Author Archives: regalbutocl

Litter Pick Up

Posted on by
1

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to participate in the litter pick up coordinated by the Office of Sustainability. They do it every Friday and is actually the project of an OoS intern this semester. Around five of us met up at the office and learned a little about what the South Carolina Aquarium is doing to study local environmental issues such as plastic pollution, sea level rise, and invasive species. The aquarium has created a Citizen Science app that has a Litter-free Digital Journal that tracks pollution trends in the low country as well as encourages locals to pick up litter in their communities. Using this app, we’d be able to send in our findings to be part of a collective database that scientists can use to develop solutions for pollution.

The OoS has actually adopted the corner of Coming and Calhoun adjacent from the Addlestone Library, and that’s where the weekly pick ups happen. Since we are a tobacco free campus, a lot of students just cross the street for smoke breaks and leave their butts on the ground. There’s also a crazy amount of food trash in the bushes lining the sidewalk on Calhoun. Whenever I walk by I always try to pick up a few pieces to throw away, but I can’t stop for everything or I’d never get to class. That’s why this event was perfect for me to go to – and I actually got to talk with other students who are really bothered by the amount of litter all over our beautiful campus.

After the pick up I stayed to help sort what we collected into trash, recycling, and e-waste (electronics). The numbers were crazy. We had over 400 cigarette butts/filters, 5 juul pods, over 100 pieces of small plastic debris, over 20 pieces of metal, 20 or so bottles/cans and a few broken phone chargers/earphones. And to think, this all had accumulated since the last litter pick up only a week ago. And if we hadn’t gone and picked it all up, I don’t think anyone else would.  There’s this throw away culture we have that fails to put the responsibility of proper disposal on the consumer. People throw cigarette butts on the ground like its no big deal when it IS. It IS a big deal and the scientists and the environmentalists can’t stop things like that on their own. This event really demonstrated how instrumental intersectionality is in solving local environmental problems. We need the scientists and we need the scholars but we need the educators and the activist and the citizens as well if we really want to make anything happen.

A Cambodian Spring

Posted on by
Reply

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.

Posted on by
2

WHY A BORDER WALL COULD MEAN TROUBLE FOR WILDLIFE

Swartz, J. (2019, January 24). Why a Border Wall Could Mean Trouble for Wildlife. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/climate/border-wall-wildlife.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FSustainable%20Development&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=collection.

BASICS

  • Sourced from the New York Times, written by science writer and climate change expert John Swartz.
  • WHAT: There’s already 650 miles of border wall built, but Mr. Trump’s vision is an additional 1000 mile wall to almost completely extend across the 2000 mile border.
  • WHO: President Trump, Customs and Border Protection, and Congress are all involved in the wall building process
  • WHY: The wall’s intentions are to stop illegal immigration from Mexico to the U.S. Not only will it block the movement of people, but of plant and animal species as well.
  • WHEN*: There’s already 650 miles of border wall built, but Mr. Trump’s vision is an additional 1000 mile wall to almost completely extend across the 2000-mile border *Trump proposed his wall idea pre election, the conflict is continuing and ground has not been broken though progress is surely being made
  • WHERE: Almost the entire length of the border between Mexico and the U.S (FEDERAL LAND), including a large portion of the Rio Grande
  • HOW: Trump wants to spend over $5 billion dollars. The US Customs and Border protection completed building prototypes of the wall which can be found on their website. https://www.cbp.gov/frontline/border-wall-prototype-designs. (Ranging from 18-30 feet high and made of concrete and other materials with anti-scaling and and anti-tampering features)

IMPACTS

  • Customs and Border Protection has the power to disregard environmental laws and protections (such as the Endangered Species Act) – they aren’t required to do an environmental analysis of the project or monitor the safety of surrounding wildlife
  • The National Wildlife Federation called the border wall “one of the biggest potential ecological disasters of our time.”
  • ANIMALS will be unable to escape natural disasters, migrate for food/water and mating, or expand their population where they may need to
  • Small endangered populations in Mexico will be isolated (Mexican gray wolf, Sonoran pronghorn)
  • Species in Texas like the ocelot and the black bear in the Rio Grande face habitat fragmentation
  • PLANTS will also be impacted!!!! Endangered wildflowers and cactus’ only found in areas where the walls are proposed to be built
  • Low flying INSECTS will avoid the wall, NOT simply fly over it (butterflies and bees)
  • Light and noise pollution during construction will disrupted the nocturnal species in the area
  • Wildlife refuges will be divided
  • Ecotourism in the Rio Grande will face repercussions, especially bird watching.

 

SUSTAINABILITY:

Environmentally, the border wall is massively unsustainable because it will not allow for the continuation of species through time, we are curtailing their existence by creating a barrier in the middle of their natural and well deserved habitat. It is an ecological disaster and threatens the wellbeing of hundreds of native species in both Mexico and the U.S.

Economically, the wall will lead to the loss of ecotourism. Hunting, fishing and wildlife-watching contributed nearly $26 billion to border state economies in 2011.

 Politcally, the wall has created a social and emotional divide, whether it be Americans against Amerians, or Americans against Mexicans. This divide could produce major problems through society for years to come due to the oppressive, racist, and classist opinions being formed during current times.

 MORE BACKGROUND/SOURCES

https://cns.utexas.edu/news/proposed-border-wall-will-harm-texas-plants-and-animals-scientists-say

https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/68/10/740/5057517

https://earth.stanford.edu/news/how-would-border-wall-affect-wildlife#gs.gZ27EIgx