I just learned a new term: stream daylighting. It means the uncovering of streams that have been buried when cities expanded. Mostly because we wanted streets or houses, but also because of hygenic reasons or flooding danger. It reminded me of the newly discovered landscape under the Antartic ice with rivers and hills and valleys. A development which scares me as much as it fascinates me. Just imagine a little part of our world that is brand new, pure, without human disruption. The article talks about maybe even more landscapes that are yet to be discovered and this hurts. Why not let it be?
This uncovering of landscapes under the ice sounds a bit like the stream daylighting, only this is a more passive human intervention. I like to call it landscape daylighting. In contrast with stream daylighting, landscape daylighting is not a positive thing (maybe for the eye as it was compared to the mountain landscape of northern Wales; also this is a very antropocentric view and not the stance I want to take). Climate change causes the ice to melt which makes us, humans, swoop in and putting our mark on the process. We should not be there in the first place, the only reason we can see it now is because of our own actions, not because nature let us.
95% of nature is currently modified by humans (LePan, n.d.). There is almost no place in the world where we have not set foot and where we have, there has been destruction. Of habitat, species biodiversity, ecosystems and so on. And now we are discovering a new landscape that will probably start to be accessible in a few decades (if the pace of climate change keeps being as fast as it is now), and I fear we will make the exact same mistakes. Although I like to believe in the positive in people and I know that there is good in every person, I don’t like Homo Sapiens as a species.
But, back to stream daylighting. Part of this practice is pointing to the historical value of bringing back old streams. They are seen as cultural heritage as they were part of a town probably a long time before they became a street or house. And it makes sense that where there are now streets and houses, there used to be water too. There were also trees and bushes and shrubs, but somehow removing this vegetation to make way for construction makes more sense in my head. It is extremely hard to wrap my head around the fact that there used to be water in so many towns and cities and that it is possible to bring those streams back to life. Just take away the stones and streams can be revived.
Especially in an urban environment, stream daylighting can be a valuable addition to increase biodiversity in cities. It also reduces heat and flooding risk (which I find very ironical as streams were once covered because of flooding risk). It is a challenging practice with a lot of stakeholders involved, but promising research ánd implementation is done in several parts of the world. So perhaps, you will find yourself swimming where you once walked through your town. How amazing would that be.
Source: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/12/visualizing-the-human-impact-on-the-earth-s-surface/