Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Where There's Money...
...somebody is going to figure out a way to spend it. The fate of Venice is a matter of great importance and huge engineering -- which translates into huge money to be made by somebody. The city is sinking, the sea is rising and eventually it won't just flood, it'll drown. Unless of course we engineer some sort of answer.
Already on the books is a plan to build huge retractable dams to hold back very high tides and thus avoid the flooding. Now comes a plan to inject sea water into the soil thousands of feet down and try to raise the city. One opponent of this latest proposal said
I have a far better idea. Let it sink, let the water rise, build a dome -- voila, Atlantis. The myth comes to life.
Already on the books is a plan to build huge retractable dams to hold back very high tides and thus avoid the flooding. Now comes a plan to inject sea water into the soil thousands of feet down and try to raise the city. One opponent of this latest proposal said
"We are really in the area of science fiction," said Jamiolkowski, who also chaired the committee that oversaw the project to stabilize the Leaning Tower of Pisa. "This project is not something very realistic."Sounds right to me. You're talking about the equivalent of a man-made tectonic shift here, hopefully absent the shaking of the normally accompanying earthquake.
I have a far better idea. Let it sink, let the water rise, build a dome -- voila, Atlantis. The myth comes to life.
