California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline

From a celebrated environmental journalist, the riveting exploration of sea level rise along the West Coast through human stories & ecological dramas.

"Viscerally urgent, thoroughly reported, & compellingly written—a must-read for our uncertain times." — Ed Yong, author of An Immense World

Along California’s 1,200-mile coastline, the overheated Pacific Ocean is rising & pressing in, imperiling both wildlife & the maritime towns & cities that 27 million people call home. In California Against the Sea, Los Angeles Times coastal reporter Rosanna Xia asks: As climate chaos threatens the places we love so fiercely, will we finally grasp our collective capacity for change?

Xia, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, investigates the impacts of engineered landscapes, the market pressures of development, & the ecological activism & political scrimmages that have carved our contemporary coastline—and foretell even greater changes to our shores. From the beaches of the Mexican border up to the sheer-cliffed North Coast, the voices of Indigenous leaders, community activists, small-town mayors, urban engineers, & tenacious environmental scientists commingle. 

Together, they chronicle the challenges & urgency of forging a climate-wise future. Xia’s investigation takes us to Imperial Beach, Los Angeles, Pacifica, Marin City, San Francisco, & beyond, weighing the rivaling arguments, agreements, compromises, & visions governing the State of California’s commitment to a coast for all. Through graceful reportage, she charts how the decisions we make today will determine where we go tomorrow: headlong into natural disaster, or toward an equitable refashioning of coastal stewardship.