Thinking about Easy City 2: The Environment

[helgatwb]

All I can say about the environment around New Orleans, is that it won't be easy to fix, at least not now. If something were put into place to deal with the river a long time ago, so that people were used to it, it would make a lot of this easier.

One thing that needs to happen is the river needs to change its bed. Right now, it would be a logistical nightmare. The main problem, is, of course, the people. They don't want to deal with it. If the buildings had been built correctly, from the start, so that flooding wouldn't cause the property damage it causes now, it wouldn't be a problem.

Comments

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> This is seriously all making sense, now. I can see this happening, and, frankly, I would like to live in Easy City. <<

Yay! *happydance* Then I'm doing it right. Thanks everso for your help.

>> I was thinking that a responsible person with earth powers would be more inclined to work with the environment, rather than against it, but maybe that's just me. <<

That tends to be true. It's a valid trend, although not an absolute. It also helps if someone has the enhanced perceptions, which often but not always come with superpowers like this. Mudslinger does.

>> One thing, though. The ground around here is extremely soft. It's like gelatin. <<

I would've said like a sponge. It's different in different places -- some sand, some clay, some silt, and the marsh or once-marsh can have a bog-mix with much higher plant content -- based on what the river has laid down. All of which behave a little differently if you press on them or shake them, and have different characteristics when wet or dry.

A key distinction between superpowers and construction equipment is that Earth Powers can lay down groundwork that is almost identical to natural groundwork. It's not just a ridge of topsoil dumped and sort of tamped in place. It's a handmade riverbank with the same pattern of interwoven grains and gravel, which will hold place much better. You also have the option of putting sand and gravel in your drainways, using water-resistant clay as cores for channel guides, and other fancy stuff. You could use stone, but in this locale it would just sink, and bringing up that much from bedrock would be a bad idea -- too much alteration messes with an environment.

Another crucial factor is plant cover. WTF you do not sow lawn grass on levees and greenbanks. You need native marsh or dune grasses, or local broadleaves, with massive root systems. Very little will wash away if it's nailed down by a billion live fibers. Likewise rain gardens capture and filter water. So there's another slow-growing process: teaching people to appreciate and use native plants, not imported crap.

>> Otherwise, when floods came, the caskets would be unburied. There are lots of places where the cemeteries don't have crypts, and it's usually okay, but they do flood from time to time, and caskets can end up in weird places. <<

Yyyyyyeah, that was a huge problem after Hurricane Katrina. Lots of dead people got shook up and made trouble that was a pain in the ass to settle down again. I had people asking me clear up here if I had ideas for fixing it. The local folks who knew how were, of course, mostly in shelters and some scattered across the country. I expect the damage would've been less in Easy City with its better development.

>> Mudslinger would definitely have to keep that in mind. If he's a native, he'll know this, already. <<

Native born and bred. So are Stormtreader and Lagniappe.