Changing Climate and Houstonian Attitudes on Flooding

Within the Houston community there have been many hurricanes and tropical storms that have hurt citizens in the past. The changing climate and Hurricane Harvey have cost Houston a great amount of property damage; some citizens right now are still struggling with the aftermath of the natural disaster. It is difficult not to look back and ask: what we could have done to reduce or prevent the damage caused by the hurricane? It is apparent that the county has thought about this - since I have seen trucks carrying dirt and working on ditches near my neighborhood for months. The community has attempted to prevent future problems by removing waste in the many ditches near my house, and they have carved up truck loads of dirt to have them transported elsewhere to make room for more flood water the next time a hurricane arrives. Rather than just making more room for rainfall, I wondered if there were other methods to prevent flooding or damage caused by flooding. By asking this question, I found that there were ideas to reduce precipitation, slowing down the runoff of water, and forestation. I will discuss three proposed solutions to the changing climate which will involve reducing precipitation, slowing runoff, and forestation.