Why rivers shouldn't look like this | It's Complicated

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ม.ค. 2023
  • The quintessential image of a river you might recognise from post cards and paintings - nice and straight with a tidy riverbank - is not actually how it is supposed to look.
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    It's the result of centuries of industrial and agricultural development. And it's become a problem, exacerbating the impact of both extreme flooding and extreme drought. Josh Toussaint-Strauss looks into how so many rivers ended up this way, and how river restoration is helping to reestablish biodiversity and combat some of the effects of the climate crisis.
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    #Rivers #Flooding #Drought #Dams #Nature #Engineering

ความคิดเห็น • 707

  • @DanePavitt
    @DanePavitt ปีที่แล้ว +2505

    Classic example of shifting baseline syndrome. We've been raised with a contemporary idea of what nature is supposed to look like, so we don't realise the natural complexity that's been lost

    • @rossanabachiorri833
      @rossanabachiorri833 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      Exactly 👍

    • @thepatriarchy819
      @thepatriarchy819 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Stop crying about climate change

    • @harrybruijs2614
      @harrybruijs2614 ปีที่แล้ว +79

      @@thepatriarchy819 why?

    • @Noodelzmop
      @Noodelzmop ปีที่แล้ว +131

      @@thepatriarchy819 "Stop being worried about this thing that is causing problems"

    • @khanch.6807
      @khanch.6807 ปีที่แล้ว +63

      @@thepatriarchy819 Stop drinking oil money.

  • @dondoodat
    @dondoodat ปีที่แล้ว +2145

    The only rational strategy for human survival is working with nature, not constantly fighting it.

    • @phaedrussmith1949
      @phaedrussmith1949 ปีที่แล้ว +35

      Mother Nature bats last.

    • @cymraegpunk1420
      @cymraegpunk1420 ปีที่แล้ว +52

      In lots of situations yeah, I wouldn't put that as a blanket truth for all things.

    • @btudrus
      @btudrus ปีที่แล้ว +13

      " The only rational strategy for human survival is working with nature, not constantly fighting it. "
      You are right. But that would mean, that growing and eating plant would have to be banned.

    • @dondoodat
      @dondoodat ปีที่แล้ว +110

      @@btudrus
      No, it obviously wouldn't mean that at all.
      Dear oh dear.

    • @vascobranco5296
      @vascobranco5296 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Nature started, it's a jerk

  • @lisam5744
    @lisam5744 ปีที่แล้ว +1267

    Here in Florida in the US, in the 1960s, they decided to straighten out and make canals of the winding Kissimmee River. Then after devastating flooding in the following decades, lack of water flowing southward and wildlife being affected, they decided to put it back the way it was. And spent billions of dollars to do it. Imagine if they'd just left it alone.

    • @bulatsagdullin
      @bulatsagdullin ปีที่แล้ว +10

      but Kissimmee River still looks very straight on the map. Doesn't look like they changed it back.

    • @hahafunnyname
      @hahafunnyname ปีที่แล้ว +22

      @@bulatsagdullin depending oh how recently they changed back the river, maybe google maps just didn't update the area yet

    • @sebastianm1901
      @sebastianm1901 ปีที่แล้ว +50

      Look at los Angeles river, it is just a glorified sewage drain

    • @Windows-pk6cp
      @Windows-pk6cp ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Instead of manually reshaping it, why didn't they just remove the levees?

    • @biggboi1025
      @biggboi1025 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      I work for the SFWMD. I can assure you that project should of cost a 5th of what it did, but we have highly inefficient government workers.
      Checkout the C44 project. Massive resvioir. But it leaks and they smoked the multi-million pump🤣.

  • @Joe-uv9jo
    @Joe-uv9jo ปีที่แล้ว +636

    This is why introducing Beavers back to British rivers is important, those small wooden dams which slow down water flow are made naturally by Beavers. They're master architects with water.

    • @PeloquinDavid
      @PeloquinDavid ปีที่แล้ว +34

      As a Canadian, I can only approve!

    • @randomchannel50
      @randomchannel50 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Or why not just make sturdy damns and wehrs? Lol

    • @persebra
      @persebra ปีที่แล้ว +120

      @@randomchannel50 beavers are cheaper and always on the job

    • @alexbowman7582
      @alexbowman7582 ปีที่แล้ว +35

      And they make great hats.

    • @Mofunana
      @Mofunana ปีที่แล้ว +13

      ​@@alexbowman7582 💀

  • @pstudios4563
    @pstudios4563 ปีที่แล้ว +299

    I think it's really great that you put the Dutch "space for the river" project in the spotlight, but I also think you should have mentioned that a number of houses were demolished on order to expand the floodplanes. Projects like these do require relatively small sacrifices now in order to sustaine lives in the future, and we should be honest about that.

    • @nomore-constipation
      @nomore-constipation ปีที่แล้ว +26

      Always remember... When reading online or watching a video. It's all infotainment, not fact
      Because most likely with everything you miss important details. Or you miss important things before or just after the article or video.
      I refused to assume I'm getting the full picture whenever I watch, hear or read. I'd rather just research the topic a bit more if I'm truly interested in it

    • @chuchaichu
      @chuchaichu ปีที่แล้ว +53

      Well, if the house owners are adequately compensated, then you should not call it sacrifice, it’s just cost.

    • @cesarheuvelmans
      @cesarheuvelmans ปีที่แล้ว +7

      ​@@chuchaichu They were compensated/are being compensated yearly for increased risk of material damage. "Cost" is exactly how the it's mentioned in all the reports regarding this project.

    • @marcovtjev
      @marcovtjev ปีที่แล้ว +13

      But also mention that in those 1993/94 catastrophic disaster was narrowly avoided (that bad that about 250.000 people and 1M animals were evacuated just in case). It was concluded that those areas could only be protected by the upstream work throttling the peak of the high water wave. This avoidance of really catastrophic flooding is what triggered this project.

    • @hetedeleambacht6608
      @hetedeleambacht6608 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      well, i think the social and economical cost of demolishing houses beforehand giving owners time and momey to buy elsewhere and rearrange their lives is far lower then sudden unexpected floods that demolish thousands of houses. Naturally these problems coincide with building (too) close to a river. What would one ecpect?

  • @ibfreely8952
    @ibfreely8952 ปีที่แล้ว +682

    Pretty crazy that you can solve most problems by just following what the Dutch are doing

    • @laphroditei6749
      @laphroditei6749 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      😭😭

    • @Skybar23
      @Skybar23 ปีที่แล้ว +50

      or just follow what nature intended rivers to be

    • @Markus_P
      @Markus_P ปีที่แล้ว +49

      as a German I would like to follow the Dutch regarding motorway speed limits and drug policy. Plus I would like our trains to be operated by NS (the dutch carrier)

    • @Tukkerrandy
      @Tukkerrandy ปีที่แล้ว +13

      @@Markus_P the sarcasm is strong with this one.

    • @frenchys_prospecting
      @frenchys_prospecting ปีที่แล้ว +26

      There’s two things I don’t like.
      Intolerance of other cultures and the Dutch

  • @jameslascelle9453
    @jameslascelle9453 ปีที่แล้ว +280

    Here in my region of Saskatchewan, Canada the river systems are natural and massive! My city is built above the very deep flood plain valley of the North Saskatchewan River so flooding has never been an issue. The river is also in its natural state. Always changing and moving.

    • @acidtears
      @acidtears ปีที่แล้ว +17

      Yeah, but you live in Saskatchewan

    • @mishchayt
      @mishchayt ปีที่แล้ว +16

      no way!!! a fellow saskatchewaner!!!!!

    • @PeloquinDavid
      @PeloquinDavid ปีที่แล้ว +6

      As a southern Manitoban (sitting now a few hundred metres from the Red River), I can only envy the high ground you have (in Saskatoon?) on the beautiful North Saskatchewan!

    • @mishchayt
      @mishchayt ปีที่แล้ว

      @@PeloquinDavid saskatoon is on the south saskatchewan, they might be in PA or north battleford

    • @PeloquinDavid
      @PeloquinDavid ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@mishchayt Oops. It's been a long time since I've been to Saskatoon. But I do recognize the similarities to Edmonton and to its branch of the Saskatchewan...

  • @angelacahill9460
    @angelacahill9460 ปีที่แล้ว +207

    This is wonderful. So much we didn't know when we thought we knew it all.

    • @Nxck2440
      @Nxck2440 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      They teach ya this in GCSE geography mate

    • @Finn_the_Cat
      @Finn_the_Cat 10 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Oh we knew, we just thought we could beat nature, outplay it. We couldn't

  • @biggboi1025
    @biggboi1025 ปีที่แล้ว +24

    I work for South Florida Water Management District as field electronics technician.
    Here in Florida, we have a network of canals through our urban areas that connect our wetlands to the ocean. And these canals all have gates to control water flow. When we have large amounts of rain, we can simply close our gates and keep the water in the wetlands. And the wetlands can drain via their natural flow patters. And the canals in the urban areas can focus on draining rainfall in the urban areas.
    Pretty cool.

  • @beataplaya
    @beataplaya ปีที่แล้ว +190

    When men controlled and redirected water, it's regarded as progress and dev't. But when water remembered her own paths, men called it a natural disaster.

    • @RoseLe
      @RoseLe ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Oh I love this! No matter how we try, we cannot control Mother Nature.

    • @loldiers3238
      @loldiers3238 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Most of what we're taught to call "civilisation" has turned out to be a mistake.

    • @AtlasofInfo
      @AtlasofInfo ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Nature isn't a woman. It's a man.

    • @crabby7668
      @crabby7668 ปีที่แล้ว

      And remember you said that, while you are pondering the whole climate change debate.

    • @WitchMedusa
      @WitchMedusa ปีที่แล้ว +3

      While I agree with this video, I also disagree with your statement. Man can simply bruteforce nature & it's been very effective the vast majority of the time.
      Think of how we build cities, how we drive pillars deep into the ground to hold up sky scrapers, how America cut across the continent to make the Panama canal to connect 2 oceans.
      Think of how the same was done in Egypt by the British I believe. Also let's not forget about how almost every home has AC & heating, we can control our very own personal climate. Not just temperature but humidity too.
      We have craved across the land building massive networks of roads to transports food, materials, & ourselves, these road networks are like the blood vessels of modern civilization.
      Also if you want more examples of brute forcing rivers look at the Detroit river, it connects 2 of the worlds "great lakes" a monumental amount of water flows between then each day & all with zero erosion to the embankment if the cities due to the thick walls locking the rivers path in place.
      More so if we look to the droughts on Western America they are caused in part by the increased evaporation from hydroelectric reservoirs. To fix this floating solar will be added, that water can cool the panels increasing their efficiency while the panels convert the sun's energy into electricity instead of evaporating water. That reduced evaporation can now generate increased hydroelectric power & also flood farmlands.
      The fact is that even this "return to nature" isn't embracing what were given, its strategically using nature is a way that gets the desired outcome. They certainly model how much they need to restrict the flow for the ground to absorb the ideal amount without turning the land into a swamp. This is yet another way man is transforming nature.
      We have & will continue to, make earth a more ideal environment for humanity.

  • @XmalD73
    @XmalD73 ปีที่แล้ว +78

    Very insightful! Not surprised the Dutch were featured here, the more we work with nature the better we'll all be.

    • @harrybruijs2614
      @harrybruijs2614 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      It is also done with the Rhine. It is called Ruimte voor de Rivier= Space for the River.

    • @talkshitko9234
      @talkshitko9234 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Work with nature😂🤣.
      The Netherlands is the exact opposite.

  • @Elaiden
    @Elaiden ปีที่แล้ว +256

    This is amazing! I had absolutely no idea rivers had been affected to such an extent. Great video.

    • @capicuaaa
      @capicuaaa ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Yes, me neither. Certainly, a very eyeopening piece.

    • @talkshitko9234
      @talkshitko9234 ปีที่แล้ว

      Wow !did you finish kindergarten.

  • @pynn1000
    @pynn1000 ปีที่แล้ว +45

    Thank you. Short video, gentle pace, solid, focussed.

  • @kerrykrishna
    @kerrykrishna ปีที่แล้ว +194

    You Folks are doing it ALL up right. What an amazingly well don doc.Great narrating, great subject, great graphics, great editing! Subscribed!

  • @plushiie_
    @plushiie_ ปีที่แล้ว +58

    Like Attenborough stated.
    Make nature wild again.

    • @SamTheManWhoCanTwice
      @SamTheManWhoCanTwice ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Spend a week in nature untouched my man and you'll change your mind

    • @hetedeleambacht6608
      @hetedeleambacht6608 หลายเดือนก่อน

      yeah,itsnotlike a new insight. Indigenouspeople tried to tell us but no, 'civilisation' was the nec plus ultra. You cannot build and live disregarding natural forces.

  • @_Just_Another_Guy
    @_Just_Another_Guy ปีที่แล้ว +69

    If you think re-routing rivers via artificial channels is dumb, you're gonna lose your mind if you see what the folks in Florida are doing: building whole neighbourhoods directly on top of the Everglades (swamps) that opens out to the sea.
    Yep. Those houses are going to be washed away when a major hurricane comes through.

    • @ABC-ABC1234
      @ABC-ABC1234 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      I mean that's just BEGGING for your house to be destroyed! Florida is already in a hurricane path...
      When will people learn?! I would never live directly near a swamp! All those gators and pythons and whatnot lurk nearby!

    • @Dumptheclutchevo
      @Dumptheclutchevo ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Florida's gonna Florida... and they'll blame anyone but themselves when it does of course happen

    • @kyh148
      @kyh148 ปีที่แล้ว

      Ahhh florida

  • @QuantumBits0
    @QuantumBits0 ปีที่แล้ว +33

    I don't get why other TH-cam can't make their video as short as this, amazing visual, relaxing narration 👌

    • @barabacula6056
      @barabacula6056 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      TH-camrs usually make their entire videos by themselves, in their free time, on a budget of whooping $0. This, however, is the Guardian, só they probably hired one person to write the script, another to narrate it, another to montage and add the visuals to the video, and picked the ones they thought best for each role. You basically watch a tv program here.

    • @poppinc8145
      @poppinc8145 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@barabacula6056 They don't have $0 budgets. The TH-camrs who do this professionally make revenue from google adsense and services like patreon.

  • @kexcz8276
    @kexcz8276 ปีที่แล้ว +42

    Well, I dont know what did you do in the UK and so, here in Czechia, most of the rivers is natural-based in its basins. I live along the river called Jizera (after which whole mountains Jizerské hory are named), and except few parts along major cities, which I am not sure if it has been manipulated with, this river is almost all natural. The prove is its high basin sides, which drag along for many kms in Czech Paradise and along my home land too. And as we all know, as the floods came, we have an 1km flood area where no buildings are allowed, and when the river falls down again, there are little swamps in rhe fields where the flooding was. So I believe not all rivers in the EU were changed, just maybe the western ones...

    • @richmcgee434
      @richmcgee434 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Same goes for the parts of the US I'm familiar with. We've dug a lot of canals to connect waterways and the Mississippi has seen major dredging and levee building, but most of our rivers are still the twisty things they always were - helped on quite a bit in regions where beavers have made a comeback. Their dams are as artificial as anything humanity builds, but they're also the kind of "leaky dam" the vid talks about for easing flooding downstream.
      Where we fall down compared to you is flood plains. The US is inordinately fond of building on flood plains and high-risk coastal areas, which is why we spend so much money on places like New Orleans over and over and over again. It's practically unregulated in many parts of the country.

    • @grimnir8872
      @grimnir8872 ปีที่แล้ว

      It's because the video is pushing an agenda and fails to mention the UK, which has rivers either in steep valleys or shallow flatlands has the problem only in the flatlands because the rivers used to be the central part of MASSIVE Bog heaths. As usual the Guardian wants to make the people in the countryside suffer for the city dwelling nonces to pat their own backs about something.

    • @merrymachiavelli2041
      @merrymachiavelli2041 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      It's worth noting that the flood plains and loops described in this video mainly occur in flatter regions closer to the coast, given Czechia is landlocked, I imagine those were harder to come by.

    • @bobcratchit2612
      @bobcratchit2612 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      I know this comment is 10 months old, but I decided to have a look at the river Jizera, and I don't think you're correct in calling it almost all natural. Where it is very small in the mountain forests it seems natural, but as soon as it reaches the farmed areas it has many many weirs, so the whole river is slow and wide, filling its entire basin which is constrained on both sides by agricultural fields. Except for the parts in the forest, there are no gravel banks, no riffles, and no braiding - overall it is very different to how it was before it was altered by humans. It's a beautiful landscape though, and I would love to visit Czechia someday.

  • @1967250s
    @1967250s ปีที่แล้ว +10

    In Hungary, the Tizsa River was straightened with levees. The farmland there used to produce 2 crops a year from all the nutrients deposited on the land. Now the river just flows straight down and joins the Danube, and it flows too fast for any shipping.

  • @DrCorvid
    @DrCorvid ปีที่แล้ว +15

    It's really obvious in some valleys that the river dumps debris until its bed is elevated then it spills off to the lower side of the valley to fill it up for awhile.

  • @constellations625
    @constellations625 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I remember working on weeding project in Oregon. We were clearing some invasive plants from what used to be a river. I was told the story about how somewhere in the late 1900's, it was decided that the marshland was to be a river, and it was dug up and sent forward. It destroyed the ecosystem, drove many animals off, and of course made the area very dry which killed a lot of plant life.
    Now I say it used to be a river, because they went back in and returned it to how it had been found. The life I saw there was amazing. Baby molluscs, snakes, lizards, birds, and there were so many plants!! We found wild mint, baby's breath, long healthy grasses, it was like a little oasis in the middle of a pine forest. We had to step carefully and get a little wet removing the mullein and another plant I can't quite remember the name of.
    From that day on, I have always wanted to work out in the forest. At the moment I got my eye on becoming a field botanist or mycologist.

  • @Blowingmind
    @Blowingmind ปีที่แล้ว +40

    In my region of America the rivers are natural, so these ideas of how contemporary rivers look are mostly foreign to me as the Rivers I know are all natural. This is probably due to the fact that they're not really navigable for shipping and agriculture is not really the biggest industry in the area.

    • @Gr3nadgr3gory
      @Gr3nadgr3gory ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Ohio only really used one canal I think and the state's name literally translates to "beautiful river." 90% of our rivers are natural.

    • @Blowingmind
      @Blowingmind ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@Gr3nadgr3gory it's probably an American thing in general with the obvious exception of when a river flows through a sufficiently large city

  • @JackieWelles
    @JackieWelles ปีที่แล้ว +45

    Its always astonishing how we spend billions in developing new technologies to avoid natural disasters, yet all we actually have to do is to observe nature because nature has already figured out the solution.

    • @kornkernel2232
      @kornkernel2232 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Yep, and it is tested of time for hundreds or thousands of years before intervention

    • @boulderbash19700209
      @boulderbash19700209 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@kornkernel2232 River changed course constantly. One day your home is on dry land, the next it's on mid river.

  • @williammerkel1410
    @williammerkel1410 ปีที่แล้ว +37

    We're studying river morphology in grad school right now, be careful not to make assumptions about how a river is supposed to look. Yes, some rivers were modified and aren't responding well to being straightened, but many river don't meander much at all (at least during their current stage of evolution) and it's perfectly natural.

    • @mandobob
      @mandobob ปีที่แล้ว +15

      Aggressive flood drainage schemes does increase peak flood stages on the receiving streams and rivers. However, not all linear drainages owe their straightness to human intervention. Stream channel morphology is a complex balance between flow and topography. Basically high gradient drainages tend to be more linear (think alpine streams) where the run-off is rapid and infiltration often limited by less soils, etc. to adsorb rainfall. Linear drainages generally have poor floodplain development. Moderate gradient drainages start developing meanders as the peak volumes decrease in velocity resulting in the dropping out of gravels and sands. Usually these drainage stretches have more floodplain development. The more meandering the drainage the lower the overall velocity (energy) with increased sedimentation in the river channel and in floodplain which becomes become wider and well developed.
      The issue tend to be with the middle and lower river/stream stretches which are often focuses of development that disrupts the natural stream bed morphology. Channelization may protect development from the steady state stream flow but can be overwhelmed by large flood events (such as the recent flooding on the Rhine River).

    • @TheWhitePine5
      @TheWhitePine5 ปีที่แล้ว

      I thought I remembered reading that rivers naturally straighten as they age.

    • @kaitlyn__L
      @kaitlyn__L ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@TheWhitePine5 there's a great video by Practical Engineering showing a physical scale model of river path changes, where a few minutes of video represents centuries or millennia of river meandering. It's really interesting. Depending on the circumstances it can straighten by itself, or a straight river can turn itself very curvy again!

  • @christinasornbutnark1208
    @christinasornbutnark1208 ปีที่แล้ว +41

    This video is amazing thank you so much for all you do Guardian

  • @Risaala
    @Risaala ปีที่แล้ว +9

    The first definition sounds much more like a canal. Growing up in California and learning a lot about estuaries and riparian systems from a young age, it blows my mind that people think that they need to be straight and with no liminal spaces. Also, Erica Gies' work is incredible.

  • @Sierra-Whisky
    @Sierra-Whisky ปีที่แล้ว +6

    A little sidenote about the Dutch "Room for the river" project:
    This project wasn't setup to slow down the water but to speed it up. Several measures were taken, like removing obstacles and reshaping floodplains, to increase the outlet capacity. In addition, waterbanks were created or reshaped to temporarily store more water during high water levels.
    During the last few summers we were facing severe droughts, which led to a debate about this increased outlet capacity. So apart from less rainfall, less water is being infiltrated into the ground because it flows away faster, thus creating new problems...

    • @grimnir8872
      @grimnir8872 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      But the city-folk think it looks pretty and more natural!

    • @Sierra-Whisky
      @Sierra-Whisky ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@grimnir8872 there is not much true nature in The Netherlands. Most of what's called nature is actually created, shaped or at least "managed" 😉

    • @NLwino
      @NLwino ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@grimnir8872 Actually it's the farmers that pushed for that. Farmers want lower groundwater since it makes the land less marshy/muddy, so better for crops and grass meadows, but during droughts they complain they can't spray ground water on the crops. Nature organizations are fighting for higher groundwater.

  • @AMeise-vy4fk
    @AMeise-vy4fk ปีที่แล้ว +40

    Each Curve extence the length of a River by a ratio of Pi. Imagine the amound of Water what it can keep more

    • @paulhiggins6024
      @paulhiggins6024 ปีที่แล้ว

      Until an ox bow pond forms and the river takes the path of least resistance… in a straight line.

  • @hatientacetlen4246
    @hatientacetlen4246 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    I remember looking into an emptied model yachting lake. The bottom was filled with some kind of sand or dirt, there was a large grate in the middle to drain it and a pipe on the side where a trickle of water was flowing from. But rather than the water flowing in a strait line from the pipe to the grate it meandered around and split into three different streams that converged at the end into one. And on the way to the Grate they occasionally created little patches of heavily saturated sand and some puddles. Fascinating thinking that that process on a larger scale is how the natural world takes shape.

  • @ealing456
    @ealing456 ปีที่แล้ว +20

    My favourite rivers are the ones I grew up near in southeast Wales. I suppose I took for granted how incredible the River Usk and the River Wye are as they meander their way through the countryside.

    • @KumaBean
      @KumaBean ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I spent six years living in and around rural Herefordshire as a kid, I had a lot of fun of the Wye and surrounding smaller rivers, I learnt to canoe on the Wye actually, still have the certificate somewhere but I doubt it would add much to my CV or Record of Achievement at my age 🤣
      I miss the rivers and mountains, but I’m back home in Jersey now, I’ll settle for the golden sandy beaches lol 🙂 🍻

    • @andrewtrip8617
      @andrewtrip8617 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@KumaBeanthe Wye is now silted up and almost dead ,but still popular with canoeing types .

    • @KumaBean
      @KumaBean 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@andrewtrip8617 That honestly saddens by heart 😔
      🍻

  • @kentneumann5209
    @kentneumann5209 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Thank you for showing this.

  • @cavemann_
    @cavemann_ ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Ah, a video about something that I have learned in 4th class of primary school. How nice.

  • @nolesy34
    @nolesy34 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    @3:16 i love these river bridges.. so cool

    • @Fjodor.Tabularasa
      @Fjodor.Tabularasa ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Those are not bridges. It are dams that can block the river at a storm to prevent the sea entering.

    • @nolesy34
      @nolesy34 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Fjodor.Tabularasa aha! Thanks

  • @honeystewart4396
    @honeystewart4396 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Also can stop river erosion

  • @psykolikwid
    @psykolikwid ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Excellent, thought provoking video, thanks for posting!

  • @sureillbethere
    @sureillbethere ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I used to think there isn't anyone who doesn't know that those rivers have been artificially 'tamed' through human intervention. But the cost of houses on or close to the very large river that passes straight through my home city and the SHOCK and HORROR that ensures from these same residents when the river does what it does and floods these multi million $ homes, convinced me otherwise. 🙄🤦‍♂️

  • @emiliofahr504
    @emiliofahr504 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Extremely fascinating!

  • @celieboo
    @celieboo ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The Mississippi River is a prime example of what a river shouldn't look like. It has been trying to assume the course of the Atchafalaya river for half a century or more, but the army Corp of engineers refuse to let it do so. The result is thousand upon thousands of acres of silt shot off of the continental shelf into the Atlantic ocean each year.

  • @MetDaan2912
    @MetDaan2912 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    What a relaxing voice to listen to 😊

  • @grvntsupertramp
    @grvntsupertramp ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This is a brilliant piece, great job Guardian

  • @RodrigoSilva-dv9xo
    @RodrigoSilva-dv9xo ปีที่แล้ว +3

    São Paulo would be a great subject for you to analize.
    There are a few documentaries such as 'Entre rios' ('between rivers') that explain why the city suffers from constantly flooding

  • @StephMcAlea
    @StephMcAlea ปีที่แล้ว

    Fascinating.

  • @Greenpoloboy3
    @Greenpoloboy3 ปีที่แล้ว +52

    Great video. World would be so much nicer if we worked with nature, not against it.
    Great when people come up with simple ideas to sort things out. Sadly we have a Government that couldnt fill a garden pond.

    • @loldiers3238
      @loldiers3238 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      You had a chance to salvage things with Jezza...

    • @Greenpoloboy3
      @Greenpoloboy3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@loldiers3238 Well Jezza isnt the only answer to all our problems

    • @crabby7668
      @crabby7668 ปีที่แล้ว

      Jezza wasn't the answer to anything

    • @Greenpoloboy3
      @Greenpoloboy3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@crabby7668 Weird how Jezza came up on this

    • @crabby7668
      @crabby7668 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Greenpoloboy3 my thoughts exactly👍

  • @beerenmusli8220
    @beerenmusli8220 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    This was a fascinating Video and delightful to watch!

  • @WonderingAboutThat
    @WonderingAboutThat ปีที่แล้ว

    Fascinating

  • @raspberrypie3826
    @raspberrypie3826 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Rivers can look however they want. You do not have the right to dictate how they look. All Rivers are beautiful.

  • @AukeSlotegraaf
    @AukeSlotegraaf ปีที่แล้ว

    Fascinating!

  • @perrinpartee557
    @perrinpartee557 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Happy that in Arkansas we still have some “wild” rivers or as wild as you can get in the modern world. My farm is along the Ouachita without any levees. We have dams up and downstream but she’s forming new oxbows as we speak and still flooding our oxbow lakes and river bottoms as I write this.

  • @kefinjanitra1880
    @kefinjanitra1880 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wow.. this totally changes everything in my major thought.

  • @hippymoustacherides
    @hippymoustacherides ปีที่แล้ว

    What an eye opener. Thank you.

  • @a0um
    @a0um ปีที่แล้ว +10

    I wonder if insurance companies are considering investing into such projects.

  • @outsidersongs2682
    @outsidersongs2682 ปีที่แล้ว

    Such a wonderful video - fascinating!

  • @ReformedVicar
    @ReformedVicar ปีที่แล้ว

    Thank you

  • @cameroonkendrick6312
    @cameroonkendrick6312 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Same problem here in Florida except it’s flat and it floods everywhere

  • @Piemasteratron
    @Piemasteratron ปีที่แล้ว

    Excellent

  • @adityaambulkar4086
    @adityaambulkar4086 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Very informative 👍

  • @lisaharmon5619
    @lisaharmon5619 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks!

  • @andrewhills7478
    @andrewhills7478 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very educative - well done The Guardian 🎉

  • @zampano8217
    @zampano8217 ปีที่แล้ว +52

    Brilliant video. National Trust leading some wonderful “re-meandering” projects in the UK 👍

    • @crabby7668
      @crabby7668 ปีที่แล้ว

      Re meandering projects is still man made interference to the river. It is no better than straightening it. Why do people who bemoan human interference in one way cheerleader it if done in some other way? The same goes for most of these Re Wilding or whatever schemes. It is just someone's incomplete opinion of what the result should look like not the result it would be if nature is left to its own devices.

  • @smicha15
    @smicha15 ปีที่แล้ว

    Fantastic story

  • @susanb4816
    @susanb4816 ปีที่แล้ว +24

    I live in northern ontario. When i go to the city i never think of the water there as natural and shake my head when folks are affected by flooding. If your home floods, you built it in the wrong place and you need to move it. The land needs buffers

    • @serbansaredwood
      @serbansaredwood ปีที่แล้ว

      Well Doug Ford is cutting up the Greenbelt surrounding Toronto so developers can build houses in floodplains and other environmentally sensitive land that he doesn't care about

    • @OkQuantum
      @OkQuantum ปีที่แล้ว +4

      The flooding problem is only going to get worse from now on in Ontario thanks to Doug Fords neutering of the conservation authority and greenbelt

    • @jaquigreenlees
      @jaquigreenlees ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Perfectly said there. It's to bad those who should won't listen. The flood controls on the Mississippi and location of New Orleans are why Hurricane Katrina was so damaging there. The buffer for floodwaters / storm surges isn't there and the city has removed the ground water, compacting the soils to well below water level.

    • @kx7500
      @kx7500 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@OkQuantum bingo

  • @alis49281
    @alis49281 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I visited a renatured stream in Germany only a few months after the renature process. It was spring.
    There were uncountable numbers of young minnows swarming The shallow water. The bullhead and lamprey returned (adults, must have populated from elsewhere. Big trouts were hunting the smaller fish.
    The ice bird was already feeding its young in the wall that was exposed in the winter floods.
    This example showed, just how incredibly fast the animals can return when the habitat is restored.

  • @rileynicholson2322
    @rileynicholson2322 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Living in BC, Canada, your intial "rivers look like this" was just so confusing. Rivers naturally meander on flat land and flow deeper, faster, and straighter in valleys.
    This video also doesn't touch on non-permeable surface area. Runoff is increased on agricultural land, but it's dramatically worse on hardened surfaces like roads and parking lots, which makes modern, car-dependent cities extra vulnerable to flash flooding.

  • @ytjoemoore94
    @ytjoemoore94 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    It’s honestly such a miracle that the LA river here near me has been left untouched and allowed retain its natural flow

  • @prajwalshakya5038
    @prajwalshakya5038 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I'm really fascinated by this idea of creating flood banks around the water periphery.

  • @MrUnconvinced
    @MrUnconvinced ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The river Meuse is not pronounced “mews” even in France or Belgium. In the Netherlands is is the Maas and pronounced with a long aaaa.

  • @raphlvlogs271
    @raphlvlogs271 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    that also means swamplands and marshlands used to be much more common

  • @LayllasLocker
    @LayllasLocker ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Great video! Power of nature is greater than anything else!

  • @rafitalegend
    @rafitalegend ปีที่แล้ว +8

    It's Complicated is fantastic!

  • @chipmunkpark8826
    @chipmunkpark8826 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Paraná river is actually very modified since they had to change the direction of its route to create the Itaipu Power Plant... (the 3rd greatest hydroelectric dam in the world built between Paraguay and Brazil)

  • @jonathanlanglois2742
    @jonathanlanglois2742 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    It is about inevitable that the river isn't going to meander much near where I live. It is at the bottom of a valley, and it is just about flowing over bedrock with a few sand banks here and there. It does not really have the ability to move much at all. Bedrock is rarely more than a meter or two below dirt in the Apalachees, or the Canadian shield, or the Rockies. Water really does not have much opportunity to infiltrate all that deep into the land to start with. Many of theses rivers naturally flood despite being untouched by man, precisely because of that. Those features cover a very large portion of Canada.

    • @harrybruijs2614
      @harrybruijs2614 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Given the time water can remove every kind of Rock. Look at the Grand Canyon

    • @jonathanlanglois2742
      @jonathanlanglois2742 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@harrybruijs2614 True, but this is some of the hardest and oldest rock on the planet. Its basically been there ever since the formation of the planet.

    • @harrybruijs2614
      @harrybruijs2614 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@jonathanlanglois2742 Norway is also built of granite or the Alpes are but look what ice and water can do. By the way the Appalachians are a very old mountainrange, started as high as the Himalaya and it is not that hard it is Permian sandstone, slate and chalk.

  • @CatsOfMarrakech
    @CatsOfMarrakech ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Why do I keep thinking of the intro to East Enders

  • @richardredmond1463
    @richardredmond1463 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Wow. That's really interesting!

  • @capicuaaa
    @capicuaaa ปีที่แล้ว +3

    This is a FABULOUS piece! Much food for thought.

  • @denishubencu8193
    @denishubencu8193 ปีที่แล้ว

    Lovely❤

  • @anobamjelishsana8939
    @anobamjelishsana8939 ปีที่แล้ว

    Beautifully reclaimed

  • @perlaarrebatada9726
    @perlaarrebatada9726 ปีที่แล้ว

    Una relación inteligente, respetuosa y de convivencia con la naturaleza. Entendiendo su funcionamiento y armonizados con el. No luchando

  • @vidyakog5896
    @vidyakog5896 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very informative 👏 👌

  • @FernandaSomenauer
    @FernandaSomenauer 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    In southeast Brazil there's an area where a big river, called Ribeira, was straightened into a huge, long canal, close to the sea, to improve agriculture. It was decades ago.
    They have annual floods that are completely insane to me, reaching 60 feet above the usual level, sometimes. Tall bridges are always submerged, every year people that live close to the river have to leave their houses.... It affects a few cities.

  • @kovekmirian1000
    @kovekmirian1000 ปีที่แล้ว

    Woah thank you for idea 😁

  • @Sef_Era
    @Sef_Era ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Maybe it’s the hundreds of hours of open world gaming, but I wasn’t confused at all about this. I was aware of the change that’s been exacted in this case…

  • @Prayingmantis78
    @Prayingmantis78 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The Guardian: It's complicated
    12 year olds learning this in school: 👁️👄👁️

  • @simonbowens4489
    @simonbowens4489 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Yes, here in Lincolnshire, UK, the river Witham, over its last leg from Lincoln to Boston, in the 1600s,was twice the length it currently is, ie, 60 vs 30 miles,it lay like a strand od spaghetti over the fens

  • @beabeeeee
    @beabeeeee ปีที่แล้ว

    Awesome video mate

  • @jobless4660
    @jobless4660 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I hope everyone in NZ especially the Government and Local Councils are watching this especially after the recent devastating flooding....

  • @jwornell2114
    @jwornell2114 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    great video

  • @vinzanity68
    @vinzanity68 ปีที่แล้ว

    Makes sense

  • @dylanbuchman8128
    @dylanbuchman8128 ปีที่แล้ว

    So cooooool, awesome video

  • @theodossopoulos
    @theodossopoulos ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Very nice and informative video. Congratulations.

    • @gaoda1581
      @gaoda1581 ปีที่แล้ว

      Nai polu endiaferon

  • @AP-yx1mm
    @AP-yx1mm ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I am quite ignorant about this topic. However, I remember from school times that in some cases rivers were straightened in order to prevent from flooding and win more agricultural land. After seeing this I have more questions.
    Was the latter the actual reason, whereas the former was the better marketed one? Did they genuinely think that straightening the river would solve the issue? Were they just short-sighted and acted quickly?

  • @billfreeman1516
    @billfreeman1516 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Excellent video a lesson for everyone

  • @ragw33d
    @ragw33d หลายเดือนก่อน

    in southern scotland rivers were remolded to become fast flowing for hydro power for knitwear mills along with salmon runs to slow then speed up flow. Now with forestry work up stream reducing water holding its resulted in flooding alot more and more damaging. The mills are gone but the river remains the same, the channels and dams used for power and still there or blocked off. Flood defences are being finished at cost of millions but work outside of the towns is not being carried out to reduce flooding so unless done flooding will happen again.

  • @ladymorwendaebrethil-feani4031
    @ladymorwendaebrethil-feani4031 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    2:01 I'm from south america, and outside urban areas, for me, rivers always looked like this, but with some hydroeletric dams in its pathway.

  • @Andy_Babb
    @Andy_Babb ปีที่แล้ว +8

    This was really interesting!

  • @martijnkeisers5900
    @martijnkeisers5900 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Greetings from Amsterdam!

  • @kyleimeson
    @kyleimeson ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I think this is for people who have never seen a river…

  • @edwardhumphries8806
    @edwardhumphries8806 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The bends slow down flow rate different size sentiments gather where they should help filtration

  • @craigaxle1096
    @craigaxle1096 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Time to go back to the drawing board & start drawing crooked lines -- again.

  • @daminimahajan2490
    @daminimahajan2490 หลายเดือนก่อน

    River should be meandering. This video is really important 👏

  • @fallenangel_899
    @fallenangel_899 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    We have built our society by putting Humans first. Nature needs to come first instead in order for Humans and other organic organisms to thrive

    • @tangerinetech5300
      @tangerinetech5300 ปีที่แล้ว

      No nature does not need to come first. humans need to come first, you dolt. Go off yourself for fertilizer if nature is so much more important

    • @kx7500
      @kx7500 ปีที่แล้ว

      We need to be part of nature rather than separating ourselves from it. I think that’s the key.

    • @fallenangel_899
      @fallenangel_899 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@kx7500 Agreed. But right now it’s money> people> nature