Category Archives: Freestyle

Painting “The Inevitable”

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“The Inevitable” inspired by Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”

During the spring break, I decided to create an artwork related to environmental studies. After looking through multiple pinterest pages, I was inspired to recreate Edvard Munch’s famous artwork, The Scream (1893). The original painting is an autobiographical depiction of the artists’ life and his anxiety (Shabi). In relation, I used this same concept of artist anxiety on my recreation of The Scream. The central figure has anxiety over the background, which I created to be disastrous and representative of mass pollution and destruction of natural resources. I call this painting The Inevitable. The three gray stacks are a nuclear power plant that produces significant amounts of air pollution as seen with the use of orange and gray colors. The toxic spills into rivers commonly associated with power plants are portrayed in this painting as well. I used orange, red, and brown colors for the toxicity of the river and the short, impressionist strokes creates the flowing motion of the river. Moreover, the waters outside of the toxic rivers are blue mixed with a hint of orange because it is representative of the original body of water where it is not yet majorly polluted but contains some pollution from the toxic spills. The top left body of water is also close to the forest as shown by the green and black mass of trees. I placed the forests beside the nuclear power plant to emphasize the impacts of air and water pollution on natural environments. The air on this side of the painting is decent and blue, however, the orange polluted air can mix with the good fresh air, thus creating negative impacts on nature. Without the released fresh oxygen from forests, there would be less clean air for organisms to breathe. Thus, I titled this painting The Inevitable because it is representative of the inevitable destruction of all natural environments if humans keep using unsustainable practices such as nuclear power or fossil-fueled power. The main person in the painting is a human who has just realized how damaging his/her species are to the environment and experiences stress as a result of this epiphany. Though it may be obvious that human induced change can be seen in our world today, some people do not realize it until they have seen the consequences for themselves just as the central figure here has just realized it. Hopefully, this painting will make others also realize how humans have significantly affected the earth and pose a threat to the natural world. The Anthropocene Era or the time where humans have significantly altered the earth causing global changes leads to the inevitable destruction of all natural resources. Currently, the average human in the US creates an ecological footprint that totals five earths, however, the only earth we have is the one we’re standing on. If we all require five earths to sustain ourselves, can we all survive equally and properly? The answer is no, but if all of us attempt to minimize our daily consumption and help enact policy changes to a more sustainable earth, then we may all be able to sustain the human population and other organisms on earth as well. “The Inevitable” can be stopped or at least slowed down if we all work together to minimize our catastrophic impacts on the environment.

Citations:

Shabi, K. “Meaning of The Scream (1893) Painting by Edvard Munch: Art Analysis.” LEGOMENON, 12 June 2013, legomenon.com/meaning-of-the-scream-1893-painting-by-edvard-munch.html.

Going Vegan!

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            Ever since we did the Ecological Footprint activity, I have been considering going vegan. Personally, the activity calculated that I would need 1.4 earths to sustain how I was living when I did it. By simply going vegan, that would reduce to 1.2 earths. I don’t eat much meat to begin with, but I thought dairy products would be harder to give up. Except for yogurt though, dairy isn’t a staple in my groceries for the week. 

            I began about two weeks ago by swapping my whole milk skyr for coconut milk yogurt. I never bought milk before, but I bought soymilk for my coffee so I could “add” something to my diet while “removing” dairy. The first week wasn’t bad at all, but I realized I consume a lot of dairy without realizing it. Chocolate, cookies, and even some frozen meals I had contained it. It was a bit harder to read labels and look for dairy, but I’ve been getting my junk food fix from Oreos!

            After the first week, I noticed that my skin was clearing up (I’ve been having problems with hormonal acne recently). That was definitely an unintended benefit. At the end of the second week, I realized I had lost weight; my mother noticed as well. This was also unintentional, but could also have resulted from exercising more. This was unintentional as well, though I would consider it a benefit. It did, however, make me realize I need to ensure I’m getting enough protein.

            Overall, I think this is a dietary change I will stick with. Eventually, it will probably become like meat for me and I won’t even want dairy products. The challenge will come before that, though, in situations where I’m eating out with friends. A lot of restaurants don’t have vegetarian friendly options, let alone vegan options. It will be hard, but definitely not impossible, as “healthy” eating is becoming more trendy. Even if I do slip up or choose to eat dairy occasionally, I don’t think it will negatively impact me. It is a change that I’m willing to work towards.

             Even a small change can impact our consumption and overuse of the earth. If people who consume more meat and dairy than I did to begin with, veganism could be an even more impactful change. The Ecological Footprint activity clearly showed how much of an effect decreasing our consumption of animals and animal products can have. However, it could also yield benefits like clear skin and weight loss for others as well. Plant-based diets are innately more sustainable than animal-based diets. 

            To anyone considering making this change, I highly recommend it! I welcome any questions or concerns. My best advice would be to start by incorporating vegan protein sources before dropping meat. The same goes for dairy products, if cheese, milk, or eggs is something you will miss. There are tons and tons of delicious and affordable options out there, and just as many resources for recipe or lifestyle inspiration!

            I don’t really have any pictures to share, but picture lots and lots of produce! Eat the rainbow!

AUV Operations to Observe and Report Scallop Population Health: SubSea-Observers

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A research team led by Drs. Phoel and Trembanis at University of Delaware developed and launched an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to survey the ocean floor off of the East Coast. The mission of this survey was to create a way in which researchers could estimate the Atlantic Scallop population by surveying a series of images from the sea floor. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in turn uses this information to develop catch limits for the scallop populations in order to maintain the health of this sea-creature population and ecosystem. Prior to the AUV, the only way to efficiently survey the scallop’s population and environment was through invasive collection methods that disrupted all surrounding marine life. The only barrier that remained was sorting through the hundreds-of-thousands pictures that were collected. From this obstacle was born the citizen science campaign— SubSea-Observers.

 

When you first join the SubSea-Observer team, they initiate you via a series of educational slides about their mission and the background of the team. Next, you must complete a training period to ensure competence in the identification of scallops and processing of the images provided by the AUV. After that, you are free to explore at your leisure and report your results to the team. The data that everyone reports contributes towards the NMFS data that was previously described. As an environmental/sustainability student, this has heightened significance because it echoes the systems thinking approach when considering the health of our ecosystems. Where we see variations in the populations of Sea Scallops, we can seek possible underlying cause afflicting the dearth or surplus of this organism. For example, are the scallops or the predators/prey of the scallops being overharvested? Is the ecosystem changing in the form of rising ocean temperature or pH?

 

Here are some examples of the types of images provided by the AUV that require identification:

 

As an observer, you are asked to comment on the environment (sandy, shell hash, rippled, mounds, ect.). Additionally, you have to report the number of scallops (if any) that are within the image in addition to the health of the scallop (dead or alive).

 

We might already be seeing the effects of climate change on scallop populations. One article stated that the reduction could be as drastic as a 50% in the next decade (Brookins & Rhode Island Public Radio, 2018). The only way to fully establish the severity of this population reduction is through survey tools like this. Again, this is not an isolated measurement. Scallop populations provide insight into the health of the ecosystems in which they live. Continuing in our systems thinking, changes to our aquatic ecosystems result in changes to our terrestrial ecosystems and terminate have compounding effects. Consequently, there is significance in the work of the volunteer surveyors with SubSea-Observers. Any evidence to support the effects that climate change are having on Earth help advocate for action.

 

If I have convinced you to join our team of SubSea-Observers click the link: http://subseaobservers.com

 

Citations:

Brookins, A., & Rhode Island Public Radio. (2018, October 04). Climate Change Could Reduce Scallop Population, Study Shows. Retrieved from https://www.wbur.org/news/2018/10/04/scallops-new-bedford-climate-change