Mother nature just smacked us with two harsh lessons.
The first is that anyone living in a hurricane zone will at some point experience the effects of one. We cannot fully protect ourselves against strong events like Irma or Harvey. There will be damage to property. Sadly, there will be loss of life and injuries, too. Through good disaster planning, we’ve learned how to reduce risks when a storm hits and how to respond quickly to help those in distress.
The second is how our failure to incorporate the environment in the ways we plan, develop and grow communities has put many in harm’s way. We’ve repeatedly ignored the role that our ecosystems play in protecting us during natural hazards.
Across the USA, cities like Houston, Miami and Tampa have experienced rapid growth. Many have developed as concrete jungles. Urban sprawl, high-density business zones, and shopping malls have created miles of impervious surfaces that cannot absorb water and streets that funnel floods at great speeds through neighborhoods. Along our coasts, developments have paved over marshes and sand dunes creating communities that have little protection against storm surge and are increasingly vulnerable to sea level rise. When hazards strike, these areas are more likely to become disaster zones. Harvey dumped 50 inches of rain on parts of Texas in less than four days. The flooding was catastrophic and many suffered. But this is not the first time the area has seen major floods. Last April storms flooded more than 1,000 homes and caused $5billion in damages in Houston. As Irma wobbled in its path towards Florida, reporters and meteorologists expressed a hope, however miniscule, that it might come ashore on the Everglades so that the natural marshes and tree islands would dampen its strength. Hope is a poor policy.
We need a better strategy and nature can help us.
Florida will rebound from Irma; Texas will recover from the Harvey. But in doing so these places have an opportunity to take a fresh approach and leverage the services that nature provides for free. Other places around the USA can take a similar approach and some are already doing so. For example, Milwaukee, Minnesota’s Greenstream project is restoring natural flood plains with wetland areas designed to hold 1.3 billion gallons of water - about 1,970 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Ramsey County, Minnesota developed green infrastructures to reduce localized flooding, decreasing runoff volumes by over 90% and saving them half a million dollars over the cost of gray infrastructure. Natural ecosystems can protect communities against storm surge, flooding and act as a filter reducing runoff of dangerous pollutants into communities.
There are five actions that every elected leader and every community can take today:
1. Identify the benefits that surrounding ecosystems provide to the community against hazards.
2. Evaluate the health of these ecosystems and their ability to provide those services today.
3. Compare the benefits and the costs of developing or restoring a community by using green (nature-based) or gray (concrete) infrastructure or a mixed (green-gray) option.
4. Identify the most effective options among them and target funds towards them
5. Enact ordinances and provide incentives to encourage conservation and nature-based solutions where they are effective.
The ways we develop and manage disasters must align with natural processes rather than work against them. It’s vital that we design infrastructure that can serve more than just one purpose. Solutions must be adaptable to cope with the more extreme events brought-on by a rapidly changing planet. Towns and cities can lead the way.
Nature is not a ’nice to have” feature of our towns and communities, Nature is a “need to have” because our ecosystems are the foundation of human resilience.