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EVS 1500 News Blitz

sharing environmental science through the news every semester

Citizen's Aren't the Only Ones Against Trumps Border Wall

11/4/2020

7 Comments

 
By: Lucas Laforte
Summary: American support for the construction of a wall at our southern border is unenthusiastic to say the least. New York Times reported that over 60% of Americans oppose the wall, but they aren’t the only ones. Mother nature always seems to have a destructive way of telling us when it’s in opposition to our infrastructure. In September of this year, monsoon related weather has taken a toll on newly build parts of the border wall. Earlier in the year, erosion from Hurricane Hanna left “gaping holes” and “waist deep cracks” on the bank of the Rio Grande. Just recently on another three mile stretch along the Rio Grande, heavy rains have cause extreme erosion surrounding the wall, putting it at major risk of collapsing. Scientists and engineers warned of such problems beforehand, citing pervious erosion events caused by hurricanes and mass flooding, but the hard-headedness of the Trump Administration ultimately led to its construction anyways. Historically, politicians and scientists were in agreement that building a wall along this river bank would cause the exact problems we are seeing now. The company responsible for the construction has touted the durability of their wall, promising to keep maintenance on the integrity of it with quarterly inspections with more thorough inspections after major storm events. Even after all this, engineers insist that worsening weather patterns from climate change, such as more intense hurricanes and longer monsoon seasons, will perpetuate the severity of the erosion along the river, leading to the eventual collapse of the wall. ​
Why we should care? This is a topic worth caring about because of the catastrophic damage that can be done by erosion. Not only that, but also the acceleration of erosion due to the infrastructure decisions we make in this country. ​
Picture
Photo Credit: James Hord for The Texas Tribune
Example Article.
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/29/hanna-border-wall-texas/

I find this topic to be particularly interesting because of my analysis of the interaction between science, nature, and the government. Throughout history, those three elements have seemed to be at odds with one another. The interests of the government often don’t coincide with science and academic consensus, and this topic is a perfect example of that. Most scientific analysis argued against a border wall along the Rio Grande river with the reasoning that it would accelerate erosion. Even with that being the case, construction of the wall continued and we are now seeing the exact issues arising that scientists warned us about.​
Science in Action.
Dr. Alex Mayer is a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso.

​Throughout his career, Dr. Alex Mayor has spent much of his time researching solutions for water resource problems. Much of his research has been done on the basin of the Rio Grande river, the one at risk of extreme erosion due to the construction of the border wall. After viewing overhead photos of the damage, his on-the-ground analysis concluded that erosion damage is “far worse than what we saw from the photos.” He later concluded that two or three more storms similar in intensity to Hurricane Hanna would erode the soil on the bank so much that the wall is likely to collapse.
7 Comments
Austin Vilk
11/9/2020 14:56:58

It really is upsetting to see the consequences of human actions play out despite warnings. Hopefully when the wall does collapse it doesnt effect wild life too much, or better yet that its taken down before that can be an issue. I worry about down/upstream effects this might be having too

Reply
Ivy Eifert
11/17/2020 13:20:31

This article sheds light on various issues pertaining to the border wall that so many have failed to acknowledge. Thinking long term about this issue leads to thoughts of complete ecosystem destruction. Erosion affects soil health, leading to a nutrient deficiency that will be unable to support plants, which harms everything else up the food chain. There are many issues surrounding this one topic, and the blog post really sheds light on that.

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Ivy Eifert
11/17/2020 13:39:00

After thinking about this information and learning about it a little more, I am even more concerned. Erosion solely makes me think about the effect on the ecosystem, but I completely disregarded the actual wall coming down. I was focused on the monsoons harming the ecosystem, when the actual wall will most likely come down. This realization sparked thinking in terms of all of those wasted materials. The Trump Administration was told that this would happen, yet they used all of those materials to build the wall anyways. When the wall comes down, a lot of those materials will be wasted, leading to more waste and more harm to the planet. This topic is truly fascinating, thank you so much for writing about this!

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Zahra Williams link
11/18/2020 14:49:36

I feel that the idea of the border wall was never completely thought out. It was developed to keep people out without a second thought to the environment. The damage to the land and wildlife that the wall would create is astounding.

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Brielle M
11/21/2020 19:32:29

I find the consequences of the boarder wall to be extremely upsetting. The fact that the devastation of this beautiful and essential natural landform is something that could have easily have been prevented is aggravating. If the erosion continues, it is just going to expand the river, stretch it thin, and cause it to evaporate and dry up. With the disappearance of the Rio Grande comes the massive habitat loss for over 200,000 waterfowl, 18,000 Sandhill Cranes, and thousands of other bird populations. This will also impact those that live near the river and rely on it as a source of irrigation for their land. The loss of Rio Grande will impact society way more than having a boarder wall put up would. It is going to cause more destruction than good. I hate that these warnings were overlooked and we willingly became the cause of this issue.

Reply
Zhereen Uddin
12/15/2020 01:46:01

It is so sad to see the how one human can affect the planet deeply. There was always so many controversial topics about this wall. Many of us knew it would do greater damage. I think that was Trump’s goal. I am hoping that if or when they do take this wall down, that it is done very cautiously because our planet cannot take much more damage.

Reply
Ben Matthews
12/15/2020 17:24:36

It would be oddly hilarious to see the touted Trump border wall taken down my mother nature herself. Despite the warnings of this exact outcome, they decided to follow through anyway to maintain image. On the other hand, it would be a real shame for all that infrastructure to end up in the river contaminating the environment. Seems to be an avoidable issue if they had just listened to experts.

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