Rebuilding in Flood Plains - It's Difficult to Resist

I'm on a roll today.

This is why incorporating natural disasters into a master plan is important, and why preparedness planning is also important. Have the codes and moratoriums in place that are automatically triggered when an event strikes, rather than trying to make decisions at the same time as rebuilding and recovery. Have financial incentives in place, coordinated with federal funding, to relocate to a more resilient location and people can rebuild quickly without putting themselves back in harms way. Quick-as-possible economic rebound only makes sense if it doesn't keep happening over and over, like flooding in a flood plain.

Rebuilding in Flood Plains - It's Difficult to Resist | Planetizen

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Miracle on Vine Street

Yep, another one. Stormwater infrastructure is a pretty major problem in a lot of cities that have combined sewer overflows. Rather than digging up all of the streets and replacing a single pipe with two, that then have to both be replaced or repaired, keep the single outflow and invest smartly in a distributed network. It replenishes the water table when needed, adds some green space and urban interest, and keeps shit out of the water that children play in. (I'm looking at you, Golden Gardens.) Seriously, there is human fecal matter in that stream. Get out of there!

Water Works: Miracle on Vine Street | Crosscut.com

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New Map Shows Where Nature Protects U.S. Coast

As simplistic as this might sound, there's a reason that FEMA requires this sort of analysis for all of its Hazard Mitigation Plans. Figuring out what is at risk and how much it costs makes it much easier to weigh the different methods of reducing possible losses. If preserving wetlands and reefs has multiple economic, health and safety benefits, whereas spending the same amount building hard barriers like seawalls doesn't have those benefits, the choice should be clear. Should be.

I hope they also include the fact that when some systems are given the proper support & room to adapt, they are self-maintaining and, sometimes, self-expanding in response to future sea-level rise, whereas walls stay the same height and need expensive repairs.

New Map Shows Where Nature Protects U.S. Coast

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Can bringing wetlands back to our coasts protect us from future megastorms?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Hell yes.

Can bringing wetlands back to our coasts protect us from future megastorms? | Grist

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Edamame and sun-dried tomato couscous

Just a quick, easy recipe to share. I always pick up a bag of Trader Joe's frozen edamame and then don't know what to do with it, besides throw it in a stir-fry in place of tofu. I'm low on handy proteins this week so I cooked it according to the package, then tossed it in my pasta and red sauce. The result was serviceable but not great.

This, however, turned out well. I had half of the package leftover and a very old box of couscous, so voila!

Edamame and Sun-dried Tomato Couscous

Half a package of cooked edamame (about one cup)
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced or chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
One cup dry couscous
Garlic salt
Black pepper
Nutritional yeast (optional)

1. Bring one cup of water to a boil
2. Add the first five ingredients, stir, and return to a boil.
3. Add the couscous, stir, remove from heat and cover with a lid.
4. Let sit five minutes.
5. Add salt, pepper and nooch to taste. If it seems a bit dry, add a splash of water.

Enjoy!

Solar chargers for mobile phones debut in NYC

Yes! This is a great example of small fixes that can really affect people's moods, stress and recovery after a disaster. In between disasters they're useful all the time (or at least during the day?). Great infrastructure that does double-duty.

Months after Sandy, solar chargers for mobile phones debut in NYC | Reuters

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The VOTO Charger Uses Fire to Charge Your Cell Phone

Where there’s smoke there’s heat, and Point Source Power has figured out a way to harness that heat to charge your cell phone. The company’s new VOTO charger converts the heat generated from a fire to create power. It’s an amazing solution that could provide a power source for those who live in areas without power and backcountry campers alike.

Read more: The VOTO Charger Takes Fire and Turns It Into Electricity To Charge Your Cell Phone | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

Poor Renters, not Middle Class Homeowners, Were Hardest Hit by Sandy

I wrote a paper on this a few years back for Community Planning. Middle-class homeowners often have private insurance, savings, and a job that will let them take time off due to exigent circumstances. Often they also have friends or family who have room to let them stay for free and lend them money. Lower-income families who are renting homes are more often living paycheck-to-paycheck, have low-wage hourly jobs that do not allow for time off, and often don't have as robust of a safety net in terms of friends and family with resources that can help.
 

Poor Renters, not Middle Class Homeowners, Were Hardest Hit by Sandy: In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the news media were fixated on the plight of middle-class homeowners in places like the Rockaways in Queens. But two new reports show that low-income renters were the more prevalent victims of the storm.

Baba Yaga House!!

I was thinking the other day about the dilemma that people want their beach houses to be close to the water, except when there's a storm/hurricane. If only we could make some Baba Yaga houses, I thought.

Here it is! This is perfect. Set up your vacation house right on the beach, move it back into the village during the off-season or during storms. Of course, traffic might be an issue if there are hundreds of these homes all walking to the beach on the first nice day of the season. What a hilarious sight that would be, though.

N55’s Walking House is a Modular, Self-Sufficient Dwelling For Modern Nomads:

Read the rest of N55’s Walking House is a Modular, Self-Sufficient Dwelling For Modern Nomads

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After Sandy, Not All Sand Dunes Are Created Equal

Nit-pick: not all dunes were created equal before Sandy, either. People are just paying more attention now.

Dune creation/nourishment always an interesting discussion. As infrastructure goes they're relatively cheap to create are somewhat self-maintaining. Meanwhile, they absorb much of the initial damage of coastal storm impacts and can protect vast areas of infrastructure, from roads to entire towns. However, dunes are more effective, and more self-sustaining, when they're given enough room to self-create and maintain themselves with a lot of spare beach, which means larger setbacks. The required setbacks in the Netherlands on barrier islands, for instance, are 500m or more, whereas setbacks in the US can be as small as 15 feet. The dunes I saw on Schiermonikoog were three or four deep, meaning there were several layers of defense if the first line of dunes were to be destroyed in a storm. Villages are still protected while the dunes rebuild.

Part of any coastal resiliency plan should include what areas are precious enough to merit hard and soft infrastructure protection, and which areas should be given over to nature. Removing a few blocks of houses and declaring it protected beachfront is more feasible in some areas than others, based on the cost of the houses, their condition, etc. If the local, state or federal governments can triage the coastline quickly enough, they may be able to make decent offers on damaged homes and allow those beachfront residents to relocate and save a lot of other homes in the process.

From what I understand, though, the beachfront properties in some of the hardest-hit areas on the Shore are different than a lot of more resort / vacation rental / second home situations in the rest of the country, which adds a whole other dimension. Some of these homes were passed down through generations and are now the primary or sole residence for middle or low-income families and seniors, so demolition/relocation runs headlong into tradition, socio-economic disparity and cultural impacts that have to be handled much more delicately. These houses might be 'cheaper' in the economic sense but not in the emotional one.

After Sandy, Not All Sand Dunes Are Created Equal : NPR:

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