Hard-stand surfaces

Did you know that flooding and decreased soil quality and health is significantly affected by the amount of roads and hard-stand surfaces (footpaths and other impermeable man-made surface structures)? These structures do not allow rainfall or overland flow to penetrate into the soil structure, as would otherwise occur in an natural environment. Due to the lack of infiltration into the soil the water then flows faster and in greater volume into drainage channels, creeks, rivers and bays thereby creating flooding issues in quicker time frames and with more devastating effects.

If the water is otherwise allowed to naturally penetrate the subsoil would be healthy and retain any water for longer periods of time before flooding the downstream catchment.

In Portland in the US, there is a community group that is actively "ripping" up areas of pavement and hard-stand areas in locations that no longer require this type of cover but due to lack of interest and finances would otherwise remain as hardstand. The group is called DePave and through volunteer participation it transfers these areas back into community greenspaces. What a great idea!

I wonder how much space in your local community could be returned to its natural landform or cover and in turn bring more greenspace back to your suburb and return some life to the soil below. Pin It

Occupy Wall Street

The idea behind Occupy Wall Street is to bring the 99% of the population together to protest against greed and consumption of the wealthiest people in the US (those that make up only 1% of the population). There are also going to be supportive protests here in Australia: Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane today. 

Some people are questioning whether it is relevant here because the American/Canadian movement commenced out of the impacts they felt as a result of the Global Financial Crisis. I personally think it is still relevant here in Australia, as most people here would probably be interested in supporting their fellow global citizens and also saying 'no' to the way the world seems to progressing. That is, the dominance of corporations and wealthy people and their influence over government process. 

I think there is definitely a ground-swell or movement where people are expressing that they are sick of this influence and would like the government once again to be an elected representative of the people rather than large corporations, wealthy people or their political party. 

I think this is a great conversation starter and allows you to introduce new ideas to people and also meet people of like-minded experience.

A "blog" that expresses the opinions and views of some of the 99% (American focus) can be found at: http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/. Maybe you could subscribe and add your story. Cool community spirit!

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US to remove dam to restore catchment qualities

I just came across a 'green' article discussing the US's largest dam removal project. My first thoughts were that this was just greenwashing putting a slant on this event rather than just talking about the removal as a project addressing an aging piece of infrastructure. But it seems my initial pessimism was wrong.

There are actually two dams to be removed, Elwha and Glines Canyon dams, within the Olympic National Park on the Elwha River. It seems that the sole reason for the removal of these dams is to restore river's catchment.

These two dams were originally built for the purpose of generating hydro-electricity. But it seems that the construction of these resulted in a complete barrier to fish between their upstream and downstream habitats. The main value that will be restored once the dams have been removed is this fish passage.

More information about the dam removal decision can be found at the Elwha Watershed Information Resource website. There are also some cool animations showing how the dams are to be removed at the following websites: Interactive Earth Elwha dam removal and Interactive Earth Glines Canyon dam removal.

The only thing I didn't manage to determine was whether there was another renewable energy source replacing the dams electricity supply (if they were still producing). Hopefully the removal doesn't result in a greater demand for an energy source that isn't environmentally appropriate.

Overall, congratulations! Pin It

BP Gulf of Mexico oil well - de-commissioned

According to President Obama the BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico has finally been sealed, five months after the initial explosion. There is still a significant amount of cleaning up to be finalised and a serious amount of legal wrangling to be completed, but hopefully this means that there won't be any additional direct pollution to this already suffering marine ecosystem. Pin It

Two books about urban design & nature

I am currently reading two books, one which is infuriating me and one which I find quite reasonable and practical. This isn't surprising that you could have two books that could elicit differing responses, however they are in fact discussing exactly the same thing. Both of them are discussing urban design, particularly in America, and examining the idea that urban sprawl is bad and some of the metropolis's in America have smaller environmental footprints.

The first book seems to be chanting how great the smaller, more compact metropolis is and how terrible for the environment the 'urban sprawl' model of the suburbs is. I have mixed feelings about this principle to start with. Certainly there are components that are correct in this bare bones argument and certainly applied to the stereotypical urban sprawl model this is accurate, but I find a sense of greenwashing has been applied to this model that the author is trying to shove down your throat. I feel the book has been written very emotively and I find that I am reading it in a similar fashion.

The second book is discussing the same principle of a lighter environmental footprint in the compact metropolis, but it seems to be doing it in a more enlightened, educated and balanced way. And thus I am not feeling my shackles flaring up reading this one.

Now that I have had my rant, I will try and dedicate another post to discussing the principles and concepts that support the argument that the model of current suburban lifestyles is so terrible for the environment and the planet as a whole.

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Health issues from modern society

I have been reading that many of the incidences of children's asthma in our modern society can be attributed to our polluting lifestyle, in particular air pollution. This is quite often overlooked as something that shows our polluting habits are affecting our health not just the 'environment'.

I'm sure very few of you have really considered that our modern, polluting lifestyle can directly kill people. One of the case studies that I read about was in America, where a little girl died after having an asthma attack on a day when the public had been warned to stay indoors because of poor air quality. The little girl and her friend were playing outside and due to the particulates in the air her respiratory system closed over (an asthma attack) and ended up in hospital where they couldn't save her because her asthma attack was too advanced.

I certainly am interested to know what distance from major roads that direct particulate air pollution can affect people and also whether our general air quality here in south-east Queensland is as bad as some of the 'polluted' cities in America that we see on the news and has the potential to significantly affect our health.

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No Impact Man

Just watched a 'documentary' on a family's journey to live with no environmental impact in New York, USA for a year. What an amazing journey, particularly for the wife who is just coming along for the ride (at least to start with) and works in the high flying world of an international business magazine that doesn't usually follow the environmentally sustainable footpath.

The insights into family life, struggles with some of the challenges and the desires to lead a normal consumptive existence is very interesting. It was also revealing for the critics, where Colin addresses (or at least acknowledged) some of the 'backlash' from people considering them extreme greens to others who considered them to be superficial.

Colin Beavan, the lead instigator of this 'experiment', is still seemingly treading some of the modifications that they made during their year long voyage and he maintains his blog: http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/. I look forward to reading some more of their adventures and seeing whether any of Colin's suggestions can be incorporated into our lives.

I also, by the way, appreciate Colin's commentary on the fact that much of the consumptive behaviours in modern society results from the lack of community. I am only really just starting to explore this but I think it is completely true and even I, the ever introvert, is looking to connect with some form of community.

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Removal of pesticides from fruit & veggies

In an ongoing examination of pesticides/chemicals that occur on our commercially produced fruit and vegetables, I have found an interesting article that discusses the effectiveness of rinsing these products in water on the web.

The article is located at: http://www.ct.gov/caes/cwp/view.asp?a=2815&q=376676.

This research indicates that the mechanical washing of fruit and vegetables, that is the physical action of washing in water, can cause a reduction in the amount and types of chemicals that are typically found on commercially available produce (at least in the States). This was fascinating to me. The article does go on to say that such washing has to occur for 30 seconds, which to me seems like a significant amount of time and something that most people wouldn't undertake on a regular basis.

The research also examined the use of some of the commercially available (again in the USA) products that market themselves at reducing the chemical load on your produce. The findings were that these products didn't reduce the chemical load any more than simply washing with water.

Well it is off to scrubbing my fruit and veggies (from the shops) under the water for what will seem like an eternity for me.

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Detroit, USA

Detroit was once a thriving, bustling city. But now it seems that nature is returning to the suburbs. I was listening to a podcast the other day about how the central city area of Detroit was previously a place considered undesirable to settle down with your family and the urban sprawl began with people seeking the security of the suburbs and bringing their thoughts of owning their own home in a 'nice' neighbourhood.

This typical system was all running well and then through various factors, many of the industries and commercial activities left town and unemployment rose. This led to people leaving town and now it turns out that the nature that was once over-run by a large sprawling city is now returning to the area and in some cases not waiting for the bulldozer to clear a path but just adapt to the 'new' environment that has been left for it. The city is in 'ruin' and nature is taking advantage.

A blog post discussing this reclamation by nature over Detroit can be found at: http://www.detroitblog.org/?p=287. It has some photos showing how nature is taking over the city.

Not a process that you often hear about. I wonder how many towns in our modern world will end at this point for a whole variety of reasons.

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Ship found at Ground Zero (New York)

I just came across a news piece saying that construction workers in the Ground Zero reconstruction works in New York have just discovered part of a 18th century sailing ship. How cool!

Apparently it was purposefully placed there as part of extension works on the shore of Manhattan Island, basically landfill to allow them to build New York. Currently archaeologists are undertaking examinations of the ship to gain more information, but by the sound of things this will be all that happens with the ship and the construction process will continue.

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