VICE News - 2014-07-27
VICE News travels to the Dominican Republic, site of a looming environmental and economic crisis many experts believe is the result of climate change. Lake Enriquillo is the largest lake in the Caribbean — and for the past 10 years, it's been getting larger. Having already doubled in area, the lake is destroying everything in its path and displacing local residents who are being forced to take extreme measures to survive. An Indigenous Resistance Community Evicted a Fracked Gas Pipeline Crew From Its Territories: http://bit.ly/1tdN3CT Check out the VICE News beta for more: http://vicenews.com Follow VICE News here: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vicenews Twitter: https://twitter.com/vicenews Tumblr: http://vicenews.tumblr.com/
What if they made the floating farms like in Mexico? The Mayans started the method and they still do it in some regions to this day. They made floating rafts and covered them with the rich lake mud and then grew their crops on there. No irrigation necessary because the plants were right on the lake. I know it's unorthodox and would be difficult, but if they were to be shown how and did testing on the lake mud to see if it could support the plants, couldn't it be possible?
@NY DOMIRICAN definitely not the only salt lake in the world, but you are right they wouldn't be able to grow crops from a salt lake
@NY DOMIRICAN "salt lake" city? Because the city is built around a huge salt lake
Easier said than done in a 3rd/4th world country
natural hydropontics you can even move your farm around for harvest, replanting makes the most sense of all farming methods
They made boats, houses out of Reed yes but this was cultured over hundreds of yrs where they had to adapt instead of move to a desolate town
4:20...
beautiful lake, lots of flamingos, spoonbills *coughs Crocs.
I watched this video 6 years ago. I often retold this story when talking about climate change and human impact on the planet. Such an important piece, worth watching again
The rift valley, a former marine strait, was created around one million years ago when the water level fell and the strait was filled in by sediments of the Yaque del Sur River. The lake is 9 to 12 miles (15 to 20 km) wide. Known as the Cul-de-Sac Depression in Haiti and the Hoya de Enriquillo in the Dominican Republic, parts of the rift valley are below sea level and are covered by large salt lakes. at one time it was all under water
Keep up the GOOD work.. Great to see these stories that I had no idea exist.
Wow great docu... Super interesting+ really heartbreaking for these poor people. Turning them into alcoholics +seemingly putting them in projects.... This can't turn out good. My heart breaks for them to lose their paradise. 😭 thx for shining some light on them Vice.
Would love to do some bass fishing on that lake. New industry
When I was there 10 years ago (when I was 6) it was already hot as fuck there so I can't even imagine it getting hotter there.
Wonderful people. Wonderful tourists destination.
There's also an entire Native American tribe in south Louisiana that has lost all of land due to the rising seas. It was once a large community, but now I think only about 100 residences still live on the reservation. Most of it is underwater.
Also, the woman said people would grow plantains not bananas. Other Hispanics use "platanos" to mean bananas but us Dominicans use it for just plantains.
if this was on our doorstep something would be done, but it's not, so it doesn't.
sad and very depressing.
Can't they do fishing ?
🤔🤔
They should try this.👍
@JanMichael Guzman
Saw this a few weeks ago, not really sure what to do TBH.
Positive Feedback Loop
i dont know if its just me, maybe I'm just having a weird day. but the more Vice documentaries i watch, the more depressed i feel. i miss the strange humour of the old vice documentaries.
great segment!
You know a multilevel farming plot of some sort would be great here, wooden frame, cheap and easy construction, you could use what space is left and make some sort of system to maximize profits for farming such a small area.
With salty water your an idiot
.
I wonder if it would feasible to start stocking the lake with 2 or 3 kinds of good fish? You have heard of the old saying, "Give a man a fish, feed him for one day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime." I wonder if they could turn a town of farmers into a town of fishermen?
There are other border and trading points, the biggest one is in Dajabon that borders with Ounaminthe in Haiti
Ok, whatever the cause, someone should help them with either a kickstarter or a Kiva fund that will help their village build a hydroponics farming network. They seem to have plenty of sunlight and now they have a huge resource of fresh water. Why not use it?
When your family is hungry, future generation do not matter or how this could affect the earth. What matters is not having your family starve to death.
Why don't they build dams and canals to try and transfer the water either into the areas that need water, or they should just transfer into the ocean. Its called runoff water.
Because pouring concrete takes money and resources, these people can barely afford to eat. Also, they're mostly all farmers, probably not too many civil engineers available to design such a waterway.
@TxtCat like shovels ?
@Steve Ochotta thats funny annciant ppl with less did so much more your just making excuses
@buckeyechris21 makes no sense its supposedly diluted with fresh water literally the video says the lake doubled witch means its all rain water witch makes what you said impossible you cant double the lake water content with fresh water hand have it remain " saltier then the ocean" thats just iggnorant
@Eric Losey You've apparently never studied Hypersaline lakes, which is what Lake Enriquillo is. By definition it has saline contents higher than seawater. Increased rainwater does lead to lower salinity levels, but those levels are still at or above seawater. The salt/minerals continue to come in to the lake through rivers and streams but has no way of leaving because the lake is endorheic. It's not that hard to understand, the salt continually comes in and never leaves. The lake didnt double in size overnight, it happened over years. Even if it did, hypothetically double overnight, the lake still wouldn't be freshwater. It would be brackish, and still not drinkable or usable for most crops.
Has the lake next to it grown, doesn't seem to have?
It seems like it’s going to be too late to do anything before this planet tips over the edge
The cockfight scene only made me think of one thing, "LITTLE JERRY!"
kumare
I see land on the outskirts of the new town. Why don't they farm it. Seems to me they cannot adapt to mountain farming, which is the only solution. More rain means more water for mountain crops.
Sent a message to Coke about bottling all that stuff. Feel kinda stupid, but maybe something good'll come of it?
ماذا تقول لك القمامة . الذهاب تقبيل الماعز .
Sounds like the biggest problem these people are facing is the state. That & their complete lack of resource management.
I see farmers with nothing to plant or farm, and no trees. Hmmm....
Lol at all the ducks drawn in the bird shack
I think the causality is backwards. When you cut a forest, there's a one-time massive release of water. Likely, they cut the trees, the water sponged up in roots and good soil goes down into valley creeks, which feed into the lakes and they flood out. THEN the people are displaced, and go cut down more trees. For the solution to this, watch "The Man Who Planted Trees," and John Liu / World Bank videos on the "Loess Plateau" in China.
Man I love u guys work..I feel that u all are the best in your field at documenting culture and unrest abroad! ..
BUT WHY IS NO ONE DOCUMENTING CHICAGO, DETROIT, OR CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE TEXAS/MEXICO BORDER..u know, places and things that we deal with here domestically.. I hope u can take this into consideration in the near future.
~fan
the people that burned down the forest. The lake that did something else we won't really cover
Better title
Apocalypse
lets get to mars before the whole world look like this
#Caption@A Lake that Swallow whole forest ✌️
A disturbing reality on our doorstep.
IF THESE EXPOSE'D PEOPLES WOULD PROVIDE.. SLIP IN.. THEIR ADDRESSES.. MANY WOULD SIMPLY SEND EVERYTHING FROM CLOTHES AND SHOES TO CASH..
Internment camp no other word for those houses.
great report. such a sad plight.
Couldn't they just build levees around the lake? California would just love how much rain fall DR is getting.
If this is true, it's great. More rain would actually be great for the world
+DB Cooper ur an idiot if thats what you got from this
+lazymatts I'm just not a dummy. High precipitation is actually great for the world. We should be so lucky. But I doubt this fearmongering is reliable. Don't just believe everything you are told. Certainly not from vice. They lie about absolutely everything.
I wonder if they could recover the wood in the lake and let it decompose on higher grounds to start a new forest again
Yup I could design a floating hydroponic design it would be easy as that's actually kinda the stuff I do plus irrigation for miles for crops
Whoa this guy just got straight to attack mode in not even a minute! Not cool brah!
20:35 Black Friday: Caribbean Island Edition
SELF_DEV - 2016-06-23
The problem really is deforestation. River floods degrade the coastline and expand the lake when there is no thick vegetation and trees to anchor it during rains. Maybe climate change is speeding the process, but it can be mitigated by first stopping excessive harvesting of forests and second by planting more trees on riverbeds and near by areas.
Clifford Sikora - 2019-04-15
Absolutely. And that can be proven, All Day Long
paul clark - 2020-03-05
Exactly what I thought the minute I saw which country it was.
Forest Flood - 2020-11-28
@paul clark DR ain't haiti, 42% of the land is forested. But that area specficially has had its deforestation problems