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Soft Engineering
Regarding the civil engineering of shorelines, soft engineering is a shoreline management practice that uses sustainable ecological principles to restore shoreline stabilization and protect riparian habitats. Soft Shoreline Engineering (SSE) uses the strategic placement of organic materials such as vegetation, stones, sand, debris, and other structural materials to reduce erosion, enhance shoreline aesthetic, soften the land-water interface, and lower costs of ecological restoration. To differentiate Soft Shoreline Engineering from Hard Shoreline Engineering, Hard Shoreline Engineering tends to use steel sheet piling or concrete breakwalls to prevent danger and fortify shorelines. Generally, Hard Shoreline Engineering is used for navigational or industrial purposes. To contrast, Soft Shoreline Engineering emphasizes the application of ecological principles rather than compromising the engineered integrity of the shoreline. Background Before the mid-1990s, boys production company m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Civil Engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage systems, pipelines, structural components of buildings, and railways. Civil engineering is traditionally broken into a number of sub-disciplines. It is considered the second-oldest engineering discipline after military engineering, and it is defined to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering. Civil engineering can take place in the public sector from municipal public works departments through to federal government agencies, and in the private sector from locally based firms to global Fortune 500 companies. History Civil engineering as a discipline Civil engineering is the application of physical and scientific principles for solving the problems of society, and its history is intricately linked to advances in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecological Restoration
Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human interruption and action. Effective restoration requires an explicit goal or policy, preferably an unambiguous one that is articulated, accepted, and codified. Restoration goals reflect societal choices from among competing policy priorities, but extracting such goals is typically contentious and politically challenging. Natural ecosystems provide ecosystem services in the form of resources such as food, fuel, and timber; the purification of air and water; the detoxification and decomposition of wastes; the regulation of climate; the regeneration of soil fertility; and the pollination of crops. These ecosystem processes have been estimated to be worth trillions of dollars annually. There is consensus in the scientific community that the current envi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hard Engineering
Hard engineering involves the construction of hydraulic structures to protect coasts from erosion. Such structures include seawalls, gabions, breakwaters, groynes and tetrapods. Effects Hard engineering can cause unintended environmental consequences, such as new erosion and altered sedimentation patterns, that are detrimental to the immediate human and natural environment or along down-coast locations and habitats. Seawalls and bulkheads may have multiple negative effects on nearshore ecosystems due to the way they reflect wave energy instead of dissipating it. Energy from reflected waves can cause a scouring effect on substrate below the structure, resulting in loss or displacement of sediment. Over time, this effect may lead to a decrease in the size of intertidal and nearshore habitats. This effect is also known as coastal squeeze. In addition, bulkheads and seawalls offer no filtering for surface runoff, this means that anthropogenic pollutants and chemicals in armored areas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Impact On The Environment
Human impact on the environment (or anthropogenic impact) refers to changes to biophysical environments and to ecosystems, biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans. Modifying the environment to fit the needs of society is causing severe effects including global warming, environmental degradation (such as ocean acidification), mass extinction and biodiversity loss, ecological crisis, and ecological collapse. Some human activities that cause damage (either directly or indirectly) to the environment on a global scale include population growth, overconsumption, overexploitation, pollution, and deforestation. Some of the problems, including global warming and biodiversity loss, have been proposed as representing catastrophic risks to the survival of the human species. The term ''anthropogenic'' designates an effect or object resulting from human activity. The term was first used in the technical sense by Russian geologist Alexey Pavlov, and it w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hard Engineering
Hard engineering involves the construction of hydraulic structures to protect coasts from erosion. Such structures include seawalls, gabions, breakwaters, groynes and tetrapods. Effects Hard engineering can cause unintended environmental consequences, such as new erosion and altered sedimentation patterns, that are detrimental to the immediate human and natural environment or along down-coast locations and habitats. Seawalls and bulkheads may have multiple negative effects on nearshore ecosystems due to the way they reflect wave energy instead of dissipating it. Energy from reflected waves can cause a scouring effect on substrate below the structure, resulting in loss or displacement of sediment. Over time, this effect may lead to a decrease in the size of intertidal and nearshore habitats. This effect is also known as coastal squeeze. In addition, bulkheads and seawalls offer no filtering for surface runoff, this means that anthropogenic pollutants and chemicals in armored areas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecological Engineering
Ecological engineering uses ecology and engineering to predict, design, construct or restore, and manage ecosystems that integrate "human society with its natural environment for the benefit of both".W.J. Mitsch & S.E. Jorgensen (1989), "Introduction to Ecological Engineering", In: W.J. Mitsch and S.E. Jorgensen (Editors), ''Ecological Engineering: An Introduction to Ecotechnology''. John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp. 3-12. Origins, key concepts, definitions, and applications Ecological engineering emerged as a new idea in the early 1960s, but its definition has taken several decades to refine, its implementation is still undergoing adjustment, and its broader recognition as a new paradigm is relatively recent. Ecological engineering was introduced by Howard Odum and othersH.T. Odum et al. (1963), ''Experiments with Engineering of Marine Ecosystems'', in: ''Publication of the Institute of Marine Science of the University of Texas'', 9: 374-403. as utilizing natural energy sourc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erosion Control
Erosion control is the practice of preventing or controlling wind or water erosion in agriculture, land development, coastal areas, river banks and construction. Effective erosion controls handle surface runoff and are important techniques in preventing water pollution, soil loss, wildlife habitat loss and human property loss. Usage Erosion controls are used in natural areas, agricultural settings or urban environments. In urban areas erosion controls are often part of stormwater runoff management programs required by local governments. The controls often involve the creation of a physical barrier, such as vegetation or rock, to absorb some of the energy of the wind or water that is causing the erosion. They also involve building and maintaining storm drains. On construction sites they are often implemented in conjunction with sediment controls such as sediment basins and silt fences. Bank erosion is a natural process: without it, rivers would not meander and change course. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
