Dam, that's cool
September 6, 2024 6:18 AM Subscribe
A timelapse of the BC Hydro Site C project reservoir fill. Exactly what it says on the tin; I never really knew I wanted to watch a reservoir fill till I got the opportunity to. [slyt]
Love this. Here's a recent amateur video of floodplains here in The Netherlands. Vast pieces of land next to rivers that tend to overflow in the rain season. Some parts of the meadow are raised so they form little islands for the cows. I've seen it a couple of times. The mere scale of it is really impressive and these floodplains have been functional for centuries, so everybody is really casual about it.
posted by ouke at 6:41 AM on September 6
posted by ouke at 6:41 AM on September 6
I wasn't thinking past the glib thread title and didn't plan to click on the video, but was stopped dead in my tracks by the second post.
Thank-you so much for the context, mcbaya.
posted by fairmettle at 9:46 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
Thank-you so much for the context, mcbaya.
posted by fairmettle at 9:46 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
It was hard for me to figure out what I was supposed to be impressed by, or even what I should be looking at, until about the 1 minute 15 second mark, when the changes in the landscape became possible to see with the naked eye. Why won't the camera stay still?? That would have made the subtler changes easier to see.
I am also wondering how much of this is AI generated? idk, it looks "off" to me, but who knows.
posted by MiraK at 10:55 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
I am also wondering how much of this is AI generated? idk, it looks "off" to me, but who knows.
posted by MiraK at 10:55 AM on September 6 [1 favorite]
On the one hand, this is cool to watch. On the other hand, it makes me sick to my stomach. What an ecological and cultural catastrophe.
Here’s a brief summary of the dam controversy with some links to more background information https://thenarwhal.ca/topics/site-c-dam-bc/
It’s also a complete boondoggle that will mostly supply electricity for LNG production and is likely to cause disaster, huge expense, or both down the road due to geotechnical issues.
Between the carbon to build it, the lost farmland, and how it supports fossil fuel extraction, it’s a climate change nightmare.
posted by congen at 11:44 AM on September 6 [3 favorites]
Here’s a brief summary of the dam controversy with some links to more background information https://thenarwhal.ca/topics/site-c-dam-bc/
It’s also a complete boondoggle that will mostly supply electricity for LNG production and is likely to cause disaster, huge expense, or both down the road due to geotechnical issues.
Between the carbon to build it, the lost farmland, and how it supports fossil fuel extraction, it’s a climate change nightmare.
posted by congen at 11:44 AM on September 6 [3 favorites]
This is an interesting video to watch, but the local context is certainly lacking. But people can both be impressed by big infrastructure projects, while understanding the negative impacts they have.
posted by CostcoCultist at 1:51 PM on September 6
posted by CostcoCultist at 1:51 PM on September 6
Every time I’ve worked near a BC dam, I’ve heard about or seen bad, or incredibly stupid, stuff.
For instance, when Williston Lake was flooded for the WAC Bennet Dam, I heard that the local indigenous community was given only a few days notice that the lake water was going to swallow their homes.
And, among similar problems to those described in the article mcbaya linked, the Mica Dam flooded the Big Bend Highway which was an expensive mega project that was completed only about a decade or so before the dam was built. Nowadays, unflooded sections of the highway are used for launching boats.
posted by house-goblin at 11:51 AM on September 7
For instance, when Williston Lake was flooded for the WAC Bennet Dam, I heard that the local indigenous community was given only a few days notice that the lake water was going to swallow their homes.
And, among similar problems to those described in the article mcbaya linked, the Mica Dam flooded the Big Bend Highway which was an expensive mega project that was completed only about a decade or so before the dam was built. Nowadays, unflooded sections of the highway are used for launching boats.
posted by house-goblin at 11:51 AM on September 7
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The process of constructing the dam and reservoir have been immensely harmful to Indigenous communities, farmers, wildlife, and the land itself.
Those people have been largely dismissed by the BC government, and effectively in this post.
The project has been opposed by Indigenous communities for decades. Quoted in the article I linked is Roland Willson, chief of West Moberly First Nations, who said the filling of the reservoir is “one of those sad, surreal moments that you wish never would happen, but inevitably, it’s happening.” “They beat us basically into submission on this.... We just couldn’t fight with them anymore. We don’t have the billions of dollars that they have to fight in court on things, and it didn’t seem to matter.
A farmer whose land was expropriated for the reservoir said: “There doesn’t seem to be a nod towards the impact that people are going to feel. Some of us, I think, virtually got post traumatic stress syndrome from this. We’ve all, we’ve been through the ringer. And yeah, there’s no acknowledgement or nod toward that, or even attempt at that.”
What's going on here may look cool, but it is very much not cool for the people and creatures who live there.
posted by mcbaya at 6:41 AM on September 6 [17 favorites]