J. Matt—Public Portfolio 2023 by J. Matt

Aloha—

The following images are representative of my efforts as a documentary photographer. My work focuses on the intersections of global warming's consequences with place and social, political, and economic histories.

'What Remains of Paradise' was published in Popula (bit.ly/remains_paradise). 'Covid–19 in Waikīkī' was collected by The Autry Musuem of the American West as part of its documentation of the Coronavirus pandemic in Western states. The remaining work is unpublished or ongoing.

Published pieces representing other examples of my photography and feature writing can be seen at bit.ly/waikiki_development and bit.ly/cal_forests, both ran at the end of 2022. The first is an account of the capital-colonial development of the Ala Wai Canal which enabled the creation of the Waikiki tourist district (distinct from Waikīkī, the historic and cultural place) and the current social, economic, and ecological issues this construction manufactured. My Waikiki piece represents the first publishing of a photographer's work by Lapham's Quarterly—an honor I am very respectful of. It is called 'I Am Empty Without You.'

The second piece linked above addresses the failure of California's forests, the causes of that failure, and what losing its forests of charismatic trees might mean to the state's identity—predicated as it is, in part, on its groves of majestic native tree species. Places Journal published another piece close to my heart early last year; 'San Francisco: An Index of Influence' can be seen here: bit.ly/sf_index. The story is an accounting of mundane locations in San Francisco which played host to significant, influential national events that struck echoes we encounter today.

I am happy to take on assignment work or work with editors who might want to develop a story together—as a photographer alone—or also utilizing my writing skills. I am a solid reporter and researcher as well as a dogged fact-checker. I love the editing process and its collaboration.

All I want to do is tell stories dear to me—in this day and age truthful stories may be all that save us.

I can be reached by phone at (415) 867–0064 or by email at jmatt_photo@proton.me, I look forward to hearing from you.

Camp Fire +100 Days I made the...warning to us all. Paradise USA

Camp Fire +100 Days I made the following photographs one hundred days after the Camp Fire ignited on November 8, 2018. The unprecedented and massive fire destroyed lives, ecosystems, communities, infrastructure and property. Our nation’s global warming-fueled wildfire future arrived with the Camp Fire and Paradise, California’s destruction by the Camp Fire was a grim, bellwether event. 2018 had been, to date, the deadliest and most destructive year for wildfires in California, and at the time constituted the most acres burned statewide in a year (1.9 million acres). 2020 surpassed that record with 4.3 million acres charred in the state. In the last four years California’s single largest, and single deadliest, fires have burned and their effects have been felt as far away as the Eastern Seaboard. Seven of the state’s ten largest wildfires have burned since 2018. Nationally 2018–2021 have been unprecedented wildfire years with 2021’s 1,177 fires far outstripping the national ten-year average of 783 fires per year as of mid-September—5.6 million acres burned in the U.S. as of September 14th, 2021. Today’s megafires have substantial consequences. The 2019—2020 fires in Australia alone were so in- tense they cooled the planet by an estimated 0.06°C (0.1°F). 2021 has seen record-breaking wildfire activity on three continents with Siberia’s fires releasing 67% of Germany’s (Europe’s largest polluter) annual carbon pollution in about two months. In spite of any fire-related cooling the summer of 2021 was the hottest in 126 years of record keeping in the U.S. and July was the hottest month recorded on earth. The Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise as it set the stage for a continuing fiery and calamitous present, watching as we are, the influences of global warming play out on the earth’s climate and landscapes, now, in our lifetimes. What happened in Paradise, California must be remembered, and heeded, as a warning to us all. Paradise USA

Pickup, Ponderosa Pine, and Fir...utside of wartime. Paradise USA

Pickup, Ponderosa Pine, and Fireplace with Standing Chimney Crown. fires, wildfires which burn through and travel within the crowns of trees, are spectacular, devastating fires which leave felled and charred trees in their paths. These are the forest fires typically in the public imagination thanks in part to the success of the Smoky the Bear public service announcement campaigns since the 1960s. Fires like the Camp Fire are a mix of structure fires, forest fires, and brush wildfires, each demanding its own specific suppression techniques. Urban firefighters are specifically trained to attack fires in buildings while wildfire fire crews are trained to stop fires in wildlands with techniques that are not at all similar to fighting structure fires. Typically one sort of firefighter is not possessed of the skills or equipment of the other. The increasing incidence of fires burning through the developed/wildland interface makes the managing of multiple types of fires and their specific personnel a difficult job which few are certified to command. These complicated fires are called Type I incidents. In the case of terrifyingly fast-moving Type I fire incidents like the Camp and Tubbs fires there is often little that officials are able to do to stop or slow the fire’s advance and concentration on evacuations becomes a critical priority for authorities managing a response. Making these decisions necessarily means allowing structures to burn completely, evincing the sort of destruction rarely seen outside of wartime. Paradise USA

Immolated Parked Passenger Car....res in 90 minutes. Paradise USA

Immolated Parked Passenger Car. Evacuation from the path of the Camp Fire was impossible for many who died—lack of car ownership, age, disabilities, failed garage doors due to power outages, and the fire’s incredible time scale all contributed. In the aftermath of the fire, the evacuation and its plan became a fraught topic with only 30% of Paradise area residents signed up for the local emergency alert system and failures of the system itself due to communications equipment collapse. Additionally, Paradise’s evacuation plan was codified as a staggered plan, designed to get people out over hours, not the mere minutes the Camp Fire allowed. The fire’s ignition was at 6:31 a.m. in the Feather River Canyon near the Jarbo Gap, a notch in the wall of the Sierra Nevada. Early that morning the weather station at the gap saw 52mph winds and generated a forecast with a 76% chance of fire demanding crewed extinguishment. The katabatic Santa Ana winds (winds that drain high pressure air at higher elevation areas into lower elevation, low pressure areas) blowing from the Great Basin to the Pacific coast regularly achieve 100mph through the Jarbo and have occasionally reached speeds of 200mph. Once the Camp Fire began in low-humidity, dense fuel conditions this wind quickly intensified the blaze. As a fast-moving megafire it began to create its own winds of near 90mph, flinging firebrands downwind. Within an hour of the first evacuation order at 7:46 a.m. gridlock trapped hundreds in Paradise; eight miles from the fire’s origin only 90 minutes earlier. It entered Paradise at 7:59 a.m. and soon the blaze was hot enough to melt the tires and burst windows of evacuees’ cars. There were at least nineteen burnovers in town, instances where all evacuation routes were blocked by fire. Burnovers had previously been considered to be rare wildfire occurrences. By 9:15 a.m. Paradise was destroyed. At its early afternoon peak the fire grew 10,000 acres in 90 minutes. Paradise USA

Steel Pallet Shelving, Foreman&...waste from a fire. Paradise USA

Steel Pallet Shelving, Foreman’s Desk and Garden Statuary; Residential Garage. Steel, for the most part, maintains 100% of its design capacities for strength and resilience to deformation up to temperatures of about 600°F. Steel loses half of its design strength at 1000o and loses 100% of its design capacities at 2,200°, about 500° below its outright melting point. Incinerating structure fires like that which destroyed Paradise burn at temperatures hot enough to entirely consume wood framing, interior furnishings, and nearly everything a building might contain, leaving behind few artifacts of the lives lived in these destroyed buildings except those made from steel and porcelain. Another of very few surviving household artifacts remaining after fires that burn as hot as the Camp Fire are the cremains families often preserve at home. A specialized team of archaeologists from ALTA Archaeological Consulting used dogs trained to discover human remains to recover the cremains of loved ones in the destroyed homes of survivors of the Camp Fire. As of mid-January the team had re- covered 53 sets of cremains left behind by people fleeing the fire. They work for free with the goal of using their specialized skills to reunite families upended by fire and prevent their cremated family and friends from being carted off in the remediation, to be forever interred with toxic waste from a fire. Paradise USA

Mama Celeste’s Pizzer...p;rsquo; capacity. Paradise USA

Mama Celeste’s Pizzeria, 5522 Skyway Road. One of many restaurants destroyed in the Camp Fire was Mama Celeste’s Pizzeria. The enormous number of structures burned by the Camp Fire presents a unique problem with regards to the disposal and recycling of the resulting debris. With a goal of recycling at least a fifth of the debris, the cleanup effort will require thousands of round trips of over one hundred miles made by heavy trucks to transfer facilities that will send metals and concrete by rail to sites in Nevada and Utah for recycling. Contaminated ash and soils will be wrapped and trucked to area landfills, also requiring round trips of more than one hundred miles. This heavy traffic will prematurely wear roads requiring repaving exceeding CalTrans and local repaving schedules. There is concern that as massively destructive wildfires increasingly burn into developed areas, as has also happened recently in Santa Rosa and Redding, local landfill space will quickly be filled up, overtaxing waste stream management plans. It is estimated that the nearest landfill to the Camp Fire burn area, Anderson Landfill, has about sixty years’ capacity remaining. A Waste Management executive estimates that Camp Fire debris alone will use five years’ capacity. Paradise USA

Adding a Name, Camp Fire Memori...erican experience. Paradise USA

Adding a Name, Camp Fire Memorial. Eighty-six people were killed in the Camp Fire, principally in Paradise and Magalia, and one person remains missing. At least fifty additional deaths have been linked to the fire by coroners and public health workers, but not attributed to its official death toll. The fire has been the deadliest in California’s history. A death toll of this scale hits small, tightly knit communities particularly hard—the human toll in a fire of this magnitude is impossible to calculate: the deaths of friends, family, partners, and spouses; displacement of tens of thousands; individual mental health and economic stability threatened; the list goes on. The terror of the fire’s missing persons list was visceral throughout the state, at one point achieving a peak of more than 600 people. Diligent and exhaustive work by personally-affected local authorities whittled the list down. The fire burned so hot that forensic anthropology students from nearby Chico State, and working forensic anthropologists from out-of-state, were called in to aid the search, sifting sites for remains. Archaeologists used dogs trained to identify human bone fragments to search for victims. Even with these extraordinary efforts there are people among the dead whose bodies will nev- er be identified or even recovered. Such thorough and wide-ranging devastation had been previously incomprehensible in day-to-day, local American experience. Paradise USA

Survive, Resilience, Hope, Rise...;s recent history. Paradise USA

Survive, Resilience, Hope, Rise. People’s grief is widespread and broadly focused in Butte County. Therapist MATT REDDAM, MS, MFT, works as a consultant to the Butte County Office of Education and has said regarding the fire’s survivors, “None of us are OK, let’s get that shit straight. There is no template for losing three communities in three hours.” Speaking in the context of the domestic American experience he is correct; such devastation has typically been the consequence of war on foreign soil. REDDAM has spent time with the more than 200 volunteer mental health professionals from all over California working to address the psychological needs of the areas’ crisis-stricken students and school staff. They are all working under Butte County’s Coordinator of Trauma Response and Recovery, a newly created position. SCOTT LINDSTOM, the new coordinator, is bringing twenty new counselors into the school system on six-month contracts as he works to define long-term plans to address trauma and loss in the school system. In a county with poverty rates among the highest in the state it is an open question as to whether or not such services will be available to all who need them. With so many dead, displaced, and otherwise affected there is simply no precedent for this scale of mental health recovery effort in California’s recent history. Paradise USA

At the Water's Edge Th...itation patterns. Monterrey USA

At the Water's Edge The idea that all politics are left at the water's edge when facing substantial external threats seems naive in today's polarized political atmosphere. Even the water's edge itself is becoming a slippery boundary to grasp as global warming raises sea levels and the effects of those rising levels are being felt around the world. We have long gone to the coasts to find rest, relaxation, and even ourselves. Coastal ecosystems provide 77% of global ecosystem-services value and about 40% of our human population lives within coastal limits; a great deal of them in twenty-one, of the earth's thirty-three, mega-cities which are found on the coast. Global warming has created urgent situations on our coastlines and our coasts have become no longer merely a day at the beach—coastal retreat, undermining of coastlands, failure of fisheries, the list is daunting and lengthening. But the human drive to see and be near the ocean remains. What will remain of the coasts of our historical memory may prove to be the question of the twenty-first century as changing coastlines redefine human settlement and habitation patterns. Monterrey USA

The idea that all politics are ...bitation patterns. Honolulu USA

The idea that all politics are left at the water's edge when facing substantial external threats seems naive in today's polarized political atmosphere. Even the water's edge itself is becoming a slippery boundary to grasp as global warming raises sea levels and the effects of those rising levels are being felt around the world. We have long gone to the coasts to find rest, relaxation, and even ourselves. Coastal ecosystems provide 77% of global ecosystem-services value and about 40% of our human population lives within coastal limits; a great deal of them in twenty-one, of the earth's thirty-three, mega-cities which are found on the coast. Global warming has created urgent situations on our coastlines and our coasts have become no longer merely a day at the beach—coastal retreat, undermining of coastlands, failure of fisheries, the list is daunting and lengthening. But the human drive to see and be near the ocean remains. What will remain of the coasts of our historical memory may prove to be the question of the twenty-first century as changing coastlines redefine human settlement and habitation patterns. Honolulu USA

The idea that all politics are ... patterns. Huntington Beach USA

The idea that all politics are left at the water's edge when facing substantial external threats seems naive in today's polarized political atmosphere. Even the water's edge itself is becoming a slippery boundary to grasp as global warming raises sea levels and the effects of those rising levels are being felt around the world. We have long gone to the coasts to find rest, relaxation, and even ourselves. Coastal ecosystems provide 77% of global ecosystem-services value and about 40% of our human population lives within coastal limits; a great deal of them in twenty-one, of the earth's thirty-three, mega-cities which are found on the coast. Global warming has created urgent situations on our coastlines and our coasts have become no longer merely a day at the beach—coastal retreat, undermining of coastlands, failure of fisheries, the list is daunting and lengthening. But the human drive to see and be near the ocean remains. What will remain of the coasts of our historical memory may prove to be the question of the twenty-first century as changing coastlines redefine human settlement and habitation patterns. Huntington Beach USA

The idea that all politics are left at the water's edge when facing substantial external threats seems naive in today's polarized political atmosphere. Even the water's edge itself is becoming a slippery boundary to grasp as global warming raises sea levels and the effects of those rising levels are being felt around the world. We have long gone to the coasts to find rest, relaxation, and even ourselves. Coastal ecosystems provide 77% of global ecosystem-services value and about 40% of our human population lives within coastal limits; a great deal of them in twenty-one, of the earth's thirty-three, mega-cities which are found on the coast. Global warming has created urgent situations on our coastlines and our coasts have become no longer merely a day at the beach—coastal retreat, undermining of coastlands, failure of fisheries, the list is daunting and lengthening. But the human drive to see and be near the ocean remains. What will remain of the coasts of our historical memory may prove to be the question of the twenty-first century as changing coastlines redefine human settlement and habitation patterns. Honolulu USA

The idea that all politics are ...bitation patterns. La Jolla USA

The idea that all politics are left at the water's edge when facing substantial external threats seems naive in today's polarized political atmosphere. Even the water's edge itself is becoming a slippery boundary to grasp as global warming raises sea levels and the effects of those rising levels are being felt around the world. We have long gone to the coasts to find rest, relaxation, and even ourselves. Coastal ecosystems provide 77% of global ecosystem-services value and about 40% of our human population lives within coastal limits; a great deal of them in twenty-one, of the earth's thirty-three, mega-cities which are found on the coast. Global warming has created urgent situations on our coastlines and our coasts have become no longer merely a day at the beach—coastal retreat, undermining of coastlands, failure of fisheries, the list is daunting and lengthening. But the human drive to see and be near the ocean remains. What will remain of the coasts of our historical memory may prove to be the question of the twenty-first century as changing coastlines redefine human settlement and habitation patterns. La Jolla USA

The idea that all politics are ...tnajokull National Park Iceland

The idea that all politics are left at the water's edge when facing substantial external threats seems naive in today's polarized political atmosphere. Even the water's edge itself is becoming a slippery boundary to grasp as global warming raises sea levels and the effects of those rising levels are being felt around the world. We have long gone to the coasts to find rest, relaxation, and even ourselves. Coastal ecosystems provide 77% of global ecosystem-services value and about 40% of our human population lives within coastal limits; a great deal of them in twenty-one, of the earth's thirty-three, mega-cities which are found on the coast. Global warming has created urgent situations on our coastlines and our coasts have become no longer merely a day at the beach—coastal retreat, undermining of coastlands, failure of fisheries, the list is daunting and lengthening. But the human drive to see and be near the ocean remains. What will remain of the coasts of our historical memory may prove to be the question of the twenty-first century as changing coastlines redefine human settlement and habitation patterns. Vatnajokull National Park Iceland

The idea that all politics are ...and habitation patterns. Mexico

The idea that all politics are left at the water's edge when facing substantial external threats seems naive in today's polarized political atmosphere. Even the water's edge itself is becoming a slippery boundary to grasp as global warming raises sea levels and the effects of those rising levels are being felt around the world. We have long gone to the coasts to find rest, relaxation, and even ourselves. Coastal ecosystems provide 77% of global ecosystem-services value and about 40% of our human population lives within coastal limits; a great deal of them in twenty-one, of the earth's thirty-three, mega-cities which are found on the coast. Global warming has created urgent situations on our coastlines and our coasts have become no longer merely a day at the beach—coastal retreat, undermining of coastlands, failure of fisheries, the list is daunting and lengthening. But the human drive to see and be near the ocean remains. What will remain of the coasts of our historical memory may prove to be the question of the twenty-first century as changing coastlines redefine human settlement and habitation patterns. Mexico

Fridays for Climate! Youth Cli...global warming. Los Angeles USA

Fridays for Climate! Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles school strikers stop a convertable BMW, downtown Los Angeles, California on Friday, September 20, 2019. Holding frank protest signs thousands of school-age young people and their supporters diverged from a permitted protest route in disruptive protest, blocking streets to demand meaningful change to avert the deadly consequences of unchecked global warming. Los Angeles USA

Youth Climate Strike Los Angele...global warming. Los Angeles USA

Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles school strikers block streets in downtown Los Angeles, California on Friday, September 20, 2019. Holding frank protest signs thousands of school-age young people and their supporters diverged from a permitted protest route in disruptive protest, blocking streets to demand meaningful change to avert the deadly consequences of unchecked global warming. Los Angeles USA

Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles school strikers fill the streets of downtown Los Angeles, California on Friday, September 20, 2019. Hundreds of school-age young people and their supporters took to the streets of L.A. in disruptive protest, blocking streets to demand meaningful change to avert the deadly consequences of unchecked global warming. Los Angeles USA

Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles school strikers wait for a protest march through downtown Los Angeles, California to start on Friday, May 24, 2019. Holding protest signs admonishing that people "Wake Up" and that "Apathy is Destruction" a group readies themselves to march demanding change to avert the deadly consequences of unchecked global warming. Los Angeles USA

Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles school strikers fill the streets of downtown Los Angeles, California on Friday, November 1, 2019. Thousands of school-age young people and their supporters took to the streets of L.A. in disruptive protest, blocking streets to demand meaningful change to avert the deadly consequences of unchecked global warming. Los Angeles USA

A Youth Climate Strike Los Ange...global warming. Los Angeles USA

A Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles school striker looks back on a crowd of thousands of protesters on the streets of downtown Los Angeles, California on Friday, September 20, 2019. A striker gazes over an LAPD cruiser attempting to divert thousands of off-route protestors demanding meaningful change to avert the deadly consequences of unchecked global warming. Los Angeles USA

A young couple embrace at a You...global warming. Los Angeles USA

A young couple embrace at a Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles school strike in the streets of downtown Los Angeles, California on Friday, November 1, 2019. The assembled young people's support of the Green New Deal is high as they take to the streets to demand meaningful change to avert the deadly consequences of unchecked global warming. Los Angeles USA

Los Angeles' Longest D...r fire danger. Santa Monica USA

Los Angeles' Longest Drought Surban homes in Santa Monica, California face yard watering restrictions on December 12, 2015. Although the driest peiod of the state's history, to date, is past Los Angeles and the state are not yet out of drought restrictions or fire danger. Santa Monica USA

Surban homes in Los Angeles Cou...ns or fire danger. Torrance USA

Surban homes in Los Angeles County, California face yard watering restrictions on September 14, 2016. Although the driest peiod of the state's history, to date, is past Los Angeles and the state are not yet out of drought restrictions or fire danger. Torrance USA

Surban homes in Los Angeles Cou...or fire danger. Los Angeles USA

Surban homes in Los Angeles County, California face yard watering restrictions. Although the driest peiod of the state's history, to date, is past Los Angeles and the state are not yet out of drought restrictions or fire danger. Los Angeles USA

Surban homes in Los Angeles County, California face yard watering restrictions on May 10, 2016. Although the driest peiod of the state's history, to date, is past Los Angeles and the state are not yet out of drought restrictions or fire danger. Torrance USA

Surban homes in Los Angeles County, California after winter rain during the drought of 2011–2018. Although the driest peiod of the state's history, to date, is past Los Angeles and the state are not yet out of drought restrictions or fire danger. Los Angeles USA

A decorative palm killed by dro...or fire danger. Los Angeles USA

A decorative palm killed by drought in Los Angeles County, California on July 4, 2016. Although the driest peiod of the state's history, to date, is past Los Angeles and the state are not yet out of drought restrictions or fire danger. Los Angeles USA

A coyote passes through a child...s Angeles County. Los Feliz USA

A coyote passes through a children's playground in Los Feliz. Drought and development pressures have seemingly permantly pushed wild animals into developed areas of Los Angeles County. Los Feliz USA

Covid Closes Hawaii Hawaii&...es are controlled. Honolulu USA

Covid Closes Hawaii Hawaii's governor David Ige announces the closure of the tourism industry until Hawaii's covid case rates are controlled. Honolulu USA

Employees board up the entrance... deserted Waikiki. Honolulu USA

Employees board up the entrance to the Queen Kapiolani Hotel to prevent unauthorized entry in a deserted Waikiki. Honolulu USA

Passage on the street to take c...virus in Honolulu. Honolulu USA

Passage on the street to take care of essential business such as purchasing food or seeking medical care requires people to be masked to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Honolulu. Honolulu USA

Kalakaua Blvd. is deserted at s...navirus in Hawaii. Honolulu USA

Kalakaua Blvd. is deserted at sunset in a Waikiki that has been closed to tourism. All non-essential businesses have been asked to shut to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in Hawaii. Honolulu USA

Non-essential businesses have b...ounty of Honolulu. Honolulu USA

Non-essential businesses have been asked to close to lower Covid-19 infection rates on Oahu. A list of businesses considered essential is available online from the City & County of Honolulu. Honolulu USA

Ala Moana Center, one of the wo...n a March evening. Honolulu USA

Ala Moana Center, one of the world's busiest shopping malls is closed and deserted on a March evening. Honolulu USA

Masked statue of Prince Kuhio, ...he Covid pandemic. Honolulu USA

Masked statue of Prince Kuhio, Kalakaua Ave, Waikiki. Kuhio was the last prince of Hawaii and the first royal family member elected to the U.S. Congress (he served ten terms). Kuhio created Hawaii's county and civil service system believing in a well-functioning government staffed by local people whose interests were vested in Hawaii's government working well for the people it served, critical for managing the Covid pandemic. Honolulu USA

Hooulu Aina Volunteer work day...nd individual healing. Honolulu

Hooulu Aina Volunteer work day at Kokua Kalihi Valley's Hooula Aina farm. KKV is a 50 year-old federally qualified health center with a patient population that is 93% Asian and Pacific Islander. It is the only community health center in the country to manage a farm supplying produce to its constiuents. Located on KKV's 100 acre nature preserve the farm and preserve are sites for community and individual healing. Honolulu

Volunteer work day at Kokua Kal...nd individual healing. Honolulu

Volunteer work day at Kokua Kalihi Valley's Hooula Aina farm. KKV is a 50 year-old federally qualified health center with a patient population that is 93% Asian and Pacific Islander. It is the only community health center in the country to manage a farm supplying produce to its constiuents. Located on KKV's 100 acre nature preserve the farm and preserve are sites for community and individual healing. Honolulu

Oahu—A Coastal Surve...ter surfing coast. Honolulu USA

Oahu—A Coastal Survey in the Era of Global Warming A single family home balances precariously on the eroded coastline at Sunset Beach on Oahu. Sea level rise, eroded beaches and powerful winter surf endanger the entirety of the coast at Sunset beach and Rocky Point, part of the "miracle mile" of Oahu's famous winter surfing coast. Honolulu USA

A single family home's ...ter surfing coast. Honolulu USA

A single family home's rear yard is buttressed by burritos at Sunset Beach on Oahu. These constructions of geotextile fabric and sand are generally unpermitted and not legal under laws that govern the state's coasts. Multi-million dollar properties, though, are often owned by people wealthy enough to place them and other armorings and fight fines and notices of violation in the legal system while their beach reinforcments increase the downcurrent erosion of the beaches their homes are sited at. Sea level rise, eroded beaches and powerful winter surf endanger the entirety of the coast at Sunset beach and Rocky Point, part of the "miracle mile" of Oahu's famous winter surfing coast. Honolulu USA

A carpenter faces shoring an un...ter surfing coast. Honolulu USA

A carpenter faces shoring an undermined single family home on the eroded coastline at Rocky Point on Oahu before the next big winter swell and coming winter king tides. Sea level rise, eroded beaches and powerful winter surf endanger the entirety of the coast at Sunset beach and Rocky Point, part of the "miracle mile" of Oahu's famous winter surfing coast. Honolulu USA

A visitor walks out of a closed...lt reinforcements. Honolulu USA

A visitor walks out of a closed pathway undermined by wave action near the Waikiki Aquarium. Much of Waikiki's infrastructure is between fifty and 100 years old and reaching the end of useable lifespans without substantial repair work. Waikiki's beaches are constantly eroding to find their natural state under the influence of rising sea levels and higher annual king tides. This erosion is compounded by coastal armoring's creation of scouring littoral currents downcurrent from built reinforcements. Honolulu USA

A visitor walks past an attempt...lt reinforcements. Honolulu USA

A visitor walks past an attempt to buttress both the shoreline and a very old native hau (sea hibiscus) tree on the day of the highest summer king tide of 2022 with Diamond Head (Leahi) in the background. Waikiki's beaches are constantly eroding to find their natural state under the influence of rising sea levels and higher annual king tides. This erosion is compounded by coastal armoring's creation of scouring littoral currents downcurrent from built reinforcements. Honolulu USA

Visitors sunbath near the summe...lt reinforcements. Honolulu USA

Visitors sunbath near the summer king tide cycle's maximum on a beach that has eroded by as many as fifty feet since the mid-1980s due to the effects of sea level rise, armoring, and the removal of coral reefs to provide boating access. Waikiki's beaches are constantly eroding to find their natural state under the influence of rising sea levels and higher annual king tides. This erosion is compounded by coastal armoring's creation of scouring littoral currents downcurrent from built reinforcements. Honolulu USA

A woman stands and observes the...ter surfing coast. Honolulu USA

A woman stands and observes the single family home on Ke Nui Road which fell onto the beach at Rocky Point on the day of the release of the 2022 IPCC report, 'Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulerability' in Berlin. Sea level rise, eroded beaches and powerful winter surf endanger the entirety of the coast at Sunset beach and Rocky Point, part of the "miracle mile" of Oahu's famous winter surfing coast. Honolulu USA

J. Matt

Also by J. Matt —

Do You Want to Go to Hawai‘i? Honolulu? Waikīkī? Do You Want to Go With Me?!

California Forest Dispatch

The Sabeneros of Santa Cruz, Guanacaste (Costa Rica)

I Wanna Work For You! (The pandemic was boring, I did this.)

Butte County: Camp Fire +100 Days