Coastal cities may soon be underwater. Before big cities drown, they should USE that water to make electricity!
A group of architects have developed a proposal for a series of floating docks for New York City that would contain turbines underneath them, where they couldn’t be seen, which would produce electricity by churning up the water and eventually power all the streetlights in the city.
They would also give residents a place to relax and enjoy the water, since the city has almost 600 miles of waterfront property, most of it inaccessible. In LiveScience.com, Charles Q. Choi quotes architect Richard Garber as saying, “Many times, you can stand on the corner of 42nd St. and Park Ave. in Manhattan and have no idea you’re on an island, with the idea of the waterfront lost. A big picture goal here is that via clean energy, one can heighten awareness of the water.”
But New York is not quick to make decisions (they still haven’t built anything in the hole that was once the World Trade Center towers). However, other cities around the world are taking notice. While New York’s city planners haven’t contacted the research group yet, Choi quotes Garber as saying, “people from other cities internationally have.”
No matter how cities are powered in the future, they may become bare, concrete places if their local plant life keeps going extinct. An international team of botanists has investigated the extinction rates of plants in 22 cities around the world and found that some places are doing better than others: Both Singapore and New York City now have less than 10% of their original vegetation, but San Diego and Durban, South Africa still have over 60% of their original plants.
On BBC News, Matt Walker quotes researcher Amy Hahs as saying, “Plants and people can coexist in urban areas. We just need to consider vegetation as a long-term investment rather than as a disposable asset.”
“Mankind is trapped. I want to help you spring the trap.””The veil between the worlds can fall. The undiscovered country can become your backyard.””Your destiny, each of you, is to become all of God.”As the ocean water continues to rise around us, find out who said the provocative words that first alerted Whitley to the facts about global warming, which he then wrote about in his book which became the hit film The Day After Tomorrow.
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