Seek Higher Ground: The Natural Solution to Our Urgent Flooding Crisis

by Timothy Thornton Palmer

Pairing in-depth journalism with historical perspectives, this book makes a compelling case for a natural solution to the growing problem of flooding.
 
With Seek Higher Ground , environmental writer and former land-use planner Tim Palmer explores the legacy of flooding in America, taking a fresh look at the emerging climatic, economic, and ecological realities of our rivers and communities. Global warming is forecast to sharply intensify flooding, and this book urges that we reduce future damage in the most effective, efficient, and equitable ways possible.
 
Through historical narrative, rigorous reporting, and decades of vivid personal experience, Palmer details how our society’s approach to flood control has been infamously inadequate and chronically counterproductive. He builds a powerful argument for both the protection of floodplain open space and for programs that help people voluntarily relocate their homes away from high-water hazards. Only by recognizing the indomitable forces of nature—and adapting to them—can we thrive in the challenging climate to come.
 

Genres: Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

Published April 2, 2024

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

NGL for the first three chapters I was pretty bored but when he got into the public policy stuff I got hooked. He laid out his positions with such persuasion and precision that it’s damn near impossible to imagine how any person could counter his argument other than to say “but people won’t want to do that” which of course is a great basis for any sound environmental policy. Of course people won’t want to change their behavior but that doesn’t make it any less important that they do.

He doesn’t fall into the usual trap of highlighting this problem in alarmist terms but more “this is happening whether we’re prepared or not so hey why not consider getting prepared?”

If I would have read this book when I was in college I would have gone into environmental public policy - it’s such an obvious way to help others.

[Sara]

An informative read that covers the history of levee and dam building in the US. One of the key events in this history is the Federal Flood Control Act of 1936 which established flood control as a “proper activity of the Federal Government” (32, 71). But nearly a century later, many of the dams the federal government built are failing. And with climate change, these infrastructures are becoming less and less effective at protecting people and property from small and medium flood events.

The insurance and real estate industries play no small part in flooding crises. By the time of the 1968 Flood Control Act, 85% of the financial benefit of dams would come from future development opportunities in floodplains (79). And the national flood insurance effort “ended up incentivizing new development in the floodplains rather than preventing” (71).

Listen to my conversation with Tim Palmer and two Wisconsin community activists for
WORT 89.9 FM Madison.