I was dressed nice for work today with high black boots on, nice pants, scarf, the works….I pass a bunch of old trucks….I HAVE to get out of my car.  I look at this line of tired, dirty old trucks and I find a sense of peace…(perhaps I compare them to the patients I treat throughout the day…I don’t know)

You see, there is this magical thing that happens…called erosion….and I think it’s pretty. 

In fact, I look for it, I’m like an obsessesed fan of “rust”….

Headed home (boots dirty, pants dusty, and my scarf blowing in the wind)….content.

Corroded sign, San Cristobal de Las Casas. Read into it your own meanings.

Telle est la conclusion d’une étude parue dans Nutrition Research. La consommation fréquente de vin blanc altérerait plus l’émail dentaire que celle de café ou de thé. Cette conclusion est faite après avoir plongé pendant 24 heures des dents après extraction dans ce noble liquide. L’érosion observée à la suite de cette expérience était de l’ordre de 60 micromètres. Une solution pour prévenir ce risque: consommer le vin blanc avec des aliments riches en calcium comme le fromage. Ou alors ne boire que du vin rouge. Mais il faut manifestement une exposition prolongée au vin blanc pour abîmer les dents…peut-être qu’une consommation modérée et un bon brossage après le repas pourraient suffire à prévenir la catastrophe.

Source: Nutrition Research, Volume 29, Issue 8

Bardenas Reales de Navarra, originalmente cargada por Rufino Lasaosa.

Una foto para un día: paisaje en las Bardenas. Un lugar árido, pero vivo.

Más fotos de las Bardenas

We dug a pond in the hillside as another experiment in dealing with erosion and the clogging of the drain in the back lot. It’s unbelievably frustrating to shovel the same dirt over and over again, but we do it because we have to do it — it’s a responsibility of stewardship. David has a new idea –  using the pallets as containers for growing, using them as structures and filters that would eventually break down in the soil and form berms. These would be sort of terraced down the hillside where it has eroded. It’s hard to grow things in dead bricks and stones. We’ve started with two, one right behind the pond, the other around mid-hill. We’ve planted some clover, rye, and grass in the spaces in between along with a wild plum tree that Eric has had in a container for a few months.

The chickens, having eaten everything in their yard, continue to venture out, using their pea-sized dinosaur brains to elude us. One remedy for this rambunctiousness is to get some forage to grow in their spot. We’ve created little islands using chicken wire and tomato cages — hopefully, even in this autumn weather we can get something to grow. With a little forage the chickens can keep laying those golden eggs.  Anyway, it’s fun to create more edge in the garden — more opportunities and islands of activity. The challenge of feeding and containing the chickens gives us so many opportunities to play with the edges and see zones and flows instead of grids and rows.

On Monday 16 November 2009, the Department of Environment hosted a meeting to explain the process of an Environmental Impact Assessment and to address specific points of the EIA conducted for the Astera Retreat Development planning construction in Punta Negra. Members of the communities of Monkey River, Placencia, Punta Negra, and Punta Gorda participated in the lively question, answer and comment period. A number of issues and concerns were raised:
•    The impact of dredging and plans for mitigation;
•    Area of dredging;
•    Monitoring of dredging and use of silt-nets;
•    The need for risk/disaster planning related to evacuation of the development in the event of hurricane;
•    The proximity of canals to the sea and to the lagoon;
•    The need for conservation education for residents;
•    Amount of water needed to support residents and concern that the plan is insufficient (amounts of rainwater, potential over-extraction from lagoon);
•    Plan for removal of solid waste;
•    Potential for pollution from generators, gas station, and fuel storage;
•    Lack clarity on benefits to the local community;
•    Density of the community (over 400 residents on 30 acres);
•    Treatment of liquid waste;
•    Waste water discharged into Port Honduras Marine Reserve;
•    Restoration of disturbed vegetation;
•    Turtle nesting and importance of beach to nesting;
•    Contamination of water bodies during construction;
•    Plan for workers during the construction phase (accommodations, disposal of waste, disposal of construction waste)
•    Beach erosion;
•    Construction of homes and storage facilities to withstand disaster (hurricane, earthquake);
•    Importance of the Department of Environment working proactively to protect the environment and ensure that the laws of Belize are respected and followed.

For more information

Department of Environment, Belize

The Environmental Impact Assessment of Astera Retreat Development

Other Environmental Impact Assessments on the DOE site

The Astera Retreat Development Website

OK – this is a suggestion I’m all for. Wouldn’t the world be a so much better place with no terrorism? Certainly – now what can I do. I can be ‘alert, but not alarmed,’ as the Australian television add of a couple of years ago told me. But what more? Can terrorism be eliminated?

I doubt terrorism will ever be completely eliminated – but it would be great if it could be. We can certainly reduce it greatly and that too would be good.

The suggestion in the book ‘365 Ways to Change the World,’ by Michael Norton is a little disappointing here. Sure, I don’t agree with torture and unlawful detention, etc. However, the suggestion is a little too ‘polite’ toward terrorists for my liking. I have no time for terrorists and they need to be rooted out and, well, they will probably get hurt during the process – I don’t have a lot of sympathy for them I must admit.

The suggestion is for combating terrorism without the erosion of human rights while doing so. As I said – I don’t want to see human rights eroded. I also don’t want to see terrorists given soft treatment – they chose to forego that when they became terrorists in my book.

Mt. Tabor park in Portland has the distinction of being a a volcanic cinder cone that has withstood erosion. The views from the higher levels of the park are fun to take in, but many of the views within the park are punctuated by warnings and notices. The “Erosion Control” sign on the bank of the middle reservoir is pretty much responsible for my recent obsession with signs. When I attended the Soap Box Derby last summer, people were climbing the steps (perfect for a workout of up and down, up and down), and I continued to dwell on this scene.

Erosion Control, #1

After exploring Mt. Tabor and other parks, I’ve concluded that public facilities attract sign makers who couldn’t make it in the advertising business.

Notice

No Pets in This Area

Erosion Control, #2

I’m all ranted out for now, so I shall bring this series to a close.  I have hinted at a number of things we, the average consumer, can do to improve the system.  So, to finish off the series, I am posting a list created by a professor of Environmental Studies, Dr. Richard Andrus, which I think is completely reasonable to attain.

For personal health-

1. Eat more whole foods and avoid processed sugars & starch.
2. Avoid factory farmed meat, dairy & eggs wherever possible.
3. Eat modest amounts of grass-fed meat.

For the environment-

1. Avoid factory farmed meat.  They cause massive pollution issues from concentration of nitrates and massive erosion from corn & soybean production for animal feed.
2. Buy local. This cuts back of food miles and helps reduce CO2 emissions.
3. Buy unprocessed food, as processing takes huge amounts of fossil fuels.
4. Avoid any processed drinks that come in a non-reusable container. The only reusable containers available currently are glass beer bottles from Canada. Recyclable does NOT mean reusable. Most recycled containers end up in the landfill.
5. Buy organic, as long as it’s unprocessed.
6. Grow, cook and brew your own.

For everything!

1. Purchase as little food as possible that results in profits for corporations. There are two reasons. One is that by law they are bound to maximize profits for shareholders, which means they are bound to take advantage of human weaknesses that attract us to unhealthy foods. The second reason is that a prime way to increase profits is do whatever you can legally do to externalize the costs of your activities. This results in pollution from agricultural fields, abuse of farm workers. contamination from factory farms, abuse of farm animals,and  huge production of packaging solid waste.

Andrus, Richard, PhD. Some Simple Dietary Suggestions. Binghamton University. Web. 15 Nov. 2009.

Original Camera Settings: 1/320 sec, f/5.6, 200mm, ISO 100

Nos enteramos por el blog desertification del Prof. Willem Van Cottem (en el blogroll) de la edición del libro en inglés Millions fed de IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute http://www.ifpri.org/publication/millions-fed), que trata 20 casos exitosos de producción de alimentos en diferentes lugares. Puede ser descargado completo o por capítulos. Me parece interesante el capítulo sobre la regeneración en el Sahel por medio de pozos para retener el suelo y la materia orgánica, captar el agua y la utilización de árboles para mejorar las condiciones para la agricultura. Algunas de las técnicas  pueden ser aplicadas en nuestra región. El capítulo Re-Greening the Sahel (Reverdeciendo el Sahel) pueden bajarlo aquí:

In order to promote reforestation along the banks of the Rio Grande, TIDE has provided expertise and assistance to San Miguel and San Pedro Columbia Villages to establish nurseries of indigenous trees. The trees and plants grown in the nurseries are all native to Belize and this area and are initially grown in plastic bag using dirt uncovered and discarded during the building of the Southern Highway and rice hulls that aerate the dirt. Members of each village are involved in the project.

In San Miguel, the nursery sits under the shade of a large mango tree and in San Pedro Columbia, the nursery is shaded by tent like material that lets the sun through.

TIDE Terresstrial Biologist, Elmar Requena, oversees the nurseries and the work conducted by villagers. Education is also provided on the importance of reforesting the buffer zone along the river.

Had enough? Say “Uncle”.

Forecast
The set up Wednesday through Friday is somewhat grim. The perfect ingredients for a strong nor’easter are forming along the OBX coast.

A strong high pressure system to the north of the area is pumping in strong winds. Mix in the remnants of Ida stalling out east of the Georgia coast and wind is pumping in from the north and the south.  It’s the perfect set up for a rather large, long nor’easter for the local area. Winds are expected to reach speeds of 40-50 mph.

This would be less of an issue if it lasted 10 or 12 hours; it would most likely only generate some minor tidal flooding and rain. But these systems are creating a much different scenario.  Forecasts have the pattern stalling out, bringing terrible conditions for 72 hours, leading to more significant coastal flooding, beach erosion and possibly causing some homes perched too close to the ocean to collapse.

Most coastal flooding will occur during high tide cycles and get increasingly worse Wednesday through Friday.

Video Updates

• Weather Channel
• Local Virginia Beach news – Wavy 10

What is a nor’easter?
A “nor’easter” is an intense low pressure area that forms in the winter along the east coast of the Unites States, producing strong northeasterly winds and sometimes heavy snowfall and rainfall. This is a favored region for winter storm formation, where the warm ocean water and airmass along the coast meets cold air pouring down out of Canada.

These storms often travel up along the coast, eventually affecting the entire eastern seaboard. Persistent strong winds with these storms can cause beach erosion and damage to houses along the coast from large waves and high water levels that result from the ocean water being piled up against the coast by the wind. The nor’easter is usually followed by unusually cold weather as the cold high pressure area that helped create the strong winds moves into the region.

Interesting facts:
THE PERFECT STORM – The movie “Perfect Storm” was based upon the true story of a swordfishing boat, the Andrea Gail, that was caught in an intense nor’easter in October 1991.

The leaves change and it rains.

The hill washes out to bricks again.

Fill dirt clogging the drain.

The chickens have turned their yard into sheet mulch.

We have almost got the gate up.

303431     วิศกรรมการควบคุมการพังทลายของดิน     Soil Erosion Control Engineering

การประยุกต์ทฤษฎีพื้นฐานทางวิศวกรรมและทางหลักการจัดการลุ่มนํ้ า เพื่อใช้วิเคราะห์และออกแบบโครงสร้างทางวิศวกรรมอย่างง่ายสํ าหรับควบคุมการพังทลายของดินในพื้นที่ป่าไม้โดยใช้วัสดุในท้องถิ่น

(Application of basic engineering theories and principles of watershed management to analysis and design of simple engineering structure for soil erosion control in forest areas using local materials.)

(303431 มหาวิทยาลัยเกษตรศาสตร์)

Photo by Kathleen Coyle

Over the last month or so we have had more than one Nor’easter leaving erosion damaged beaches behind.  Here are some photos of the beach at the Bayshore Waterfront Park in Port Monmouth, NJ.  As of right now there is no talk of beach replenishment but it seems like something needs to be done before we lose our pier, the trees lining the beach and well the beach itself.

Photo by Kathleen Coyle

The photo below is of the trash that had been buried here back in the day, gross!

Photo by Kathleen Coyle

Photo by Kathleen Coyle

In the photo above you can see the Seabrook-Wilson House, maybe better known as the Spy House.  The original part of this house was built in the 1700s and was one of the first homes in this area.  This house is said to be haunted by many locals and ghost enthusiasts alike.

Hopefully the weather will be more calm from here on out, at least for awhile.