Posted on 09/02/2017 3:01:40 PM PDT by Ennis85
Earlier this week, I was holed up on high ground in Houston, riding out what meteorologists are calling an unprecedented flooding disaster brought on by Hurricane Harvey. My place has, so far, stayed relatively dry. But I have had to step out to lend a folding ladder to a friend who drove a circuitous route to borrow it to fix his gutters and lessen the chances of water cascading into his home. Other friends are stranded on the second floors of their homes, crossing their fingers that waters don’t rise; many more are on their roofs awaiting rescue or already in shelters.
I am an organiser and working group leader with the Houston chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, a left political group. I came to organising via reproductive justice work with the Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity, an abortion fund that serves south and western Texas. In all of my work, I’ve always focused on the needs of the most vulnerable people. And in Houston, they are suffering – largely because of political choices Texan lawmakers have made. While nature is not political, the way natural disasters unfolds is. Houston’s low-income and black and brown communities will bear the brunt of Harvey’s destruction and will suffer the most when rebuilding efforts are underway. After all, the severity of this storm’s impact was, on some level, the result of political choices.
Decades of climate change denial and a refusal to prioritise (or even consider) prairie land conservation by the Harris County Flood Control District, have contributed to the region’s over-development.Since Tropical Storm Allison devastated Houston in 2001, Harris County has paved over substantial amounts of switch grass prairie, covering what were once absorbent switch grass lands with impermeable concrete.
(Excerpt) Read more at pressreader.com ...
Ennis85, why do you think we on FR are interested in what Irish Socialists think?
Nothing wrong with a bit of laughable crap every now and then.
The poor still get their monthly check. What about the working class people whose places of employment are gone?
Real cost falls on those least prepared.. those without insurance, those that don’t plan, those that vote democrat..
“I think I thought I saw you try”
“Consider this”
“Consider this, the hint of the century”
“Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you”
“But that was just a dream”
Ahhhhhh.....
An abortion advocate advocating for fewer people.
Funny how they never consider themselves part of the problem.
How many slaughtered until the socialists are happy?
He can even round his number to the nearest billion.
Permeable concrete is available.
The headline is written by Captain Obvious.
It is a given that the high ground in any region will be largely the property of those with more resources, and that when things do go badly, those with the resources will use them to do what they have to do to move or deal with the challenges.
Hey, permeable concrete works great, but it does have to be properly built and properly maintained.
You need a 1” to 2” inch crushed rock gravel bed underneath it about 3 to 4 feet deep (for a large parking lot) and good sandy permeable soil beneath that.
Then with proper maintenance you will NEVER have a puddle on it.
For sidewalks I would recommend 2 feet of 3/4 inch crushed rock below 4 inches of permeable concrete.
I know from experience (no, I don’t sell the product) and it has to be installed by somebody who really knows the product and how to place it.
I saw this during one of our El Ninos, we got 14 inches in a little over 12 hours, the permeable surfaces I had installed worked great, NO PUDDLES, NO COMPLAINTS (the city streets were about 14 to 16 inches deep over the curbs in most locations).
Bearing in mind that MOTHER NATURE can overwhelm and defeat any system that mankind can come up with, but with the proper type soils (must be highly permeable to a good depth) and good design, Permeable Concrete is a good solution for a lot of problems.
rain falls on the just and the unjust
With a name like “Harvey” you know the storm has to be racist. Name the next one “Quaneesha” and everything will be OK.
And there's where you can stop reading.
yep, water takes the path of least resistance and stone has a known compaction rate.
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