Author’s Note: This is the sixth part in a series of blog posts looking at the historical big picture of modern day urban flooding and the importance of trees. Go here for part one, two, three, four, and five. Read this blog post on why I’ve decided to take on this project.

Jobs. American jobs. Right here in America. Jobs.

If you want to become the President of the United States someday (first off, are you insane?), you better have a platform ready that is centered around jobs and growing the economy. It’s the American way.

The economic mindset of job creation during the formative years of the United States of America was not all that different when compared to the mindset of today. Early American ambitions were to expand westward, put the newly arriving immigrant population to work and create jobs. Grow the economy. Be productive and subdue the land. The only difference between today and the 1700s and early 1800s was the type of job. In the early 1800s, nine out of every ten Americans lived and worked on a farm.

Leading up to and immediately after the American Revolution, the Ohio Company and Virginia Company, had eyes on the vast untapped profitable resources of the Ohio Valley/Western Pennsylvania region. Namely its tree resources, rich agricultural land, animal furs, and advantageous position for the transportation of goods and further expansion into the Mississippi River network. Early America and its investors were eager to push west to increase profits.

Throughout the 1700s, a series of treaties were signed between the English colonists and the severely weakened populations of remaining Native Americans. The history of these treaties were rife with exploitive practices, mistrust, and war. If you want to read more about this subject, I would recommend James H. Merrel’s Into the American Woods: Negotiations on the Pennsylvania Frontier which goes into stunning detail about this period of North American history.

These treaties significantly reduced conflicts in the westward expansion by the colonists. A westward expansion that would be justified in the name of Manifest Destiny. And like the story of the United States of America up until this point, the move westward and the establishment of these new towns and settlements was largely dependent upon the harvesting of its unrivaled supply of forests and trees.

American Progress (1872) by John Gast

One of the leading edge technological advancements during the initial westward expansion was the water powered sawmill. A technological advancement not yet deployed on much of the vast forests of North America. One of the more poetic and vivid descriptions of the early westward pioneers and the use of sawmills is from James Elliott Defebaugh’s massive two part volume historical work The History of Lumber in the United States.

In many instances it was the superior growth of timber that drew settlers from the older sections to the untried wilderness. The sufferings that these sturdy pioneers underwent are almost inconceivable at this day, and their recital alone would fill a large volume. They suffered the attacks of wild animals in search of food and of the savage Indians in search of white men’s scalps; many died from the rigors of the climate; for clothing they wore the skins of beasts; for food, at times they were compelled to mix the bark of trees with their corn meal so it would hold out the longer, and also at times they dug up the potatoes they had planted so near were they to starvation. Furniture they had none, except rough boxes and boards; some rode, if fortunate enough to possess a horse, or walked, miles (in some cases 100 miles) to the nearest grist mill to have their handful of corn ground, while others did their own grinding by means of the hollowed out stump of a hardwood tree and a stone, or a wooden pestle. But in spite of their hardships they persevered, and within a short time thriving villages dotted the forests, and the hum of the sawmills and the shouts of the raftsmen told of the business the forests were creating a business that later placed Pennsylvania at the head of the great lumber producing states of the Union.

The water powered sawmill used during this era is/was fascinating piece of human ingenuity and engineering. If you’re not quite sure how one works, check out this 6 minute Youtube video:

Yes, the engi-nerd inside of me approves of this video.

Just about every newly established westward pioneer establishment would have a sawmill with its roots firmly established in timber harvesting. Some of these small outposts and settlements would go on to later become towns and even major cities. Pittsburgh, for example, started as a lumber town. Again from Defebaugh:

Boatbuilding was at one time an important business at Pittsburg, though it has since greatly declined. It was of early origin in that section, and marked the beginning of that industry in the West as any territory west of the Alleghenies was then known. Boatbuilding was intimately connected with the lumber trade, not only because wood was the material used, but because boats were in demand for the movement of lumber.

The first newspaper west of the Alleghenies, The Pittsburgh Gazette, in its first number mentions the Saw Mill at Saw Mill Run. Again from Defebaugh:

In the autumn of 1785 the first printing press was carried across the Allegheny Mountains and from it, on July 29, 1786, was printed the first number of the Gazette, the earliest newspaper printed west of the Alleghenies.

“There is a rock known by the name of McKee’s rock, at the distance of about three miles below the head of the Ohio. … As you ascend the river from these rocks to the town of Pittsburgh, you pass by on your right hand the mouth of a brook known by the name of the Saw-mill run. This empties itself about half a mile below the town, and is overlooked by a building on its banks, on the point of a hill which fronts east, and is first struck by the beam of the rising sun. At a small distance from its mouth is a sawmill, 1 about twenty perches below the situation of an old mill built by the British, the remains of some parts of which are yet seen.”

The first sounds of the metal saws ringing out from the sawmills would be the warning siren for what was to come for the forests in the Pennsylvania frontier and beyond. Over the next century, sawmills and lumber yards would be constructed all across Pennsylvania and the Great Lakes region.

Early westward pioneer settlements like Pittsburgh gained their foothold with the use of technology like water powered sawmills. Modest enterprises directly linked to this technology, like boat building, provided a key economic cornerstone for future growth and expansion. However, economic gains were modest since power to cut move and cut logs was dependent upon animals and water. Shipping of lumber products was limited to the main form of transportation at the time, waterbodies such as rivers and canals. Additionally, much of the finest lumber was located on the highest mountain elevations and thereby difficult to reach without tremendous back breaking effort and sacrifice.

What the pioneers needed was another revolution to overcome these barriers to economic advancement.

This time it was not a revolution centered around the independence of a nation using the musket, but a revolution centered industry using the steam engine. A revolution that would satisfy the thirst for more American jobs and provide a previously untapped source of power for doing the work of several hundred horses. James Watt’s steam engine and his equivalent new form of “horsepower” from engines would ignite this revolution.

Portrait of James Watt (1792) by Carl Frederik von Breda

New towns and settlements all across North America would soon take part in the Industrial Revolution using thousands of steam engines at unrivaled production and output. The lumber industry would quickly abandon the water powered sawmill and use steam power to slice and dice trees into profitable lumber at rates previously thought unfathomable.

Centuries old trees all across North America would come down by the billions thereby drastically altering the landscape and the Earth’s water cycle (see Part 1).

All this would happen in the blink of an eye in comparison to the entire course of human history.

A couple weeks back a major ground breaking, epic, awe inspiring, kind-of-a-big-deal on the level of Ron Burgundy national flooding report was released. The report is titled: The First National Flood Risk Assessment – Defining America’s Growing Risk.

You can find numerous articles from reputable news organizations like USA Today, Washington Post, and New York Times, Click on those if you are interested in reading something long, drawn out and complicated. Just kidding they are great. But quite frankly I don’t think they are nearly as entertaining as this blog.

Like always, I am here to give you the short and sweet low down on this report and why it is so revolutionary and important.

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The reason this report is so important is because it all comes down to flood risk mapping. That is, maps that tell us where places are most susceptible to flooding for land development. Where maybe we should think twice before we build yet another Starbucks directly across the street from the other Starbucks.

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Before this new report, flood mapping in the United States, kind of, well…. sucked. Especially for inland urban flooding. Sorry for the harsh language – It just did. In fact, flood risk mapping is so notoriously bad that the National Flood Insurance Program, which relies on FEMA’s maps for governing the program, has become a financial disaster as a result.

People need better information on flood risks and when to seriously consider purchasing flood insurance. Local officials and government agencies need better maps to regulate zoning and development that take into account flooding issues. They also need them for emergency response plans and educating the public to avoid high danger areas. Engineers and planners need these maps to prioritize mitigation projects and determine where to direct investments. Maps are critical to all aspects of flood planning and mitigation.

So what’s in this new report?

This report took the entire United States of America and used the best technology at our disposal to predict flooding locations. They predicted the flooding conditions both under current conditions and under future climate change projections. And they did this for every single address in the United States. Just amazing. And it’s super easy to use. Just go to this link: https://floodfactor.com/ and type in an address.

You will get a numeric score back ranging from 1 to 10 quantifying the property’s flood risk factor. The higher the factor score, the more likely the property is at risk over the lifespan of a 30-year mortgage. A 9-10 score is categorized as “Extreme”, 7-8 is “Severe”, 5-6 “Major”, 3-4 “Moderate”, and anything 1-2 is “Low”. In addition to the score, you will also get a series of informative interactive maps showing the flood extent predictions for 0.2%, 1%, 5%, and 20% statistical chance floods.

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So let’s take this new Flood Factor tool for a test drive shall we? I’m going demonstrate the tool on four addresses in the Pittsburgh region:

• UPMC St. Margaret – 815 Freeport Road, Pittsburgh PA, 15215
• BP Gas Station on Banksville Road – 2900 Banksville Rd, Pittsburgh PA, 15216
• Chick-fil-A on McKnight Road – 7451 McKnight Rd, Pittsburgh PA, 15237
• Big Jim’s in the Run – 201 Saline St, Pittsburgh PA, 15207

Let’s take each of these addresses and do a direct comparison between the Flood Factor website and the FEMA flood mapping website.

Let’s see how well they align as it relates to understanding flood risk.

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UPMC St. Margaret

Here was the scene in July of 2019 where both entrances to the hospital were closed for several hours due to flooding. What a catastrophe in public safety on so many levels. Most of Freeport Road was inundated with impassible flood waters.

The Flood Factor map results indicate a score of 7 out of 10 designated as a “SEVERE” flood factor area.

For the same location FEMA map results indicate Zone X – “AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD”.

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BP Gas Station on Banksville Road

Here was the scene (also in July 2019) at the BP Gas Station at the intersection of Banksville Road and Potomac Avenue. During this flood event a 90 year old man was rescued from his trapped car. See the video below.

The Flood Factor map results indicate a score of 9 out of 10 designated as an “EXTREME” flood factor area.

For the same location FEMA map results indicate Zone X – “AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD”.

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Chick-Fil-A on McKnight Road

Ahhhh Chick-fil-A, those delectable chicken sandwiches and milk shakes….

Here’s the video of the scene (again from July 2019) where a giant sinkhole opened up on McKnight Road.

“At times it was as if we had a new river flowing through the North Hills.” – Ken Rice delivering the goods on that quote.

The Flood Factor map results indicate a score of 9 out of 10 designated as an “EXTREME” flood factor area.

For the same location FEMA map results indicate Zone X – “AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD”.

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Big Jim’s in the Run

Chick-Fil-A, take your pathetic chicken sandwiches and get outta here with that nonsense. Just take one look at this glorious chicken parm hoagie from the legendary Big Jim’s.

Private message for Chick-Fil-A: You really don’t know what you’re dealing with here in Pittsburgh and you want no part of even trying to compete with Big Jim’s in the Run. Just stop. I suggest you leave, immediately. And take your stupid cow mascot with you too.

Although, in terms of flooding locations I’m not sure what’s worse: a massive sink hole opening up and swallowing your car while at Chick-Fil-A, or a giant erupting Old Faithful of floodwaters near Big Jim’s? Tough call. Again, I think the nod might go to Big Jim’s on this one. Although I’m not too sure he would consider himself the “winner” in this instance. See the below home video footage of the flood geyser.

The Flood Factor map results indicate a score of 8 out of 10 designated as a “SEVERE” flood factor area.

And in yet another shocking surprise, FEMA map results indicate Zone X – “AREA OF MINIMAL FLOOD HAZARD”.

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And there you have it for four prominent flooding locations in our region and the results from the Flood Factor tool and FEMA flood maps.

So…. which mapping tool would you use to find out if an address might be susceptible to flooding? For me, I think it’s best to err on the side of caution when it comes to issues like flooding. Therefore, I would recommend use all information at your disposal and make the best decision for you.

The Flood Factor tool is not perfect by any stretch. The Flood Factor research team acknowledges that the results of their tool will need to be constantly improved as more information is gathered. Good news is that they plan on updating the tool annually.

But overall, I think this is a step in the right direction to providing more information to the public around this complicated issue. FEMA flood maps have long been known to not paint the full picture to the true extents of flooding. Especially outside of coastal areas and larger rivers networks and streams.

On a final concluding note, the Flood Factor team quantified cities across the entire United States that face the most substantial risk of properties due to flooding. Guess who made the list?

Are we as a region ready to come together to address this issue or not?

If so, can I suggest we meet at Big Jim’s for the first meeting?

I just can’t get my mind off that chicken parm sandwich now.

(Covid-19 pending, of course.)

Author’s Note: This is the fifth part in a series of blog posts looking at the historical big picture of modern day urban flooding and the importance of trees. Go here for part one, two, three, and four. Read this blog post on why I’ve decided to take on this project.

By the mid 1600s the English colonies of North America had become firmly established on the world stage with profitable commodities of which trees and the harvesting of lumber played an integral role. And inevitably where there’s money to be made, there will be humans that swarm like flies to manure. Colonist populations exploded exponentially. The colonial immigrant population of North America around 1620 was around 500 total. By the start of the next century that number would increase to 250,900. By 1760, nearing the start of the revolution, it would be 1,593,600.

The single largest form of occupation during this period was agrarian based. Immigrants made their living owning land, building a fenced in farm, and selling farm commodities as a result of hard work. Land was cheap and jobs paid well in America. Nine out of every ten jobs in the colonies was related to these activities. The first and most crucial step was clearing forests, after which came crops (primarily maize/corn), and then domesticated animals. As a result, the populations of livestock exploded in even greater numbers. Prior to English settlers, domesticated animals were non-existent in the New England colonies. By the mid 1600s they dominated the land. With the aid of metal tools not previously seen by these forests, the colonial settlers cleared and burned the forests with little regard so that the cattle, horses, sheep, and goats could feast upon the resulting grass lands.

For a good visual take on the situation take a look at these fantastic dioramas of a typical New England landscape during this era from the Harvard University Fisher Museum:

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Dioramas from the Harvest Forest Fisher Museum

New England’s profitable commodities, and really its entire reason for being, were intrinsically tied to some form of cutting down trees. Furthermore, all colonial settlers relied on wood for fuel to get through harsh Little Ice Age winters (see part two of this series). The greatest use of the forests was by far for domestic fuel for heating. From William Cronon’s “Changes in the Land – Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England“:

A typical New England household probably consumed as much as thirty or forty cords of firewood per year, which can be best visualized as a stack of wood four feet wide, four feet high, and three hundred feet long; obtaining such a wood pile meant cutting down more than an acre of forest each year. In 1800, the region burned perhaps eighteen times more wood for fuel than it cut for lumber. When the effects of such burning are summed up for the whole colonial period, it is probable that New England consumed more than 260 million cords of firewood between 1630 and 1800.

The economic and personal necessities of the colonists were so tied to trees that the colonies even minted some of the earliest silver shillings with trees emblazoned upon them.

By the way, you could still buy one of these super cool rare tree coins on eBay for about a cool $1k – 2k of your hard earned paper money. Go ahead and feel free to use a large sum of your paper tree money to buy another form of metal money with a tree on it! How’s that for sensible human logic? My brain sometimes hurts contemplating the reasoning behind us humans.

Trees were ingrained in the early colonists lifestyle, livelihood, way of life, keeping warm, and the overall colonial economy.

Then in 1691 one of the first sparks of colonial unrest on the match stick of the American Revolution were ignited because of the very same trees.

In 1691 the recently reinstated English monarchy and King William III began to take notice of their New England citizens tree cutting behaviors. By this time England was the world’s dominant sea power thanks in part to the great white pine trees from New England that they used for ship building (see part four). These ships were used to dominate the seas and increase their numbers in trading routes, goods, and profits. Nearly the entire fleet of English naval ships relied upon the best shipping masts in the world supplied directly from New England forests.

A Ship at Sea, 1650-1708, Ludolf Bakhuizen

King William III issued a royal charter in October 1691 to New England colonies reserving to the King “all Trees of Diameter of Twenty Four Inches and upwards” “for the better providing and furnishing of Masts for the Royal Navy.” And anyone who cut down such trees would be subject to a fine of “One Hundred Pounds sterling.”

And with that single charter, the best and most prized trees of economic value were the property of the King of the England and persons of the colonies were subject to fine for disobeying. The charter became known as the Broad Arrow policy since surveyor generals of the English crown went into the best forests marking trees with an axe indicating with a “broad arrow” insignia which trees were property of the King of England.

New England masts and the King’s Broad Arrow. Greenwich, London: Trustees of the National Maritime Museum. (1979)

The policy immediately drew resentment among colonists and was largely ignored. This was a land founded on personal freedoms and clearing, subduing and filling the land. Doing God’s work as deemed by God himself in the Bible. It was in direct contradiction to their belief system (see part three). White pine trees eventually became a symbol of repression. Trees and their rightful ownership drove a wooden wedge between the crown and the colonists.

As New England colonists transitioned into the 1700s, trees became a symbol of liberty and would unify the people against the King. Colonists began using a flag with a pine tree emblem, and used it heavily in the lead up to and during the Revolutionary War. A pine tree flag would wave at the battle of Bunker Hill and the same flag would be hoisted upon General Washington’s small fleet of naval ships. In the same vein, the Liberty Elm tree in Boston was a regular rallying spot for revolutionists. After it was cut down by English loyalists in 1775, it’s stump and the “stump speeches” made upon it, served to galvanize the people of Boston and provided a rallying location for organized protest such as the Tea Act and the Boston Tea Party.

Pine Tree Flag

We all know what happens next, the Declaration of Independence, war, and the birth of a new nation. All United under God, indivisible, to do as they please with their own land and trees.

So when 4th of July rolls around and you’re in the freedom of your back yard doing unwise American “hold my beer” tricks on your neighbor’s trampoline with a fist full of lit sparklers, think of the tree and the wooden crutches you will carrying for the next five months.

Because without them, there wouldn’t be the great land-of-the-free-to-do-stupid-things called the United States of America.

This nation was founded on the principle of freedom (caveat: as long as you weren’t a slave or native Indian). The freedom of choice and the right to our individual happiness and prosperity. The freedom to chop down as many trees as I please without a King telling me differently.

And as this story enters the 19th century, that is exactly what will happen to the trees of North America. On massive devastating scales.

The Spring of 2020 is a chapter in our story that will be remembered, studied, and written about for a long time. It feels like we are all living in a very important moment. A moment when the marginalized people of this nation collectively all stood up and said “Enough. This system is broke.”

Normally I try to make the content of this blog somewhat lighthearted with some humor mixed in but now is definitely not the time. For me personally, I have not been in much of a laughing mood of late anyway.

I despise all forms of injustice, hypocrisy, lies, and deceit – all of which feel like they are ratcheted up to a full 10 out of 10 right now across this nation. For me, it’s difficult not to get very angry. Angry at our leaders that we’ve elected to represent us. Angry at our police and military we count on to protect us. At the moment, both seem out of touch with the people whom they claim to serve.

Listening to Joe Biden’s speech in Philadelphia earlier this week he mentioned that rarely ever does anything good come from a clenched fist. It was a good reminder that I needed. Words maybe everyone should heed. I’m pretty sure I can’t type this blog post by punching my fists at my keyboard. My hands need to be relaxed and flexible. So does my mind. It was a good reminder that I needed to take a deep breath and channel my anger into something purposeful and constructive. Something that could help in the national effort in challenging the status quo; rather than turning me into the status quo.

This blog at it’s core is about the engineering, science and history of urban flooding with a bit of a Pittsburgh flavor. I am a bit hesitant about drifting too far into subjects that I personally have no understanding. I am a semi-youngish adult straight white male. I’ll never understand the emotionally damaging impacts of racism and discrimination and what that truly feels like. But I feel it is my duty to do something to help in the best way I know how. I have a blog with small yet somewhat dedicated following. I need to contribute.

Racism and discrimination have all the ingredients I loathe wrapped into one: injustice, hypocrisy, lies, and deceit.

Now is not the time to be silent.

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Natural disasters and flooding negatively and unjustly impact at-risk and marginalized people of this nation.

Unfortunately, the history of flooding is pot marked with scars of inequality and injustice. The memories of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina still linger for many. I’ve previously linked to some national studies on this blog. See here. Or here. Within both of these reports, research is beginning to show that flooding across this nation, not just New Orleans, disproportionately affects marginalized populations. Consider this snippet:

The people who live in dense, aging urban cores and low lying inundation areas—their neighborhoods served by undersized and deteriorating infrastructure—are the low income, elderly and other socially vulnerable people who have the highest risk of urban flooding and the fewest resources to combat it. Those who can afford to move to less flood-prone areas retreat, and the marginalized are left behind.

One of the most eye-opening research papers on these types of impacts was released in October of 2018 from Junia Howell from the University of Pittsburgh and James R Elliott from Rice University. The paper is titled: Damages Done: The Longitudinal Impacts of Natural Hazards on Wealth Inequality in the United States. The full paper is free and open access for anyone to read (thank you!). The paper is a bit technical but I am going to try to explain it in plain language for this blog as best I can.

But before I get into the results of the paper, we need to first understand the underlying data that went into the research. There are three datasets that were used to conduct the study.

1. Panel Study of Income Dynamics Data – This data is the longest running study of household family economics. It tracks and measures the wealth of families over multiple generations. It currently consists of over 9,000 volunteer families of wide ranging diverse backgrounds. The data allows researchers to understand how individual families are financially progressing over the years. It also allows to separate the data by race, location, and other factors such as level of education and marital status.
2. Spatial Hazard Events and Losses Database for the United States – This database tracks the total cost of damages from natural disasters across the nation. The damages data can be extracted by the type of disaster, the date of the disaster, and the location/county in which it occurred.
3. Federal Emergency Management Agency Public Assistance Grants – Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides financial public assistance to communities after disasters to help in recovery efforts. The grant data is publicly available at OpenFEMA where anyone can extract the data and determine how much funding is disbursed each year, by type of disaster, and by county.

Using the Income Dynamics Data (Dataset 1 above), the research team looked at the years between 1999 and 2013 and determined all families that were impacted by a disaster using the Special Hazard Events Data (Dataset 2 above). Combining these datasets, they determined that over 3,400 families in the Income Dynamics Data were impacted by a disaster in their county of residence between the years 1999 and 2013.

For all of the identified 3,400 plus families the research team then calculated three things between 1999 and 2013:

• The net change in total wealth of each family.
• The total dollar amount of disaster damage of each family’s county.
• The total dollar amount of FEMA public assistance grants received of each family’s county.

The research team then compared the net change in total family wealth of each family to:

1. The total dollar value of disaster damages in their home county.
2. The total dollar value of FEMA grant assistance in their home county.

The research team then broke the comparison down by race of each family to determine the following:

Question 1: Does a greater amount of disaster damage a county experiences impact family wealth and do the results differ by race?

Question 2: Does a greater amount of FEMA aid a county receives impact family wealth and do the results differ by race?

Question 3: When a disaster occurs, does the wealth of a family decrease or increase and do the results differ by race?

The results:

For Question 1, the research team determined the following:

Whites who lived in counties with very little hazard damage ($100,000) over the 1999–2013 period gained, on average, $26,000 in wealth. By comparison, similar whites living in counties that experienced $10 billion in hazard damage gained nearly five times that much, or $126,000. For blacks, results cut the other way. Those who lived in counties with just $100,000 in hazard damage gained an estimated $19,000 on average; whereas those living in counties with $10 billion in hazard damage lost an estimated $27,000. For Latinos, these numbers are $72,000 versus negative $29,000. And, for other race (mostly Asian) individuals, the numbers are $21,000 versus negative $10,000. 

Here are the results in graphical format (annotations by me) that indicate that white families get wealthier and people of color get poorer the greater the disaster.

Question 1: Does a greater amount of disaster damage a county experiences impact family wealth and do the results differ by race? Yes. White families gain wealth and families of color lose wealth the greater the disaster damage value.

For Question 2, the research team determined the following:

Whites living in counties that received $900 million in FEMA aid during 1999–2013 accumulated $55,000 more wealth than otherwise similar whites living in counties that received only $1,000 in FEMA aid. Conversely, blacks living in counties that received $900 million in FEMA aid accumulated $82,000 less wealth than otherwise similar blacks living in counties that received only $1,000 in FEMA aid. Similarly, Latinos accumulated $65,000 less, and other races (mostly Asians) accumulated $51,000 less. 

The research team did not reproduce a similar graph as above but the graph below illustrates the point that white educated families benefit more from greater amounts of FEMA grant assistance and black uneducated families actually suffer.

Question 2: Does a greater amount of FEMA aid a county receives impact family wealth and do the results differ by race? Yes. White families gain wealth and families of color lose wealth the greater the amount of FEMA grant assistance.

Finally, Question 3:

Question 3: When a disaster occurs, does the wealth of a family decrease or increase and do the results differ by race? They increase for white families only and the worse the disaster, the greater the increase in family wealth. For all other races, family wealth decreases the worse the disaster.

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I’m presenting these results to help amplify the message that is ringing out in the world at this moment. In no way am I trying to compare police brutality to flooding. They are completely separate issues that pose their own set of challenges and solutions. But the results of this study points to a larger systemic issue that is somewhat similar in nature. When disasters occur to families, why should people suffer more hardship just because the color of their skin? Or their education level? Or whether they own or rent a home?

I’m not writing this article to downplay or discredit the notion that when disaster strikes that white families should not be helped. They most certainly should. When flooding disasters strike, everyone who needs and wants help should be helped, regardless of their background. I am writing this blog post to maybe help get us toward the long held ideal “that we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” The results from this research are anything but that – maybe men are created equally, but certainly are not treated equally when it comes to disasters.

The data shows that white families gain wealth when disaster strikes and people of color spiral down into financial distress especially as the disaster increases in magnitude.

This isn’t a small sample size either. This is from over 3,400 families with 15 years worth of data. Results that were proven to 95% statistical confidence.

We obviously have to do better. We have to acknowledge these types of social problems in our nation or otherwise history will continue to repeat itself. The waves of racial unrest and riots will continue to ebb and flow in this country. Years like 1968, 1992, and 2020 will continue with periods of calm stillness and bursts of violent storms.

I’m a civil engineer by profession. The American Society of Civil Engineers has a code of ethics and Canon 8 is Treat All Persons Fairly. It is the engineer’s duty to consider these types of injustices in our line of work.

I just sometimes wish others would do the same in theirs.

Author’s Note: This is the third part in a series of blog posts looking at the historical big picture of modern day urban flooding and the importance of trees. Go here for part one and here for part two. Read this blog post on why I’ve decided to take on this project.

As discussed in part two, human behavior is often dictated by surrounding conditions imposed on us. Another key ingredient in our behaviors are also our belief systems. Belief systems which are passed down from generation to generation. Belief systems that have become engrained within our spiritual DNA over centuries, if not millennia. In essence, the spiritual makeup of “who we are.” Arguably, our belief systems may be a bigger influence on our behavior than even our environmental conditions.

Not to digress too far on this subject, but one of the most beautiful and awe inspiring shots in filming that still sticks with me to this day is from the 2011 documentary Samsara. The shot is a birds eye view of pilgrims surrounding the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The entire Samsara documentary is incredible and I highly recommend watching it in its entirety. But it’s especially this scene that sticks with me to this day and it demonstrates in two minutes and 40 seconds the power of belief systems on our human behavior. The time lapse shot at the end of this scene gets me every time. Just beautiful.

The beginning roots of the United States of America are made out of trees, but the soil, the foundation in which they live, are firmly planted in the belief systems within the gospel of the Bible.

The first colonists brought with them a deeply religious Christian mindset along with an entrepreneurial spirit steeped in a belief of personal freedoms (one caveat: as long as that person isn’t a Native American or African slave).

One of the best reads into the early English colonist’s mindset is William Cronon’s Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. It’s a must read book for anyone that is interested into getting a glimpse into the mindset and what life was like for the very first colonists that arrived in New England.

In a nutshell, the mindset of early colonists was one that believed that cultivating the land and clearing the trees was doing “God’s work.” That Earth was created for the subjugation of mankind as per Biblical sacred scripture.

Gensis Chapter 1 Verse 28:

²⁸God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ 

“…fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion…”

In addition to their deeply religious mindset, the first colonists who first came to New England were daring risk takers. They likely boarded an overly crowded, disease riddled 100 foot sail boat with about a hundred other passengers infested with disease and vermin. The journey took upwards of two to three months to cross the Atlantic, during which many died at sea from disease on the journey.

The first colonists were also used to turmoil, war, famine and suffering. No doubt, these were tough and brutal times by today’s standards. They came from a European continent that was in the midst of economic turmoil and a near constant string of major wars including the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604), Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), the English Civil Wars (1642-1651), and the Anglo-Dutch Wars (first in 1652). The Thirty Years’ War being one of deadliest conflicts in human history taking the lives of 8 million people. The English Civil War resulted in the execution of King Charles I for treason and the overthrow of the English monarchy.

On top of all of the wars and bloodshed, throw in for good measure:

• Periods of famine due to poor growing seasons from the Little Ice Age (see part two),
• Sharp increases in urban population centers such as London due to resulting job losses in farming,
• Horrible outbreaks of the plague and disease in 1605, 1625, 1636 including the Great Plague of London of 1665-1666 which killed an estimated 100,000 people (a quarter of London’s population) in just 18 months,
• Religious persecutions between Christians orthodoxies.

All of this was a recipe for daring and adventurous individuals to pack up their belongings as quick as possible, go somewhere new, and roll the dice in a new undiscovered land.

They wanted to believe in a new and better way of life. And really who could blame them? They wanted meaning and purpose free from religious persecutions by doing God’s work by settling, “filling, “subduing”, having “dominion” over a new land. They had dreams of a New England Utopia.

But so did the English monarchy and London financiers influenced by the writings of Richard Hakluyt who had aspirations of world domination and a virgin land ripe with abundant resources for generating profits and great wealth. Resources that included tree resources so vast and expansive that they were thought to be endless. That would not turn out to be the case as we will find.

Author’s Note: This is the second part in a series of blog posts looking at the historical big picture of modern day urban flooding and the importance of trees. Go here for part one. Read this blog post on why I’ve decided to take on this project.

Human behavior is often dictated by surrounding conditions imposed on us.

The story of the relationship between humanity, trees and flooding requires centuries of reflection to fully understand how we got to where we are today.

I’ll begin this story with a centuries old bang.

Well, two really big bangs that were major global disrupting cataclysmic volcanic eruptions.

The first one happened in 1257 on the Island of Lombok in Indonesia. By all scientific indications this eruption was the single largest volcanic eruption of the common era resulting in the 4.4 square mile Segara Anak caldera pit.

Segara Anak Caldera

The second major eruption occurred around 1452-1453 known as the “Kuwae” event in a submarine caldera in the Pacific Ocean in the Vanuatu Islands. Although there is some dispute about the exact location and timing of this eruption. Regardless of the specifics of the eruption itself, a really big and global climate shifting volcanic explosion is known to have happened sometime in the second half of the 15th century.

A series of additional smaller, but also global climate inducing volcanic eruptions again occurred in:

• 1586 at Colima Volcano in Mexico,
• 1595 in Nevado del Ruiz Volcano in Columbia, and
• 1600 at Huaynaputina Volcano in the Peruvian Andes.

These volcanic eruptions in a relatively short time frame, along with coinciding decreased period of sun activity, were likely the main contributing factors to the Little Ice Age.

The Little Ice Age is generally referred to as the period between the years 1300 to 1850 that resulted in widespread global cooling. A cooling that was so drastic that it resulted in periods of severe famine due to poor growing seasons, and wood shortages due to longer and colder winters.

Hendrick Avercamp. Winter scene on a canal. Toledo (Ohio), Toledo Museum of Art.

The period of the Little Ice Age was a very difficult time to be alive. Winters were more severe and summers were sometimes non-existent resulting in global cascading effects. There were many years where growing crops and producing food was a fruitless endeavor resulting in famines and economic turmoil. Dynasties collapsed.

For a literal and figurative “bone chilling” look at this period read “A Cold Welcome: The Little Ice Age and Europe’s Encounter with North America” by Sam White. Much of the information within this blog post can be found Sam White’s book. I cannot recommend it enough – parts of it will scare the socks off of you. Which will make you feel even colder because you are no longer wearing socks.

I begin our story about the historical importance of trees under the backdrop of the Little Ice Age because human activity is largely driven by our environmental conditions and our surroundings. Take for example our current situation with COVID-19. External environmental forces, which are sometimes beyond our control, can make humans do extraordinary and unique things. Take for example, ass-bag pickup truck guy hoarding pallets of pleated quilted toilet paper from the grocery store.

Seriously. Don’t be this guy.

So let’s all pretend for a minute what it was like to live through the Little Ice Age.

Go ahead and close your eyes. No wait. That won’t work. You need to be able to read.

Open your eyes but imagine yourself living through long brutally cold winters year after year after year. And no present day Pittsburgh does not count, no matter how much we like to complain. These winters are much, much worse. The luxury of natural gas being piped directly into your home furnace does not exist. Imagine the only way to keep you and your family warm is by going out into the woods, cutting down a tree and chopping up firewood. Under these conditions, would people be cutting down trees and hoarding firewood? I have a hunch that pickup truck guy’s great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather from England might do such a thing. In fact, in the 1500s England had a severe wood shortage due to over harvesting and the cost of wood sky rocketed.

Trees were there for the taking, so people took them. They were essential to survival much like pleated toilet paper is today to pickup truck guy.

During the Little Ice Age, cutting down and taking trees became an engrained social behavior of several generations. It just so happened that this behavior coincided with the European discovery and colonization of North America. A land full of abundant tree resources to what the initial settlers at the time described as “infinite” and “in-exhaustible.” Trees upon trees upon trees, for miles and miles and miles. Massive centuries old trees stretching the entire North American Atlantic coastline all the way westward to the Mississippi River and into the great plains.

A seemingly endless supply of new trees were there for the continued taking, and over the next three centuries the newly arrived European settlers would be sure to take them. Take them all.

Author’s Note: This is the first part in a series of blog posts looking at the historical big picture of modern day urban flooding. Read this blog post why I’ve decided to take on this project. Yesterday was the 148th anniversary of Arbor Day and I figure there’s no better time to kick this off. Happy belated Arbor Day!

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If dogs are man’s best friend, trees are that neglected friend who’s always there to bail you out of jam when you are most in need.

You know that friend I’m talking about. That one that may not always be at the center of your weekend plans come Thursday, but when the “you-know-what” hits the fan, you can count on them being there for you. You can give them a call anytime and they always seem to show up at the drop of a hat. Even though you might haven’t always been as equal of a friend in return.

The tree is that kind of friend to man. The one who is always there to spring us out of a jam, help us out with a ride to a doctor’s appointment, or will come over at moments notice to help jump start our dead car battery on a brutal winter morning. Stupid piece of junk car!

Dogs get all the glory because they are just so friendly and happy all the time. Dogs are Mr. Popular-captain-of-the-football-team of man’s friends. Trees, on the other hand, are that kinda-dorky-awkward-boring-shy-but-sweet-friend that man takes for granted. Not nearly as cool or popular as these dogs over here.

Hey dogs, whatcha doin this Friday night?

We barely even notice our tree friends. Rarely even give them much thought really. We don’t even nod as we pass them by in the rush of our daily lives. Dogs, on the other hand, I’ll take a minute out of my day every single time for a quick pat on the head no matter how busy I am! Look at its wagging little tail… So cute.

Most times we forget trees are even living, breathing (ok, respirating) creatures. But you know what? They are always there for us. Sturdy, steady, and consistent. Never asking for anything in return. Always generally quiet and of very little words. Always there for you if you need a shoulder to lean on and listen. Or a cool and refreshing place to sit down next to so that we can escape the summer heat of our daily lives. Or a friend willing to sacrifice themselves to warm you up next to a fire on a chilly autumn night.

Trees are nothing short of amazing specimens, but they don’t brag about it one bit. They’re humble. They are the largest living creatures on Earth: General Sherman in California. They are the oldest living creatures on Earth: 80,000 year old Pando Aspen grove in Utah or the 4,000+ year old bristle cone pine trees of California, Nevada, and Utah.

Pando Aspen Grove Organism

Nothing on Earth matches their ancient wisdom and usefulness to the rest of its living creatures. They’ve seen it all and been through it all. In a seemingly infinite universe, we are sitting on the only known spherical object harboring intelligent life, and it is entirely possible only because of trees.

Trees do the work of the world. They are the axle that turns the wheel of the Earth’s great cycles. Cycles that if they did not exist, we humans would be extinct. As in, not here, gone, entirely wiped off the face of the Earth. Without trees we wouldn’t have an atmosphere with air to breathe and without trees we wouldn’t have water to drink. Trees and man are linked root and hand. Without each other, we would not exist. It’s just that simple.

Now for some science…

Here’s how the carbon cycle works:

Such a terrific animation here by the National Park Service:

• 

Explanation: The hollow/white circles represent carbon dioxide, the blue circles represent water, and yellow circles represent energy from the sun. Notice how the circles all collide at the top of the tree resulting in green dots/carbon matter (leaves) which eventually fall back to ground turning into soil (biomass).

Here’s how the water cycle works:

Notice the common denominator in each of the cycles? Trees. Ok, smart guy, water and the sun, too. But we’re here today to talk about trees.

The other important factor in each cycle is human activity. Man is altering the carbon cycle by burning oil, natural gas, and coal. Man is altering the water cycle by cutting trees down.

Over the next several blog posts, I’m going to write about the history of the modern civilization and how humans have impacted the water cycle and have increased urban flooding by pushing around our neglected friends to the limit. We are now seeing the negative impacts of increased urban flooding in part due to what has become an abusive one sided relationship between man and trees.

We all need to be more aware of our neglected tree friends and how important they are to reducing flooding.

I’m here to tell that story and why you should care more about trees, gosh darnit.

Stay tuned to the blog for Rise and Fall of the Trees Part 2!

It is an extraordinary and difficult time for nearly everyone for sure. A moment, when that last little bit of lingering cigarette smoke has finally cleared from the room, that everyone will remember.

Unfortunately the cigarette smoke was not from some great one-off all night house party. That cigarette smell is from your Uncle Hal’s pack-a-day habit who was forced to “crash” on your living room couch for a few months. This one is going to linger and take time to clear out. We might even have to throw away that couch. No amount of scrubbing and Febreze is going to get that stench out.

Generations will be named after this moment. A moment that will have a distinct pre and post feeling sort of like 9/11. There will likely be newly defined playing rules with new acceptable and unacceptable social behaviors. What those rules exactly are we will have to wait for the smoke to fully clear (thanks Uncle Hal). But I think we are getting a flavor for some of them already.

The anxiety levels are high. I’m really trying to think of a more anxious moment in modern history that have touched so many lives at a single unified moment. Maybe the Cold War when the U.S. and the former U.S.S.R were in nuclear conflict? Maybe World War II? The Spanish Flu of 1918? I don’t know I wasn’t alive during these moments. They were likely times of high anxiety as well.

I do think it’s likely fair to say that not since World War II has such a significant portion of human population come together to solve a problem with such coordinated focus. The collective intelligence and problem solving capabilities of the human race across all corners of the planet are on full display, right now, at this very moment, in working towards solving COVID-19. I personally take some comfort and find beauty in that thought. It’s good to know that the majority of us are not in the “every man for himself” mindset. Unlike this ass-bag who should be tied up to a rocket and launched directly into space:

Some people really do suck.

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Anxiety to some degree is healthy, but obviously not like this with COVID-19. One of my favorite podcasts is called the Tim Ferriss Show. What I really like about his show is the long form interview style. Tim Ferriss, like most great interviewers, and really all great artists for that matter, really has a knack for uncovering the minute details that maybe us common folk don’t always notice or take for granted. He really explores the nooks and crannies within the deepest corners of people in an attempt to find what makes people unique. What makes people excel at what they do.

One of my most memorable Tim Ferriss podcast episodes was on the topic of human emotions with CEO Chip Conley. I distinctly remember where I was when first listened to this episode. I was on an evening jog through Frick Park and I remember immediately stopping on the Braddock Trail to type into my phone this portion of the podcast:

Anxiety = (Uncertainty) x (Powerlessness)

The equation is so simple yet elegant. It struck a powerful chord with me while I was jogging as I was going through a particularly anxious time in my life. I needed to address what was I unsure about (uncertainty) and determine if there was anything preventing me from addressing the issue (powerlessness).

If you break down this equation for the COVID-19 crisis you can understand why we are likely living through the most collective human anxious moment in a very long time. Millions of people are uncertain about their futures, both health-wise and financially, and millions of people are powerless to do anything about it. People are unable to get a prompt screening test if they are sick and people can’t find a new job to earn new income if they’ve been laid off. Both of the factors in the equation are approaching infinity which is why it is heart breaking (and understandable) seeing photos like this:

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When I look at that simple equation for anxiety, I also see people who are impacted by flooding. They have high uncertainty about when the next big storm will hit and flood their home or basement. They are also likely powerless to find a way to alleviate the issue. The people who are impacted by repeated flooding really have this equation for anxiety:

Anxiety = 2 [(Uncertainty) x (Powerlessness)]

They are doubly impacted by our current situation because not only do they have COVID-19 to think about, they have the thought of likely flash floods in the coming months.

Previously on this blog, I extracted all of Allegheny County’s tweets about flooding and determined by analyzing those tweets that May, June, and July were the start and height of flash flood season in Allegheny County. Unfortunately, if past trends hold true, it is likely a flash flood will occur, maybe even multiple times, which will require the services of emergency responders. This was a scene from last year in July in Plum:

https://triblive.com/local/regional/flash-flooding-forces-closure-of-numerous-roads-in-region/

I do wonder what extra or special measures do emergency responders have in place to help people impacted by flooding during the COVID-19 era? How do emergency responders adequately protect themselves as well? I would imagine social distancing rules and etiquette tend to go out the window when someone is trapped in their home or car due to raging flood waters.

I am not quite sure how I end this post other than my thoughts and prayers go out to those that are impacted by COVID-19 and flooding. Also the emergency responders and health care professionals. To the people who are working around the clock on solving COVID-19 in research laboratories. I hope and pray that this year will be a quiet year for flash floods and provide some relief both emotionally and physically to repeated flood victims.

Here’s what I do know and I firmly believe in my heart….

I know that we can ease people’s anxiety who are impacted by flooding. We can do this by providing less uncertainty and powerlessness to flooding victims. First, it’s up to us to start taking flooding seriously in the Pittsburgh Region.

There is no reason why a certain subset of people should be experiencing double the amount of anxiety everyone else is experiencing.