By Ayurella Horn-Muller, Andrew S. Lewis, Michael Sol Warren, and Brendan Flanagan

Climate change threatens to drown Ellis Island. The gateway to the United States for 12 million immigrants holds a precarious place amid rising seas on a warming planet. One model predicts the island will be submerged within 80 years. But its buildings, artifacts and immigrant stories hold an iconic place in the American narrative. The problem — how can we protect Ellis Island without surrounding it with a seawall that would diminish its historic value?

A report, Future Flood Risk: Historic Sites in NJ , is available from Climate Central, a nonprofit, nonpartisan climate science organization.

An attempt by the state to slow the rapid erosion of East Point Lighthouse's shoreline with a sand-filler “geotube” quickly proved to be inadequate against the rising water. Credit: Andrew S.…