Surfing Waves

This is worth a read. It would be nice to get America's rivers back to their natural state. Looks like the environmental criticisms of big dam projects made, once again, the most sense in the long run.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/opini ... river.html

Rinky,
It was the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in the 1950’s through the 1970’s that coordinated an unprecedented quantity of large-scale projects to channelize, line, and dam rivers in the US. The USACE believed their efforts would mitigate flooding and economic loses. Well, it sort of did and it sort of didn’t. In the early 1980’s, academics began to research the negative effects caused by these actions. As a consequence, beginning in the mid- to late 1980’s, the USACE began projects that put kinks back into rivers they’d previously straightened. This was mostly done for the benefit of wildlife. Successful projects lead to more projects, including the removal of dams. In addition, academic research also identified the value of marshes, swamps, and estuaries. The USACE began projects and continues projects to restore these natural resources.

These enviro-engineering movements are still underway and seem to be the right thing to do. To the positive, it is not only occurring in the US. Many western nations and some Asian nations are involved in restoring water-related natural resources. As an aside, some of my own environmental engineering work during the last 10 to 12 years has involved restoring rivers, lakes, and marshes.

billie_morini wrote:These enviro-engineering movements are still underway and seem to be the right thing to do. To the positive, it is not only occurring in the US. Many western nations and some Asian nations are involved in restoring water-related natural resources. As an aside, some of my own environmental engineering work during the last 10 to 12 years has involved restoring rivers, lakes, and marshes.

I think that it is debatable whether big dam projects make sense. The article discusses the pitfalls of big dam projects. Some people in the sixties wanted to dam the Grand Canyon. Can you believe that? I'm amazed that prospect was even thrown around, but it speaks to how short-sighted people can be when it comes to natural resources. If Americans, no people of the world, actually understood what was lost when the Glen Canyon dam was built, they'd be screaming for us to drain Lake Powell and restore Glen Canyon to the most amazing slot canyon hiking area in the world . . . a second grand canyon in terms of natural beauty. A rival national park to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Glacier, Everglades, etc. sits underwater, drowned, in a failed dam project. I don't know what the demands of global warming will be on countries as we move through, perhaps, the last century, but it is probably too much to ask that people think hard about what they will lose if all our wild areas become fenced off and administered. I don't want to live in an administered garden (Europe). We need to keep areas wild.

Rinky,
It is not debatable whether big dam projects make sense and I did not say constructing them is the right thing to do. I said the right thing to do is put the links back into the rivers and remove the dams. The Colorado and Little Colorado rivers narrowly escaped damming. Even without the dams, the negative impacts from massive water consumption is evident on the former and ceased flow on the latter. Any half-observant eye could see this by the mid-1980's. I went and I saw, too.

billie_morini wrote:Rinky,
It is not debatable whether big dam projects make sense and I did not say constructing them is the right thing to do. I said the right thing to do is put the links back into the rivers and remove the dams. The Colorado and Little Colorado rivers narrowly escaped damming. Even without the dams, the negative impacts from massive water consumption is evident on the former and ceased flow on the latter. Any half-observant eye could see this by the mid-1980's. I went and I saw, too.

I think we're on the same page. People who spend as much time as we do in wild areas (ocean or land) tend to see the big picture. There was another post about the loss of a surfing break in Bali due to short-sighted land development. I just posted the article to help promote conservation awareness and keep people thinking critically.

The USA faces important choices in the coming election. We have the most anti-environment Congress in history and may have a president with the same view. It's time to roll up the sleeves and get to work!

Donald Trump outlined an energy plan he’s calling “America First” on Thursday, using a speech in North Dakota to promote oil, natural gas and coal for the country’s future.

He said he would
• Allow far more oil, gas and coal extraction on federal land and offshore sites.
• Save the coal industry.
• Build the Keystone XL oil pipeline through America’s central states.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-enviro ... nergy-plan

BoMan wrote:The USA faces important choices in the coming election. We have the most anti-environment Congress in history and may have a president with the same view. It's time to roll up the sleeves and get to work!

It's so true. It's frightening how brazenly stupid and anti-fact it has become,

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/t ... no-drought