Grady McCallie

Guest commentary: When the water doesn’t go away | Coastal Review Drainage systems that rely on gravity fail when the difference in elevation that drives water from land to sea has been shrinking as sea level rises.

This is sea level rise: "I’ve lived in Atlantic for six decades. I’ve never seen the roads hold water like this. The fields don’t dry out anymore. The ditches stay full — they just don’t drain."

Guest commentary: When the water doesn’t go away coastalreview.org/2025/11/gues...

Coastal geologist Stan Riggs sets out on 10-book project | Coastal Review “I've done a lot of work here," the East Carolina University professor told Coastal Review, and the book series to be rolled out over three years is a mission to share what he's learned.

I'm looking forward to reading the books. But this is such a thoughtful article, it is worth reading in its own right. And it's lovely for the hope it expresses in the power of clearly communicated ideas. coastalreview.org/2025/11/coas...

Climate disasters displaced 250 million people in past 10 years, UN report finds Floods, storms and droughts have uprooted people across the globe as rising temperatures intensify conflict and hunger

"Three-quarters of refugees and other displaced people now live in countries facing high or extreme exposure to climate-related hazards, with repeated displacement becoming increasingly common."
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Heat map-style graphic showing monthly air temperature rankings in the Arctic at the 925 hPa level for each month from January 1979 to October 2025. There is a long-term warming trend evident in each month. Blue shading is shown for colder months, and red shading is shown for warmer months. A yellow number is shown for each grid box to display the actual temperature ranking. October 2025 was the 4th warmest October on record.

Not every month will set a new record, but the warming trend is obvious. This graphic shows #Arctic air temperature rank by month over the satellite era - now updated through October 2025... 🧪

+ Ranks: 1=warmest (red), 46/47=coldest (blue)
+ Download higher resolution: zacklabe.com/arctic-tempe...

Air Pollution From Industrial Facilities Is Far Worse Than Estimated The Trump administration has put a stop to EPA rules that would have required more than 130 industrial facilities to install air monitors to measure pollution. Millions of people living near these pla...

Our analysis of EPA air monitoring data shows that companies have far underestimated the pollution caused by their facilities.

At a U.S. Steel plant outside Pittsburgh, monitors found benzene levels 37 times higher than estimated emissions.

@lisalsong.bsky.social, 📸: @annie-flanagan.bsky.social

Study finds ultrashort-chain PFAS built up in Wilmington residents' blood before GenX scandal Archived blood samples show Wilmington residents carried high levels of little-known PFAS long before the public learned of contamination in the Cape Fear River.

"[W]e need to regulate these compounds at the source....People downstream should not be the filtration system.”
www.wral.com/news/local/s...

Port's Cape Fear dredge project fails taxpayers, environment | Coastal Review Guest commentary: Deepening the Cape Fear River will only worsen flooding around the downtown Wilmington waterfront and the North Carolina Battleship site and lead to a substantial loss of vital wetla...

This is a complex argument, but the core point is simple: disturbing PFAS contaminated sediments in the Cape Fear could set up North Carolina for recurring costs that far outweigh any speculative benefits of the project. coastalreview.org/2025/11/port...

Great news!

Helene revealed a hidden flood threat: North Carolina's aging dams More than 40 dams failed when Helene hit the mountains in September 2024. Advocates say it won’t be the last time unless North Carolina confronts its aging, overlooked infrastructure.

Dam safety - and especially removal of old dams - is a crucial part of inland flood resilience. www.wral.com/news/local/h...

Chemours is doubling down on its toxic history: NRDC | Coastal Review Chemours is not a company that can be trusted to expand its operations responsibly, and it's an example of the national PFAS pollution crisis, writes Drew Ball of the Natural Resources Defense Council...

Chemours is doubling down on its toxic history: NRDC coastalreview.org/2025/10/chem...

Mapping What’s at Stake: The Impact of SNAP on North Carolina’s Families and Local Economies - NC Budget & Tax Center Every county in North Carolina benefits from federal food assistance.  Each month, SNAP (aka food stamps) dollars flow into every community, helping families put food on the table and keep up with ris...

Most of the discussion about SNAP cuts focuses, rightly, on hungry people. But for North Carolinians concerned about food systems broadly, map 4 in this series - potential loss of grocery stores - is also chilling, implying much larger food deserts for everyone. ncbudget.org/mapping-what...

Opponents urge EPA to uphold objection to Asheboro permit | Coastal Review Those who spoke last week at the Environmental Protection Agency's hearing on Asheboro's wastewater permit urged the EPA to uphold its objection to the city's proposed permit with no effluent discharg...

The bottom line is, Asheboro needs to tell its local industrial dischargers to stop putting 1,4-dioxane into the municipal sewer system. It really is that simple. coastalreview.org/2025/10/oppo...

"These actions by Asheboro are despicable."
Folks at @usepa.bsky.social public hearing are beyond p*ssed about the city's discharge of 1,4-Dioxane, a likely carcinogen, into the drinking water supply.

Cape Fear ghost forests tell tale of ever-saltier water upriver | Coastal Review New findings in a report from the University of North Carolina Wilmington that examined tree cores and sediment samples from a nearby tributary show how the loss of cypress forests and protections the...

Dredging for channel deepening, more than sea level rise, has killed cypress trees along the lower Cape Fear:
coastalreview.org/2025/10/cape...

Attorneys allege Chemours hid emission data from public | Coastal Review The company “improperly withheld vital emission data from the public” in its Aug. 14 application to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality, according to a let...

The company “improperly withheld vital emission data from the public” in its Aug. 14 application to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality, according to a letter to regulators from Southern Environmental Law Center attorneys.
coastalreview.org/2025/10/atto...

Bad news for coastlines everywhere, including North Carolina. Curbing carbon emissions is an important as ever.

A tiny, secretive bird is disappearing in NC. Why you should care | Opinion These North Carolina birds are one of our most strange and secretive animals. For avid birdwatchers, just hearing one would be a lifetime highlight. | Opinion

Missed this when it was first published three weeks ago, but it makes a crucial point: state policies and investments can save this and other species from extinction: www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/arti...

Scientists Completed a Toxicity Report on This Forever Chemical. The EPA Hasn’t Released It. Agency scientists found that PFNA could cause developmental, liver and reproductive harms. Their final report was ready in mid-April, according to an internal document reviewed by ProPublica, but the ...

NEW An EPA report found that PFNA, a chemical in the drinking water of some 26M people, interferes with development and likely causes liver problems & male reproductive harms. The report was done in April, scientists told me. But the agency hasn't released it

www.propublica.org/article/epa-...

Who Doesn’t Have a Car? A new NRDC map shows car-free living and the factors affecting car usage in United States.

"This is a big opportunity to correct [the myth] that people who don't drive are [living] some sort of fringe lifestyle — that not having access to a car is something that only hippies do, or pp who are obsessed w/ biking.. there's a lot of nuance [here]" www.nrdc.org/resources/wh...

'Messy situation': Buxton beach closed after 8th house falls | Coastal Review The first home fell two weeks ago, but the spate of collapses this week has turned this Cape Hatteras National Seashore beach and the crashing surf into a hazardous, dynamic debris field.

The key quote: "There is something else going on here, rather than this normal erosion. You know, clearly the ocean’s higher, but … where is the equilibrium?” A: until we lower CO2 concentrations, there won't be one.

Read more at Coastal Review, coastalreview.org. coastalreview.org/2025/10/mess...

Oy.

Homes that are rented as beach houses ought collect a fee and put it into a pool to be used to pay the cost of removing condemned houses before they fall into the ocean. This problem is a direct result of a highly commercialized coast, and there’s an efficient solution to it.

What researchers suspect may be fueling cancer among millennials Studies suggest modern life may be fueling the rise of cancer in younger adults, with factors like ultra-processed foods and chemicals under scrutiny.

Why are so many young people getting cancer? Scientists are now shifting their research from genetics to environmental exposures to explain rising early-onset cancer rates among millennials.

This is a thoughtful and important point: "The best and most efficient use of funds would be to invest in treatment that tackles multiple pollutants", an improvement on the current practice of regulating contaminants one by one.

Sharing this happy and hopeful reminder.

Given what we know about climate change and its costs, this is really, really dumb spending.

Climate change is accelerating, scientists find in ‘grim’ report » Yale Climate Connections They warn that humanity is just three years from overshooting the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target, with seas rising faster than ever. But the report also contains a little bit of good news.

🔥 The world’s top climate scientists have found that global warming is accelerating. Oceans are rising faster than ever, and the 1.5°C target is slipping away, but there’s still a narrow path forward. #ClimateAction

Climate change is driving an increase in heatwaves, and the U.S. is one of the places where that is most true.

Bulkheads lead to salt marsh erosion, total loss: Study | Coastal Review Researchers found that all 45 bulkhead sites analyzed for a recent study experienced marsh shoreline erosion during the 32-year study period, with complete marsh loss at 11% of the sites.

This is an important, nuanced study, looking at what happens over 30 years. It finds harmful impacts that are real but so incremental a short term resident might not notice them.
Bulkheads lead to salt marsh erosion, total loss: Study coastalreview.org/2025/09/bulk...

On one hand, reducing car use reduces urban pollution.
But on the other, everyone likes it and cities become more livable