University of California-Berkeley. “How Coral Bleaching Threatens Caribbean Communities.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 21 Feb. 2019,

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190221110425.htm

• Coral Bleaching in the Caribbean is caused by warming ocean temperatures.
  • Coral polyps expel zooxanthellae bacteria when temperatures rise causing animal starvation
• Bad news for the reef ecosystem and communities that depend on them
• Bleaching events have become more common and will only worsen
• Independent Island Nations are less vulnerable to the effects of bleaching events because they are less economically dependent on the reefs.
  • Better equipped to adapt to environmental changes
• Island territories have high economic dependence on the reefs due to reef tourism, so vulnerability is higher
• Findings of the study will help decision makers and resource managers take action to reduce the negative impacts of bleaching events on island communities
• Actions could include implementing fishing regulations (protect fish species), enacting land use policies and farm practices (improves water quality), establishing environmental monitoring programs, and promoting economic diversification
• This article combines environmental problems with economic and sustainability problems in the Caribbean.

Source: The New York Times (2/7/2019)

Title: “Tests for Oil in Arctic Refuge Won’t Happen This Winter, Officials Say”

Who: SAExploration: Company that plans to conduct seismic testing for oil and gas exploration across a large swath of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

What: Interior Department officials have a plan to open the coastal plain, 1.5 million acres known as the 1002 Area, to oil and gas development. The department, through the Bureau of Land Management, has said it wants to offer leases for sale this year.

When: It was supposed to happen this winter, but they’ve postponed it until next December.

Where: Coastal Plain along the Arctic Ocean.

Why: To search for oil and gas reserves. But the decision means that oil companies that bid on the leases will have to do so without the benefit of new data on potential reserves. The only seismic studies in the refuge were done three decades ago, using less-effective technology. An exploratory well, the only one in the refuge, was drilled around the same time, and its results have remained secret.

How: By using large trucks and other heavy equipment would crisscross the refuge coastal plain along the Arctic Ocean, using acoustic signals to map underground rock formations that may hold oil and gas reserves.

Impact: Opponents of the seismic plan have argued that the work would harm polar bears and other wildlife and leave indelible scars on the delicate tundra in the refuge, a vast, largely unspoiled wilderness in the northeastern part of the state. But the Bureau of Land Management and SAExploration have said that new seismic technology has little permanent impact on the landscape. The company says it is working with federal wildlife officials on steps to be taken to minimize harm to wildlife.

Relevance to society: The coastal plain is thought to overlie formations containing billions of barrels of oil, and the Trump administration has been eager to allow development, part of its push for more commercial activities on federal lands.

The seismic project is a joint venture with two Alaska Native corporations. Officials from SAExploration could not be reached for comment. The Sierra Club — which, with members of the Gwich’in community, Native Alaskans who live near the refuge, had organized a campaign to oppose the seismic work — hailed the decision. Democrats have blocked proposals to open the refuge for decades, but in 2017 the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress approved a plan to allow oil and gas development there. A draft environmental impact statement on the leasing plan was issued in December and is expected to be finalized this year, allowing the sales to proceed.

Relevance to the course: Critics said they were especially concerned about the harm that could be done to the southern Beaufort Sea subpopulation of polar bears, which has been declining in numbers as climate change has reduced sea ice in the region. More of the bears are making winter dens — in which pregnant females give birth to cubs — in snow drifts on the coastal plain. Steven C. Amstrup, chief scientist of the conservation group Polar Bears International, said the risk to the bears was that seismic trucks, which weigh up to 45 tons, could come close to or ride over dens, forcing the bears outside prematurely or even injuring or killing them.The Bureau of Land Management said precautions would be taken to identify and avoid dens, including the use of infrared sensing that can detect the warm bears in their frigid surroundings. But Dr. Amstrup said his research showed that such techniques would not detect all dens. The seismic work, he said, “has the potential of impacting 50 percent of dens in the most important denning area.”

Citation:

Fountain, Henry. “Tests for Oil in Arctic Refuge Won’t Happen This Winter, Officials Say.” The

New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Feb. 2019,

www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/climate/seismic-testing-anwr-alaska.html.

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/climate/seismic-testing-anwr-alaska.html

newsreport-13zoqg0

Title: Oceans Are Getting Louder, Posing Potential Threats to Marine Life

Citation:

Robbins, J. (2019). Oceans Are Getting Louder, Posing Potential Threats to Marine Life. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/science/oceans-whales-noise-offshore-drilling.html [Accessed 28 Jan. 2019].

Link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/science/oceans-whales-noise-offshore-drilling.html

Main Idea Bullet Points:

-Rise in offshore energy exploration is causing large amounts of traffic in ocean blasting sonar and seismic air underwater

-Blast underwater to be picked up by hydrophones to detect where oil/gas will be

-Trump administration: allowing for more offshore drilling

-Death of sea creatures can result from these seismic blasts (affect hearing, brain hemorrhaging)

-Kills zooplankton/microorganisms that are fundamental to food chain in the ocean

-Sound is 10 times more intense underwater

-Undersea life is tuned for sound and this will alter their ability to find food, expect predators, etc.

-Whale reproduction has been reduced due to the equipment being used in their native warm waters (Along North Carolina to Florida coast)

-Sounds cause stress to marine life (adrenaline and stress hormones leads to weight loss and immunosuppression)

-Social behavior of dolphins and other marine life will be negatively affected (echolocation) rips communication systems

-40-80% fewer fish obtained in Norway due to these systems being in use

Presentation:

Source of Article: New York Times

Questions (Who/What/Why/When/How):

-Who/What: major oil corporations using seismic blast technology to locate oil is damaging to marine life

-Why: using this location method helps eliminate time it takes to locate oil supplies

-When: Trump administration recently lifted ban off offshore drilling, allowing for five huge companies to file permits to begin these actions

-How: Large machines use seismic blasts of air to detect pockets of oil

Impact of finding: The impact of this report is that marine life is now at great risk due to the lift of this offshore drilling ban. Large oil corporations benefit from this as they can make a lot of money by finding pockets of oil quickly. It is extremely damaging to marine life and there are no longer precautions in the way to protect them.

Relevance to this course: This course is focused around sustainability and that is important in every ecosystem. The marine life ecosystem relies on echolocation and this strong sonar interference is extremely damaging to their way of life.

Questions raised by story: As the Trump administration continues, will there be any sort of protection acts put on marine life? What is being done to help with the dramatically dropping reproduction rate in whales?

Ben Jackson

Intro to Environmental and Sustainability Studies

February 19^th, 2019

Fighting pollution: Toledo residents want personhood status for Lake Erie

McGraw, Daniel. “Fighting Pollution: Toledo Residents Want Personhood Status for Lake Erie.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 19 Feb. 2019, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/19/lake-erie-pollution-personhood-status-toledo.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/19/lake-erie-pollution-personhood-status-toledo

• Citizens of Toledo have been dealing with algae blooms and large amounts of “microcystin” bacteria in Lake Erie for past four years
• Lake Erie supplies Toledo with a majority of its water supply
• Numerous times the water has been labeled unsafe for children, the elderly, and pregnant women to even shower in
• Citizens proposed idea of the Lake Erie bill which will be deciding if the Lake has the same rights as a person
• Voting for the bill is February 26^th
• Unfair to the residents of Toledo to be forced to deal with contaminated water
• Relates to our conversations about pollution from large factories and the importance of cutting back on waste runoff. Also relates to environmental ethics with the Lake Erie Bill

On January 28^th, I went to the seminar by Dr. Stephen Redd, who is a director of Preparedness Response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The seminar was called  “The Changing Face of Public Health Emergency Response”.  I chose to attend this event in specific as I am a Public Health major and have an interest in epidemics, and I thought this seminar sounded super interesting.    He spoke about different types of emergencies; predictable, predicted, and emerging.

Predictable events are ones in which the government can respond almost instantly; they are prepared and have the resources to keep the event under control upon its arrival.  The only question in the air regarding predictable events is how bad it will be.  Predicted events are events that we don’t know if it will happen, but the government still prepares regardless because their effects are large.  The likelihood of predicted events is smaller than predictable. Anthrax and other bio terrorism attacks are examples of predicted events.  Emerging events are those that are more unpredictable.

Dr. Redd spoke about many emerging events, including Ebola, Zika virus, influenza, and the opioid epidemic that is currently going on.  He briefly went over many case studies that were very fascinating to me.  He spoke about the 2009 influenza pandemic of H1N1, which first started when a 10 year old boy was infected, and then spread to a 9 year old girl 3 days later, and from their it escalated.  He also spoke about the Ebola outbreak which was a boarder crossing event that began in central and east Africa and then came west, which was an unprecedented.  It began when one nurse was infected and then spread it to a second nurse.  The effects of this case resulted in extra measures being taken and implemented in order to prevent it from happening again, including new airport screening to catch it before it comes into our country.  Case identification and isolation were two strategies used to fix this issue.  Isolation for Ebola lasted 21 days.

One of the aspects I liked about the seminar was when Dr. Redd spoke about communication with the public.  He discussed the strategies that are used, being expressing empathy, setting expectations, and utilizing risk communications.  The most important thing to do is keep the public informed yet under to keep everyone calm so things don’t get out of control.  I think the CDC and other governmental Public Health organizations do a good job relaying information and helpful measures to take in times of an emergency, no matter the scale.

A member also asked Dr. Redd a question regarding the impact that these emerging events have on population, as our global population is growing substantially.  He spoke about our consumption and use of resources that occurs in times of events, and how population growth is a driver for these events.   This can relate most to our class regarding sustainability.

This seminar sparked an interest in preparedness and readiness that I hadn’t had previously.  Dr. Redd was incredibly interesting to listen to as he seemed very accredited and well knowledgeable in his field of expertise.

This afternoon I had the extreme pleasure of attending a presentation of solving the global water crisis. The presentation was run by Maude Barlow, who lives in Ottawa, Canada and has a decorated resume in environmental rights, specifically clean water acts. She has even helped construct laws at the United Nations level, so I was very fortunate to be able to hear her perspective and ideas on the environment and water scarcity. She also wrote the novel Blue Gold which was one of the first books discussing water and the scarcity of it in the near future. Barlow wants to prove to people that the problem of water scarcity and pollution is just as important and prevalent as climate change, if not more prevalent and terrifying. She discussed how many people in the past believed this good such as water and fossil fuels were endlessly abundant and led to people overusing the resources to an extreme degree. Now a large majority of the world is stuck with water shortage or stuck with extremely polluted water. Even the United States has extremely polluted water in areas such as Flint, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio, but most every place has at least harmful microplastics in the water. Barlow stated the fact that 2.5 billion people in the word do not have access to proper sanitation, which shocked me. It is unbelievable how sheltered and how lucky people like myself are to grow up in a place where we are never forced to worry if drinking water will be clean or if I will even have running water at home. I quite honestly cannot imagine going through some of the hardships third world countries are forced to go through just to receive a small amount of sanitary water, but that could be the very legitimate future if we proceed to waste water in the manner we have been. She had many points that truly opened my eyes regarding the danger of our future and water supply. She discussed how just recently the United States discovered that we only have half as much ground water as we originally believed. That other half is contaminated by chemicals or has absorbed too much salt water and has become undrinkable to humans. I also thought it was very interesting that she touched on the large algae blooms and bacterial growth in Lake Erie considering I discussed that problem and the voting of the Lake Erie bill just an hour before the talk. It was very disheartening when she said that the United States are moving in the complete opposite way of protecting natural environment and water. Barlow discussed how Trump just recently announced the largest cut back on the Clean Water Act since it was established in 1962. She opened my eyes showing that the fight for clean water is a fight that we must keep fighting and be extremely persistent with. Corporations will proceed to ignore the idea that we do not have enough sanitary water for the future, but we must keep fighting until everyone realizes and accepts the truth regarding the world water crisis.