Hi Debra, This is a very important point, and if it isn't answered ASAP, plenty of shovel ready projects will get built by recovery-eager local leaders. For coastal adaptation, FEMA, TNC, and many others now advocate nature-based solutions for resilience, but to my knowledge, no one has answered the question - if we don't build a seawall, we're going to need XX acres or square miles of dunes. The Lower East Side Park in Manhattan provides a cautionary example - the BIG U won Rebuild by Design's competition with a park, but in the permitting / construction drawing phase, the City decided it wasn't feasible and then proposed to demolish the existing park, lift it up several feet, and rebuild (effectively a park on a seawall rather than a nature based solution).
I've written a perspective paper on the implications of green infrastructure for municipal finance and social justice. It cites many papers, including Mary Ruckelshaus and colleagues (below) show the limits of what wetlands can do for coastal protection. I'm all for nature based solutions - but we need to get real about what that means for what it's going to take, and it's not just an easy technological swap. Shi, L. (2020). Beyond flood risk reduction: How can green infrastructure advance both social justice and regional impact? Socio-Ecological Practice Research, 2(4), 311–320. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-020-00065-0 (open access) Ruckelshaus MH, Guannel G, Arkema K, Verutes G, Griffin R, Guerry A, Silver J, Faries J, Brenner J, Rosenthal A (2016) Evaluating the benefits of green infrastructure for coastal areas: location, location, location. Coastal Manag 44(5):504–516. https://doi.org/10.1080/08920753.2016.1208882 Linda ________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Debra Javeline <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2021 1:15 PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [gep-ed] RE: Opinion: We Don't Need More Life-Crushing Steel and Concrete Dear colleagues, Biden announced new commitments on climate action today, and it reminded me that I received not a single response to my query below about the Biden infrastructure plan. I wonder why. If the climate plans and the infrastructure plans are not integrated, how can the climate plans succeed? Is no one conducting research on the ideal infrastructure for a climate-altered planet? All the best, Debra From: Debra Javeline <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Thursday, April 15, 2021 10:36 AM To: '[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>' <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: Opinion: We Don’t Need More Life-Crushing Steel and Concrete Dear colleagues, Paul Greenberg and Carl Safina have a compelling op-ed in the NYT, “We Don’t Need More Life-Crushing Steel and Concrete: The long-term needs of ecosystems should come before our knee-jerk expectations about infrastructure<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/opinion/infrastructure-biden-nature.html?fbclid=IwAR3sdOmAFMVPOp5vSgBUfgUBUP2zo4BlQ1O9pU71iEmnSYW3warBXHO5F5Q>.” Is there any scholarship related to this topic? Presumably, those focused on climate change even within Biden’s own government understand the potential harms of an infrastructure program that ignores climate issues, but is there a holistic approach, with the infrastructure people talking to the climate-concerned? And is the conversation informed by good research on what infrastructure should be rebuilt to maximize mitigation and adaptation efforts? Does such research exist? Suggestions for specific publications would be most welcome. All the best, Debra ***** Debra Javeline Associate Professor | Department of Political Science | University of Notre Dame | 2060 Jenkins Nanovic Halls | Notre Dame, IN 46556 | tel: 574-631-2793<tel:(574)%20631-2793> Fellow, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies<http://kroc.nd.edu/>, Kellogg Institute for International Studies<http://nd.edu/~kellogg/>, Nanovic Institute for European Studies<http://nanovic.nd.edu/> Core faculty, Russian and East European Studies Program<http://germanandrussian.nd.edu/russian/faculty/program-faculty/RussianandEastEuropeanStudies.shtml> Affiliated faculty, Notre Dame Environmental Change Initiative<http://environmentalchange.nd.edu/> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/8b77e9b1c5fed4acdfcc5d8923e55a1e%40mail.gmail.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/8b77e9b1c5fed4acdfcc5d8923e55a1e%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/CH2PR04MB7080C069BC7FEA1361F5F173C9469%40CH2PR04MB7080.namprd04.prod.outlook.com.
