October 2025: nature-based solutions
Each month, we break down our topic into four weekly modules. Catch up on previous editions here.
This week's module: LEARN
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CONNECT | Conversation prompts on nature-based solutions
- ๐ฏ LEARN | What do nature-based solutions look like in practice?
- ACT | How you can advocate for a climate-resilient world starting with your neighbohood
- REFLECT | Art, poetry, and commitments
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Here's what we'll learn today Reader
Hey!! Our first gala is in less than 48 hours and I totally forgot I needed to write this Changeletter (actually no, I didn't forget, I just procrastinated worse than usual) so I gotta go finish planning.
But I have some VEERRYY hopeful content for you in today's LEARN module. It's about how soil (yes, humble dirt) can save fish from dying, which in turn can save the rest of us from dying.
Learn about soil. Learn about bioswales. This changed my life, and I hope it'll change yours too.
Okay see you next week and happy learning (SERIOUSLY you gotta learn about soil)
<3
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We can't do this without you Reader
A wee lil note: if you enjoy getting these Changeletters and you would like to make a gift of reciprocity, a $9 contribution would go such a long way. Especially if you make it monthly! 100% of this work is me sitting behind my keyboard stressing about if anyone cares about this stuff, so encouragement and financial support is so greatly appreciated!
Thank you Tiffany and Dave for supporting this month!
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Your bite-sized action plan Reader
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LEARN about a hyperlocal project with global implications
Today's LEARN video is from my very own neighborhood. It's about the Aurora Bridge Bioswale.
The Aurora Bridge, as I learned only yesterday, was the first major bridge in the United States designed exclusively for cars. (Booooo.) It's built over a body of water, as many bridges are, and all the yucky stuff from the highway goes directly into Lake Union below it.
Salmon have to swim through Lake Union during their migration, and because of the toxic stormwater runoff, they have been... unwell. And usually, worse.
But it turns out, when you run that same polluted water through soil, THE SALMON CAN LIVE! And that's the story of the Aurora Bridge Bioswale in the 5-minute video below.
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Read more about the project here.
Some takeaways:
- You can really be Just Some Dude and make a difference. Our guy Mark, mentioned in the video, chose a project in his neighborhood and didn't give up. We could all be Mark.
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- We're mostly facing people problems. Often, the bureaucratic challenges of climate resilience are greater than the technological ones, especially when nature offers the simplest and cheapest solutions.
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- Science is working! Out of millions of chemicals, we've isolated the one chemical (6PPD) that is largely responsible for the death of salmon in the Pacific Northwest... and it's added to car tires.
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- When one part of an ecosystem fails, everything collapses. The video opens with salmon dying. What it doesn't explain clearly is that here is that salmon health is connected to tree health is connected to human health.
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- Soil is powerful. Before this bioswale project, polluted water was running straight from the Aurora bridge into the lake below it. Now, one of the downspouts (basically a pipe from the bridge) has its runoff filtered through the bioswale, which is essentially 6 steps of soil. (Like, literal steps. It's pretty much a soil staircase.) Running polluted water through a bioswale has shown to neutralize the lethal effects of the water on salmon! Soil saves lives!
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- We need better stories. I learned about this soil/bioswale/salmon project from Rachael Meyer at Weber-Thompson, and NONE of the videos or articles I've found have lived up to the hype. Like, even the video linked above doesn't explicitly tell you that because water is filtered through soil, FISH CAN NOW LIVE?!?! Instead of dying dead?! Because of SOIL????
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And we could do this for every highway in the world, theoretically, right? But not if we don't have stories and examples!
Speaking of stories and examples, if you want to learn more about nature-based solutions, your next quest is to look at case studies from the Living Building Challenge. Living Buildings are SUCH a cool example of nature-based solutions, and I've spent more hours than I'm proud of just lurking on this website. Maybe it'll be your next addiction too.
Okay, I gotta go plan this gala for Friday now, so BYE
Love,
Nivi
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