For many of us, beaches aren’t just a place we go for fun or vacation. The more time we spend at any particular spot, or along the coast in general, the more they become a part of our identity. They’re not expendable or replaceable. They’re an integral part of our existence.

The thought of losing one, let alone several, is beyond words.

Yet that is exactly what is happening to an extreme degree in Southern California and around the country. While plausible solutions exist, the powers that be show little concern for serious solutions. It is widely known that you can’t solve a problem with the same thinking that created it. Yet, here we are, dredging sand, dumping boulders, and hoping seawalls will keep everything from falling into the sea.

It begs the question, if data centers can be approved and built in what feels like the blink of the eye, why can’t we restore dunes, build jetties, and deploy other logical approaches to saving our beaches?…