Log #4

Some experts and researchers said that cutting down the emission would become useless to prevent sea level rising, and I think so too. Lessening the hurt can only slow down the destruction. Any of the environmental problems is not a piece of cake. It seems that the problem of sea level rising is too severe to be solved. Severe it is, each city in lower areas or polluted a lot comes up with its solution. There are two directions of their solution: green choice (optimistic) and gray choice (pessimistic).

Denmark(Lower Area)－Designing a lake for the use of detention pond.

The cities for green choice tend to be located in lower area. They might not be polluted a lot, but they have the risk at being submerged due to their geography weakness. Therefore, they would prefer the more eco-friendly solution to maintain their environment. Take Denmark for example. Denmark is a low-polluted country but it’s low-lying, so it has a chance to be swallowed by the ocean. The government decided to design a lake for the use of detention pond, which can not only be used as a recreation park in usual, but also increase planting to absorb water. What’s more, the street can lead surface runoff into the port to deal with the considerable rainwater. The city government has organized professional group and expects to solve the problem of sea level rising within these one hundred years.   

Shore of America－building embankment to defense the water

As for the gray solution, the city use whatever it can use to block itself from the overrising water. Embankment. Gate. Barrier. This kind of city is usually near the sea and has ports, such as the cities at shore of the US. The barrier is built to protect the city; however, the higher the sea level is rising, the more cities will be lower than the sea level. The whole city would be surrounded by water, and it’s hard to predict when the barrier would be defeated. The people would live in panic of not knowing when they would be drowned.

Howland－floating

Floating is another gray solution. Some countries have been severely submerged and water has flooding through the street. They choose to stay, so they come up with this solution－co-excision. The government plan to build “amphibious house” and “floating building.” These buildings are built on the water, so that people can live with water.

Taiwan is an island surrounded by the ocean. We are not submerged in current but we are ranked in high-risk countries to be submerged by the sea. Once the sea level rises up ten meters, 8.8% of Taiwan land will be submerged. It will be too late if we don’t take any action.