Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Let us know what you think at [email protected].
Welcome waters
A decade ago, on a peninsula on England’s Somerset coast, a group of scientists, engineers and conservationists asked a bold question: What if, instead of resisting the sea, we turned all this farmland into salt marsh and let it absorb water when the tide comes in? (As a bonus, in addition to lessening flooding, salt marshes capture carbon.) As the New York Times reports in a story shared by RTBC Membership Manager Mariel Lozada, farmers were paid to give up their land, and the sea was allowed to flood the peninsula.
Mariel says:
Always interesting to see different approaches to floods.
Free flow
With the Klamath River finally flowing free of dams, salmon have swum upstream to spawn — and they have been spotted in Oregon for the first time in more than a century, according to an LA Times story shared by Editorial Director Rebecca Worby. “It’s amazing,” said Ron Reed, a member of the Karuk Tribe. “That’s what we’ve prayed for.”
Becca says:
More good news about Klamath River salmon post-dam removal. It reminds me of these lines by Kea Krause from our Penobscot River story: “When you dam a river, it’s like flooding a house. Water pools and settles, as does sediment, and what you get is a warm, still environment, nothing like the lively, textured existence of a flowing river. But when you remove a dam, the river’s rebound is robust and swift.”
What else we’re reading
🫘 Africa fights rising hunger by looking to foods of the past — shared by Contributing Editor Michaela Haas from MIT Technology Review
🌅 Cheap Solar Panels Are Changing the World — shared by Rebecca Worby from The Atlantic
💸 Tax on Europe’s frequent flyers could raise €64bn a year – study — shared by Michaela Haas from The Guardian
In other news…
Earlier this year, Contributing Editor Peter Yeung attended the Skoll World Forum, where he conducted an inspiring series of video and podcast interviews. Their subjects ranged from community-based health care in Mali to Indigenous land stewardship in Indonesia to empowering young people to run for office in the US. Check out Peter’s thread with links to all the interviews.
