Achill Island is a 57-square mile island in Ireland, known for its typical Irish bogs and rocky beaches. Thirty years ago, residents were saddened to discover a vicious storm had wiped away entire beaches…every last bit of sand. After that, it was just waves and rocks.
CNN interviewed an Achill Island Tourism representative about the miraculous return of the sandy beach after a recent series of storms.
The storms of 1984 “completely took every last grain of sand off the beach,” Sean Molloy of Achill Tourism tells CNN.But last month, “in the space of about eight or 10 days, these very strong winds came from the north,” he explains.
“Apparently what that does is, it blows the surface water back, because this is a south-facing beach. The sea then takes the sands underneath and brings the sands up. That’s what I’ve been told.”
Tourism has increased for the tiny island, which is home to about 3,000 people. The new/returned beach has added an element of curiosity for travelers and is a boon for the islanders who depend on tourism to support their economy.
We are constantly being assaulted by the doom and gloom narrative of global climate change and its irreversible effects, but rarely (if ever) do we hear the stories that indicate our planet and climate is more complicated, self-correcting and resilient than we know. We imagine our modern selves as enlightened, already in possession of all the knowledge there is to be learned but this is patently untrue. The sudden appearance of Achill’s beach
As a colleague remarked upon seeing this story, “Man plans, God laughs.”
*Achill Island before the April 2017 storms
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