{"id":110218,"date":"2025-08-26T02:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T02:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/110218\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T02:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T02:02:09","slug":"see-the-unbelievable-scale-of-north-carolinas-coastal-erosion-in-two-videos-shot-10-years-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/110218\/","title":{"rendered":"See the Unbelievable Scale of North Carolina’s Coastal Erosion in Two Videos Shot 10 Years Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Coastal<\/p>\n

Same place, ten years of coastal erosion. It\u2019s a lot, right? Photos: Brett Barley\/\/Instagram<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Bible recommends that you do not build your house on the sand. It says that you\u2019re a fool if you do, because if you haven\u2019t built on the rock, when the rain falls and the floods come and the winds blow and beat against that house, that house will fall. \u201cGreat will be the fall of it,\u201d the Book says. But what does one do when the house didn\u2019t appear to be on the sand when you built it? North Carolina is one of the most obvious places in the United States where coastal erosion is occurring, and a recent video comparison from Brett Barley shows the frightening extent of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does 10 years of severe coastal erosion look like?\u201d Barley asked in an Instagram post<\/a>. \u201cLet these two near-identical video angles, from the exact same location, show you the difference in a beach in Buxton, North Carolina from 2014-2025. I shot the first one with my GoPro going surfing in 2014 and recreated it with my iPhone two days ago post-Hurricane Erin.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the last five years<\/a>, 13 homes on the Outer Banks have fallen into the ocean<\/a>. As weather events become stronger and more frequent, beautiful places that sit on the edge of the sea are becoming precarious places to live. Hurricane Erin was just the most recent example of what a storm \u2014 even one that doesn\u2019t make landfall \u2014 can do when it comes to beach erosion. Many homes are now literally teetering on the edge, with the ocean creeping closer and closer to their front doors with each passing year. According to Barley, a lot has changed in the last decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe jetty at the old Cape Hatteras Lighthouse site began rapid deterioration in 2015,\u201d he remembered. \u201cWith more and more holes forming in the groin, and sections falling in 2021-2025, we are now here present day because it no longer holds sand like it use to, even with over half the jetty still there. Rebuilding that groin is crucial to the support of Buxton, NC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with a rebuild, though, it feels like a losing battle. The seas are rising<\/a>\u00a0and they\u2019re rising faster and faster each year. No number of heads in the sand will stop it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe rate of global sea level rise\u00a0is accelerating,\u201d researchers at NOAA wrote<\/a>. \u201cIt has more than doubled from 0.06 inches (1.4 millimeters) per year throughout most of the twentieth century to 0.14 inches (3.6 millimeters) per year from 2006\u20132015.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the world, there are many places that are facing a slow-moving disaster in the coming decades. The U.S. is not immune.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn many locations along the U.S. coastline, the rate of local sea level rise is greater than the global average due to land processes like erosion, oil and groundwater pumping, and subsidence,\u201d NOAA wrote. \u201cHigh-tide flooding is now 300 percent, to more than 900 percent more frequent than it was 50 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a frustrating, yet all-too-common refrain when it comes to environmental issues, we know what we need to do \u2014 we\u2019re just not doing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we are able to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, U.S. sea level in 2100 is projected to be around 0.6 meters (2 feet) higher on average than it was in 2000,\u201d NOAA explained. \u201cOn a pathway with high greenhouse gas emissions and rapid ice sheet collapse, models project that average sea level rise for the contiguous United States could be 2.2 meters (7.2 feet) by 2100 and 3.9 meters (13 feet) by 2150.\u201d<\/p>\n