4 ms·
I’ve always sort of wondered why we don’t also manufacture more of the rare types of environments. Wetlands are hard to come by and getting more rare. Why not
by strstr 7y ago
I’ve always sort of wondered why we don’t also manufacture more of the rare types of environments.
Wetlands are hard to come by and getting more rare. Why not make more?
Seattle’s Union Bay Natural Area was previously underwater, then exposed by changing lake levels, then a dump, and now a natural area [0]. It’s partially wetland, partially forest. It’s a popular spot for birders now. Green Herons (rare-ish find in WA) took up the area recently.
It seems like we could, at least to an extent, compensate for clear environmental harm (paving over estuaries) by building up more elsewhere. Obviously not an easy task. Not even obviously possible (there are only so many places substantial freshwater meets the sea).
But at the moment we have substantial suffering in the Bay due to housing availability. We have clear suffering in nature due to habitat destruction (more broadly). Seems like we should at least try to engineer more interesting solutions than “build taller” or “build nothing”.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Bay_Natural_Area https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Bay_Natural_Area
- schoen 7y agoI met an environmental engineer who worked on the Hamilton project in the North Bay. This is a disused military airport that was turned back into a wetland, apparently successfully from a number of points of view. https://hamiltonwetlands.scc.ca.gov/ https://hamiltonwetlands.scc.ca.gov/
- NegativeLatency 7y agoWhat you're describing happened accidenally outside of Anchorage at Potter Marsh. It's now a great spot to go birding and see other wildlife. > Potter Marsh was formed when construction of the Alaska Railroad embankment limited tidal ingress to a bridge over Rabbit Creek. This embankment impounded the creek and consequently formed the marsh. http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/plans/pottermasterplan.pdf http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/plans/pottermasterplan.pdf
- beerandt 7y agoThis is happening more and more as mitigation banks are running out of same-kind habitat. It's also being used as a way to clean city runoff and post-treatment wastewater effluent. It's not really rare. Just not usually newsworthy.