Nevermind the fact that coastal islands have always ebbed with the tides, taking land and homes alike off into the sea for as long as we've lived on coastal islands. Heck, I can remember reading about it in the encyclopedia way back in the protozoic era (i.e., 1985).
Clearly, for islands to have the audacity to recede in the modern era, there must be a more sinister cause.
Enter: Global Warming. Or, as I like to call it, the "fast track to funding."
Far be it from me to cynically suggest that global warming is causing bank account erosion over at my household, which can only be cured by the fast action of the blind Federal bureaucracy.
I remember back in 1991, there was a HUGE nor'eastern, tracked across the country, hit NC, then went up the coast. Near where my parents live in NJ, the storm caused so much erosion that it uncovered cars buried in the early 60's, which were supposed to stop erosion.
Every year they dredge the Manasquan Inlet, where I grew up, because of erosion. On the south side of the inlet the sand goes out to the end. On the north side, where the good surfing is, the sand is worn away from the jetty by several hundred yards. If you take a look at the over head photo of the area, it's nature in motion.