http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/27/coast-guard-approves-protective-sand-berms/?ref=earth
This article talks about a sand barrier being designed to protect parts of the Louisiana coast. Some of the targets are the mouth of the mississippi river and coastal islands near the coast. The Army Corps of Engineer and the Coast Guard are working together to create this quick fix. This will eventually lead to an even bigger barrier that is more permanent that will cover up to 65 miles of coast.
While i think this is good that there are solutions trying to be done, i feel like this will not work very well. i dont feel like simply building barriers is going to do much. it might protect the coast but it does not really fix the problem, the oil in the ocean. i also feel like if a hurricane comes then the oil out sitting in the ocean will get to the coast. I think the barriers are a good short term solution but eventually we will have to adress the real problem.
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The proposed barriers will be effective measures in confining the spill temporarily, but are only part of a solution to a much greater dilemma. They will be able to corral the oil into a penned off section, but will do nothing to actually remove it which should be the main focus. Considering the amount of money invested in the barriers alone, I think it would be more economically sound to use these funds to find a way to siphon, filter off, or somehow remove the toxic oil from the water. If the barriers are truly the only viable option, they should consider using them in a smaller amount and taking the rest of the money to investigate other means of curing the problem because sand barriers will certainly not be a sustainable option because of their potential to be destroyed of eroded by weathering and other means.
ReplyDeleteThe sand barrier does seem like a very duct tape solution to a possibly very dangerous problem. This comment may be naive but, if the barrier is made of sand then the oil goes into the sand and you still have to clean that up. I think that they should focus on treating the cause, not the symptoms.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is just a temporary solution to a much larger solution but for the time being at least something is being done to protect some of the critical areas of shore line. So on the whole overall of things I like that there is something being done.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that you proposed about this not being a permanent solution to a long term problem. The sand will only be able to hold a finite amount of oil, and the oil is going to keep flooding the ecosystem. We must go to the source of the issue and we must try to seal the oil leak. By doing this I agree that this will solve the problem forever. To be more economically friendly, as well we should tax the fuel and dirty fuel initiatives and use them to solve their problem. This is a great analysis followed by a great summary, and they wonderful illustrated how we must protect our environment. I agree that the only way to adequately stop this problem is by considering the long term gains in the short term.
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