Taking Chances: The Coast after Hurricane Sandy
Humanity is deeply committed to living along the world’s shores, but a catastrophic storm like Sandy—which took hundreds of lives and caused many billions of dollars in damages—shines a bright light at how costly and vulnerable life on a shoreline can be. Taking Chances offers a wide-ranging exploration of the diverse challenges of Sandy and asks if this massive event will really change how coastal living and development is managed.    Bringing together leading researchers—including biologists, urban planners, utilities experts, and climatologists, among others—Taking Chances illuminates reactions to the dangers revealed by Sandy. Focusing on New Jersey, New York, and other hard-hit areas, the contributors explore whether Hurricane Sandy has indeed transformed our perceptions of coastal hazards, if we have made radically new plans in response to Sandy, and what we think should be done over the long run to improve coastal resilience. Surprisingly, one essay notes that while a large majority of New Jerseyans identified Sandy with climate change and favored carefully assessing the likelihood of damage from future storms before rebuilding the Shore, their political leaders quickly poured millions into reconstruction. Indeed, much here is disquieting. One contributor points out that investors scared off from further investments on the shore are quickly replaced by new investors, sustaining or increasing the overall human exposure to risk. Likewise, a study of the Gowanus Canal area of Brooklyn shows that, even after Sandy swamped the area with toxic flood waters, plans to convert abandoned industrial lots around the canal into high-density condominiums went on undeterred. By contrast, utilities, emergency officials, and others who routinely make long-term plans have changed operations in response to the storm, and provide examples of adaptation in the face of climate change.   Will Sandy be a tipping point in coastal policy debates—or simply dismissed as a once-in-a-century anomaly? This thought-provoking collection of essays in Taking Chances makes an important contribution to this debate.  
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Taking Chances: The Coast after Hurricane Sandy
Humanity is deeply committed to living along the world’s shores, but a catastrophic storm like Sandy—which took hundreds of lives and caused many billions of dollars in damages—shines a bright light at how costly and vulnerable life on a shoreline can be. Taking Chances offers a wide-ranging exploration of the diverse challenges of Sandy and asks if this massive event will really change how coastal living and development is managed.    Bringing together leading researchers—including biologists, urban planners, utilities experts, and climatologists, among others—Taking Chances illuminates reactions to the dangers revealed by Sandy. Focusing on New Jersey, New York, and other hard-hit areas, the contributors explore whether Hurricane Sandy has indeed transformed our perceptions of coastal hazards, if we have made radically new plans in response to Sandy, and what we think should be done over the long run to improve coastal resilience. Surprisingly, one essay notes that while a large majority of New Jerseyans identified Sandy with climate change and favored carefully assessing the likelihood of damage from future storms before rebuilding the Shore, their political leaders quickly poured millions into reconstruction. Indeed, much here is disquieting. One contributor points out that investors scared off from further investments on the shore are quickly replaced by new investors, sustaining or increasing the overall human exposure to risk. Likewise, a study of the Gowanus Canal area of Brooklyn shows that, even after Sandy swamped the area with toxic flood waters, plans to convert abandoned industrial lots around the canal into high-density condominiums went on undeterred. By contrast, utilities, emergency officials, and others who routinely make long-term plans have changed operations in response to the storm, and provide examples of adaptation in the face of climate change.   Will Sandy be a tipping point in coastal policy debates—or simply dismissed as a once-in-a-century anomaly? This thought-provoking collection of essays in Taking Chances makes an important contribution to this debate.  
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Overview

Humanity is deeply committed to living along the world’s shores, but a catastrophic storm like Sandy—which took hundreds of lives and caused many billions of dollars in damages—shines a bright light at how costly and vulnerable life on a shoreline can be. Taking Chances offers a wide-ranging exploration of the diverse challenges of Sandy and asks if this massive event will really change how coastal living and development is managed.    Bringing together leading researchers—including biologists, urban planners, utilities experts, and climatologists, among others—Taking Chances illuminates reactions to the dangers revealed by Sandy. Focusing on New Jersey, New York, and other hard-hit areas, the contributors explore whether Hurricane Sandy has indeed transformed our perceptions of coastal hazards, if we have made radically new plans in response to Sandy, and what we think should be done over the long run to improve coastal resilience. Surprisingly, one essay notes that while a large majority of New Jerseyans identified Sandy with climate change and favored carefully assessing the likelihood of damage from future storms before rebuilding the Shore, their political leaders quickly poured millions into reconstruction. Indeed, much here is disquieting. One contributor points out that investors scared off from further investments on the shore are quickly replaced by new investors, sustaining or increasing the overall human exposure to risk. Likewise, a study of the Gowanus Canal area of Brooklyn shows that, even after Sandy swamped the area with toxic flood waters, plans to convert abandoned industrial lots around the canal into high-density condominiums went on undeterred. By contrast, utilities, emergency officials, and others who routinely make long-term plans have changed operations in response to the storm, and provide examples of adaptation in the face of climate change.   Will Sandy be a tipping point in coastal policy debates—or simply dismissed as a once-in-a-century anomaly? This thought-provoking collection of essays in Taking Chances makes an important contribution to this debate.  

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780813573786
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Publication date: 06/03/2016
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 304
File size: 3 MB
Age Range: 16 - 18 Years

About the Author

KAREN M. O’ NEILL is an associate professor in the department of human ecology at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is the author of Rivers by Design: State Power and the Origins of U.S. Flood Control and she co-edited Katrina’s Footprint: Race and Vulnerability in America (Rutgers University Press).    DANIEL J. VAN ABS is an associate professor of practice in the department of human ecology at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  He is the coauthor of Water Infrastructure in New Jersey’s CSO Cities: Elevating the Importance of Upgrading New Jersey’s Urban Water Systems.  

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction: A Transformational Event, Just Another Storm, or Something in Between? Karen M. O’Neill, Daniel J. Van Abs, and Robert B. Gramling Part One: The Storm Chapter 1: Hurricane Sandy from Meteorological and Climatological Perspectives Steven G. Decker and David A. Robinson Chapter 2: A Tough Move to Make: Lessons Learned from Emergency Evacuations in Coastal Connecticut during Hurricane Sandy Daniel Baldwin Hess and Brian W. Conley Part Two: The Days after the Storm Chapter 3: Overlooked Impacts of Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean Adelle Thomas Chapter 4: Polling Post-Hurricane Sandy: The Transformative Personal and Political Impact of the Hurricane in New Jersey Ashley A. Koning and David P. Redlawsk Chapter 5: Ecological Injury and Responses to Hurricane Sandy: Physical Damage, Avian and Food Web Responses, and Anthropogenic Attempts to Aid Ecosystem Recovery in New Jersey Estuaries Joanna Burger and Larry Niles Chapter 6: Surviving Sandy: Identity and Cultural Resilience in a New Jersey Fishing Community Angela Oberg, Julia A. Flagg, Patricia M. Clay, Lisa L. Colburn, and Bonnie McCay Part Three: Planning for Change? Chapter 7: Green Gentrification and Hurricane Sandy: The Resilience of the Green Growth Machine around Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal Kenneth A. Gould and Tammy L. Lewis Chapter 8: Boardwalks Reborn: Disaster and Renewal on the Jersey Shore Mark Alan Hewitt Chapter 9: A Sure/Shore Thing? Tourism Recovery in New York and New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy Briavel Holcomb Chapter 10: Local Fiscal Impacts of Hurricane Sandy Clinton J. Andrews Chapter 11: Local Responses to Hurricane Sandy: Heterogeneous Experiences and Mismatches with Federal Policy Mariana Leckner, Melanie McDermott, James K. Mitchell, and Karen M. O’Neill Chapter 12: Water Utilities: Storm Preparedness and Restoration Daniel J. Van Abs Chapter 13: Impact of Extreme Events on the Electric Power Sector: Challenges, Vulnerabilities, Institutional Responses, and Planning Implications from Hurricane Sandy Frank A. Felder and Shankar Chandramowli Conclusion: Emerging Responses to Life on the Urbanized Coast after Hurricane Sandy Daniel J. Van Abs and Karen M. O’Neill Notes on Contributors Index  
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