Living with water

The future

Since the 1990s, sea levels have risen from 1.7mm to 3mm per year. Coastlines around the world are sinking and disappearing as wave energy is eroding our shorelines. 

Many important cities and towns with economic strengths and trade are situated near coastal areas. These cities are a part of a nation's identity.

The video below has documented on how New York City will be affected by the rising sea levels and the defences the city can implement to overcome this.

So............. what can we do on the long-term for the coastal cities to overcome the inevitably rising seas?

A gathering held by the civil engineers in 2009 brought together a number of professional architectures, civilian engineers, city designers, planners, developers, policymakers, ecologists and furtherlogists to produce both architectural and infrastructural solutions in response to rising sea levels.

The professionals came up with a few suggestions

•    Land reclamation

This is practiced around the world. Netherlands, Hong Kong, Dubai, New York and San Francisco are amongst a few countries that land reclamation is being carried out to create more disposable places.

•   Building on stilts

The method allows space below to be used for car parking while above residents and property are safe from flooding. 

•     To build directly onto water
•   Floating/amphibious homes built on concrete floating bodies.

The best of the best............. in my eyes............

•  Sea scrapers

    This eco-friendly floating city is a futuristic offshore settlement site.

• Waterscraper

This structure has under and above water living space with a stabilizing floating ring that drifts the waterscraper from place to place. This complex comprises of beaches, restaurants, a marina, luxury apartments and hotels.

These ideas are welcomed as solutions for the battles of rising sea levels and ever increasing world population.

For certain, the above creations will not only give planet earth a new look but also transform our     cultures to fit in into this new water world...........

      So, what strategy would you like to consider the best for our coast lines?

•      Retreat?
•      Defend?
•      Attack?

     Friends............ this is sadly my last post on this topic. Even though I was initially reluctant to blog, I quite enjoyed the experience. Hence, I would like to thank my lecturer Dr Anson Mackay for making the ‘blog’ as course assessment criteria.

    Trust you my followers enjoyed, gained ideas and knowledge as much as I did.........

Rising sea levels and Islands

The South Pacific Islands – are small country islands that are vulnerable to rising sea levels.

‘Rising sea level threats are more significant than of greenhouse gas emissions’ (Mimura, 1999).

Research carried out since 1992 by Japanese scientists and the South Pacific regional environmental programs have assessed the vulnerability and impacts on the coastal zones of Tonga, Fiji, Samoa and Tuvalu in the South Pacific. The study analysed the level of threat caused by sea level rise and climate change (Mimura, 1999, IPCC, 1996).

The results showed that the low-lying islands are commonly threatened by flooding, inundation, erosion and saltwater intrusion into rivers and aquifers. The local populations and ecosystems are overwhelmed by the implications of the above threats. Engineering tools, sea walls and concrete blocks are among a few methods used to reduce beach erosion. Coral reefs, mangroves and sandy beaches are natural means used to reduce beach erosion as they absorb a large part of wave energy.

Retreating or relocating to higher ground is a solution taken to shift from coastal areas. Some coastal communities might have to adapt their traditions and social life to suit their new environments as different regions in an island may have different traditions.

One might argue on........... the best solution to prevent sea level rise is to construct seawalls and projects on landfill.  On a negative note ‘retreat and relocation’ might not be practical with the increase of population growth. Hence land use age will be a hard task especially in these third world island countries.

My view is that Tonga, Fiji, Samoa and Tuvalu islanders will have to find refuge in other neighbouring countries as the  islands will disappear into the ocean in the years to come. 

Thildhoo, Addu and Ihadhoo are a few Maldivian islands that have eroded and disappeared into the ocean.

Ocean and marine life

Ocean and marine life

This blog does not directly link with the main topic but I thought of writing a bit on the ocean and marine life as I felt it was somewhat relevant.

On the previous blog I spoke of the possibility of adapting ourselves to a ‘marine life’. This is a more appropriate solution with the rising sea levels and the scarcity of land due to land loss and population.  Like the Orang Lant and Bajan, people our food source would then be a variety of marine species.

This will add more pressure to the fish stocks that are drying up. Sadly we have removed over 90% of the oceans large fish. Fish trawlers now have to source fish from further afield (BBC, 2012). This does not sound that appealing going forward.

This clip will give you a better understanding on the endangered marine life.

National GeographicNews (2003), states that Dr. R. A. Myers has run a study comparing fish numbers between 1950 and 2003. The results showed that unless action has been taken, by 2050 there will be no fish left in the ocean.

Another means of fish loss is due to the ocean absorbing almost 50% of carbon dioxide (CO₂) released into the atmosphere by burning of fossil fuels. This alters the water chemistry. Pollock, halibut, Rock soles and snow crab are a few species where habitats have begun to shift. This may cause competition between native and invasive species. Increasing acidification may cause plankton, molluscs and others shellfish to perish. Their existence is vital to the marine ecosystem.

Question

How will this affect us and our societies if we adapt ourselves to a marine life?

So, I think this topic was important to blog about...............

The sea people

In the contemporary world it is hard to visualise ourselves living our lives on the ocean. The only time we could think ........... is when we go on a holiday cruise.

But............ we have amongst ourselves, communities living in the open waters. On houseboats and stilt houses built on coral reefs. The Orang Lant community living on the coasts of Malaysia and Bajan community living between Borneo and Sulawesi islands are also known as sea gypsies. These groups travel along the coastal routes in Asia. The Orang Lant and Bajan’s have no nationalities as they live all their lives on the open ocean. Water is the natural environment for these people and they get land sick when they are on land for a few hours. Their children’s eyesight underwater is remarkably excellent as their eyes have adapted to the liquid (BBC, 2013).

Let’s start watching this video from 40 minutes into the documentary to see the Bajan community in their natural habitat.

Associations with the ocean in the past

In the past rivers were used for inland transportation of goods before roads were built and airplanes have taken over long-distance ocean travel.

According to Andaya(2006) commercial and cultural communities have developed across the oceans that led to Asian countries engaging with Europe in the past. It is known that women have made the voyage single handedly sailing for six long weeks from Australia to England.

Understanding of the ocean and how it has and have shaped the lives in the past and of the Orang Lant and Bajan communities must be studied further to benefit the future with the onset of sea level rise.

I guess ............... adapting ourselves to live in the open oceans would not be that of a hard task.

Majority of us have little appreciation for the importance of the water world.

Okay........... on the next blog I am planning to see the impacts that we could have in the ocean as a result of us adapting to a ‘marine life’.

Adaptation of human communities to climate change

First of all I would like to apologise for not blogging in the past few weeks. It was due to me having to travel overseas due to personal circumstances. 

Adaptation is a response to a risk arisen by an environmental hazard. This opens up to human vulnerability and brings the limits of capacity to adapt. Practical solutions are being acquired as adaptation methods are used to solve problematic situations that lead to vulnerability (Smit et. al., 2006).

Although there are many definitions on ‘adaptation’; Brooks (2003), summarises the most common definition of all.......... ‘Adjustment in individual groups and institutional behaviour in order to reduce society’s vulnerability to climate’. Based on a particular situation adaptation can be anticipated or planned.

Marine species and organisms on the other hand have evolved themselves to ensure their survival in the marine environment.

The application of adaptation methods into human systems known as cultural adaptation have become core on cultural adaptation linking to the natural environment. People at present use traditional and modern methods to cope with the environment to suit their cultural repertoire (Smit et. al., 2006).

Let's watch the first fifteen minutes of the video below to see how communities and people have adapted themselves to their changing environments. 

These two groups are seen venturing further into the rough and dangerous seas in the hope of bringing food for their families. This clip shows us although we have evolved on land; we have become remarkable oceanic hunters.

The Eskimos

Roaming Eskimos..........

Eskimos started off their journey in Bering with the Aleuts following the coasts of Siberia. The Eskimos traditionally inhabited the coastal regions of eastern Siberia (Russia), Alaska, Canada and Greenland.

I will be focusing on the Greenland branch of Eskimos and towards the end of this blog I have uploaded a video on the present day sea level rise situ at a whistle stop over in Kivalina, Alaska.............

The Greenland gang adapted themselves into three different cultures

•       Saggag culture ca 4400 – 2800 B.P.

•       Dorset culture 2600 - 1800 B.P.

•       Thule culture after 900 B.P.

The 'Eskimos' were very dependent on the sea. Hence many settlements were found much nearer to the sea along the coasts of West Greenland.

Many archaeological excavations show elevation differences between the settlements demonstrating sea level fluctuations during the Holocene. The evidence show that Greenland has been either very close to or below present day sea levels (Morten et. al., 1997).

Many ruins belonging to the Thule culture from the 17th - 18th centuries were found damaged or partially submerged by the sea throughout the West and South coast’s in Greenland (Morten et.al., 1997).

Like the Aleuts, Eskimos too successfully adapted themselves biologically and culturally to coincide with the surrounding ecosystem. These marine adapted people embraced the changes made to their coastal environment which led to leading a nomadic life exploiting coastlines for their benefit (Laughlin,1975).

These marine adapted people have not had any problems with rising sea levels until recent years............... as most of these groups of Eskimos now live in permanents settlements near the sea abandoning their nomadic lifestyle........

The question is..... can they rise to the challenge to be resilient to the rising sea levels and adapt themselves like their ancestors did....

OR

are their new lifestyles a hindrance in succeeding their ancestors?

Let's watch this short video from Kivalina, Alaska....... 80 miles from the Arctic Circle where a branch of an Eskimo tribe has been affected by the present day rising sea levels.

What can we learn from it...............?

Meet the Aleuts

Here is their story……..

It all began in Beringia……..

‘Beringia land bridge’ was a large landmass that connected Siberia and North America. This stretch of land was inundated by seawater around 10,000 years ago.  Hence, the ancestors of American Indians passed through to North America while the ancestors of the Aleuts and Eskimos tracked along the rich coastal lines. Archaeological evidence show that the Aleutians lived off from the seas (Laughlin, 1975).

I am going to focus on the Aleuts on this blog and Eskimos in the next.........

The ancestors of the Aleuts walked and used boats when travelling through to Alaska. They had their own race, language and culture. Russians discovered the Aleuts only 8700 years after they have discovered the Aleutian Islands (Laughlin,1975).

The Aleuts were well known for their mastery to hunt whales and sea otters. They adopted hunting skills to hunt in the open seas with the use of harpoons. The skill for hunting whales needs methodical training from childhood. This acquired stretching tendons of the shoulders to cast harpoons and tendons of the back and legs for sitting in a baidarka. Also navigating the open waters and understanding animal behaviour was a vital component of their training (Laughlin,1975).

Dr Who?

The Aleuts developed good knowledge on health that led to medical practices such as acupuncture, skills in delivering new babies and preparing mummies.

The clever Aleuts.......

Aleuts also adopted and adapted the European culture well, learning to play chess with speed. Shortly they acquired the alphabet where men and women learnt to read and write letters and keep diaries.

This adoption, adaptation skills they acquired and their long life expectancy are related with their environment.

I think adaptation skills Aleutians have acquired are a great example for us to learn from....... No extinction of species was reoccurred in their vicinity demonstrating of good management of natural resources available to them.