The Latest from David Fratantoni:
With all the bad news out there regarding climate change and the death of all that is natural and beautiful, science has found a little bit of good news in the form of traditional agriculture. Palaua is an island in the western Pacific that is faced with the dual threat of both rising oceans and sedimentation. The island is surrounded by coral reefs that, when they’re healthy both break waves and higher water while also filtering run-off and sediment from streaming into the surrounding waters. The main food crop on Palaua (as in most of the Pacific islands) is taro, a starchy root vegetable who’s growing process has surprising effects on the surrounding environment.
A NOAA funded study has revealed that when taro is planted in the traditional way, as in planted near the water with an embankment that allows a steady water flow, the roots act as a natural filter. When the taro fields are combined with the naturally growing mangrove forests, you see that 90% of runoff gets trapped between the two, greatly improving the surrounding water quality. If tactics like this continue to be used and grow in popularity, we might see some progress being made in the fight against pollution and the dirtying of our oceans. If nothing else, at least we will continue to have coral reefs and the organisms that live in them to explore.
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