’t understand why the houses haven’t been removed. I hate to see all of the debris and trash going into the water. Presumably the owners have cleaned out their belongings, but there is glass, metal, wood, nails, insulation. All of that junk will wash up on beaches for years.

Can’t those homes be moved or torn down?

The Outer Banks are just huge sand bars. They are barrier islands and are constantly moving as the wind picks up sand and throws it around. But this rate of change is troubling.

Sea level rise, changing currents, storms moving further north. Maybe some of that is normal changes, I don’t know, but it seems like we need to be better prepared for the changes that are to come.

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