Shored Up Research Center

Welcome to the research center for the film “Shored Up”! We hope to enrich your educational experience so we invite you to take some time to look over the material we’ve assembled on this page for you.

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Ben is a film director and producer whose work focuses on the intersection of science, culture and the environment. He directs and produces original documentaries, narrative shorts and cross-media projects as well as client-driven video productions. Ben has worked for years with Niijii Films on the documentaries Two Square Miles and A Sea Change, two award-winning films which have been successfully deployed for environmental justice and education, and both of which have been nationally broadcast in the U.S. His most recent project is Shored Up, which explores the Army Corps’ controversial and ongoing beach replenishment project along the New Jersey Shore. In addition to his documentary work Ben has won several international awards for his short narrative film Diorama.[/su_tab]
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THE NEW YORK TIMES
“SOUTH FLORIDA FACES OMINOUS PROSPECTS FROM RISING WATERS”

“In the most dire predictions, South Florida’s delicate barrier islands, coastal communities and captivating subtropical beaches will be lost to the rising waters in as few as 100 years.”

THE NEW YORKER
“THE BEACH BUILDERS”

“Had the barrier islands never been developed, they would form natural buffers between the sea and the mainland. But, as America’s infatuation with the beach grew, so did the value of proximity to it.”

VANITY FAIR
“FROM COAST TO TOAST”

“At opposite ends of the country, two of America’s most golden coastal enclaves are waging the same desperate battle against erosion. With beaches and bluffs in both Malibu and Nantucket disappearing into the ocean, wealthy homeowners are prepared to do almost anything—spend tens of millions on new sand, berms, retaining walls, and other measures—to save their precious waterfront properties.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES
“WHERE STREETS FLOOD WITH THE TIDE, A DEBATE OVER CITY AID”

“The Broad Channel project offers a preview of the infrastructure outlays that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is envisioning as part of a new $20 billion plan to protect the city’s 520 miles of coast over the next decade from rising sea levels.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES
“COURT SIDES WITH TOWN ON PRICE OF VIEWS LOST TO DUNE”

“The ruling is expected to make it much easier — and less expensive — for towns to proceed with a $25 million dune reconstruction project meant to protect homes built along fragile barrier islands.”

NEW YORK MAGAZINE
“LIQUID CITY”

“For 400 years, New York has embraced, spurned, ignored, harnessed, and feared the water that made its greatness possible. Now our relationship must get even more complex.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES
“TENSIONS SWELLING AS BEACH ERODES”

“There was a bigger issue underlying the back-and-forth: How far should government go in allowing landowners to protect their beachfront properties, given that many solutions, like building hard beach barricades, can in some cases cause worse erosion nearby?”

ROLLING STONE
“GOODBYE, MIAMI”

“By century’s end, rising sea levels will turn the nation’s urban fantasyland into an American Atlantis. But long before the city is completely underwater, chaos will begin.”

THE ECONOMIST
“COASTAL CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE: YOU’RE GOING TO GET WET”

“Hurricanes and storms are nothing new for Florida. But as the oceans warm, hurricanes are growing more intense. To make matters worse, this is happening against a backdrop of sharply rising sea levels, turning what has been a seasonal annoyance into an existential threat.”