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Héloïse Gautier, Marie Gros
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Alex
Aline
Aubin
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Radio : … it should be raining cats and dogs, beware of flooding…
Alex : My canal !
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Alex : Damn, my sea wall !
…And my poor sugar canes…
Radio : In these conditions, we advise you to stay at home !
Alex : What, mud now ?!
Enough, I’m out of here.
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Storyteller : And that is how Alex, the first pig, started his journey towards a new home…
Alex : Maybe brother Aubin can provide me shelter…
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Alex : It seems nice here ! No storms, no flood.
Aubin : Wait… soon enough you will not be able to stand the sun either… with climate change, it has become unbearable…
And by the way, would you mind putting pants on ?
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Aubin : It’s nice and clean, you don’t like it ? Though we could use a bit more shade…
Alex : …Or maybe just try not wearing pants.
Aubin : And look at my poor crops !
Alex : Are you sure the sun is the matter ? I would say you just don’t have a green thumb…
(thought) Do I smell something burning ?
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Alex : Brother ?! We may have a more urgent problem…
Storyteller : And thus, the two brothers decided on joining their free-spirited but misunderstood sister : Aline.
Aubin : AAAAAHHH
Alex : Run for your life !
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Aubin : Brother Alex, do you see her ?
Alex : In her hammoc, as usual… Tss, always lying around…
Aubin : Hey Aline ! You seem great here. How do you manage ? Our islands became unlivable….
Alex : Too wet ! Too hot !
Aline : Hi my dear piglet brothers ! Come, I’ll show you around. My solutions to hot and wet are in nature !
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Aline : On the contrary ! The bigger they are, the fresher the air becomes.
And Alex seems to be enjoying the shade.
Alex : Oh. my. God. What is this ? Don’t you have a canal ?
Aline :
Dear brother, these are “meanders”. They help in slowing down the water when there is a flood, just like the one I had before you came.
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Alex : Yeah, this is a nice island… Can we settle down here with you ?
Aline : Sorry guys, I don’t have room for you. Better improve your poor little islands, no ?
Storyteller : And that is how they decided to go back to their islands, to make them livable again, with the help of Aline and nature…
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Aline : Well, there seems to be some work to do !
Storyteller : Aubin’s fir forest had burnt, but little shoots had already began to sprout…
Aubin : Let’s weed and chop everything, then we’ll replant the firs !
Aline : Are you insane ? Let the leafy shoots and the tree stumps be, they will bring your forest life, diversity and humidity. No more forest fires!
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Aline : Stop ! Drop the chainsaw !
No need to trim : if you let them be, your hedge and the border grass will keep the water in the ground during the drought. They are working with you !
Storyteller : The last challenge was the city, a furnace under the blazing sun.
Aubin : Got it : no trimming ! Why do you always have to be right ?
Alex : Yeah, it’s quite annoying.
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Aline : Time to go on ‘Toowet’ !
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Aubin : Wow, it’s even worse than Toohot here !
Alex : Let’s rebuild everything !
Aline : Drop the trowel, Alex, we said we would use nature.
Aline : Let’s get to work ! First, we need to stabilize the house, and prevent future mudslides. Any ideas ?
Alex : If I can’t build a wall, then I’m gonna plant a hedge wall !
Aubin : Good idea, it will keep the mud from sliding.
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Alex: My canal…
Aline : Long enough ! Goodbye old canal, welcome little stream…
Aline : Here ! When the mangrove will have grown, it will be doing the same job as the sea wall, but better !
Aubin : Down with the sea wall !
Aline : Don’t cry Alex, the sea will become saltier…
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Aline : It’s okay, everyone can be wrong !
…Especially you two…
Storyteller : And this is how their journey came to an end.
Alex : Thanks buddies ! With nature, Toowet will no longer be too wet !
Aline : Let’s go, let me drop you on the way.
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Storyteller : They each got back home
Aline : Phew ! I love my brothers, but I’m better off with myself and my hammock !
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Or maybe not ?
Storyteller : 50 years later
Undetermined pig : Guys ? I think we forgot something with climate change…
The End.
what is ‘nbs’ about this comic?
In addressing climate change, we often talk about “mitigation” and “adaptation”. The former is taking actions to reduce the amount of global change we’ll experience in the future (temperatures, sea level rise). The latter is about adapting to life as climate change consequences are already here: heat waves, storms, heavy rains, droughts. In this comic, NbS are helping the Three Little Pigs in adapting their islands to the consequences of climate change: big trees are cooling the air against urban heat, stream meanders and wetlands are preventing flooding, a more diverse vegetation is keeping the water in the soil and the mangrove provides the land with a buffer from high ocean storm waves. In order to work with NbS, our heroes will have to change their ways of doing, not relying so much anymore on civil engineering and over-control on nature. But will this be enough? On the Piglet Archipelago, there might be one climate change consequence in particular without any solution… Highlighting all the importance of maintaining both local adaptation actions and a global mitigation policy.
LINKS FOR THE SCIENCE AND PRACTICE IN THIS COMIC >
- TNOC: A Storm in a Bioswale: Breaking Down Barriers to Nature-Based Solutions
- TNOC: A New Tree Ethic; What if Trees Actually Mattered
- TNOC: Heat Risks are Rising in Cities Worldwide — Here Is How to Plan for Urban Heat Resilience
- TNOC: Climate Resilience Means Meaningfully Engaging Vulnerable Communities in Urban Planning Processes
- NN: Rotterdam – NbS for building a waterproof city
- NN: Barcelona: Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Enhancing Resilience to Climate Change