The Unexpected Aids and Obstacles Nature Brings

When working on redundant projects I like to listen to podcasts, it allows the time to go by and inspires me to write. This past month I’ve been listening to “Overheard at National Geographic” , an episode about the Towers of Ladakh got me interested in how often humans have to create solutions due to nature’s cycle. It got me thinking that though nature can be unexpectedly hindering, it also has provided us with many answers. In this post, I compare two situations where nature has been an inconvenience and where it has assisted. 

The first story takes place in Ladakh, a region located in northern and eastern Kashmir and is one of the highest regions in the world. It is filled with beautiful high plains, deep valleys, brackish lakes and glaciers. The climate is very dry and cold due to its high altitude and has only about 80mm of precipitation every year. Ladakh sits on a mountain range that neighbours the Himalayas, these mountains block most of the rain clouds leaving Ladakh to be in the rain shadow of the Himalayas. Due to this low precipitation, Ladakh depends immensely on the meltwater of glaciers for irrigated agriculture. As the glaciers reside at a much higher altitude than the villages, the meltwater comes very late in the year. In addition, climate change has started to shrink the glaciers, causing the meltwater to come even later. This has caused a regular problem of water scarcity for up to 8 months every year in Ladakh. Villages most need the water melt during cultivation period in spring, yet that is the time where water is scarce.

In 2015, an engineer from Ladakh, SonamWangchuk  realized that the reason the glaciers were melting was not due to the warmth of sun, but the direct sunlight. Sonam started working on creating a solution to this issue. To help him with this project, he got Ladakhi kids who were failing traditional school, and who had joined the school he created where students are able to work together to solve problems. The goal of Sonam and his team was to find a way to store ice until spring to aid with the water shortage. As they observed how ice melted, they realized that they had to limit the surface area of the glacier which was exposed to direct sunlight. Therefore, Sonam thought of creating a cone shaped glacier, as it had a small tip but still a large volume of water. The next challenge was building a giant cone glacier. Sonam and his students used concepts from water hydraulics to do this: the use of gravity to direct water. The idea was to hang a sprinkler type apparatus from a tall frame, and as the water droplets fell, they would freeze and eventually create a cone shape. Instead of creating a boring cone shape, Sonam decided to create glaciers in a stupa shape. A stupa is a type of Buddhist structure that represents enlightenment, it was something the villagers could relate to more. Sonam and his students went on to build several ice stupas in Ladakh,which have now proven to stay until August. Every year, the stupas provide ample amounts of water to the villagers in Ladakh, hence solving their water shortage issue.

 

In the previous paragraph, I talked about how the villages of Ladakh found a mechanical solution to a natural problem which was occurring. This is very common, as nature is unpredictable and cannot always be controlled by humans. However, in this next story, humans used a natural solution to fix a major societal problem which was happening in the United Kingdom (UK). 

 

Every year the UK gets a huge rainfall with an average of 88.5cm which results in floods, rivers overflowing and troubling damages. February 2020 was the fifth wettest month since 1862, with one in six homes at risk of flooding . The increase and irregularity in rainfalls recently is likely due to the worsening climate around the globe. However, the UK needs to improve its flood risk management to protect people’s homes and their cities. It has posed a severe societal issue where many homes are damaged, and roads are inaccessible. There are several types of flooding which affect the UK, they include river flooding, surface water flooding, coastal flooding and drain and sewer flooding. As the water from the floods reach the food plains , the water moves from uplands to lowland due to gravity and reaches the communities. The current measures being taken by the UK government involve building flood and coastal defenses , flood storage reservoirs , land management and portable defences. 

 

The use of woodlands has now entered the discussion for a new possible flood management technique in the UK. A woodland is defined as a forest which acts as a transition zone between ecosystems, in the UK most woodlands consist of conifers and broad-leaved trees. The most significant feature of trees which aid in flood management is their roots. The root systems allow water to penetrate deeper into soil, at a faster rate since they absorb the water. A research conducted by the Dartmoor Headwaters Nature Flood Management Project showed that in areas where new woodlands were planted, the ability for soil to take in water from rainfall was double that of the areas without trees. This means more water from rainfalls will be absorbed in the soil instead of staying above the surface. The roots and underground structure of woodlands also aids in blocking the flood flows such as the passage of rainwater to streams and rivers. A study on the role of woodland in flood control by the UK forestry department calls this the ‘sponge effect’, as the woodland’s soils hold back and delay the rainwater passage. This is due to the open structure of the woodland soils, it contains high amounts of organic matter, large tree roots, soil fauna and macropores which transmit the rainwater to deep depths quickly. They suggest using woodlands as buffers along streams and rivers, to prevent rapid run-off. Another feature of a woodland which aid in flood management are canopy of leaves, branches, and trunks. As the rain will first be intercepted by the canopy, some of the precipitation will be evaporated, therefore reducing the amount of rain on the ground. Creating more woodlands in the UK can significantly reduce the damages caused by the rainfalls. It’s a solution which does not only improve UK’s overall environment, but also aids their communities. 

 

After researching two contrasting issues and their solutions, it is evident that nature plays a crucial role in our lives. Sometimes, it can cause inconvenience such as in Ladakh where water was scarce or the flooding in UK. In Ladakh, humans had to come up with their own mechanical issues, while in the UK, they were able to use nature's strength to create a solution. Even in our own lives, there are times where we curse the cold wind which froze our face while waiting for the bus, and times where we thank the warm sun for lighting up our room. Whether nature is aiding or hindering, it will always be part of our world, so we must learn to work alongside it, not against. 

 

 

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