Jen Schwartz: Coastal Communities in Retreat

For centuries, humans have engineered their way out of coastal flooding by building seawalls and dredging sand. But in an era of climate change, we can no longer hold back the water, and vulnerable coastal communities in the U.S. have started to accept the reality of “retreat.” Jen Schwartz, a senior editor at Scientific American, will delve into what scientists and policy makers are now racing to understand: What motivates people to relent to the forces of nature and give up on home? What happens to the land after infrastructure gets torn down? And, what might “managed relocation” look like in the near future?