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University of California Press

Seek Higher Ground

The Natural Solution to Our Urgent Flooding Crisis
by Tim Palmer (Author)
Hardcover eBook
Price: $27.95 / £24.00
Publication Date: Apr 2024
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 320
ISBN: 9780520382732
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Illustrations: 25 b/w illustrations
Endowments:
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About the Book

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.
 

About the Author

Tim Palmer is an author and photographer of environmental issues, river conservation, nature, and adventure travel. His thirty-two books have won numerous awards. For the past five decades he has been professionally and personally involved in flooding and issues of floodplain management. See his work at www.timpalmer.org.

Table of Contents

Contents

1 The Coming Storm 
2 The Essential History of High Water 
3 Rivers Need Floods and Nature Needs Floodplains 
4 Dams for Flood Control: The Promise and the Reality 
5 Broken Barriers 
6 Higher Floods and the Endless Storm 
7 Floodplains Are for Floods 
8 The Insurance Connection 
9 Moving to Higher Ground 
10 Greenways 
11 Living with Rivers 

Acknowledgments 
Sources 
Notes 
Index 
About the Author 

Reviews

“Nature writer Palmer (Endangered Rivers and the Conservation Movement) delivers an urgent warning about the perils of Americans’ penchant for living too close to rivers destined to unleash catastrophic flooding as Earth’s atmosphere warms and its rains intensify. . . . What’s most valuable here are the stories of lessons learned by individuals and communities who have taken steps to end the cycles of rebuilding in and near floodplains. It's an encouraging guidebook for community leaders and organizers looking for a sensible path forward."
— Publishers Weekly
"A powerful argument for protection of floodplain open space and for programs that help people relocate their homes away from high-water hazards. Only by recognizing and adapting to the indomitable forces of nature can we thrive in the challenging climate to come."
— Climate and Capitalism
"Readers will find the book compelling."
— Association of State Floodplain Managers
"Palmer’s writing…is an urgent call for action starting with changes in our attitudes towards floods and flooding. The book is not all gloom and doom, however, because  Palmer makes a good case for positive actions that if taken now will pay off in the future, as the title of the book (Seek Higher Ground) indicates."
— the California WaterBlog
"The prolific author's most important work to-date . . . Seek Higher Ground is a must read for people who love rivers, for people who work to protect rivers, and people who manage rivers. It’s also appropriate for anyone who cares about fellow humans and the wise expenditure of our tax dollars."
— Journal of River Management
 "Seek Higher Ground is filled with other eye-opening statistics and details about the prevalence of floods and the amount of money spent on solutions that are not always effective and as Palmer lays out  have sometimes made the problem worse."
 
— Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners
"Brilliantly written, expertly researched, Seek Higher Ground examines in pathbreaking ways our ongoing cataclysm in the age of climate change. With first-rate reporting about history, ecology, and hydrology, Tim Palmer is the ideal author to reveal practical solutions to America’s chronic vulnerability to flooding. His heartfelt narrative is an urgent wake-up call for action. I highly recommend this important book!"—Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History at Rice University and author of Silent Spring Revolution

"Seek Higher Ground is the most comprehensive and compelling book written on the history and challenges of floodplain management—a must-read for anyone concerned about flooding. Anchored in fact and science, Tim Palmer’s engaging narrative boldly and correctly proclaims that the age of increased flooding is here. His account tells us what we've done wrong—and right—and it tells us what we must now do to prepare for the floods of the future."—Chad Berginnis, Executive Director, Association of State Floodplain Managers
 
"Beautifully written, seamlessly presented, Tim Palmer's book brings crucial issues of flooding together as no one has done before. His narrative—thoroughly supported by history, science, and economics—delivers an incisive critique of flood management in the past and a profoundly realistic proposal to solve problems that can no longer be ignored. This account is gripping to read and essential to understand as we face a world altered by a warming climate."—Philip Garone, Professor of History at California State University, Stanislaus, and author of The Fall and Rise of the Wetlands of California’s Great Central Valley
 
"Warm air holds more water vapor than cold—so we can expect flooding to keep increasing, which means we should pay close attention to the lessons in this book. Too much water is going to be as big a challenge for our earth as too little; now is the time to act."—Bill McKibben, author of Falter and The End of Nature
  
"Charting new waters, Tim Palmer’s compelling account of flooding and of what we must do about it is a story I could not put down. I recommend it to all who are affected when streams and rivers rise, to all who work in this challenging field, and to all who end up paying for the floods that are destined to increase as the climate crisis unfolds, and that includes every one of us."—Brian Richter, cofounder of The Nature Conservancy’s Global Water Program, President of Sustainable Waters, and author of Chasing Water

Media

Tim Palmer on Seek Higher Ground