Yes! Regeneration, which involves restoring soils and vegetation, is the only way to recover after crossing the tipping point of covering the land with excessive impervious surfaces. This situation leads to a cascade of adverse effects due to increased stormwater runoff, despite unchanged annual rainfall amounts. Expanding heat islands warm the water and dry the air.
Because carbon remains in the atmosphere for a long time, it is relatively easy to measure, objectify, and attribute blame to. Meanwhile, water vapor transitions between gas, liquid, and solid states through endothermic and exothermic reactions that can cause models to implode.
If not regeneration, then at least re-infiltration of water into the ground. Alewife Brook flows to the Mystic from culverts at Alewife MBTA station in Cambridge. A state park with paths and raised wooden walkways has been built along the brook. In recent years, combined sewer overflow has crested the banks and flooded the trails. People who miss the MWRA’s warning email alerts are forced to walk and push baby strollers through bacteria-infested black waters, suffering diarrhea and other health problems.
Climate change is often blamed, but the developments surrounding Alewife Station are actually the culprits. It is easier to blame Greenland, where ice sheet meltwater has yet to reach the sea (except in 2012), than it is to blame property owners. Belmont Woods was cleared and the soil scraped away to make way for a developer to build 238 luxury apartments and 60 condominium units. Paradise was paved over, the developer made a fortune, and all rainwater was directed straight to Alewife Brook, which the MWRA then attempts to handle at great public expense.
What if the towns of Alewife Station Watershed (Cambridge, Arlington, Somerville) passed an ordinance giving natural rights to land to retain all rainwater that fell on it? The developer and landowners would be required to return the water to the land through features such as rain gardens, cisterns, French drains, and Miyawaki forests. The Alewife would no longer flood. More importantly, water would be stored in the ground to allow plants to photosynthesize longer during dry periods and recharge rivers when they are low. Last summer, red-maple swamps in Middleton, MA, suffered forest fires because there was no water where water had historically always been present.
Nobody owns the rain; shouldn't the land have a right to retain what falls on it for the dry season?
We sure needed to hear more! And with this interview I was reminded that I had preordered the book and forgotten about it. Time to sit outside and read. Thank you, Judith.
fire causes a reset and hence a process of ecological succession but it has been argued that it is not always part of the succession process and should be seen as outside disturbance that can lead to an ecological trap dependent on fire and in the worst cases this leads to ecological loss and system breakdown.
JDS with another welcome serving of science and hope
Brilliant, and worded beautifully. I can’t wait to read it.
Yes! Regeneration, which involves restoring soils and vegetation, is the only way to recover after crossing the tipping point of covering the land with excessive impervious surfaces. This situation leads to a cascade of adverse effects due to increased stormwater runoff, despite unchanged annual rainfall amounts. Expanding heat islands warm the water and dry the air.
Because carbon remains in the atmosphere for a long time, it is relatively easy to measure, objectify, and attribute blame to. Meanwhile, water vapor transitions between gas, liquid, and solid states through endothermic and exothermic reactions that can cause models to implode.
If not regeneration, then at least re-infiltration of water into the ground. Alewife Brook flows to the Mystic from culverts at Alewife MBTA station in Cambridge. A state park with paths and raised wooden walkways has been built along the brook. In recent years, combined sewer overflow has crested the banks and flooded the trails. People who miss the MWRA’s warning email alerts are forced to walk and push baby strollers through bacteria-infested black waters, suffering diarrhea and other health problems.
Climate change is often blamed, but the developments surrounding Alewife Station are actually the culprits. It is easier to blame Greenland, where ice sheet meltwater has yet to reach the sea (except in 2012), than it is to blame property owners. Belmont Woods was cleared and the soil scraped away to make way for a developer to build 238 luxury apartments and 60 condominium units. Paradise was paved over, the developer made a fortune, and all rainwater was directed straight to Alewife Brook, which the MWRA then attempts to handle at great public expense.
What if the towns of Alewife Station Watershed (Cambridge, Arlington, Somerville) passed an ordinance giving natural rights to land to retain all rainwater that fell on it? The developer and landowners would be required to return the water to the land through features such as rain gardens, cisterns, French drains, and Miyawaki forests. The Alewife would no longer flood. More importantly, water would be stored in the ground to allow plants to photosynthesize longer during dry periods and recharge rivers when they are low. Last summer, red-maple swamps in Middleton, MA, suffered forest fires because there was no water where water had historically always been present.
Nobody owns the rain; shouldn't the land have a right to retain what falls on it for the dry season?
Wonderful!
We sure needed to hear more! And with this interview I was reminded that I had preordered the book and forgotten about it. Time to sit outside and read. Thank you, Judith.
Just got the book after listening to Paul Hawken on the Rich Roll podcast! He was amazing!
fire causes a reset and hence a process of ecological succession but it has been argued that it is not always part of the succession process and should be seen as outside disturbance that can lead to an ecological trap dependent on fire and in the worst cases this leads to ecological loss and system breakdown.