#impervioussurfaces — Public Fediverse posts

Soil degradation - the stuff of life that is called 'dirt'
"Soil is a vital resource for life on Earth."

* The Ig Nobel Prizes: "Franz Bender, Marcel van der Heijden, Atlant Bieri, and Pia Viviani, for burying 1,000 identical pairs of underpants in more than 25 countries and then digging them up after two months."
"The results: Land use was the most important factor. Underpants decomposed the fastest in private gardens, where soil analysis also revealed the highest levels of organic matter. Lawns showed the least activity of soil organisms, with agricultural fields and meadows ranging in the middle. Temperature and moisture levels also affected organism activity, particularly if conditions were too cold or too dry, as did soil nutrient levels. Overall, the authors found that their “underpants index” provided equally meaningful information about soil conditions as the TBI, including chemical and physical properties, elevation, and moisture." >>
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/09/meet-the-2026-ig-nobel-prize-winners/

* "Soil is a vital resource for plant growth. It hosts a major part of global species diversity and is key for ecosystem functioning and it forms the basis of human civilization. Yet soils are rapidly degrading, threatening food production, biodiversity, and Earth system functioning. This threat is largely unrecognized in broader society, hindering effective steps towards soil protection."

"Soil is a vital resource for life on Earth. Although many soils are degraded, societal awareness of soil-related issues is limited."

"Farmers, responsible for the management of vast areas of land, often receive little education in basic soil principles. The lack of relationship between the public and soil leads to wasteful treatment of global soil resources. Increased awareness and targeted action towards the protection of soils are urgently needed." >>
https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ppp3.70259
#biodiversity #degradation #soil #life #dirt #lawns #SoilHealth #farmers #ImperviousSurfaces
Image: Lawn and impervious surfaces NSW

A multi-stressor scenario for the ocean and waterway ecosystems:

* The ocean is 'cooked' by the combustion of fossil fuels.
* Add a generous heap of 'nutrient-rich' floodwaters (runoff) from farms and suburbia.
* Get a harmful algal bloom (HAB) disaster, killing bio-diverse marine life and threatening the hip pocket nerve of coastal dwellers.

"A survey found that Australians remained far more concerned about disasters such as bushfires and flooding than they did HABs, despite 22 million people living with seven kilometres of the coastline and climate change modelling predicting more frequent and severe blooms."

"The study also found Australians had a "relatively low prioritisation of disasters — and HABs in particular — when compared with everyday socio-economic concerns"...Cost of living and healthcare dominated respondents' concerns in Australia, while environmental and climate change-related risks were perceived as less pressing.' >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-25/sa-harmful-algal-bloom-public-understanding-survey-findings/106833676
#ocean #MarineLife #waterways #Biodiversity #FossilFuels #ClimateDisasters #disasters #MarineHeatwaves #ToxicBlooms #eutrophication #SystemicDisaster #MassMortalities #fish #hypoxia #FishKills #farms #fertiliser #Impervioussurfaces #runoff #pollution #Sewerage #Infrastructure #HipPocket #mindsets

From water pollution to blue gold

Water "“blighted by mats of algae, mountains of foam, scum, and dead fish floating on the surface. Pollution from water companies and agricultural runoff are driving the contamination, which affects all parts of the country, causing toxic algal blooms, mass die-offs of fish, and risks to human health."

"A country that once let raw sewage and industrial wastewater flow directly into its water. Today, it is 98%, and the country has a reputation for pristine swimming waters, sometimes referred to as its “blue gold” – and it’s all thanks to a complex network of sewage plants."
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/17/from-sewage-and-scum-to-swimming-in-blue-gold-how-switzerland-transformed-its-waterways-aoe
#water #pollution #micropollutants #ecosystem #health #swimming #Australia #sewage #floods #runoff #ImperviousSurfaces #roads #MassMortalities #SepticTanks #sprawl #biodiversity #rivers #civilisation

Flood Susceptibility Mapping Of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Using GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis
--
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2023.110653 <-- shared paper
--
#GIS #spatial #mapping #analyticalhierarchyprocess #floodhazardcriteria #floodpotentialzone #localadministrativeunit #Nepal #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #model #modeling #processmodeling #water #hydrology #flood #flooding #Kathmandu #distance #proximity #river #climatechange #extremeweather #precipitation #rainfall #monsoon #builtenvironments #impervious #impervioussurfaces #concrete #stormwater #drainage #economics #environment #infrastructure #damage #ecology #floodinnundation #urbanplanning #criteria #slope #elevation #drainagedensity #rainfall #landuse #landcover #distancefromriver #distance #topography #elevation #floodsusceptibility #floodprone #risk #hazard #mitigation #budgets #costs #policymakers