Barrier Reefs Cheaper Better than Levis and Dikes

Louisiana has a plan to spend $50,000,000,000 to build new levee systems to protect cities and even begin to slowly reverse the trend of eroding marsh. Instead, they can

Build a barrier reef!

Combine a series of giant wind turbines with a metal mess linking them and then supply a little electricit­y to the metal mess and send the rest of the electricit­y to New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast.

There is some proven technology called BIO-ROCK that can get 2 inches of coral growth per year.

news.nationalgeographic.com...

and if you are wondering if coral will grow off Louisiana check out this map:

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Just a note coral is a CO2 sequesteri­ng machine! A barrier reef would give protection to the Louisiana coast & create habitat for marine life, improving fishing, create electricit­y, sequester CO2, and become a tourism destinatio­n.

All wins in my book.

We need to think differentl­y than just dikes and levies!

reply to post by Seanwalsh


I think that's a good plan and well thought out, the only problem you'll have is the cheaper part. TPTB will choose the most expensive way to do it, then have their companies do the work and get the pay.

reply to post by mileslong54


But this way will be more popular with the public!

Sinking some old decommissioned boats and ships make good reef starters.
Does not cost a whole lot of money to sink a ship.

Originally posted by Seanwalsh
reply to post by mileslong54

 

But this way will be more popular with the public!

Since when does the public matter, you can't even elect a President with the people's popular vote.

for this thread. Proposals made by governent could benefit from discussions by the general public who will be impacted the most by these decisions. Your thread starts that type of discussion. There could be many solutions and ones not even considered. Imho there needs to be much more planning, as most of the "projects" designed to fix things, make bigger messes and only "fix things", if they do, short term.

I read the thread title as Levi's and Dickie's (two blue jean companies.) Needless to say I was entirely confused throughout, until your last statement.

But yes, I totally agree, the coral reef idea is wonderful. This is the type of thinking that we need to push for, but is also the type of thing that has no immediate profit gains for certain companies, and so corruption will eventually prevail and the world as we know it will continue to degrade.

reply to post by Iamschist


The fixes also cost billions!

For some reason when I read the title of the thread I thought of jeans and lesbians and had to wonder where this was going in fragile earth. LOL.

If only we could get the reefs to develope faster but nature does what it does.

Until we can get nature to cooperate if you want to live near the water you have to expect to sometimes live IN the water. Fact of coastal living.

reply to post by Seanwalsh


This wont stop a storm surge because New Orleans is BELOW SEA LEVEL. That is why they needed the levies in the first place. Well not the only reason, they use levies up and down the coast and not all areas are like new orleans.
Coral reefs are good for the environment below the sea and are the best filters after the beloved oyster but as a source to protect coastlines from surges or tidal waves or tsunamies they just wont do the trick. You need something above the water, like a barrier island, to stop the water from coming ashore.

Originally posted by Skewed
Sinking some old decommissioned boats and ships make good reef starters.
Does not cost a whole lot of money to sink a ship.

The gulf is too deep for boat reefs. They would be over 10,000 ft down. The Mississippi delta, the area just off the LA coast is shallow due to the deposits from the muddy mississippi river but the rest of the gulf is very deep.
(remember Deep Water Horizon was the name of the oil platform?)

reply to post by karen61057


In storm surges though, the reefs break large waves. It's like a barrier island, but better for the economy.

Originally posted by karen61057
For some reason when I read the title of the thread I thought of jeans and lesbians and had to wonder where this was going in fragile earth. LOL.

Haha. nope I realized I spelled it wrong after.