#Stormwaterabsorption #heatmitigation #naturehabitat #oceanfrontnaturalbeauty
2min36sec video
A tale of two oceanfront vacant lots. Both are privately owned and not intended by their owners for the public to use.
#1 is kept mowed super short, which is costing money & energy needlessly, and reducing natural beachfront beauty while compromising Mother Nature’s highly effective “sponge” of heat mitigation, drought buffer, erosion control, & stormwater absorption.
#2 is a classic wild oceanfront dune-meadow of grasses & wildflowers, offering sustenance to many birds & other species. And for humans, it offers improved stormwater absorption, heat mitigation, erosion control, drought buffer, and natural beachside beauty!
The beachside is a barrier island, actually a giant sand-dune!! What we do with restoration of natural landscapes on the beachside has great potential to rebuild the SPONGE function, which can greatly help mitigate the deadly flooding on the mainland!! (and also help mitigate the heat and drought on the beachside). Plus, when people come to the beach, they expect it to look BEACHY!!
A fellow activist asked what we might be able to do to shift the landscape.
It seems to need a multi-faceted approach, for example:
- my little signs recognizing nature landscaping seem to be having some effect, in terms of giving moral support to people who are doing a good thing
- in local govt, landscaping maintenance policies are determined by multiple departments, and we are attempting to communicate w as many of the departments as possible to find leverage points
- citizens are invited & encouraged to attend the Beautification tree advisory board meetings which are the first Tuesday of every month at 4 PM
- I have had also some success by communicating at neighborhood watch group meetings in Daytona Beach specifically my home group BNW Beachside Neighborhood Watch, and our sister group on the other side of the bridge the Midtown Neighborhood Watch, regarding the importance of vegetation for heat mitigation and stormwater absorption.
- Further leverage points exist as well. Both the grasscutter industry and the lawn equipment manufacturing industry need to be somehow coaxed to see their self-interest in becoming more aware of the importance of the “sponge.” On this note, property owners/managers/stewards who have money-spending decisionmaking authority re landscaping decisions, have an essential role to play.