low-tech eco-fixes
May 19, 2022 12:23 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for examples of environmental remediation projects that could be (or are being) executed by communities without access to sophisticated tools, materials, or training. Bonus points if they are ocean, river, or lake related. Bonus-bonus points they use natural, renewable materials.
This could be projects that are already in motion or more speculative proposals.
This could be projects that are already in motion or more speculative proposals.
Permeable pavers or similar systems to keep runoff from going into streams and rivers is a good thing.
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:55 PM on May 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:55 PM on May 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
City of Seattle has a Rainwise program which helps homeowners install rain gardens. Excessive water slowly seeps back into the ground rather than into our combined sewer/storm water systems. During big weather events this means less overflow into Puget Sound using just plants and compost!
posted by Arctostaphylos at 1:27 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Arctostaphylos at 1:27 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
'Fire is medicine': the tribes burning California forests to save them
posted by caek at 1:30 PM on May 19, 2022
posted by caek at 1:30 PM on May 19, 2022
Organized mass watershed trash pickups come to mind.
posted by y2karl at 1:32 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by y2karl at 1:32 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
There are some plants that can remediate heavy metal contamination, and there's been some organized planting at coal fields and steel plants. Sorry I don't have links handy
posted by sepviva at 2:24 PM on May 19, 2022
posted by sepviva at 2:24 PM on May 19, 2022
https://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/stories/environment/on-impaired-rivers-reclaiming-native-habitat-one-mile-at-a-time
There are efforts to pull invasive tamarisk from the Colorado river watershed
posted by nickggully at 2:31 PM on May 19, 2022
There are efforts to pull invasive tamarisk from the Colorado river watershed
posted by nickggully at 2:31 PM on May 19, 2022
Beavers are being reintroduced to several areas in the US and UK, they appear to increase climate resilience and improve watersheds where they build their shit.
posted by furnace.heart at 2:34 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by furnace.heart at 2:34 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
very very small scale:
People in my city catch (and usually eat) crayfish/crawdads out of our streams, which are invasive here.
I see lots of people removing non-native invasive plants from ditches and path-ed public areas. I carry gloves in my backpack while biking in case I see Black Henbane (quite poisonous and invasive here), which most people don't have a glove with them to pull up, even if they recognize it. I feel like the amount of creeping bellflower and henbane has really started to go down in the areas I see regularly, from people doing a bit of maintenance in their neighbourhoods. It's nice.
posted by euphoria066 at 2:58 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
People in my city catch (and usually eat) crayfish/crawdads out of our streams, which are invasive here.
I see lots of people removing non-native invasive plants from ditches and path-ed public areas. I carry gloves in my backpack while biking in case I see Black Henbane (quite poisonous and invasive here), which most people don't have a glove with them to pull up, even if they recognize it. I feel like the amount of creeping bellflower and henbane has really started to go down in the areas I see regularly, from people doing a bit of maintenance in their neighbourhoods. It's nice.
posted by euphoria066 at 2:58 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
New Orleans has multiple living with water initiatives to encourage bioswales, rain gardens, etc. I think there’s actually an ordinance requiring new construction to have a water plan. Also, slightly further afield, there are coastal reconstruction efforts using oyster shells and Christmas trees.
posted by MadamM at 3:22 PM on May 19, 2022
posted by MadamM at 3:22 PM on May 19, 2022
A few people with buckets can mix sand/beachmix and let the plastic and styrofoam float to the surface to be picked out.
You can often find deposits of styrofoam beads or net fragments and such and they're a pain to remove piece by piece. But if you scoop up a little, then add half a bucket of water to that, much of the bad stuff should surface. Do this for a couple hours in a few places on the beach and you'll find sacks full of plastic and other junk.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 3:36 PM on May 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
You can often find deposits of styrofoam beads or net fragments and such and they're a pain to remove piece by piece. But if you scoop up a little, then add half a bucket of water to that, much of the bad stuff should surface. Do this for a couple hours in a few places on the beach and you'll find sacks full of plastic and other junk.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 3:36 PM on May 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
There was an FPP a little while back that is applicable to this question. Not everything shown is low-tech but all are interesting.
posted by Dip Flash at 4:05 PM on May 19, 2022
posted by Dip Flash at 4:05 PM on May 19, 2022
When I lived in the desert, we helped people install swales to redirect water back to the land. It’s not shown here, but about every 4 feet in the swale, we’d dig a hole and pack in old blue jeans or tshirts or wool skirts - any 100% natural fabric - which helped to hold the water longer which aided in absorption.
That and devoting the back stretch of one’s property to being a native flower patch also helped with bringing native pollinators back, and the roots in the ground helped to recondition the surrounding soil.
posted by Silvery Fish at 4:32 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
That and devoting the back stretch of one’s property to being a native flower patch also helped with bringing native pollinators back, and the roots in the ground helped to recondition the surrounding soil.
posted by Silvery Fish at 4:32 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
Dandelions are invasive in the bear preserve in Katmai, Alaska. I had a friend on a crew working there who had to pluck the flowers and buds and throw them away, over and over again, for several weeks. Interrupting the life cycle of the dandelion plant will ultimately mean there are no more dandelions.
Now, it'll take ten years of consistently getting mass quantities of dandelion flowers and buds every season before they go to seed, but it will work without complicated equipment, training, or herbicides. Eventually.
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:29 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
Now, it'll take ten years of consistently getting mass quantities of dandelion flowers and buds every season before they go to seed, but it will work without complicated equipment, training, or herbicides. Eventually.
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:29 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
"Environmental remediation" is a pretty high bar, but:
Seedbombing (guerilla gardening in general I suppose), though often more harm reduction than actual remediation.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 7:38 PM on May 19, 2022
Seedbombing (guerilla gardening in general I suppose), though often more harm reduction than actual remediation.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 7:38 PM on May 19, 2022
Here in Cape Town there are community run projects that use nets to keep rubbish from being washed into estuaries.
There are also private individuals who employ people who need jobs to regularly pick up the litter that washes up on the shores, and remove invasive alien vegetation.
They also hire local artists to create big wire sculptures of local animals that act as waste bins, that encourage people to pick up waste in the area and put it in the animal bin.
posted by Zumbador at 9:39 PM on May 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
There are also private individuals who employ people who need jobs to regularly pick up the litter that washes up on the shores, and remove invasive alien vegetation.
They also hire local artists to create big wire sculptures of local animals that act as waste bins, that encourage people to pick up waste in the area and put it in the animal bin.
posted by Zumbador at 9:39 PM on May 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
Some communities are working on legalizing/encouraging composting toilet systems; others already have. They dramatically reduce water use (flushing accounts for ~25% of household water usage) and the resulting compost adds nutrients and carbon matter to the soil, which encourages plant growth and improves the soil's ability to absorb and retain water. Compost toilets can be built cheap, and can even be operated as a public utility. I believe that's what SOIL is doing in Haiti - picking up buckets to be composted in a central neighborhood facility. I suspect it's cheaper than building and maintaining a sewer system.
posted by sibilatorix at 1:12 PM on May 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by sibilatorix at 1:12 PM on May 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
Norway isn't killing Freya, and is instead adoring this boat-crushing walrus who is perhaps eating many thousands of invasive oysters in exchange.
posted by aniola at 11:23 PM on July 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by aniola at 11:23 PM on July 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by hydropsyche at 12:40 PM on May 19, 2022 [2 favorites]