Today we’re looking at an idea that might be able to help one of the countries that could be most affected by rising sea levels.
It’s Kiribati, way out in the Pacific Ocean.
There are concerns the country could eventually be underwater if seas keep rising.
And even if it didn’t, there isn’t a lot of land for the population: Kiribati only has a total landmass about the size of four Washington DCs.
A new design idea from European designers with UOOU may help: a sustainable community that floats.
The design imagines each community as a tree.
There’s a town center for everyone to use and then walkways leading to rings of building pods that could be used for housing, growing vegetables or fish farming.
The buildings would be built with local, sustainable materials.
They would collect rainwater and produce energy through solar panels, and the ring-style structure means that if the community is growing, they can expand.
Of course, it’s not the same as finding a way to keep the seas from rising in the first place.
But it just might be a way to help an island country move up in the world, in a good way.
Last week marked 90 years since Leonard Nimoy, of “Star Trek” fame and so much more, was born in Boston.
So, last week, his family announced that the Boston Museum of Science would host a 20 foot statue of a hand making the “live long and prosper” sign Nimoy made famous as Mr. Spock.
As Spock himself would say: fascinating.
Kiribati Floating Houses address rising waters and land limitations (Inhabitat)
Nimoy Family and Boston’s Museum of Science Announce Vulcan Salute Monument (Star Trek)
Keep this show growing as a backer on Patreon!
Tarawa Atoll photo by European Space Agency via Flickr/Creative Commons
