Week at Carson

      Going into our third week, our group was placed at Carson Beach in Dorchester. Our group had decided that we would make a video for our weekly deliverable, but with only two days at this site, we had time against us. On the first day, we had mostly all of our script done, we wanted to be able to include everyone in the group so we would all speak on a different topic concerning Carson beach. I specifically had to talk about the tides and how the gravitational pull of the moon affected the way the tides at Carson Beach worked. But being able to describe this and more in a short bite-sized video was challenging. The day after, our group had traveled to Spectacle island which had been my first time going in about a year, we weren't the only ones going on the trip which made the trip much more enjoyable. We collected sea glass and walked around the island, taking in the beauty of nature. We even ended up seeing a turkey which to me was shocking. I wondered how did this turkey even ended up getting here? For our final day at the site, we had the whole day to record our video, which meant we had free time to do whatever we needed, we ended up using this free time to plan out our deliverables for next week which would end up saving time for us on our Monday meetings. Overall this week turned out to be a blast and I enjoyed the extra time with my group!

Boston from Spectacle island

                                         

       Considering that our site location was a beach, it is important to talk about climate resiliency and how the increase of seawater levels due to global warming is going to affect future generations. With the rise in water levels, most of South Boston is going to be in trouble considering that this land is not natural, being man-made the natural elevation of most of Boston is barely at sea level with the highest point being only 14 feet above the water. Boston is the fifth most vulnerable city to flooding in America. So if the water would rise a couple of inches then a good portion of Boston would go underwater. However, there are ways to combat this, for locations such as Carson Beach where storm surges are prevalent, natural resources such as rocks or sands can act as a natural barrier that absorbs these sudden waves from coming in. The beach itself already works as a natural barrier in the prevention of flooding, with the sand working as a method to stop the rise in water. Another method that could be implemented is the usage of storm drains, just like the ones Spectacle island the storm drains could be a huge impact on taking out water from the city if it were to ever flood in certain locations. This storm drains could be the difference between major and minor floodings. Even though the increase in sea levels might be working at a slower pace, it does not mean that we should not prepare for this. With the right amount of funds and the correct thinking, our community should be able to combat this. After all, this isn't our first city-wide project.

This is what the sea level rise in Boston would look like

Until next time,
Albert!