Barrier Islands

Irene created a new channel across a North Carolina barrier island (courtesy of flickr user NCDOTcommunications)

People building on barrier islands should not be provided with federal assistance. They cause the erosion of the barrier to speed up.  The barrier land masses are not permanent fixtures, so their choice to live there should mean they pay completely out of pocket. So if people build homes on these land masses they should not receive assistance for things like roads, wastewater systems and disaster relief. This is subject the of a recent article in the Smithsonian Magazine Online by Sarah Zielinski.


This seems to be logical as it causes the person to spend way more money if they want beach front property. Also if their house gets destroyed in a storm, it becomes their financial responsibility. I mean, just like almost everyone in the world I have always dreamed of owning beach front property. It does come at a risk though. Personally I would feel terrible if I caused some destruction of land and then a storm came and that allowed the storm to move further inland than it should have. This is hypothetical of course and I don't think I'll ever be able to afford beach front property anyways, but if I can I'll try and invest in a house that already exists, or live somewhere that is a few blocks from the ocean.

The idea of no federal funding is a great one as that means hopefully people will build less and less new homes on beaches and barriers. Well that would be another assignment down. I'll be back for the next one.

TRUST M.E.