11 Comments
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Susan Schwarz's avatar

Precisely! The dialogue format is great. Makes it easier to understand and replicates the approach that is needed to foster constructive, interdisciplinary solutions.

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Alpha Lo's avatar

Great :) yeah it’s multiperspectival

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Jonas Nilsson's avatar

This is so interesting and I recognize so many things from Gabe Browns book ”from dirt to soil” and what I learned from taking the course ”Soil foodweb” by Elaine Ingham. These same principals work in aquatic environments as well. I didn’t know but it is no surprise either when you think about it. This was a really great article that taught me tonnes of things and boosted my inspiration😁🌳👍

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Alpha Lo's avatar

thanks for your comment. Yeah its both intriguing and natural that the whole society of organisms idea applies to water bodies as well as to the soil

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Flynn's avatar

This is wonderful! Love the dialogue format for exploring the ideas, reminds me of why I enjoy panel discussions with panelists of ostensibly different fields of study or background chatting and brainstorming together. Algae has been a huge problem in recent years, I am getting a test kit to monitor my local wetland/pond to make sure the natural processes are functioning without intervention before making changes. However I see it in nearby lakes and rivers by late July....getting earlier and earlier every year so my dog and I can't swim during that late summer heat 🥵

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Alpha Lo's avatar

Cool glad you enjoyed the dialog :)

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Theodore Rethers's avatar

Given the scale of the problem, lake eyre is 6 393 600 acres I think this could prove a little cost prohibitive, Do you know if they have trialed a similar approach by diverting incoming nutrient rich waters into intermittent flooding of wetlands as they would naturally in heavy rain events? Lake St Clair has nearly 400km2 of marshland at or near water level on a very large delta which could provide an excellent opportunity as many of the raised roads already act as natural barriers with culverts that can be easily blocked.

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Alpha Lo's avatar

For lake erie I think diverting it into a series of wetlands, as you suggest, would be the right approach. I don't know if this has been tried for any large lakes.

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Amy Yates's avatar

Really brilliant. Love the layers and depth. Exciting stuff

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Alpha Lo's avatar

Thanks!

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Lynn Broaddus's avatar

Thank you so much for bringing John Todd's pioneering work into this. I had a chance to see his set-up at The New Alchemy Institute on Cape Cod in 1981. The visit is tattooed on my brain.

Do you follow Chris Jones / The Swine Republic? Seems all those unregulated inputs that are killing Iowa's streams and lakes could use this approach.

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