Our Idea to Minimize Floods
By: Elaine Jarbou, Kwesi Odame Eghan, and Kira Simmons
DEFINE
Floods are one of the most recurring natural disasters in Canada, Netherlands, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and many more countries. Floods are not only dangerous, but they can be severely damaging. Floods cause houses to be wrecked, cars to be damaged, traffic cones and signs to be torn out, and worst of all, floods leave people with nothing. What causes floods are heavy rainfall, hurricanes, the breaking of dams and the rapid melting of snow or ice. Cities that are near rivers, lakes, and oceans are more likely to be flooded because the water rises when a rainstorm occurs. How might these cities prepare themselves you ask? Well, they take precautions to shut off the electrical heat, natural gas, or any heating equipment before the flood. The electricity also needs to be turned off when the fuse box is dry before the flood hits. They move their important papers to the basement and their furniture to the side as well. That seems like a lot of work with a lot of stress that comes with it. Which leads you to our question. How might we minimize flooding?
DISCOVER
In the past, people have been improving flood warning systems and placing water filtration in the sewers. Nowadays, we are thinking more about preventing floods rather than taking precautions after the flood has come. People are now thinking of green rooftop gardens. We like this idea because the plants absorb the heavy rainfall water when there are many plants. We think leaving drains clear of mud and debris will help the water go down the drains faster and smoother therefore preventing flooding. You may say it has already been done, however, our idea is to place more drains all around a village that is in danger of floods. Every household in the village will take care of one or two drains on their street. Cleaning the debris from the top of the drain and flushing it with water regularly. In addition to this idea the head of the village will be cleaning the inside of the sewage systems frequently. If everyone does their part, when a flood takes place, the water will smoothly go down the drains and into the river.
DELIVER
DEBRIEF
During the creation of the Minecraft Climate Solution Fluency project, we demonstrated great problem solving. We learned to think together and work together to potentially solve one climate problem going on in the world. Although we could have further improved our idea and made our work more detailed if we had been given more time to work as a team. I think we could have used the time given in class more wisely to complete the project as it was harder to complete during the weekend because we couldn’t meet up in person. I think overall we had good communication together and had no problem working together as there were no conflicts. The outcome of our Minecraft creation demonstrates clearly the idea we had in mind of preventing floods.
Work Cited:
https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/how-to-minimize-flooding.aspx
https://www.wavin.com/en-en/news-cases/news/10-measures-to-prevent-urban-flooding
Floods – What to do? (getprepared.gc.ca)
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/why-green-roofs
Photo Sites:
https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-riding-a-bicycle-during-rainy-day-763398/
https://www.pexels.com/photo/windows-and-doors-on-a-building-at-a-flooded-street-5216361/
Excellent explanation of how to address a climate problem important to you. It sounds like you created a script to guide your explanation. Great work discovering a solution to your issue and sharing the sources of your research. You included very effective media showing what your solution looks like. Awesome job. How could the knowledge you gained with this method help you in the future?
Thank you.