Fill some sandbags? Buddy would have been happy to help!
Someone’s been dropping pallets of black-wrapped stuff along the waterfront street in our town. When I got close I saw the little signs saying “Property of the city. If you need sandbags, please visit the Fire Station.”
Yes, under those black coverings are orange bags filled with sand. Altogether the town has stored 7,000 bags along the waterfront. A few shop owners are already unpacking the nearest pallet and laying the sandbags along the edge of their property.
They know where to put them. Last December a combination of a king tide, melting snow, onshore winds, and (who knew?) low barometric pressure sent water into parking lots, basements and a restaurant’s kitchen along the town’s waterfront. These long orange rows are ugly, but they send a visual signal that our town is getting ready for the next threat from global warming.
Sandbags look cheap
There’s something very satisfying about fighting floods with sandbags. It’s a primitive physical contest, humans against water with easily visible wins and losses. There are a few subtleties that can make the wins more likely.
Someone has to fill the bags (one-third full), fold over (not tie) the opening, lay them out, and maybe jump up and down on then to make a tight seal,
It tales a lot of bags to be effective - 800 to seal a hundred foot length one foot high, 3,400 to make that a three-foot height. We need pallets, a forklift, and a big truck to handle all that weight. (30 or 40 bags can overload a pick-up truck.)
As sandbags divert threatening water, the new flow can cause erosion, harming other properties and natural water barriers. In addition to keeping a lookout for leaks, watching for damage is important.
Even with a well-built wall of sandbags, we should still have pumps. Those walls can leak!
The sandbags look primitive and cheap. But there are big costs.
- 5,000 poly sandbags, 50 pallets and pallet cover: $9,000.
- Sand bagger machine: $52,000.
- 8,000lb forklift: $40,000. Rental $2,400/mo.
- 18,000lb flatbed trailer rental $1,200/mo.- 4” portable pump: $35,000. Rental option $1,800 monthly,
not to mention the sand and the labor needed to fill them, plus eventual disposal of the sand and bags.
Another reason for building local defenses now
Many protections against climate threats, especially those caused by heat or water, can only be created at the local, even the family, level. But today some of the funding can come from Washington.
Aside from Mother Nature’s threats, there’s a new hazard this week which could someday throw protection costs fully into the laps of towns and cities. The new Speaker of the House elected this week by the Republicans has a first priority to rescind most of the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, the huge legislation to nationally fight climate change that’s already funding lots of local adaptation efforts. If those federal funds get yanked away, climate protections will be thrown more and more into the hands of local and state budgets.
Other visual changes coming
Beyond sandbags, we’ll be seeing more adaptation signals over time and across the country. Like a Where’s Waldo picture, we can look carefully to see subtle preparations and protections. I’ll be pointing some out in future newsletters.
Obvious or subtle, do you see any preparations being made in your community to protect against climate threats? Please leave a comment about them.
LEARN, THINK, ACT
An aside: with this issue I’m starting to experiment with different subjects and formats. This is the second anniversary of Buddy’s and my effort, and Substack’s statistics tell me about those 100-plus letters. Time for a reassessment.
The percentage of subscribers who open ClimateDog is double the average for all Substack newsletters! I appreciate this, though I ascribe it to a desire to see Buddy’s photo!
The percentage of readers who click a link in ClimateDog is pretty low. This suggests that the links I include are not useful to most readers. I’m going to reduce them for a while.
I’ve almost never heard, via a comment or otherwise, of a reader actually taking one of my recommendations to join, protest, rally, lobby, organize etc. I believe most subscribers are looking for the lesser-known facts Buddy and I tried to sniff out more than the what-we-can-do recommendations.
At 1,000 words average, ClimateDog is longer than most newspaper columns and other popular reading. I’m going to cut the letter down for a while.
After two years, ClimateDog has yet to receive subscribers due to a mention in a larger newsletter or other publication. I’m working to find ways to attract the notice of some wide-circulation publications.
There are a few other changes I’m going to experiment with.
Please, please let me have your thoughts on these and other ways to improve ClimateDog, either by clicking on the Comment button above or emailing me at dstookey@gmail.com. Thanks!