Daily Archives: February 21, 2019

News Report

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Ben Jackson

Intro to Environmental and Sustainability Studies

February 19th, 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 26th
  • 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

“The Challenge of Preparing for the Unexpected with Public Health Emergencies” Event

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“The Challenge of Preparing for the Unexpected with Public Health Emergencies”

The speaker, Stephen Redd, is the director of Public Health service and implementation science and the director for the center for preparedness and response at the centers for disease control and prevention. The CDC organization is a federal agency that supports health promotion and also deals with prevention and preparedness in the US. In Dr. Redd’s speech he explores the types of emergencies happening and what is driving them. When he focused on emergencies he talked about specific incidence he has dealt with. The first case study was for a pandemic of influenza. He was assigned to study and observe any correlation between cases in California and Mexico, which lead to other cases in different states near the west coast. Because the US health systems were better prepared and equipped to this viral infection,  the cases in Mexico were far more severe than any others. The second case study discussed was for the Ebola outbreak in 2014. The originated areas that were impacted the most by this virus were regions of central and east Africa such as, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Dr. Redd spoke of the Ebola cases in Dallas, Texas. The indecisive study information brought fear to the US because our advanced health system could not defeat and protect ill patients due to our lack of knowledge and preparation. They had dealt with Ebola in the regions of Africa but did not prepare for when it came to the US, doctors did not have the correct information to properly diagnose it. CDC’s method process after was to screen airports, revise PPE guidance reassessed, update monitoring and movement guidance released, and asses and prepare the healthcare system. This plan was put in place shortly after the cases appeared and now no one has contracted Ebola in the US since. The driving factors of emergencies Dr. Redd discussed were population growth, international border crossing, exposure from domesticated animals, and technology. All of these factors are rising and bringing harm to the people of the US. Although we always try to be prepared for emergencies, It is important that our country work with health systems in other countries, our workforce be prepared, acknowledge current outbreaks worldwide, and greater communication to the public during emergencies. Dr. Redd says that communication is everything and the key for our country to be able to take on all future emergencies.

This relates to our class due to many different factors. Emergencies could happen because of natural disasters, chemical or radiological accidents, etc. all of which are environmentally based. Although, it was not really talked about much in the presentation it is a very common emergency.  When natural disasters or chemical spills happen it can dramatically hurt not only the environment but the people in the region, which results in an emergency. It could also relate back to the triple bottom line model. When emergencies happen every part of the model is affected rather it is from social due to people getting sick or hurt and then it therefore effects the economic section because people are not able to keep an economy going while people are in an emergency. And lastly, the environment will also be affected directly because of emergencies like a natural disaster.

Working SEWE

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This past weekend I had the privilege of working for an ecotourism booth in Marion Square during the South Eastern Wildlife Exposition, often abbreviated as SEWE. During SEWE, many organizations based around wildlife rehabilitation, ecotourism, and government funded ecological projects set up booths and host events pertaining to nature. Some important organizations to note are the Center for Birds of prey, Coastal Expeditions, and many rescue societies for dogs. It is a place for nature lovers.

Coastal Expeditions is a kayak ecotour company that specializes in environmental education and community outreach. During my time working with this company, they have completed many projects including the Save Crab Bank project and the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge Sea Turtle Project. The Save Crab Bank project benefits nesting shore birds who are at risk of habitat loss due to hazardous weather patterns and harsh erosion from the disrupted longshore drift in Charleston Harbor. Crab bank is one of the largest bird rookeries on the South Carolina coast and an important nesting sight for Brown Pelicans, Black Skimmers, Terns, and twelve other bird species. The funds raised for this cause went to renourishment of the small island so that birds can nest there once again. The Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge Sea Turtle Project benefits the sea turtle volunteer team and Cape Romain employees during the summer.

Working for this booth required community outreach and talking to people about the various projects Coastal is partnered with. I learned what impacts ecotourism can have on the local economy and how it can touch the lives of many people, inside and outside a community. There were people constantly coming up and asking about the projects and camps and telling us how much they enjoyed being outside with the company. It was very cool to see how much a community cares for its ecosystem and surroundings.

SEWE was very empowering to work because there were so many people from different backgrounds working together for a common cause of conservation and environmental knowledge. Seeing all the booths and events centered around nature really puts things into perspective. Definitely worth going.

Palmetto Pride @ SEWE

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I’m sure we’ve all heard it before, “Litter Trashes Everyone”. This is the slogan used by the well known organization, Palmetto Pride. Palmetto Pride is a state-wide effort in South Carolina that aims to create a zero-waste and trashless life for all its residents and visitors. Palmetto Pride has been fighting the litter issue in South Carolina for over 20 years, and works closely with other organizations in South Carolina, such as the Department of Transportation, to get all citizens in South Carolina to fight the litter problem.

One of the biggest initiatives that Palmetto Pride encourages is the Adopt-A-Highway program. This program allows groups, individuals, and schools the opportunity to “adopt” a stretch of main road or highway to clean up. Many of these cleanups take place on weekend mornings, or for schools, immediately after the last bell, to allow as much daylight as possible to clean up the roads. Adopt-A-Highway in South Carolina has cleaned up more than 60 million pounds of litter across major roads and highways, from the 843 to the 864! As a student in high school, I participated in at least five Adopt-A-Highway events. In college, I have only participated in two or three. I highly encourage every person to volunteer for this event at least once in his or her life! It is amazing to see what trash that one person can collect. The most I’ve ever filled by myself was 3 bags – and that was in just about 2 hours! Imagine if volunteers could spend all day, or even just half a day, on the roadways. South Carolina would be ~sparkling clean~ in just one weekend!!

Some fun, and unfortunately, a few not-so-fun, facts I learned from the Palmetto Pride booth at the Southeastern Wildlife Expo were the following: there are over 51 billion pieces of litter on American roadways each year, which approximates to more than 6700 pieces of litter per mile. Yes, you read that right! There are more pieces of litter in each mile than there are FEET in a mile! Secondly, Palmetto Pride’s Prideway program has reduced litter on South Carolina roads by 66%. TWO THIRDS! This is a phenomenal amount over 20 years. Could you imagine how the roads and natural areas would look if the Prideway program had never been created? Our national parks and highways in South Carolina would not be as beautiful and preserved as they currently are. Lastly, and most disappointingly, many of the things that we use on a daily basis are not biodegradable. For instance, cigarette butts (see picture below) are definitely not biodegradable. This might be the most dangerous, because as litter, cigarette butts seem appealing to animals in the environment and get eaten by animals. This puts animals and humans both at risk. Also, tobacco and nicotine are nasty and not good for your body, so smoking cigarettes or cigars is really not a good idea to begin with. Other daily-use items that are not biodegradable include, but are not limited to: plastic grocery bags (“Walmart bags”), styrofoam cups, plastic bottles, and the nylon that is in most of our clothes. I encourage everyone to take a step back and cut as many of these items out of their lives as possible. Use reusable grocery bags at the store, a Yeti cup might not be a bad investment, and try to shop for clothes that use recycled material!

We can all see that litter is a problem, and we all have the ability to fix it. Aside from using reusable, safely sourced items, each person can take just a few steps in their daily lives to cut down the litter and clean up the country. Remember the principles we were all taught in elementary school: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE!!! Take the extra two steps to the blue recycling bin on campus, create a recycling bin for your household, and make sure you check what you’re tossing in the trash. Also, make sure to volunteer and clean up whatever litter you can, and do it as often as possible!

     

Dr. Redd

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On January 28th, 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.

A Cambodian Spring

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A Cambodian Spring is a complex, emotional, and eye opening film that follows three Cambodian activists as they go up against the injustices being perpetrated against the lower class. In Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh, Tep Vanny and Toul Srey Pov are residents and leaders of the Boeung Kak lake community. In 2007, The World Bank began to slowly fill the lake with sand, flooding dozens of houses, and bulldozing those that stood in their way. Over in the Siem Reap province, The Venerable Luon Sovath begins to film the injustices underway in a small farming village by the Cambodian government. A number of their people have been thrown in jail for protecting their property in a violent shootout. Venerable is a Buddhist monk, and by not only taking a stance in this political affair but taking the lead in a protest, he risks being “defrocked”

Beginning as two separate stories of activism, Venerable soon becomes involved in Vanny and Srey Pov’s cause, and all three protest the Boeung Kak lake destruction together. Over the course of six years, the film documents countless protests, riots, conflicts, and rallies all in an effort to save the lake and the surrounding community. The issue gets nationwide attention, and serves as the voice of underrepresented citizens of Cambodia who are being taken advantage of by the corrupt government.

Modern-day Cambodia is shaped by somewhat chaotic and sometimes violent development due to it’s long history of corrupt government and injustices within the lower class (which is extremely low compared to that of the United States). This documentary literally charts this development over years with a focus on the land rights protests that sparked a nationwide demand for social and political change. This is so incredibly important because for most people in Cambodia, their land is what they’ve got – it’s a livelihood. Boeung Kak lake is this natural resource that has been serving the surrounding people for decades, and now a foreign company wants to build a skyscraper there. Vanny and Srey Pov are two working mothers who put their lives on hold in order to prevent this from happening The message of citizen activism is so prevalent in this film – that you have the power to fight for your rights and those of your community.

Maude Barlow: Solving World Water Crises

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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.

Nature Inspiration

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Lately, I’ve been feeling more connected to the natural world than I ever have before. I really started to recognize nature and began to appreciate it last spring, and now my understanding of it is expanding due to being enrolled in two environmentally-related classes (Intro to Environmental Studies and Environmental Ethics). Prior to last spring, I only valued nature and the environment in an anthropocentric way; I viewed it as having purely aesthetic value. I wasn’t even aware that there was a term for that kind of perspective until this semester. I’ve learned in this class, as well as in Environmental Ethics, about anthropocentrism and what it means to view the world in a human-centered light. While I did appreciate nature’s beauty and how it made me feel, I now have grown to cherish that the environment has intrinsic value. There’s more to the environment than the ways in which it can be convenient and instrumental to humans. It might be important to be connected to the natural world because we collectively can act respectfully and responsibly in order to protect our environment and prevent further damage. I find it especially important to take care of our planet because human activity can result in detrimental impacts to all species. Personally, my view has shifted to a biocentrist one. Human needs are not more important than those of other living things, so we should refrain from indirectly harming the environment through our actions and practices.

Instead of simply going outside to my back patio, I chose to make a trip to the beach. I went to Sullivan’s Island this past Saturday with these guidelines in mind. I chose Sullivan’s over the other beaches in the area because it’s my favorite destination for whenever I need to clear my mind and calm down. Thinking ahead and bringing a blanket to sit on, I made it just in time for the sunset. Unsurprisingly, I ended up staying for nearly half an hour embracing my surroundings. I’ve witnessed many Charleston sunsets over my three years here, but this one was different. I focused on the various aspects of my immediate area, which included the dunes, sand, and the sound of the crashing waves in the near distance. Typically, I turn to my phone in order to capture the moment in pictures. This time though, I chose just to sit there and take in the ocean’s serenity. I realized how much more relaxing it felt to just observe instead of capturing it in a photo. Sometimes it’s better to enjoy every second of the picture in front of you, instead of looking through a phone’s camera. With the sound of the waves as a backdrop, I felt entirely enthralled by the natural area around me. As I watched the light pinks and yellows gradually mesh and fade in the sky, I took in a deep breath and exhaled. As I left Sullivan’s that night, I not only had a clearer mind but felt closer to nature than I have in months. Even though the sunset was not saved in a photograph, it’s fixed in my memory.

Solving World Water Crises

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Today I was lucky enough to attend a talk by Maude Barlow on Solving the World Water Crises. Maude Barlow has been all around the world from UN conferences to the slums in search of solutions for these crises. What the event was about was to raise the awareness about water and to show people it’s just as big of a problem as global warming/climate change. Along with how Humans have a right to water, and how the world has denied millions that right. It so amazing to see her speak because of how much she has down to raise awareness and in taking action to help fix this massive crisis. She highlighted two twin crises that our world faces today, one Ecological, the other Human. Industries today have and continue to use water as a source of human development and disregards how much they use, pollute, and completed destroy. Some of the information she presented was jaw-dropping, to the point where it makes you sit and ponder what is going to happen to our world once we pass. What I really learned today, that I had no idea about, was the massive source of groundwater that many countries have, but are exploiting and polluting. Maude referred to them as the underground “seas”, but what was so interesting was how little governments care about how much industries are polluting these water sources. Along with that, we are taking so much more from these “seas” then earth can replenish. This is such a scary and to be honest an aggravating problem because people and along with governments push this problem to the side as if it’s going to fix itself when really it’ll get to a point of no return that causes conflict/wars. I thought this connected very well with what we have been talking about in class and relating to the triple bottom line of sustainability. We talked about the triple bottom line of sustainability during our third lecture and after learning how it all works this is a perfect example of how society isn’t even thinking about the triple bottom line. In order for our society to be sustainable, we need to be able to maintain change in a balanced environment. Where the social, economic, and environment are all in harmony which increases current/future potential. The problems Maude was discussing show how industries are doing exactly the opposite. Instead of finding a more sustainable way and respecting the environment, industries are destroying them and taking so much from them that ecosystems are just fully failing. I’m very happy I attended her talk because it really broadened my knowledge of our water crises. More importantly, it inspired me to want to do more than just sit and read about. Usually, I’m just reading an article about these problems and it makes me upset, but nothing more comes from it, but after seeing Maude speak I want to take action even if it’s small contributions to start.

The Myth of Abundance

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In Maude Barlow’s “Solving World Water Crises” talk, she explained how there are two main water crises that the world is currently facing: the ecological water crisis and the human water crisis. Just like all the other problems that society and the world are facing, they are interconnected. The ecological water crisis, which Barlow called the “scourge of the Earth,” is due to the increased demand of clean drinking and the decreased supply of it due to increased population and pollution. Humans are extracting ground water at a rate that the system cannot replenish itself fast enough to keep up with our demand for it. The human water crisis is that the number of people on Earth is growing, which increases the demand for clean drinking water. In 30 years, there will be 5 billion people without clean water. The solutions that Barlow has for these twin crises are that we should identify water as a human right, we should establish a public trust for the protection of water, and we need to protect our water sheds. Maude Barlow concluded her talk by quoting one of her dear friends by saying that “fighting for justice is a lot like taking a bath; do it every day or you stink.”

 

All the ideas Maude Barlow presented in her talk today have everything to do with our class, everything from policy to systems thinking to environmental justice. The main learning outcome that this talk relates to is how interdisciplinary everything is. All societal problems are interrelated, between each other and the earth. All of them deal with policy and culture and the environment. In order to really appreciate and make a difference in this world we really do need to understand a broader range of issues and points of views.

 

Personally, I feel as though it is very hard to understand something if you personally are not experiencing it or are being affected by it. Almost everywhere, the idea of coping with a problem is using the “out of sight, out of mind” expression. I think it’s an educational and eye-opening experience to go visit another country and experience first-hand the problems those countries face. So, if any of you haven’t faced a problem like this, I’ll supply my experience. My parents live in Qatar, which is located in the Middle East on the Arabian Peninsula. It’s a little piece of land that sticks off into the Persian Gulf. You might think that because it’s a peninsula that sticks into the Persian Gulf that there would be an abundance of water that could be used and be turned into drinking water, you’d be very wrong. If you go to any of the beaches, there is trash everywhere and it’s worse than anything in America. I was told I shouldn’t go swimming in the water because of how polluted it was and how many diseases were in it. I was told I wasn’t allowed to drink from the tap or from the refrigerator because the water would make me very ill. If you wanted clean safe water, you had to either buy packs of plastic bottles or buy the 25-gallon jugs of it. But these plastic containers of water have been sitting out in the crazy heat, allowing the plastics to leach into the water, contaminating that too (and, from what I learned from Barlow’s talk, these plastic containers of water are classified as food, so the water isn’t tested for how clean and purified it is). Going out to a restaurant, you couldn’t just get a glass of water from a soda machine, the waiters would bring out bottles of water that were imported from countries hundreds of miles away. Like so many other countries, water there is privatized, and the groundwater is not safe to drink. Luckily for me, my parents could afford to buy the jugs of water and packs of water bottles, but so many millions of people cannot so they resort to drinking contaminated groundwater. Living there and learning about all of these places that are affected by the privatization and contamination of water made me realize that people who have access to clean water really do take water for granted and we think that there is an abundance of it. If we can get out of this mindset of taking such things for granted and being practical about water, then we can help solve these two crises.