Why rivers shouldn't look like this | It's Complicated

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  • Опубликовано: 25 янв 2023
  • The quintessential image of a river you might recognise from post cards and paintings - nice and straight with a tidy riverbank - is not actually how it is supposed to look.
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    It's the result of centuries of industrial and agricultural development. And it's become a problem, exacerbating the impact of both extreme flooding and extreme drought. Josh Toussaint-Strauss looks into how so many rivers ended up this way, and how river restoration is helping to reestablish biodiversity and combat some of the effects of the climate crisis.
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    #Rivers #Flooding #Drought #Dams #Nature #Engineering

Комментарии • 708

  • @DanePavitt
    @DanePavitt Год назад +2505

    Classic example of shifting baseline syndrome. We've been raised with a contemporary idea of what nature is supposed to look like, so we don't realise the natural complexity that's been lost

    • @rossanabachiorri833
      @rossanabachiorri833 Год назад +9

      Exactly 👍

    • @thepatriarchy819
      @thepatriarchy819 Год назад +10

      Stop crying about climate change

    • @harrybruijs2614
      @harrybruijs2614 Год назад +79

      @@thepatriarchy819 why?

    • @Noodelzmop
      @Noodelzmop Год назад +131

      @@thepatriarchy819 "Stop being worried about this thing that is causing problems"

    • @khanch.6807
      @khanch.6807 Год назад +63

      @@thepatriarchy819 Stop drinking oil money.

  • @dondoodat
    @dondoodat Год назад +2145

    The only rational strategy for human survival is working with nature, not constantly fighting it.

    • @phaedrussmith1949
      @phaedrussmith1949 Год назад +35

      Mother Nature bats last.

    • @cymraegpunk1420
      @cymraegpunk1420 Год назад +52

      In lots of situations yeah, I wouldn't put that as a blanket truth for all things.

    • @btudrus
      @btudrus Год назад +13

      " The only rational strategy for human survival is working with nature, not constantly fighting it. "
      You are right. But that would mean, that growing and eating plant would have to be banned.

    • @dondoodat
      @dondoodat Год назад +110

      @@btudrus
      No, it obviously wouldn't mean that at all.
      Dear oh dear.

    • @vascobranco5296
      @vascobranco5296 Год назад +5

      Nature started, it's a jerk

  • @lisam5744
    @lisam5744 Год назад +1267

    Here in Florida in the US, in the 1960s, they decided to straighten out and make canals of the winding Kissimmee River. Then after devastating flooding in the following decades, lack of water flowing southward and wildlife being affected, they decided to put it back the way it was. And spent billions of dollars to do it. Imagine if they'd just left it alone.

    • @bulatsagdullin
      @bulatsagdullin Год назад +10

      but Kissimmee River still looks very straight on the map. Doesn't look like they changed it back.

    • @hahafunnyname
      @hahafunnyname Год назад +22

      @@bulatsagdullin depending oh how recently they changed back the river, maybe google maps just didn't update the area yet

    • @sebastianm1901
      @sebastianm1901 Год назад +50

      Look at los Angeles river, it is just a glorified sewage drain

    • @Windows-pk6cp
      @Windows-pk6cp Год назад +4

      Instead of manually reshaping it, why didn't they just remove the levees?

    • @biggboi1025
      @biggboi1025 Год назад +15

      I work for the SFWMD. I can assure you that project should of cost a 5th of what it did, but we have highly inefficient government workers.
      Checkout the C44 project. Massive resvioir. But it leaks and they smoked the multi-million pump🤣.

  • @Joe-uv9jo
    @Joe-uv9jo Год назад +636

    This is why introducing Beavers back to British rivers is important, those small wooden dams which slow down water flow are made naturally by Beavers. They're master architects with water.

    • @PeloquinDavid
      @PeloquinDavid Год назад +34

      As a Canadian, I can only approve!

    • @randomchannel50
      @randomchannel50 Год назад +4

      Or why not just make sturdy damns and wehrs? Lol

    • @persebra
      @persebra Год назад +120

      @@randomchannel50 beavers are cheaper and always on the job

    • @alexbowman7582
      @alexbowman7582 Год назад +35

      And they make great hats.

    • @Mofunana
      @Mofunana Год назад +13

      ​@@alexbowman7582 💀

  • @ibfreely8952
    @ibfreely8952 Год назад +682

    Pretty crazy that you can solve most problems by just following what the Dutch are doing

    • @laphroditei6749
      @laphroditei6749 Год назад +2

      😭😭

    • @Skybar23
      @Skybar23 Год назад +50

      or just follow what nature intended rivers to be

    • @Markus_P
      @Markus_P Год назад +49

      as a German I would like to follow the Dutch regarding motorway speed limits and drug policy. Plus I would like our trains to be operated by NS (the dutch carrier)

    • @Tukkerrandy
      @Tukkerrandy Год назад +13

      @@Markus_P the sarcasm is strong with this one.

    • @frenchys_prospecting
      @frenchys_prospecting Год назад +26

      There’s two things I don’t like.
      Intolerance of other cultures and the Dutch

  • @pstudios4563
    @pstudios4563 Год назад +299

    I think it's really great that you put the Dutch "space for the river" project in the spotlight, but I also think you should have mentioned that a number of houses were demolished on order to expand the floodplanes. Projects like these do require relatively small sacrifices now in order to sustaine lives in the future, and we should be honest about that.

    • @nomore-constipation
      @nomore-constipation Год назад +26

      Always remember... When reading online or watching a video. It's all infotainment, not fact
      Because most likely with everything you miss important details. Or you miss important things before or just after the article or video.
      I refused to assume I'm getting the full picture whenever I watch, hear or read. I'd rather just research the topic a bit more if I'm truly interested in it

    • @chuchaichu
      @chuchaichu Год назад +53

      Well, if the house owners are adequately compensated, then you should not call it sacrifice, it’s just cost.

    • @cesarheuvelmans
      @cesarheuvelmans Год назад +7

      ​@@chuchaichu They were compensated/are being compensated yearly for increased risk of material damage. "Cost" is exactly how the it's mentioned in all the reports regarding this project.

    • @marcovtjev
      @marcovtjev Год назад +13

      But also mention that in those 1993/94 catastrophic disaster was narrowly avoided (that bad that about 250.000 people and 1M animals were evacuated just in case). It was concluded that those areas could only be protected by the upstream work throttling the peak of the high water wave. This avoidance of really catastrophic flooding is what triggered this project.

    • @hetedeleambacht6608
      @hetedeleambacht6608 Месяц назад +1

      well, i think the social and economical cost of demolishing houses beforehand giving owners time and momey to buy elsewhere and rearrange their lives is far lower then sudden unexpected floods that demolish thousands of houses. Naturally these problems coincide with building (too) close to a river. What would one ecpect?

  • @jameslascelle9453
    @jameslascelle9453 Год назад +280

    Here in my region of Saskatchewan, Canada the river systems are natural and massive! My city is built above the very deep flood plain valley of the North Saskatchewan River so flooding has never been an issue. The river is also in its natural state. Always changing and moving.

    • @acidtears
      @acidtears Год назад +17

      Yeah, but you live in Saskatchewan

    • @mishchayt
      @mishchayt Год назад +16

      no way!!! a fellow saskatchewaner!!!!!

    • @PeloquinDavid
      @PeloquinDavid Год назад +6

      As a southern Manitoban (sitting now a few hundred metres from the Red River), I can only envy the high ground you have (in Saskatoon?) on the beautiful North Saskatchewan!

    • @mishchayt
      @mishchayt Год назад

      @@PeloquinDavid saskatoon is on the south saskatchewan, they might be in PA or north battleford

    • @PeloquinDavid
      @PeloquinDavid Год назад +5

      @@mishchayt Oops. It's been a long time since I've been to Saskatoon. But I do recognize the similarities to Edmonton and to its branch of the Saskatchewan...

  • @angelacahill9460
    @angelacahill9460 Год назад +207

    This is wonderful. So much we didn't know when we thought we knew it all.

    • @Nxck2440
      @Nxck2440 2 месяца назад +1

      They teach ya this in GCSE geography mate

    • @Finn_the_Cat
      @Finn_the_Cat 7 дней назад

      Oh we knew, we just thought we could beat nature, outplay it. We couldn't

  • @beataplaya
    @beataplaya Год назад +190

    When men controlled and redirected water, it's regarded as progress and dev't. But when water remembered her own paths, men called it a natural disaster.

    • @RoseLe
      @RoseLe Год назад +7

      Oh I love this! No matter how we try, we cannot control Mother Nature.

    • @loldiers3238
      @loldiers3238 Год назад +1

      Most of what we're taught to call "civilisation" has turned out to be a mistake.

    • @AtlasofInfo
      @AtlasofInfo Год назад +1

      Nature isn't a woman. It's a man.

    • @crabby7668
      @crabby7668 Год назад

      And remember you said that, while you are pondering the whole climate change debate.

    • @WitchMedusa
      @WitchMedusa Год назад +3

      While I agree with this video, I also disagree with your statement. Man can simply bruteforce nature & it's been very effective the vast majority of the time.
      Think of how we build cities, how we drive pillars deep into the ground to hold up sky scrapers, how America cut across the continent to make the Panama canal to connect 2 oceans.
      Think of how the same was done in Egypt by the British I believe. Also let's not forget about how almost every home has AC & heating, we can control our very own personal climate. Not just temperature but humidity too.
      We have craved across the land building massive networks of roads to transports food, materials, & ourselves, these road networks are like the blood vessels of modern civilization.
      Also if you want more examples of brute forcing rivers look at the Detroit river, it connects 2 of the worlds "great lakes" a monumental amount of water flows between then each day & all with zero erosion to the embankment if the cities due to the thick walls locking the rivers path in place.
      More so if we look to the droughts on Western America they are caused in part by the increased evaporation from hydroelectric reservoirs. To fix this floating solar will be added, that water can cool the panels increasing their efficiency while the panels convert the sun's energy into electricity instead of evaporating water. That reduced evaporation can now generate increased hydroelectric power & also flood farmlands.
      The fact is that even this "return to nature" isn't embracing what were given, its strategically using nature is a way that gets the desired outcome. They certainly model how much they need to restrict the flow for the ground to absorb the ideal amount without turning the land into a swamp. This is yet another way man is transforming nature.
      We have & will continue to, make earth a more ideal environment for humanity.

  • @biggboi1025
    @biggboi1025 Год назад +24

    I work for South Florida Water Management District as field electronics technician.
    Here in Florida, we have a network of canals through our urban areas that connect our wetlands to the ocean. And these canals all have gates to control water flow. When we have large amounts of rain, we can simply close our gates and keep the water in the wetlands. And the wetlands can drain via their natural flow patters. And the canals in the urban areas can focus on draining rainfall in the urban areas.
    Pretty cool.

  • @Elaiden
    @Elaiden Год назад +256

    This is amazing! I had absolutely no idea rivers had been affected to such an extent. Great video.

    • @capicuaaa
      @capicuaaa Год назад +3

      Yes, me neither. Certainly, a very eyeopening piece.

    • @talkshitko9234
      @talkshitko9234 Год назад

      Wow !did you finish kindergarten.

  • @plushiie_
    @plushiie_ Год назад +58

    Like Attenborough stated.
    Make nature wild again.

    • @SamTheManWhoCanTwice
      @SamTheManWhoCanTwice Год назад +2

      Spend a week in nature untouched my man and you'll change your mind

    • @hetedeleambacht6608
      @hetedeleambacht6608 Месяц назад

      yeah,itsnotlike a new insight. Indigenouspeople tried to tell us but no, 'civilisation' was the nec plus ultra. You cannot build and live disregarding natural forces.

  • @XmalD73
    @XmalD73 Год назад +78

    Very insightful! Not surprised the Dutch were featured here, the more we work with nature the better we'll all be.

    • @harrybruijs2614
      @harrybruijs2614 Год назад +6

      It is also done with the Rhine. It is called Ruimte voor de Rivier= Space for the River.

    • @talkshitko9234
      @talkshitko9234 Год назад +1

      Work with nature😂🤣.
      The Netherlands is the exact opposite.

  • @kerrykrishna
    @kerrykrishna Год назад +194

    You Folks are doing it ALL up right. What an amazingly well don doc.Great narrating, great subject, great graphics, great editing! Subscribed!

  • @pynn1000
    @pynn1000 Год назад +45

    Thank you. Short video, gentle pace, solid, focussed.

  • @QuantumBits0
    @QuantumBits0 Год назад +33

    I don't get why other RUclips can't make their video as short as this, amazing visual, relaxing narration 👌

    • @barabacula6056
      @barabacula6056 Год назад +16

      RUclipsrs usually make their entire videos by themselves, in their free time, on a budget of whooping $0. This, however, is the Guardian, só they probably hired one person to write the script, another to narrate it, another to montage and add the visuals to the video, and picked the ones they thought best for each role. You basically watch a tv program here.

    • @poppinc8145
      @poppinc8145 Год назад +2

      @@barabacula6056 They don't have $0 budgets. The RUclipsrs who do this professionally make revenue from google adsense and services like patreon.

  • @_Just_Another_Guy
    @_Just_Another_Guy Год назад +69

    If you think re-routing rivers via artificial channels is dumb, you're gonna lose your mind if you see what the folks in Florida are doing: building whole neighbourhoods directly on top of the Everglades (swamps) that opens out to the sea.
    Yep. Those houses are going to be washed away when a major hurricane comes through.

    • @ABC-ABC1234
      @ABC-ABC1234 Год назад +11

      I mean that's just BEGGING for your house to be destroyed! Florida is already in a hurricane path...
      When will people learn?! I would never live directly near a swamp! All those gators and pythons and whatnot lurk nearby!

    • @Dumptheclutchevo
      @Dumptheclutchevo Год назад +6

      Florida's gonna Florida... and they'll blame anyone but themselves when it does of course happen

    • @kyh148
      @kyh148 Год назад

      Ahhh florida

  • @JackieWelles
    @JackieWelles Год назад +45

    Its always astonishing how we spend billions in developing new technologies to avoid natural disasters, yet all we actually have to do is to observe nature because nature has already figured out the solution.

    • @kornkernel2232
      @kornkernel2232 Год назад +4

      Yep, and it is tested of time for hundreds or thousands of years before intervention

    • @boulderbash19700209
      @boulderbash19700209 Год назад +1

      @@kornkernel2232 River changed course constantly. One day your home is on dry land, the next it's on mid river.

  • @cavemann_
    @cavemann_ Год назад +2

    Ah, a video about something that I have learned in 4th class of primary school. How nice.

  • @constellations625
    @constellations625 Год назад +4

    I remember working on weeding project in Oregon. We were clearing some invasive plants from what used to be a river. I was told the story about how somewhere in the late 1900's, it was decided that the marshland was to be a river, and it was dug up and sent forward. It destroyed the ecosystem, drove many animals off, and of course made the area very dry which killed a lot of plant life.
    Now I say it used to be a river, because they went back in and returned it to how it had been found. The life I saw there was amazing. Baby molluscs, snakes, lizards, birds, and there were so many plants!! We found wild mint, baby's breath, long healthy grasses, it was like a little oasis in the middle of a pine forest. We had to step carefully and get a little wet removing the mullein and another plant I can't quite remember the name of.
    From that day on, I have always wanted to work out in the forest. At the moment I got my eye on becoming a field botanist or mycologist.

  • @1967250s
    @1967250s Год назад +10

    In Hungary, the Tizsa River was straightened with levees. The farmland there used to produce 2 crops a year from all the nutrients deposited on the land. Now the river just flows straight down and joins the Danube, and it flows too fast for any shipping.

  • @DrCorvid
    @DrCorvid Год назад +15

    It's really obvious in some valleys that the river dumps debris until its bed is elevated then it spills off to the lower side of the valley to fill it up for awhile.

  • @Blowingmind
    @Blowingmind Год назад +40

    In my region of America the rivers are natural, so these ideas of how contemporary rivers look are mostly foreign to me as the Rivers I know are all natural. This is probably due to the fact that they're not really navigable for shipping and agriculture is not really the biggest industry in the area.

    • @Gr3nadgr3gory
      @Gr3nadgr3gory Год назад +5

      Ohio only really used one canal I think and the state's name literally translates to "beautiful river." 90% of our rivers are natural.

    • @Blowingmind
      @Blowingmind Год назад +2

      @@Gr3nadgr3gory it's probably an American thing in general with the obvious exception of when a river flows through a sufficiently large city

  • @christinasornbutnark1208
    @christinasornbutnark1208 Год назад +41

    This video is amazing thank you so much for all you do Guardian

  • @williammerkel1410
    @williammerkel1410 Год назад +37

    We're studying river morphology in grad school right now, be careful not to make assumptions about how a river is supposed to look. Yes, some rivers were modified and aren't responding well to being straightened, but many river don't meander much at all (at least during their current stage of evolution) and it's perfectly natural.

    • @mandobob
      @mandobob Год назад +15

      Aggressive flood drainage schemes does increase peak flood stages on the receiving streams and rivers. However, not all linear drainages owe their straightness to human intervention. Stream channel morphology is a complex balance between flow and topography. Basically high gradient drainages tend to be more linear (think alpine streams) where the run-off is rapid and infiltration often limited by less soils, etc. to adsorb rainfall. Linear drainages generally have poor floodplain development. Moderate gradient drainages start developing meanders as the peak volumes decrease in velocity resulting in the dropping out of gravels and sands. Usually these drainage stretches have more floodplain development. The more meandering the drainage the lower the overall velocity (energy) with increased sedimentation in the river channel and in floodplain which becomes become wider and well developed.
      The issue tend to be with the middle and lower river/stream stretches which are often focuses of development that disrupts the natural stream bed morphology. Channelization may protect development from the steady state stream flow but can be overwhelmed by large flood events (such as the recent flooding on the Rhine River).

    • @TheWhitePine5
      @TheWhitePine5 Год назад

      I thought I remembered reading that rivers naturally straighten as they age.

    • @kaitlyn__L
      @kaitlyn__L Год назад +2

      @@TheWhitePine5 there's a great video by Practical Engineering showing a physical scale model of river path changes, where a few minutes of video represents centuries or millennia of river meandering. It's really interesting. Depending on the circumstances it can straighten by itself, or a straight river can turn itself very curvy again!

  • @Risaala
    @Risaala Год назад +9

    The first definition sounds much more like a canal. Growing up in California and learning a lot about estuaries and riparian systems from a young age, it blows my mind that people think that they need to be straight and with no liminal spaces. Also, Erica Gies' work is incredible.

  • @kexcz8276
    @kexcz8276 Год назад +42

    Well, I dont know what did you do in the UK and so, here in Czechia, most of the rivers is natural-based in its basins. I live along the river called Jizera (after which whole mountains Jizerské hory are named), and except few parts along major cities, which I am not sure if it has been manipulated with, this river is almost all natural. The prove is its high basin sides, which drag along for many kms in Czech Paradise and along my home land too. And as we all know, as the floods came, we have an 1km flood area where no buildings are allowed, and when the river falls down again, there are little swamps in rhe fields where the flooding was. So I believe not all rivers in the EU were changed, just maybe the western ones...

    • @richmcgee434
      @richmcgee434 Год назад +7

      Same goes for the parts of the US I'm familiar with. We've dug a lot of canals to connect waterways and the Mississippi has seen major dredging and levee building, but most of our rivers are still the twisty things they always were - helped on quite a bit in regions where beavers have made a comeback. Their dams are as artificial as anything humanity builds, but they're also the kind of "leaky dam" the vid talks about for easing flooding downstream.
      Where we fall down compared to you is flood plains. The US is inordinately fond of building on flood plains and high-risk coastal areas, which is why we spend so much money on places like New Orleans over and over and over again. It's practically unregulated in many parts of the country.

    • @grimnir8872
      @grimnir8872 Год назад

      It's because the video is pushing an agenda and fails to mention the UK, which has rivers either in steep valleys or shallow flatlands has the problem only in the flatlands because the rivers used to be the central part of MASSIVE Bog heaths. As usual the Guardian wants to make the people in the countryside suffer for the city dwelling nonces to pat their own backs about something.

    • @merrymachiavelli2041
      @merrymachiavelli2041 Год назад +1

      It's worth noting that the flood plains and loops described in this video mainly occur in flatter regions closer to the coast, given Czechia is landlocked, I imagine those were harder to come by.

    • @bobcratchit2612
      @bobcratchit2612 4 месяца назад +1

      I know this comment is 10 months old, but I decided to have a look at the river Jizera, and I don't think you're correct in calling it almost all natural. Where it is very small in the mountain forests it seems natural, but as soon as it reaches the farmed areas it has many many weirs, so the whole river is slow and wide, filling its entire basin which is constrained on both sides by agricultural fields. Except for the parts in the forest, there are no gravel banks, no riffles, and no braiding - overall it is very different to how it was before it was altered by humans. It's a beautiful landscape though, and I would love to visit Czechia someday.

  • @Sierra-Whisky
    @Sierra-Whisky Год назад +6

    A little sidenote about the Dutch "Room for the river" project:
    This project wasn't setup to slow down the water but to speed it up. Several measures were taken, like removing obstacles and reshaping floodplains, to increase the outlet capacity. In addition, waterbanks were created or reshaped to temporarily store more water during high water levels.
    During the last few summers we were facing severe droughts, which led to a debate about this increased outlet capacity. So apart from less rainfall, less water is being infiltrated into the ground because it flows away faster, thus creating new problems...

    • @grimnir8872
      @grimnir8872 Год назад +3

      But the city-folk think it looks pretty and more natural!

    • @Sierra-Whisky
      @Sierra-Whisky Год назад +3

      @@grimnir8872 there is not much true nature in The Netherlands. Most of what's called nature is actually created, shaped or at least "managed" 😉

    • @NLwino
      @NLwino Год назад +4

      @@grimnir8872 Actually it's the farmers that pushed for that. Farmers want lower groundwater since it makes the land less marshy/muddy, so better for crops and grass meadows, but during droughts they complain they can't spray ground water on the crops. Nature organizations are fighting for higher groundwater.

  • @hatientacetlen4246
    @hatientacetlen4246 Год назад +4

    I remember looking into an emptied model yachting lake. The bottom was filled with some kind of sand or dirt, there was a large grate in the middle to drain it and a pipe on the side where a trickle of water was flowing from. But rather than the water flowing in a strait line from the pipe to the grate it meandered around and split into three different streams that converged at the end into one. And on the way to the Grate they occasionally created little patches of heavily saturated sand and some puddles. Fascinating thinking that that process on a larger scale is how the natural world takes shape.

  • @kentneumann5209
    @kentneumann5209 Год назад +2

    Thank you for showing this.

  • @AMeise-vy4fk
    @AMeise-vy4fk Год назад +40

    Each Curve extence the length of a River by a ratio of Pi. Imagine the amound of Water what it can keep more

    • @paulhiggins6024
      @paulhiggins6024 Год назад

      Until an ox bow pond forms and the river takes the path of least resistance… in a straight line.

  • @celieboo
    @celieboo Год назад +2

    The Mississippi River is a prime example of what a river shouldn't look like. It has been trying to assume the course of the Atchafalaya river for half a century or more, but the army Corp of engineers refuse to let it do so. The result is thousand upon thousands of acres of silt shot off of the continental shelf into the Atlantic ocean each year.

  • @ealing456
    @ealing456 Год назад +20

    My favourite rivers are the ones I grew up near in southeast Wales. I suppose I took for granted how incredible the River Usk and the River Wye are as they meander their way through the countryside.

    • @KumaBean
      @KumaBean Год назад +1

      I spent six years living in and around rural Herefordshire as a kid, I had a lot of fun of the Wye and surrounding smaller rivers, I learnt to canoe on the Wye actually, still have the certificate somewhere but I doubt it would add much to my CV or Record of Achievement at my age 🤣
      I miss the rivers and mountains, but I’m back home in Jersey now, I’ll settle for the golden sandy beaches lol 🙂 🍻

    • @andrewtrip8617
      @andrewtrip8617 3 месяца назад

      @@KumaBeanthe Wye is now silted up and almost dead ,but still popular with canoeing types .

    • @KumaBean
      @KumaBean 3 месяца назад

      @@andrewtrip8617 That honestly saddens by heart 😔
      🍻

  • @honeystewart4396
    @honeystewart4396 Год назад +6

    Also can stop river erosion

  • @nolesy34
    @nolesy34 Год назад +2

    @3:16 i love these river bridges.. so cool

    • @Fjodor.Tabularasa
      @Fjodor.Tabularasa Год назад +1

      Those are not bridges. It are dams that can block the river at a storm to prevent the sea entering.

    • @nolesy34
      @nolesy34 Год назад

      @@Fjodor.Tabularasa aha! Thanks

  • @psykolikwid
    @psykolikwid Год назад +3

    Excellent, thought provoking video, thanks for posting!

  • @emiliofahr504
    @emiliofahr504 Год назад +1

    Extremely fascinating!

  • @ytjoemoore94
    @ytjoemoore94 Месяц назад

    It’s honestly such a miracle that the LA river here near me has been left untouched and allowed retain its natural flow

  • @RodrigoSilva-dv9xo
    @RodrigoSilva-dv9xo Год назад +3

    São Paulo would be a great subject for you to analize.
    There are a few documentaries such as 'Entre rios' ('between rivers') that explain why the city suffers from constantly flooding

  • @raspberrypie3826
    @raspberrypie3826 Год назад +2

    Rivers can look however they want. You do not have the right to dictate how they look. All Rivers are beautiful.

  • @MetDaan2912
    @MetDaan2912 Год назад +3

    What a relaxing voice to listen to 😊

  • @hippymoustacherides
    @hippymoustacherides Год назад

    What an eye opener. Thank you.

  • @sureillbethere
    @sureillbethere Год назад +3

    I used to think there isn't anyone who doesn't know that those rivers have been artificially 'tamed' through human intervention. But the cost of houses on or close to the very large river that passes straight through my home city and the SHOCK and HORROR that ensures from these same residents when the river does what it does and floods these multi million $ homes, convinced me otherwise. 🙄🤦‍♂️

  • @beerenmusli8220
    @beerenmusli8220 Год назад +3

    This was a fascinating Video and delightful to watch!

  • @a0um
    @a0um Год назад +10

    I wonder if insurance companies are considering investing into such projects.

  • @StephMcAlea
    @StephMcAlea Год назад

    Fascinating.

  • @grvntsupertramp
    @grvntsupertramp Год назад +1

    This is a brilliant piece, great job Guardian

  • @cameroonkendrick6312
    @cameroonkendrick6312 Месяц назад +1

    Same problem here in Florida except it’s flat and it floods everywhere

  • @kefinjanitra1880
    @kefinjanitra1880 Год назад

    Wow.. this totally changes everything in my major thought.

  • @perrinpartee557
    @perrinpartee557 Год назад +3

    Happy that in Arkansas we still have some “wild” rivers or as wild as you can get in the modern world. My farm is along the Ouachita without any levees. We have dams up and downstream but she’s forming new oxbows as we speak and still flooding our oxbow lakes and river bottoms as I write this.

  • @outsidersongs2682
    @outsidersongs2682 Год назад

    Such a wonderful video - fascinating!

  • @raphlvlogs271
    @raphlvlogs271 Год назад +2

    that also means swamplands and marshlands used to be much more common

  • @WonderingAboutThat
    @WonderingAboutThat Год назад

    Fascinating

  • @zampano8217
    @zampano8217 Год назад +52

    Brilliant video. National Trust leading some wonderful “re-meandering” projects in the UK 👍

    • @crabby7668
      @crabby7668 Год назад

      Re meandering projects is still man made interference to the river. It is no better than straightening it. Why do people who bemoan human interference in one way cheerleader it if done in some other way? The same goes for most of these Re Wilding or whatever schemes. It is just someone's incomplete opinion of what the result should look like not the result it would be if nature is left to its own devices.

  • @AukeSlotegraaf
    @AukeSlotegraaf Год назад

    Fascinating!

  • @Sef_Era
    @Sef_Era Год назад +2

    Maybe it’s the hundreds of hours of open world gaming, but I wasn’t confused at all about this. I was aware of the change that’s been exacted in this case…

  • @Prayingmantis78
    @Prayingmantis78 Год назад +2

    The Guardian: It's complicated
    12 year olds learning this in school: 👁️👄👁️

  • @andrewhills7478
    @andrewhills7478 Год назад

    Very educative - well done The Guardian 🎉

  • @MrUnconvinced
    @MrUnconvinced Год назад +2

    The river Meuse is not pronounced “mews” even in France or Belgium. In the Netherlands is is the Maas and pronounced with a long aaaa.

  • @alis49281
    @alis49281 Месяц назад

    I visited a renatured stream in Germany only a few months after the renature process. It was spring.
    There were uncountable numbers of young minnows swarming The shallow water. The bullhead and lamprey returned (adults, must have populated from elsewhere. Big trouts were hunting the smaller fish.
    The ice bird was already feeding its young in the wall that was exposed in the winter floods.
    This example showed, just how incredibly fast the animals can return when the habitat is restored.

  • @prajwalshakya5038
    @prajwalshakya5038 Год назад +1

    I'm really fascinated by this idea of creating flood banks around the water periphery.

  • @jobless4660
    @jobless4660 Год назад +1

    I hope everyone in NZ especially the Government and Local Councils are watching this especially after the recent devastating flooding....

  • @adityaambulkar4086
    @adityaambulkar4086 Год назад +1

    Very informative 👍

  • @CatsOfMarrakech
    @CatsOfMarrakech Год назад +1

    Why do I keep thinking of the intro to East Enders

  • @richardredmond1463
    @richardredmond1463 2 месяца назад

    Wow. That's really interesting!

  • @ReformedVicar
    @ReformedVicar Год назад

    Thank you

  • @Piemasteratron
    @Piemasteratron Год назад

    Excellent

  • @Greenpoloboy3
    @Greenpoloboy3 Год назад +52

    Great video. World would be so much nicer if we worked with nature, not against it.
    Great when people come up with simple ideas to sort things out. Sadly we have a Government that couldnt fill a garden pond.

    • @loldiers3238
      @loldiers3238 Год назад +1

      You had a chance to salvage things with Jezza...

    • @Greenpoloboy3
      @Greenpoloboy3 Год назад +1

      @@loldiers3238 Well Jezza isnt the only answer to all our problems

    • @crabby7668
      @crabby7668 Год назад

      Jezza wasn't the answer to anything

    • @Greenpoloboy3
      @Greenpoloboy3 Год назад +1

      @@crabby7668 Weird how Jezza came up on this

    • @crabby7668
      @crabby7668 Год назад

      @@Greenpoloboy3 my thoughts exactly👍

  • @lisaharmon5619
    @lisaharmon5619 Год назад

    Thanks!

  • @rafitalegend
    @rafitalegend Год назад +8

    It's Complicated is fantastic!

  • @kovekmirian1000
    @kovekmirian1000 Год назад

    Woah thank you for idea 😁

  • @fallenangel_899
    @fallenangel_899 Год назад +4

    We have built our society by putting Humans first. Nature needs to come first instead in order for Humans and other organic organisms to thrive

    • @tangerinetech5300
      @tangerinetech5300 Год назад

      No nature does not need to come first. humans need to come first, you dolt. Go off yourself for fertilizer if nature is so much more important

    • @kx7500
      @kx7500 Год назад

      We need to be part of nature rather than separating ourselves from it. I think that’s the key.

    • @fallenangel_899
      @fallenangel_899 Год назад

      @@kx7500 Agreed. But right now it’s money> people> nature

  • @beabeeeee
    @beabeeeee Год назад

    Awesome video mate

  • @fergusoharafoh
    @fergusoharafoh 3 месяца назад

    It isn't too complicated. You said it in your intro - we picture rivers WINDING through the countryside

  • @chipmunkpark8826
    @chipmunkpark8826 Год назад +2

    Paraná river is actually very modified since they had to change the direction of its route to create the Itaipu Power Plant... (the 3rd greatest hydroelectric dam in the world built between Paraguay and Brazil)

  • @vidyakog5896
    @vidyakog5896 Год назад

    Very informative 👏 👌

  • @kyleimeson
    @kyleimeson Год назад +1

    I think this is for people who have never seen a river…

  • @jamescane22
    @jamescane22 Год назад +2

    “Shouldn’t” is rather judgy.

  • @Phill0old
    @Phill0old Год назад +2

    No, that's canals. Also there were major floods before people did anything to rivers. It's called weather.

  • @smicha15
    @smicha15 Год назад

    Fantastic story

  • @capicuaaa
    @capicuaaa Год назад +3

    This is a FABULOUS piece! Much food for thought.

  • @stevewiles7132
    @stevewiles7132 3 месяца назад +1

    Add to that, all the concrete and tarmac that now covers the ground that used to soak up excess water, it's no wonder we get floods.

  • @EmperorShang
    @EmperorShang Год назад +4

    What we call abnormal flooding, nature calls business as usual

  • @FernandaSomenauer
    @FernandaSomenauer 2 месяца назад

    In southeast Brazil there's an area where a big river, called Ribeira, was straightened into a huge, long canal, close to the sea, to improve agriculture. It was decades ago.
    They have annual floods that are completely insane to me, reaching 60 feet above the usual level, sometimes. Tall bridges are always submerged, every year people that live close to the river have to leave their houses.... It affects a few cities.

  • @daminimahajan2490
    @daminimahajan2490 Месяц назад

    River should be meandering. This video is really important 👏

  • @anobamjelishsana8939
    @anobamjelishsana8939 Год назад

    Beautifully reclaimed

  • @tomallen5837
    @tomallen5837 Месяц назад

    That's an interesting problem. We don't have that type of arrangement in Los Angeles. That is to say we do have our concrete river , but upstream our water is coming straight down from the mountains.

  • @LayllasLocker
    @LayllasLocker Год назад +1

    Great video! Power of nature is greater than anything else!

  • @dr.pogodin
    @dr.pogodin Год назад +2

    Yeah, so much better to have lots of otherwise useful land flooded permanently, rather than one in a while in times of bad weather. It quite overlooks all the benefits of draining wetlands and engineering rivers and channels for the society.

    • @rosabellavitaalvarez-calde5836
      @rosabellavitaalvarez-calde5836 Год назад

      What a weird, human and capitalist-centered comment. Land is not "useless" when it is under water. When farmland floods, it is devastating because not only the crops are lost, you have to add the cost of draining, cleaning and rehabilitating. It can take many years for the farmland to recover and it can be economically devastating

  • @ladymorwendaebrethil-feani4031
    @ladymorwendaebrethil-feani4031 2 месяца назад

    2:01 I'm from south america, and outside urban areas, for me, rivers always looked like this, but with some hydroeletric dams in its pathway.

  • @theodossopoulos
    @theodossopoulos Год назад +3

    Very nice and informative video. Congratulations.

  • @simonbowens4489
    @simonbowens4489 4 месяца назад

    Yes, here in Lincolnshire, UK, the river Witham, over its last leg from Lincoln to Boston, in the 1600s,was twice the length it currently is, ie, 60 vs 30 miles,it lay like a strand od spaghetti over the fens

  • @jwornell2114
    @jwornell2114 Год назад +1

    great video

  • @dylanbuchman8128
    @dylanbuchman8128 Год назад

    So cooooool, awesome video

  • @rileynicholson2322
    @rileynicholson2322 Год назад +2

    Living in BC, Canada, your intial "rivers look like this" was just so confusing. Rivers naturally meander on flat land and flow deeper, faster, and straighter in valleys.
    This video also doesn't touch on non-permeable surface area. Runoff is increased on agricultural land, but it's dramatically worse on hardened surfaces like roads and parking lots, which makes modern, car-dependent cities extra vulnerable to flash flooding.

  • @iamchillydogg
    @iamchillydogg Год назад +2

    Flooding is only a problem when people build in the floodplain!

  • @user-jw6dw9jf8w
    @user-jw6dw9jf8w 2 месяца назад

    In fact, what I saw at all times was the lack of planning for rainwater drainage, basically sewage and rainwater, as they are underground projects, no one sees it, so no one cares about doing it, until there is flooding.

  • @ragw33d
    @ragw33d Месяц назад

    in southern scotland rivers were remolded to become fast flowing for hydro power for knitwear mills along with salmon runs to slow then speed up flow. Now with forestry work up stream reducing water holding its resulted in flooding alot more and more damaging. The mills are gone but the river remains the same, the channels and dams used for power and still there or blocked off. Flood defences are being finished at cost of millions but work outside of the towns is not being carried out to reduce flooding so unless done flooding will happen again.

  • @hazicredmi2233
    @hazicredmi2233 Год назад +2

    No kidding, this video is one of the most underrated in the world. I'm from Malaysia, and in a few places, flooding is much of an annual event.

  • @susanb4816
    @susanb4816 Год назад +24

    I live in northern ontario. When i go to the city i never think of the water there as natural and shake my head when folks are affected by flooding. If your home floods, you built it in the wrong place and you need to move it. The land needs buffers

    • @serbansaredwood
      @serbansaredwood Год назад

      Well Doug Ford is cutting up the Greenbelt surrounding Toronto so developers can build houses in floodplains and other environmentally sensitive land that he doesn't care about

    • @OkQuantum
      @OkQuantum Год назад +4

      The flooding problem is only going to get worse from now on in Ontario thanks to Doug Fords neutering of the conservation authority and greenbelt

    • @jaquigreenlees
      @jaquigreenlees Год назад +4

      Perfectly said there. It's to bad those who should won't listen. The flood controls on the Mississippi and location of New Orleans are why Hurricane Katrina was so damaging there. The buffer for floodwaters / storm surges isn't there and the city has removed the ground water, compacting the soils to well below water level.

    • @kx7500
      @kx7500 Год назад

      @@OkQuantum bingo