{"id":55642,"date":"2026-09-23T13:55:31","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T13:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/?p=55642"},"modified":"2026-09-23T14:01:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T14:01:57","slug":"see-level-sinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/2026\/09\/23\/see-level-sinking\/","title":{"rendered":"See Level Sinking"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n \"Dana
\n <\/a>
\n <\/figure>\n
\n
\n \"Dana
\n <\/a>
\n <\/figure>\n
\n
\n \"Dana
\n <\/a>
\n <\/figure>\n
\n
\n \"Dana
\n <\/a>
\n <\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

[Intro]
\nSee the level…
\n(Of the land and the sand)
\nAre you thinking…
\n(It is sinking?)<\/p>\n

(Sinking!)<\/p>\n

Wait a minute…<\/p>\n

What’s rising?<\/p>\n

(See… the sea!)<\/p>\n

[Verse 1]
\nBeach Road by the ocean
\n(What’s going on?)
\nSand is disappearing
\n(Where has it gone?)<\/p>\n

Dunes are getting smaller
\n(Buffer wearing thin)
\nSouthern swell is pounding
\n(Here it comes again!)<\/p>\n

Big waves rolling
\n(Full of energy)
\nHigher water underneath
\n(That’s the synergy!)<\/p>\n

[Refrain]
\nSee the level sinking
\n(What were you thinking)
\nIs it at all surprising
\n(The sea level’s rising)<\/p>\n

[Verse 2]
\nMultimillion-dollar houses
\n(Standing by the shore)
\nPacific Ocean knocking
\n(Pounding at the door!)<\/p>\n

One loses its foundation
\n(Another takes a hit)
\nThe shoreline keeps retreating
\n(That’s the nature of it)<\/p>\n

Sand absorbs the pounding
\n(Dunes absorb the flow)
\nTake away the buffer
\n(Where’s the energy go?)<\/p>\n

[Refrain]
\nSee the level sinking
\n(What were you thinking)
\nIs it at all surprising
\n(The sea level’s rising)<\/p>\n

Wave energy pounding
\n(Shoreline confounding!)<\/p>\n

[Bridge]
\nCan you build a wall
\n(Wait and watch it fall)
\nAgainst the sea?
\n(Can’t tempt destiny)<\/p>\n

Can you stop a wave
\n(Ha! Watch it behave)<\/p>\n

Can you make tomorrow
\nAct like yesterday?<\/p>\n

(No way!)<\/p>\n

[Break]
\nSee…
\n(Sea!)
\nLevel…
\n(Devil!)
\nSinking…
\n(Rising!)
\nYess…<\/p>\n

See…
\n(Sea!)
\nLevel…
\n(Level!)
\nRISING!<\/p>\n

[Refrain]
\nSee the level sinking
\n(What were you thinking)
\nIs it at all surprising
\n(The sea level’s rising)<\/p>\n

Wave energy pounding
\n(Shoreline confounding!)<\/p>\n

[Refrain]
\nSee the level sinking
\n(What were you thinking)
\nIs it at all surprising
\n(The sea level’s rising)<\/p>\n

[Break]
\nWhat’s sinking?
\n(The sand! The land)
\nWhat’s rising?
\n(See! The sea!)
\nWhat’s coming?
\n(The energy!)
\nSee! (The sea!)<\/p>\n

[Final Refrain]
\nSee the level sinking
\n(What were you thinking)
\nIs it at all surprising
\n(The sea level’s rising)<\/p>\n

See the level sinking
\n(Sand is retreating)
\nIs it at all surprising
\n(The waves keep repeating)<\/p>\n

See the level sinking!<\/p>\n

(Sinking!)<\/p>\n

Sea level rising!<\/p>\n

(Rising!)<\/p>\n

[Outro]
\nNo. It ain’t surprising
\n(Know the sea is rising)<\/p>\n

\n
\n \"Sea
\n <\/a>
\n<\/figure>\n

About the Song<\/p>\n

How Is the Climate Energy Hitting You?<\/strong>
\nSoCal Coastal Armoring<\/strong>
\nSea Level vs. Private Property Rights = Managed Retreat<\/strong><\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf0a Climate energy is hitting the coast.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When waves encounter a hard structure instead of dissipating their energy across a gradually sloping beach, some of that energy can be reflected back toward the ocean.<\/p>\n

That can increase scour at the base of the structure and accelerate the loss of sand immediately in front of\u2014and adjacent to\u2014the armored shoreline.<\/p>\n

A difficult feedback loop can develop:<\/p>\n

Loss of sand \u2192 greater wave energy \u2192 erosion \u2192 emergency armoring \u2192 altered wave & sediment dynamics \u2192 further beach loss<\/strong><\/p>\n

The result is a fundamental conflict:<\/p>\n

Protect individual properties \u2014 or preserve the beach as a public resource.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf0a Climate Change Changes the Equation<\/h3>\n

This isn’t simply a dispute over seawalls.<\/p>\n

It’s a preview of a much larger problem.<\/p>\n

As sea levels rise, coastal storms and extreme-wave events interact with a progressively higher baseline ocean. More energy can reach vulnerable shorelines, while the loss of beaches and dunes removes natural buffers that once absorbed part of that energy.<\/p>\n

The physical equation is changing.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfd6\ufe0f Managed Retreat<\/h3>\n

Managed retreat may ultimately become the long-term strategy for some coastal properties.<\/p>\n

The fundamental physical reality is simple:<\/p>\n

You can build a wall against the ocean.
\nYou cannot build a wall against a changing climate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Beach Road conflict is therefore about much more than a temporary rock wall.<\/p>\n

It is about what happens when accelerating climate change collides with private property rights, public resources, and the physical limits of coastal engineering.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ocean doesn’t recognize property lines.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf0e How Is the Climate Energy Hitting You?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SoCal Coastal Armoring: Sea Level vs. Private Property Rights<\/a><\/p>\n

“Present Tense<\/a>“<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Intro] See the level… (Of the land and the sand) Are you thinking… (It is sinking?) (Sinking!) Wait a minute… What’s rising? (See… the sea!) [Verse 1] Beach Road by the ocean (What’s going on?) Sand is disappearing (Where has it gone?) Dunes are getting smaller (Buffer wearing thin) Southern swell is pounding (Here it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,17],"tags":[163,4223],"class_list":["post-55642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4d-music","category-narley-marley-reggae","tag-climate-change","tag-reggae-takeaway"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55642"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55658,"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55642\/revisions\/55658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kingarthur.com\/songwriter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}