00:00High waves, surging surf, and flooding continue to haunt the Southern California coast
00:04as the remnants of Hurricane Marie move further out into the Pacific Ocean.
00:08Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton says that Democrats are not doing enough
00:13to protect infrastructure and property along California's coastline.
00:17Democrats might counter that climate change is to blame and Republicans aren't doing enough to
00:21reduce emissions. But the scientific reality is that even if California turned off its economy
00:26tomorrow and stopped emitting anything, that there wouldn't be much of an effect on climate at all
00:31because California's emissions are already dwarfed by emissions from China, India, and from the rest of
00:36the world. There is something California can do something about, and it has to do with the pattern
00:41of coastal development. In the mid-20th century, human societies that built along coastlines assumed
00:46that they would always stay where they were on the map, that they were static and unmoving. But the
00:51reality is that coastlines are dynamic systems. A beach that's in one place today might be in
00:56another place tomorrow, and a mountain might crumble to the sea after a fire and a flood or an
01:01earthquake. These coastlines change all the time. We didn't understand that when we built
01:06infrastructure and homes right next to the beach, but that's the reality. Does that mean we can't do
01:11anything about it? No, we can't. There are engineering solutions to these problems. There are seawalls that
01:15can be built, for example, or infrastructure can be moved to higher ground. It just costs money, and we need
01:21to have a debate about whether that money is going to come out of public coffers or whether it has
01:25to come
01:25from private property owners. But that's the kind of adult conversation we're not having yet
01:29because we are chasing big planetary solutions and big schemes like high-speed rail in the middle
01:35of the state, which, despite not having coastal challenges, just isn't going anywhere. But there
01:40are conversations to be had and solutions to be found if California can focus on the unique
01:46challenges facing our coastline, which is what makes the Golden State Golden.
