Thread by @gauravsabnis

#NYC #trivia
When Manhattan was being built by Europeans, lime quarries were far up Hudson valley. They learned from the Lenape that in Manhattan, you don't need lime rock! You can make lime by just burning ____, residue from a (then) plentiful food source. What unusual source?

Some said sea shells. Manhattan didn't have any real beaches. What it did have was a wall of billions of oysters.And oyster shells are EXTREMELY dense in lime.

So it was oyster shells used to build a lot of Manhattan. Removing the wall that for millennia was a flood wall. Sigh.

I remember reading that if the Europeans had kept oyster harvesting at a sustainable level like the first nations did for millennia, that natural oyster wall would have kept Manhattan safe from the kinds of floods that hit us every year now cos of climate change.

Irony much?

But there is at least somewhat of a silver lining in this story. Ever wondered what NYC restaurants do with the millions of oyster shells piled up from the plentiful oyster happy hours?

Many are sorted and repurposed for the Billion Oyster Project.

goodmorningamerica.com/food/story/oys…

Plastic recycling is bullshit.

Oyster shell recycling is one of the coolest things I've ever heard of and seen. Hopefully the project restores oyster reefs to their pre European glory in our lifetimes. Would be very useful against rising sea levels.