This little turtle represents a beach stakeholder, someone who will lose something if the beach washes away. This one is just a toy, sitting in a pan on a desk.
This week in class we modeled destructive winter storms that wash the beach sand away, and brainstormed ways to prevent the process. Beach grass (here, plastic) is one of the better solutions, but nothing is going to work if the storms are strong enough.
This mundane little model is part of an engineering lesson aimed at helping students understand coastal erosion, an important issue here in the Bay Area.
For the Mundane Monday Challenge #134.
A Thousand Finds 
This is a very insightful capture and post. Thank you for giving a glimpse into the issue of coastal erosion.
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Hi KL – coming back to reply about ‘bran tub’ … it’s an old fashioned way of hiding small presents for kids …’ a lucky dip in which the hidden items are buried in bran’ – when I was growing up and probably before the War … or they used sawdust – which I think we used. (Positive Letters) – Cheers Hilary
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Are people STILL living in those apartments??? That video is truly scary.
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No, those apartments were demolished earlier this year (2017). But it’s crazy to see that there are still people in them as of when that drone footage was taken (in 2016)! This is in Pacifica, which is about 45 minutes north of where I live in Mountain View, and a little south of San Francisco. We (Science from Scientists) actually teach in a school in Pacifica, which is right around the corner from a beach.
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That’s awesome, Karen! I made a traveling rain garden for a talk I had to give. Visuals are inspiring!🤔
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Hi KL – our chalk cliffs are receding rapidly and some areas around the coast of the UK are disappearing, together with property if it’s nearby … yet land grows too … but I bet the lesson comes home to anyone watching … but I’d hate to be living in one of those properties – not long left … cheers Hilary
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We have similar erosion down here. Those expensive houses and apartments with an “ocean view” will soon be in the ocean. I feel bad for the homeowners but it can’t be too much of a surprise, right?
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Yeah, I wouldn’t buy a place like that!
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That is the bottom line of our lesson: the best thing to do is to limit construction around the beach area. Sometimes you can bring sand back and replenish it, called “beach nourishment,” but that is very expensive and still temporary.
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