The Edge: The Pressured Past and Precarious Future of California's Coast

The Pacific coast is the most iconic region of California and one of the most fascinating and rapidly changing places in the world. Densely populated, urbanized and industrialized — but also home to wilderness with complex, fragile ecosystems — the coast is the place where humanity and nature coexist in a precarious balance that is never perfectly stable. Kim Steinhardt and Professor Gary Griggs will discuss their new book about The Edge, a dramatic snapshot of the California coast’s past, present and probable future in a time of climate change and expanding human activity. In this lecture the speakers will touch on personal adventures, science, nature, conservation policy, and history.

Kim Steinhardt is an environmental writer and marine wildlife photographer currently working with National Geographic Books on a collection of sea otter images and coastal storytelling Gary Griggs is a Distinguished Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UCSC. He is the author or co-author of ten books about the coast, and a frequent contact for news media on questions of climate change, sea-level rise, and coastal erosion.