Let’s keep the sky as blue as it was at 280 ppm. “Clouds Blue Sky” by photographer Kabir Bakle, 2004. Creative Commons 2.5. Included with appreciation.
We hear so much about reducing carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere, it may sound like we are aiming to clear the Earth of carbon. But carbon is the basis of life. Carbon compounds make up 18% of the human body, found in every cell, forming the building blocks of proteins. Plants are also 18% carbon.
“Global Carbon Cycle” by NASA/JPL, 2015. Public Domain.
We don’t need, or want, to eliminate carbon. Rather we need to restore and renew its proper balance. Carbon is a cycle. It moves from land to water to sky. In the sky, it combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is also water soluble, so it is found in lakes and rivers; in the ocean, too much creates acidification, but a smaller amount is natural. When there is too much in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases like methane that degrades into carbon dioxide) form a kind of blanket causing global warming. Some amount of carbon in the atmosphere, and the ocean, is not only normal but desirable, part of the great circular journey of carbon that nourishes and vivifies the planet.
“Carbon Cycle” by graphic artist Kevin Saff, based on Earth Observatory, NASA, “Carbon Cycle.” Dedicated to the public domain, and included with appreciation.
But how much is carbon is enough, and not too much? Before the Industrial Revolution when we started burning coal, then oil and gas, atmospheric carbon dioxide was 0.028% or 280 ppm. Right now, it’s more than 425 ppm – and growing. So, we don’t have to remove every last bit of carbon, or carbon dioxide. We just have to return from 425 (or so) of atmospheric carbon dioxide to 280.
Cessation of carbon-based (fossil) fuels, transitioning to non-carbon renewable energy, is the first step. Reforestation will help: will programs like the National Trails and Parks support public health? Restoring peatlands and wetlands may contribute: will the Netherlands lead the way? Regenerative agriculture will improve soil and atmosphere. Eventually, excess carbon dioxide in ocean and atmosphere will find its way back to the land, restoring balance. We’ll surely need to pursue both avoidance (not burning carbon-based fuels) and perhaps removal. Nature-based carbon removal systems like forests can remove 15.6 billion metric tonnes of carbon annually. Seaweed can help to remove carbon from oceans. Mineralization and biochar can return, and sequester, carbon in earth. Some say we will need assists like geo-engineering, but we’re not there…yet.
“Carbon sequestration” by LeJean Hardin and Jamie Payne based on Jari Amtzen, 2009. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.
We are now at 425ppm. It may not be too late to return to 280 ppm, renewing the Earth. Seeing carbon as part of a cycle may help.
Indigenous Peoples Day, courtesy of National Indian Council on Aging – NICOA.org. Included with honor and appreciation.
No new worlds are discovered, just met. Indigenous Peoples Day, established by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, reminds us of those who were here, first. In 2024, the UN focus is on those who live as stewards and protectors of the forest, and therefore, the planet. With traditions that promote an environment in balance, indigenous peoples’ land stretches across 28% of the world’s land often farmed with regenerative agriculture, and containing 11% of global forests. Indigenous peoples have defended and sustain water resouces. As protectors of nature, original nations are leading the way.
The Great Lakes Compact protects the rights of 20% of the world’s freshwater resources. Image: “Great Lakes from Space” by NASA. Included with appreciation.
In the United States, the Yesah Tribunal was the first indigenous Rights of Nature Tribunal: 123 nations have signed the declaration. Current initiatives include the case of Haw River vs. Mountain Valley Pipeline. In the United States, the Navajo and other Native Peoples are part of the Colorado River Compact. Great Lakes Compact raised the rights to water and sustainability, as well as land and pipeline permits. The American National Trails System memorializes and recognizes paths forged by fleeing injustice, including the Cherokee. Maori of New Zealand established legal personhood of the Whanganui River. The Guarani River in Brazil and Paraguay gave name and policy to Itaipú.
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics honored scholars who explored the effects of colonization. Image: Nobel Medal. Photographer: Jonathunder. Public Domain, and included with appreciation.
Scholars have explored and helped to define rights of indigenous, especially when affected by more recent arrivals. Ingrid Waldron of McMaster University identified the rights First Nations to water, land, and energy. In México and the US, transboundary water issues for rivers and underground aquifers have been elucidated by Gabriel Eckstein of Texas A & M University. October 2024’s Nobel Prize in Economics honors scholars Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson of MIT and James Robinson of the University of Chicago who explored effects of societal institutions introduced during colonization. Treaties and agreements between and among those who were here first and those who arrived – like Columbus, Cortes, and others – are of both historical and future relevance. The 1497 Treaty of Tordesillas sought to divide the world via an imaginary line in the Atlantic ocean (in 1529, the Treaty of Zaragoza aimed to do the same with claim on Pacific rights). The founding of Singapore, and the creation of Panama, are more recent proclamations. Together with more recent agreements on the rights of nature by New Zealand, Uruguay, and others may offer insights as we consider mineral rights in the ocean, or geothermal rights on land. Will the vision of Jamie C. Beard lead to a new view of access and rights to continuous, carbon-free, and universal energy?
Today, in the United States, what was formerly known as (and still sometimes called) “Columbus Day” was officially named as Indigenous Peoples Day in 2021. Canada introduced Native Land Digital, along with a searchable map of land, languages, and treaties. If you reside in the Americas, find out whose original land you live on and honor those who were here, there, and everywhere, first.
Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke. “The National Trails System,” Building the World, Volume Two, pages 641-668. ISBN: 9780313333743.
Eckstein, Gabriel, et al., “Conferring Legal Personality on the World’s Rivers: A Brief Intellectual Assessment.” August 2019. Water International and Texas A&M University School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 19-30. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3431344
Pietrowski, Robert, Jr. “Hard Minerals on the Deep Ocean Floor: Implications for American Law and Policy,” 19 William & Mary Law Review. 43 (1977). http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/smlr/vol19/iss1/5
Waldron, Ingrid R. G., There’s Something in the Water: Environmental Racism in Indigenous & Black Communities. Fernwood Publishing: 2018. ISBN: 1773630571
Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U
Wildfires are increasing due to climate change. Image: “Burning Mangum Fire” in Arizona. Public Domain.Included with appreciation.
June 2023: Canada is on fire (below are links to help). Canadian wildfires have consumed 9.4 million acres (3.9 million hectares) – 15 times the average over the past decade. Quebec fires forced 11,000 residents from their homes; Nova Scotia suffered the largest blaze in its history. The East coast is not alone: Western British Columbia battled the second-biggest wildfire on record for the area. In Central Canada, Alberta issued evacuation orders and heat directives. Canadian railway CN is adjusting trains in several provinces. Why? Drought dries forests and heat sparks blazes. While wildfires are normal in nature, hence the term “wildfire season,” climate change is intensifying the threat to land, cities, and public health.
New York City’s Empire State Building as seen through smoke-haze from Canadian wildfires. Image “Empire State Building June 7 2023” by Aethemplaer on Twitter. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.
No longer are fires, and related smoke, a local danger. Just south of Canada, winds blew smoke into the air of Vermont to New York to South Carolina, and then westward to Ohio and Kansas. New York City’s iconic skyline was cloaked in soot. Satellite images show the movement of smoke over Manhattan.
Smoke from Canadian wildfire blowing over New York City on June 7, 2023. Image: by NOAA. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.
The year 2023’s fire season is just beginning in North America. If recent years are a warning, it is time to take precautions. In 2022, wildfires in California, Oregon, and Washington state consumed thousands of acres, destroyed homes and agricultural land. Canadian British Columbia battled 193 wildfires in 2022, sending smoke to Vancouver and also to Seattle, Washington. Wildfires have become so frequent that they often have names: Sandia, Red, Tower, Mountain, Dixie, Camp. The latter, in 2018, burned 153,000 acres (62,000 hectares), killed 85 people, and destroyed the entire town of Paradise, California.
Camp Fire of 2018 engulfed Paradise. Image: photograph by Landsat and Joshua Stevens, NASA. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.
Copernicus satellite system: “Europe’s eyes on Earth.” Image: Copernicus logo courtesy of European Union. Creative commons fair use. Included with appreciation.
As global space-based observation progresses, we may be able to predict wildfires. The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) reports on European Union countries. EFFIS uses satellites in concert with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) to observe active wildfires and estimate air quality pollution. Then, CAMS coordinates with the Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) to predict where the wind will blow fire pollution, sending warning to cities. Another space-based monitoring system is CAMS Biomass Burning Aerosol Optical Depth measuring how much sunlight can pass through the air (or not), indicating concentrations of particulate matter.
Image: “Grain size dependence of penetration of airborne particulate matter.” Graphic by Dr. Claire Horwell, Durham University, UK and Ken Donaldson, USGS. Creative commons public domain. Included with appreciation.
Particulate matter (PM) is the term for mixture of solid and liquid drops of pollutants suspended and carried in the air. Particles can be made of inorganic and organic compounds including soot, metal, dust, soil, pollen, mold, and little flakes of burnt matter. Small particles can be inhaled, enter the lungs and pass into the bloodstream. The tiniest particles, those less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter and known as PM2.5, are the most dangerous.
How can you tell if your local air’s PM2.5 might be at high levels? Look out any window. If air is hazy, and wind is relatively still, there is danger. Here are actions to take:
Preventing Wild Fires and Related Damage – manage forests, limit residential plantings needing extensive water, build new construction with fire-proof or fire-resistant materials, use satellite data to anticipate fire-prone areas and take preventive action.
Preventing Health Risks due to Fire and Smoke – remain indoors, do not open windows, use an air-filter device if available, cancel unnecessary outdoor exposure. If you do need to venture outdoors, wear an N95 mask (or two), and when returning, remove and launder outerwear garments that may harbor toxic residue.
Providing Help to Those Impacted by Canadian Wildfires – fires have displaced 20,000 people, destroyed property, and sent many to the hospital for smoke inhalation. Here’s some ways to help:
Donate a Mask – help a charity that distributes free N95 masks.
In the future, climate response will mean addressing, especially, the shared resources of the global commons. These include areas that lie beyond national jurisdiction: the high seas, outer space, and the atmosphere – the very air we breathe. Wildfires may erupt in a specific place, but winds that circle the globe bring “there” to “here.” As we respond to problems we face today, let us keep an eye on a better, cleaner, more equitable future.
But still, like air, I’ll rise. -Maya Angelou
Brooke, K. Lusk. “Designing residential and commercial communities in the age of drought and wildfires.” Renewing the World: WATER. Success Casebook. 2023. ISBN: 9798985035933.
“Indigenous Peoples Day,” image courtesy of National Indian Council on Aging – NICOA.org. Included with honor and appreciation.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day, recognized in 2021 by U.S. President Biden, and honored as a holiday this weekend in the United States, reminds us that new worlds are not discovered, just met. Leif Erikson associated by some with Greenland, is thought to have sailed off course en route to that location, instead reaching what he called Vinland and what we now call North America. Erickson spent the winter, and in spring returned to Greenland. This was four hundred years before Columbus. But even before Columbus, and before Erikson, the first humans arrived 26,000 years ago, before the Last Glacial Maximum in the Pleistocene epoch. From those earliest humans are descended those whom we call our original people, those who were here first. One group is the Cherokee Nation.
“Trail of Tears” by Ocmulgee National Mounds Park, nps.gov, by photographer TradingCardsNPS, 2012. Creative Commons 2.0, wikimedia. Included with honor and appreciation.
By 1830, the Cherokee Nation had established significant land in what became known as Georgia (state established in 1788): until the Treaty of New Echota. On 29 December 1835, 500 representatives of the Cherokee Nation, at that time numbering 16,000, met with representatives of the United States government at New Echota, Georgia, to accept terms of $5 million and land in Oklahoma in exchange for their 7 million acres of homeland. Sadly, the forced move 1,200 miles west proved so tragic as to give name to the Trail of Tears. But the Treaty remains unfulfilled: Article 7 of the Treaty of New Echota states: “Cherokee Nation shall be entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives of the United States whenever Congress shall make provision for the same.”
“Map of George showing Cherokee Nation, 1830.” Original by Anthony Finley Co. of Philadelphia, 1830. Creative Commons Public Domain. Included with honor and appreciation.
Two centuries later, it is time to fulfill the treaty, make that provision, and recognize rights of those who were here first. Cherokee Nation’s Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. has nominated Kimberly Teehee to serve as inaugural Cherokee Delegate to Congress. If you support this nomination, Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a good time to take action here.
Davidson, Frank P. and K. Lusk Brooke, “The National Trails System.” Building the World. Volume Two, pages 641-668. Greenwood: 2006. ISBN: 9780313333743.
Olmsted’s “Emerald Necklace” in Boston. “Boston Public Garden panorama.” by Rick Harris, 30 April 2006. Creative Commons CC2.0. With appreciation.
Boston’s Emerald Necklace, Chicago’s Jackson Park, the U.S. Capitol Grounds in Washington, D.C., and New York’s Central Park: these were some of the public parks and landscapes that Frederick Law Olmsted (born 200 years ago this week) created. One of Olmsted’s seven principles of a successful public landscape was sanitation: below the surface and woven into the soil are drainage and engineering innovations that serve to enhance health and well-being of the environment, and those who visit it for refreshment and renewal. Olmsted believed public parks could give a city ‘lungs,’ and those who visited a place to breathe. In fact, this year’s bicentennial events include “Lungs of the City: Olmsted’s Parks in Music” with the American Wild Ensemble performing works inspired by outdoor spaces and parks. Before practicing landscape architecture full-time, Olmsted had been director of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, an organization that later became the Red Cross. Public health was a life-long passion for Olmsted, along with a belief that clean air, plants, and a beneficial environment were essential to human, and natural, health.
Parks are Lungs for Cities. “An aerial view of Central Park, Central Park Conservancy: Aerial Summer 2,” by Centralparknyc, 2008. Creative Commons 3.0, wikimedia. With appreciation.
Olmsted’s vision of a city’s need for green space developed at a time when urban areas were becoming unhealthily crowded. Central Park, in New York City, result of a design competition won by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, was the first landscaped public park in the United States. For its time, it was a macro project: 20,000 workers carved a new landscape enhancing existing terrain (and sadly relocating some groups dwelling there). Over 270,000 shrubs and trees were planted, along with sculpting of a new reservoir from what had formerly been a swamp. Built in 1858, a time before air-conditioning, Central Park provided urban denizens with a literal breath of fresh air. Olmsted stressed the value of “the feeling of relief experienced by those entering them, on escaping from the cramped, confined and controlling circumstances of the streets of the town. In other word, a sense of enlarged freedom is to all, at all times, the most certain and the most valuable gratification afforded by a park.”(Wilson 2020).
“Hiking on Appalachian Trail,” by Chewonki Semester School, 2009. Creative Commons 2.0. With appreciation.
Similarly, the Appalachian Trail, suggested by architect Benton MacKaye in a 1921 article in the Journal of the American Institute of Architects, for the purpose of preserving original land, in the form of a protected trail of great length (it can take five-to-seven months to hike the whole Appalachian Trail), so that people could experience true wilderness. The earlier 1911 Weeks Act granted the United States government authority to buy private land to establish national forests (Hanson 2022). Later, the Wilderness Act encouraged acquisition of land in original nature: since its founding, mover than 100 million acres have been so dedicated. MacKaye suggested, in the seminal article, “new approach to the problem of living.” (MacKaye 1921)
“Street Restaurant during COVID-19 Emergency Rules,” by Eden, Janine and Jim, 1 September 2020. Creative Commons 2.0. With appreciation.
The importance of outdoor space was re-experienced during the recent pandemic. Families held outdoor reunions; restaurants opened up sidewalk cafes, parks welcomed those who needed a break from home isolation. Central Park, 153 years after its opening, proved Olmsted right.
Buenos Aires, world megacity with a population of 16 million (megacities are 10 million+): the name of the city means “Good Airs.” This photo features the Puerto Madero section of Buenos Aires. Image: “High-Rises of Puerto Madero” by Deensel 2018. Creative Commons 2.0, wikimedia. With appreciation.
Cities are home to over half of the world’s population; by 2050, that percentage will grow to 68%. As cities grow, so can parks. Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace, a circle of parks surrounding Boston, gained a new jewel when the Central Artery Project rebuilt the highway underground and replaced surface land with the Greenway, including a carousel.
Ride a carousel in the middle of the city – Boston’s latest jewel in Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace. “Greenway Carousel, Rose Kennedy Greenway,” by Daderot 2014. Dedicated to the public domain (CC0) by the photographer. With appreciation.
To participate in one of the many events celebrating the 200th birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, click here.
MacKaye, Benton. “An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning,” 9 October 1921, pages 325-30, Journal of the American Institute of Architects.
“Noah’s Ark,” by Edward Hicks. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Public Domain, USA. Image: wikimedia
Coral reefs cover just 1% of the ocean floor but support 25% of all marine life. According to The Ocean Agency’s founder Richard Vevers, even if we meet the targets of the Paris Agreement, we may lose 90% of our coral reefs by mid-century due to ocean warming and acidification that causing coral reef bleaching. Working with the Centre for Excellence in Environmental Decisions at the University of Queensland, The Ocean Agency and a team of scientists selected 50 coral reefs that are most likely to survive climate change with a little help. The reefs chosen are a sample “large enough to allow protection of reefs in all major regions” (UQ 2017).
“Coral planting and reef restoration,” by Profmauri, 2011. Creative Commons 3.0, wikimedia.
Given this ‘Noah’s Ark’ for coral and marine life, how can this precious resource be preserved? Much like the examples of humans helping Nature as in the National Trails System, Roman Aqueducts or the New River, natural coral reefs may get a boost from engineering innovations. Coral can be grown in a lab, where growth that could take 100 years in the ocean can be accomplished in two years under laboratory conditions. Once the tiny corals are ready for transplanting, they can be placed on reefs that are suffering but still able to recover; it’s a process known as “reskinning.”
“The Silent Evolution” by James deCaires Taylor. Photographer, allenran 917, 2014. Creative Commons 2.0.
Another option: forming new coral reefs using underwater sculptures like those created by James deCaires Taylor for the Australia’s Museum of Underwater Art on Great Barrier Reef, and Mexico’s Mesoamerican Reef, largest in the Western Hemisphere, for the Museo Subacuático de Arte. Some debate whether such sculptures are helping or harming marine life. Similar underwater sculpture gardens created by Angeline Chen and Kyle Block, founders of Global Coralition, are located in Koh Tao, Thailand, and in the Dominican Republic, where art honors the traditional water deities of the Arawak/Taino cultures of the Caribbean.
“Blue Spotted Stingray in Koh Tao, Thailand coral reef,” photographer Jan Derk, 2004. Generously dedicated to the public domain by Jan Derk. Creative Commons. With appreciation to Jan Derk.
Vevers worried that coral is an emergency that is invisible to all but divers and the denizens of the ocean. To make the invisible visible (coincidentally the theme for World Water Day 2022 referencing groundwater), The Ocean Agency reached out to Jeff Orlowski and Larissa Rhodes to collaborate on a Netflix film: “Chasing Coral.” During filming, the most dangerous coral bleaching event in history occurred. The film debuted at Sundance and has helped to make coral’s plight more accessible. Watch the film here.
“Coral reef locations,” by NASA, 2006, from Millennium Coral Reef Landsat Archive. Public Domain. 50 are chosen for “Noah’s Ark” preservation. For information on each reef, visit http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/landsat.pl
Art may help to raise awareness, and respect, for the world’s coral reefs. In addition to nurturing 25% of marine life, coral provides 1 billion people with food, jobs, and income that generates $375 billion in economic benefits. Coral reels are not visible to most of us, so they may be out of mind. But there is much each of us can do. Recycling plastic that can harm reels and marine life, being cautious about the use of some sunscreens when enjoying the beach, or by supporting ocean sustainability and coral reef regeneration, we have an opportunity to build a modern-day Noah’s Ark for coral.
Beyer, Hawthorne L, et al., “Risk-sensitive planning for conserving coral reefs under rapid climate change.” 27 June 2018. Conservation Letters, Volume 11, Issue 6, e12587. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12587
Sahara, sea of sand, desert of legend, is ever-advancing. Over time, the Sahara Desert has expanded into the Sahel, a transnational ‘shore’ of African countries. Population in the Sahel has increased 120% in the last three decades: now, 64% of the population is under 25%. The encroaching Sahara, along with climate change induced heat and drought, is choking crops; 3.7 million people suffering the effects of crop loss, with shortages of millet and sorghum, staples. Famine, conflict, migration threaten the area. The Sahel reaches 3,360 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean, all across the southern belt of the Sahara Desert. What can be done? Two answers may be emerging.
The Sahara Desert, seen from space by satellite. The Sahel is just south of the desert. Image: wikimedia.
The Sahel has some of the largest aquifers in the continent, as much as 100 times annual rainfall and other renewable sources. But the Law of Transboundary Aquifers is still in draft. Sahel countries need to decide the use of shared water for drinking, agriculture, and industry. Agreements should also monitor extraction; some of the aquifers are sizable but slow to refill and replenish. Precedent for water sharing might include the Colorado River Compact, especially amendments. A future exploration of the Sahara itself may tap water resources under the sands, and a proposal by Frank P. Davidson for Lake Hope (2012).
Stopping Saharan desert expansion is important. The possibility of planting a green wall across the boundary of the Sahara to stem desert invasion of fertile lands adjacent is said to have been pondered by Richard St. Barbe Baker OBE during a study expedition to the Sahara in the mid 20th century. There was talk of building a test model of 30 miles at that time. But the present vision of green wall across Africa of 4,722 miles (7,600 kilometers) didn’t take root until 2002, when the Green Wall was re-introduced at the summit in Chad of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. Support grew. Three years later, the concept was approved by the Community of Sahel-Saharan States; two years after that, in 2007, the African Union endorsed the “Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative.” The Great Green Wall hopes to restore and renew 100 million hectares by 2030, reduce CO2, absorbing 250 million tons, and create 10 million green jobs. Ethiopia has already restored 15 million hectares.
Great Green Wall of Africa. Image: wikimedia commons.
But results are still to be judged. Some point out that desertification is not just the fault of the Sahara, but instead may be due to deforestation and denuding of land. Observing success in applying traditional water conservation and harvesting methods, and nurturing of trees that appear naturally, the project is evolving into something that is working, in a different way. There are some who warn against some methods of afforestation, and choice of plantings is critical to success. Recent progress in Burkina Faso with building zaï, a grid planting method promoting water retention is one example. Another: increased respect for Faidherbia albida, an indigenous tree that defoliates during the rainy season, dropping leaves that fertilize soil, and also permit full sun during the subsequent early growing season. Other factors might be considered like walking paths, as envisioned by architect Benton MacKaye, resulting in the Appalachian Trail. Some suggest the Green Green Wall of Africa could become a model for a new CCC. The work of John D. Liu combines regreening with camps. Other green walls of afforestation include China’s Three-North Shelter Forest Program, China began the project in 1978 to stop the Gobi desert from advancing; while monoculture and some tree loss are problems, forest size has increased from 5% to 13.% with 13 million hectares (32 million acres) of trees planted (an area the size of western Europe). China will complete the afforestation project in 2050. India’s Green Wall of Aravalli, proposed by Vijaypal Baghel at COP 14 would build 1,6000 km of green; and Great Hedge of India, originally related to customs control line for 1870’s salt tax, and later grown into a living hedge. Progress of green walls can now be tracked through Earth Observation Satellites. ESA’s Prova-V monitors the Sahel.
Gobi Desert and Three-North Shelter Forest of China. Image: wikimedia.
Macroengineering endeavors involving transboundary resources may require an organizational form that allows for coordination of many different and interacting systems. As climate change affects regions, not just nations, will we see more macro solutions? The advancing Sahara desert does not stop at the Mali border but threatens the whole southern edge of the desert. The rising Atlantic ocean does not stop at Maine in the United States but continues to lap the coast of Canada. Africa’s Great Green Wall may set an example.
When completed, the Great Green Wall of the Sahel would be the largest living structure on Earth – three times the size of the Great Barrier Reef. The 7,600 km (4,000 plus miles) natural wonder of the world may be visible from space. As the Great Green Wall evolves to benefit from traditional water conservation measures, countries of the Sahel may work together to rebuild and strengthen the fertility of the land and its treasured water resources, the Sahel may build more than a wall, but also a foundation.
Re-greening the world. Image: “Nursery stock of spruce for afforestation.” Wikimedia commons.
“Building the Great Green Wall,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v-cphSne_HIPA. Accessed 24 June 2020.
Davidson, Frank P., Kathleen Lusk Brooke, with Cherie E. Potts. Building the Future. pages 35-59. Cambridge: 2012.
Meirelles, Fernando. “Great Green Wall.” Film from creator of City of God and The Constant Gardner, Oscar Nominee, and United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, with Inna Modja and music collaborators Didier Awadi, Songhoy Blues, Waje, and Betty G. FILM LINK: https://www.greatgreenwall.org/film
United Nations. United Nations Convention To Combat Desertification: In Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa. See especially Article 3: “Principles” and Article 10: “Organizational framework of subregional action programs.” https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/relevant-links/2017-01/UNCCD_Convention_ENG_0.pdf
United Nations, Convention to Combat Desertification. “The Great Green Wall Initiative.” https://www.unccd.int/actions/great-green-wall-initiative/
Image: Manhattan Bridge, New York, without traffic. Image:wikimedia
Does it take a crisis to cause change? Since the coronavirus pandemic pushed the global pause button, emissions of CO2 have fallen by 50% compared with the same time last year. A drop in methane has also been noted. “This is the cleanest I have ever seen New York City,” noted Professor Roisin Commane of Columbia University and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. It’s not just clearer skies over the Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge. Cities across the USA including Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seattle are notably improved. Benton MacKaye, proposer of the Appalachian Trail, and Frederick Law Olmstead, designer of Central Park in New York and the “Emerald Necklace” series of linked parks in Boston, shared the vision of a city that can breathe. Parks help but may not be enough. Can we learn from the global pause to create new options to aid the environment?
Boston’s “Emerald Necklace” view of the Fens. Image: wikimedia.
European Space Agency’s Sentinel-5P satellite shows atmospheric levels of nitrogen dioxide, due in large part to car and truck emissions, were lower over Los Angeles, a city with some of the highest smog levels. Descartes Labs, a geospatial analysis firm, reports that quantifying effects of the global shutdown on pollution will encourage more study. INRIX, a research firm monitoring traffic data from vehicle and telephone navigation systems, reported that roads were seeing a 70% improvement in congestion and on-time arrivals.Far from an escape, space is proving to be a viewing window to see Earth as a system.
ESA Sentinel-5P. Space gives us an eye on the Earth. Image: wikimedia.
While any environmental improvement, even if short-term, is beneficial, this shut-down is not the answer to climate change. Traffic will rebound eventually, and the devastation of public health, the suffering of the afflicted, and the economic wounds of the shut-down will be serious. But meanwhile, can we use the period of the coronavirus to find ways to reemerge from this time with a new plan? What aspects of telework will prove viable? Some experts are calling for periodic pauses to give the Earth a Sabbath.
In 1972, Christopher Stone published the seminal work “Should Trees Have Standing?” regarding arboreal rights. Some say “Should Trees Have Standing?” began the environmental movement). There is emerging precedent: some rivers now have legal rights. The Whanganui River was granted rights of personhood in New Zealand; in India, the Yamuna River by the Taj Mahal joined the sacred Ganges in personhood. Bolivia established “LEY DE DERECHOS DE LA MADRE TIERRA: Law of Rights of Mother Earth.” Is this something new, or remembered? Granting personhood to Nature may be a return to the ancient myths, present in every culture, of water and nature spirits. Is it something we once knew?
Arboreal dryad. Image: wikimedia
Determining how to protect and sustain forests, restore burned or hacked ones, plant new ones, will surely be a critical part of the future. The Amazon forest, and the great forests of Africa, may look to many possible approaches. One path may be found in Benton MacKaye’s article “An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning.” Brazil might consider neighbor Colombia where established rights for the Atrato River also granted rights for the surrounding Amazon forest; it is an intergenerational pact. Will Bolivia’s “Law of Rights of Mother Earth” lead the way ? Are these the voices of the future?
Las actividades humanas, en el marco de la pluralidad y la diversidad, deben lugar equilibrios dinámicos con los ciclos y procesos inherentes a la Madre Tierra.
Climate Interactive. “C-ROADS” – a downloadable (and free) computer simulator that helps recognize long-term climate impacts of actions regarding greenhouse gases, including the importance of forests. By John Sterman, Todd Fincannon, Elizabeth Sawin, Andrew Jones, and Climate Interactive team. https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/c-roads/
Stone, C.D. “Should trees have standing? – Toward legal rights for natural objects.” Southern California Law Review 45 (1972), pp. 450-501.
Stone, C.D. Should Trees Have Standing? Law, Morality, and the Environment. 3rd edition, 2010 (originally published in 1973). Oxford University Press. ISBN-13: 978199736072; ISBN-10: 0199736073.
Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported Lice
Trees, Rivers, and the Evolution of Inclusive Rights. Image: “Willow in Japanese Garden, Bloedel Reserve, Bainbridge, WA, USA” by Photographer Geaugagrri, 2007. Wikimedia.
Legal rights, including recent developments regarding “personhood” of rivers like New Zealand’s Whanganui, India’s Ganges and Yamuna, and others soon to follow, may be seen as milestones in history, of the most inclusive definition of civilization. Human rights are still evolving; but what about animal and planetary rights, like water, or the rights of earth itself? Some credit Benton MacKaye, forester and originator of the Appalachian Trail proposed in a 1921 article. Others point to the work of Christoper B. Stone whose article and book, Should Trees Have Standing? Toward Legal Rights For Natural Objects, launched an awareness of Nature’s legal rights that eventually reached the United States Supreme Court. Many date the birth of the environmental movement to Stone’s seminal paper published during a time when deforestation began to trouble the erudite reader of Darwin, Service, and Marshall. As a lawyer, Stone noted that many entities other than humans have been granted rights: Corporations, Church, State, for example. In our present era of climate change, forestation is one of the key determinants of the future, and a central feedback driver in climate systems including C-ROADS, a simulator guiding the COP21 Paris Agreement. As we continue to improve climate and rights, we may find inspiration in the work of Christoper Stone that traces “history through each successive extension of rights.”
Climate Interactive. “C-ROADS” – a downloadable free computer simulator that helps us recognize the long-term climate impacts of actions that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By John Sterman, Todd Fincannon, Elizabeth Sawin, Andrew Jones, and team. https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/c-roads/
MacKaye, Benton. “An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning.” Journal of American Institute of Architects, 9 (October 1921(: 325-30.
MacKaye, Benton. The New Exploration: A Philosophy of Regional Planning. 1928
Stone, Christoper D. Should Trees Have Standing?: Law, Morality, and the Environment. 3rd edition, 2010 (originally published 1973). Oxford University Press (ISBN-13: 9780199736072; ISBN-10:0199736073.
Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported Licen
