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Today is Earth Day, and tomorrow the weekly (USian) drought monitor updates (link is to the whole US; I generally look only at MA). We’re still in drought, albeit not as badly as some weeks ago, with slow progress as we do get some precipitation.

I was thinking, though, that while we can’t do much about what the weather brings us, there are some things that humans do control that can mitigate (or not), in how we use our spaces.

One example is that paved parking lots mean the skywater we do get is runoff, rather than being absorbed where it lands. If too much of the environment is paved, that can mean flash floods even when the absolute amount of water wouldn’t predict that. I saw that up close and personal years ago when a sudden storm left parts of Somerville underwater (I slogged through water that was half-way up my calves to get to my volunteer shift that day), while Cambridge, which has more unpaved space, was totally fine. (Some parts of Somerville tend towards having the spaces around various houses and triple deckers paved, so there’s no yard maintenance. Which means other challenges instead.)

Another example is how so many places have ‘drained the swamp’ (or other types of wetlands). Fewer mosquitos tend to be a win, but really, there’s a reason for wetlands in a lot of places: they act as sponges that can absorb a lot of water if necessary/available, then release it slowly over time, so it all gets somewhere useful.

A third example is that when soil is reduced to dirt, there’s a much greater possibility of flooding and erosion, because the soil has been degraded so much (from pesticides, fungicides, even commercial fertilizers, also repeated ploughing that disrupts many underground systems, etc.) that it’s more an inert growing medium, rather than a dynamic biosystem with not only plant roots, various underground dwellers (earthworms among them), and microbes, but also mycorrhizal fungi that make soil healthy and able to use the water that comes. As with so many other things, diversity leads to better soil health, leading to more resilient systems, and food with more nutrition.

The world feels like it’s all in flames. Given that, let’s think about rebuilding with systems that aren’t wholly extractive, but regenerative of the planet.

Some related reading:
Paradise Lot, Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates
Wilding, Isabella Tree
Grass, Soil, Hope, Courtney White
Dirt to Soil, Gabe Brown
The One-Straw Revolution, Masanobu Fukuoka
Deeply Rooted, Lisa M. Hamilton
Farming While Black, Leah Penniman
A Call to Farms, Jennifer Grayson
The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer