Realizing Solutions:
New York City’s study and report for a stronger and more resilient coastal edge was well done after Sandy hit the New York area. However, key areas of New York City need additional ten foot high naturally decorated berms with walkways and benches on top of the current 10 foot, 2 inch high edge. Since eighteen foot storm surges come with Category Five storms, twenty feet should be the minimum. Building along the edge of land is far cheaper than building a causeway with gates out in the harbor which would offer little protection. Think about all the water on the harbor side of those expensive gates. The 150 mph wind will be blowing all the water on both sides of those gates and all that water inside the harbor will still come up onto the streets of New York City.
New York City’s study and report for a stronger and more resilient coastal edge was well done after Sandy hit the New York area. However, key areas of New York City need additional ten foot high naturally decorated berms with walkways and benches on top of the current 10 foot, 2 inch high edge. Since eighteen foot storm surges come with Category Five storms, twenty feet should be the minimum. Building along the edge of land is far cheaper than building a causeway with gates out in the harbor which would offer little protection. Think about all the water on the harbor side of those expensive gates. The 150 mph wind will be blowing all the water on both sides of those gates and all that water inside the harbor will still come up onto the streets of New York City.
Area should be 10 ft. higher. Why are the lights on in the middle of the day?
Salt Marshes, Primary and Secondary Sand dunes with a catch basin, needs to be recreated by humankind along the beaches. Nature gave us these protections for free and we filled them in or we plowed them under. Boardwalks must be incorporated into the natural protection of Primary Sand dunes and we cannot leave openings in our first line of defense. We can no longer ignore what nature has taught us for the sake of an ocean view.
Everywhere in the United States needs to start sealing wires underground over the next twenty years. This should be done systematically for the main roads as they are repaved or repaired. Then with priority businesses on the main roads not losing power, repair crews will be able to attend to downed neighborhood lines that much faster. Wood poles should be replaced with stronger poles like the ones used in Florida, where the lines can’t be placed underground due to the water table just a few feet below the surface. Since these types of upgrades have been spoken about for decades, but never ratified because of the claim that cost is unaffordable, a true comparison by an outside firm should be done against the costs to make twenty years of hurricane repairs. I am presenting this request because of the understanding I received on sealing power lines underground when I worked for an electric utility. The following may stand true: Burying power lines is too expensive for the power company when they have to use their own profits to do the work instead of profits going to share holders.
When a hurricane hits and significant repairs are needed, about every ten years in the Northeast, assistance and repair money comes from the government. Yes, us tax payers, thus it is cheaper to do repairs with tax payer’s dollars instead of burying power lines with their own profits. Thus, no more tax payer bailouts for repair costs. Power companies will have to establish a fund with their own profits for repairs. Immediately you will find twenty years of hurricane repairs is much more expensive than burying power lines along main roads. Also I am not opposed to the government reimbursing a utility for burying power lines equal to the repair amount provided for an average storm. This will be done only once after all the main roads that can host buried power lines have been completed.
We also have to better understand our "changing climates" and stop the assumptions from both camps. Both sides believe they have all the data, I believe we just opened the book and finished the introduction. Yes, there are risks. I choose to error on the side of caution. Nevertheless, realize that whatever we do to help our world from our current changing climates, that will not stop us from being hammered by hurricanes. They are part of our planet’s nature, so we cannot do one solution for and ignore dealing with the infrastructure problems, and most importantly microscopic plastic pollution in our oceans that is killing our Prochlorococcus, which is the invisible green forest in our oceans. These microscopic marine cyanobacteria are probably the most abundant organism on Earth. For millions of years they have made our oxygen. So the panic claim made by some people with a big loud speaker about the Rain Forests being the lungs of Earth, is not true. The oceans are the vast production mechanism to create oxygen, and we must be smart about cleaning up the plastic in our waterways or we may suffocate ourselves. (Dear Media: Please do not make this a prediction, and run with it to scare everyone just so that your media network can sell more ads, and make more money. Present the complete picture, even when boring.)
We have to stop the money making lies and work together as one team.
To see our video on this topic consider becoming a GoingTrueGreen member with GTG Membership Link at top of page.
Then as a GTG Member you can take the three part video class!
Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!
Everywhere in the United States needs to start sealing wires underground over the next twenty years. This should be done systematically for the main roads as they are repaved or repaired. Then with priority businesses on the main roads not losing power, repair crews will be able to attend to downed neighborhood lines that much faster. Wood poles should be replaced with stronger poles like the ones used in Florida, where the lines can’t be placed underground due to the water table just a few feet below the surface. Since these types of upgrades have been spoken about for decades, but never ratified because of the claim that cost is unaffordable, a true comparison by an outside firm should be done against the costs to make twenty years of hurricane repairs. I am presenting this request because of the understanding I received on sealing power lines underground when I worked for an electric utility. The following may stand true: Burying power lines is too expensive for the power company when they have to use their own profits to do the work instead of profits going to share holders.
When a hurricane hits and significant repairs are needed, about every ten years in the Northeast, assistance and repair money comes from the government. Yes, us tax payers, thus it is cheaper to do repairs with tax payer’s dollars instead of burying power lines with their own profits. Thus, no more tax payer bailouts for repair costs. Power companies will have to establish a fund with their own profits for repairs. Immediately you will find twenty years of hurricane repairs is much more expensive than burying power lines along main roads. Also I am not opposed to the government reimbursing a utility for burying power lines equal to the repair amount provided for an average storm. This will be done only once after all the main roads that can host buried power lines have been completed.
We also have to better understand our "changing climates" and stop the assumptions from both camps. Both sides believe they have all the data, I believe we just opened the book and finished the introduction. Yes, there are risks. I choose to error on the side of caution. Nevertheless, realize that whatever we do to help our world from our current changing climates, that will not stop us from being hammered by hurricanes. They are part of our planet’s nature, so we cannot do one solution for and ignore dealing with the infrastructure problems, and most importantly microscopic plastic pollution in our oceans that is killing our Prochlorococcus, which is the invisible green forest in our oceans. These microscopic marine cyanobacteria are probably the most abundant organism on Earth. For millions of years they have made our oxygen. So the panic claim made by some people with a big loud speaker about the Rain Forests being the lungs of Earth, is not true. The oceans are the vast production mechanism to create oxygen, and we must be smart about cleaning up the plastic in our waterways or we may suffocate ourselves. (Dear Media: Please do not make this a prediction, and run with it to scare everyone just so that your media network can sell more ads, and make more money. Present the complete picture, even when boring.)
We have to stop the money making lies and work together as one team.
To see our video on this topic consider becoming a GoingTrueGreen member with GTG Membership Link at top of page.
Then as a GTG Member you can take the three part video class!
Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!
