Sea Change: Britain’s Coastal Catastrophe

Richard Girling is a senior feature writer for The Sunday Times Magazine. In 2002 he was named Specialist Writer of the Year in the UK Press Awards and has been shortlisted for this award in 2005 and 2006. He has been a consultant to the former Department of the Environment and the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport and author of campaigns for the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE). He is currently a trustee of the Tree Council.

We have a special relationship with the sea. It is the single most powerful driver of our economy, our lifestyle, and our politics. It affects what we eat, how we use the land, how we relate to our neighbors, how we travel, and even the thickness of our coats. Yet we go on treating it, with childlike faith and unreason, as if we imagine it to be infinitely resourceful and endlessly forgiving. Sea Change addresses such issues as pollution by sewage, nuclear waste dumping at sea, extinction of fish stocks, destruction of the marine environment, impacts of climate change, coastal erosion, rising sea levels, the decline of our seaside resorts, the failure of the "integrated transport policy," and smuggling. In each case, crucial questions are posed. How did the situation arise? What are the consequences? What should be done, and what will happen when we fail? With a unique voice blending horror, humor, and "just fancy that," the author sifts for solutions in the sands, presenting arguments that are utterly compelling, entertaining, and inspirational.