Title of Article:

Hicks Column: Only the courts, or you, can stop South Carolina offshore drilling.

Author: Brian Hicks

Source: The Post and Courier

Citation for Article:

Hicks, Brian. “Hicks Column: Only the courts, or you, can stop South Carolina offshore

drilling.” The Post and Courier, 13 March 2019, https://www.postandcourier.com/ columnists/hicks-column-only-the-courts-or-you-can-stop-south/article_4007a40a-440d-11e9-992e-33f21c7f59b3.html. Accessed 25 March 2019.

Link to Article:

https://www.postandcourier.com/columnists/hicks-column-only-the-courts-or-you-can-stop-south/article_4007a40a-440d-11e9-992e-33f21c7f59b3.html

Main Ideas:

• What?
  • The article is about Joe Cunningham attempting to communicate the harm of seismic testing by blasting an air horn in a subcommittee hearing. Seismic testing is used by fossil fuel companies to map the oil and gas reserves under the ocean floor with loud airgun blasts underwater.
• Who?
  • In a House subcommittee hearing, Joe Cunningham blasted an air horn during testimony from a Trump administration official. This official, Chris Oliver, had previously suggested seismic testing would not harm marine life. Cunningham then asked Oliver, “how much louder do you think seismic testing would be?”, in which Oliver was reluctant to respond to. Cunningham then said, “What if I told you it would be 16,000 times louder than what you just heard here?”
• Why?
  • Currently, five companies are awaiting permits to begins seismic testing along the Eastern seaboard. Joe Cunningham blasted the air horn to demonstrate how loud and disruptive offshore seismic testing would be.
• When?
  • In January, The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced that their workers were on call to process permit applications regarding geological testing for offshore oil and natural gas, in which did not respond well to.
• Where?
  • The seismic testing would occur offshore along the Eastern Coast.
• How?
  • Seismic testing involves a vessel towing an array of airguns that blast loud pulses of compressed air into the water that reach deep into the seabed. These loud airgun blasts are used to map oil and gas reserves underwater, as well as deposits below seabeds.
• Impact:
  • Seismic airgun blasting damages the hearing of marine life that rely on sound to communicate, such as whales and dolphins. It affects whales’ ability to eat, communicate, and reproduce. Each blast can be heard for miles and occurs every few seconds throughout the day. Additionally, North Atlantic right whales could also become extinct due to the damaging effects the blasts have.
• Relevance to society:
  • This article is relevant to society, because offshore seismic testing would be disruptive to Charleston, as demonstrated by Joe Cunningham blasting the air horn. The testing would also negatively impact fisheries, decreasing the amount of jobs available.
• Relevance to course:
  • This article is relevant to the course due to the adverse effects that seismic testing has on the environment and on society. Scientists say seismic airgun testing will damage our fishing industry by reducing the catch rates of commercial fish. In addition, seismic testing could potentially drive right whales to extinction. North Atlantic right whales are already endangered and seismic testing would be harmful to the few remaining whales of the species.

Going to SEWE for the first time was amazing. The South Eastern Wildlife Exposition is an event held in Marion Square that highlights nature and different aspects of wildlife in a bunch of ways. They present art , provide education on preserving wildlife, and food and drinks which is always a plus. I love how they have dedicated an entire event to preserving wildlife and educating other people n how important it is to preserve it. I also did not expect this Expo to have such an impact on people but there was a ton of people there which was nice to see. Two of my favorite exhibitions was the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network and the Defenders of Wildlife.

The Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network is an organization that takes pride in protecting Charleston’s local marine life. They do research and educate local businesses and other organizations, along with children, on trying to preserve the marine wildlife by practicing ethical behaviors to reduce the risk of harming these creatures. I love how they focus on all local wildlife but mainly dolphins. I did not know that there were dolphins in the Charleston area nor did I know they were at risk. I think it’s very necessary for them to not only reach out to older people and those who actually understand the impact they are having on marine life but also to children so they can eventually start becoming conscious of their actions that could possibly be effecting marine life as well.

The defenders of Wildlife was another favorite. They focused on a bunch of different interests in regards to protecting wildlife. They are active in areas of protecting and preserving species to combating climate change. They invite others to make a change physically or you can donate. They also provide ways you can take matters into your own hands and write to people higher up in positions like congress members. This organization is spread across the United States which means they have a great understanding of how drastic and harmful these changes have been to wildlife across the country. I really like that they give you the option to become a defender but they give you other options as well to help out such as adopting animals, writing to congress, or just donating. I think that is very important because it is more inclusive for those that want to help out but can’t physically be places due to other things. I also love that they focus on other important matters that indirectly effect wildlife such as climate change.

Overall, I really enjoyed this expo and cant wait to go again!

Hi everyone,

We briefly talked about meat substitutes in class after the third Newsroom report yesterday and Prof. Saunders mentioned a podcast for us to listen to. I wanted to share one I listen to that happens to have an episode on “The Future of Meat”! It makes economics, business, and lots of other topics more accessible and interesting to those of us who aren’t business majors!

The link to the meat episode, in which both an agricultural economics professor and the CEO of Impossible Foods (a major meat substitute manufacturer) are interviewed, is:

http://freakonomics.com/podcast/meat/

The podcast itself is called Freakonomics, and it is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and pretty much anywhere you can listen to podcasts!

CNN article: Toxic delicacy of shark fin causes ecosystem chaos, and consumers are pushing back
• What: Shark species are becoming endangered and possible going extinct
• Who: The Chinese culture are buying shark fins as delicacies
• Why: the shark fin soup trade is a major thing in Hong Kong which is why tons of shark fins are being illegally caught and sold on the market
• When: between 2014 and July of 2018 5 metric tons of shark fins were caught and sold
• Where: Hong Kong
• How: because the shark fins are being cut off, sharks are becoming immobilized and consequently dying of starvation and suffocation or being eaten alive
• Impact of the event or finding / Relevance to society: those eating these shark fins are risking being poisoned because shark fins have tested positive for unsafe amounts of arsenic, cadmium, and mercury including methylmercury Ten different species of sharks were found to contain cyanobacterial toxin which is linked to neurodegenerative diseases
• Relevance to the course: The drastic decrease in the shark populations contribute to an unsustainable underwater ecosystem. Because sharks are at the top of the food pyramid, they are vital in keeping the ecosystem balanced. Because they are gradually declining, the prey species are increasing and wiping out other species.
• Any pertinent questions raised by the story: why hasn’t the consumption of shark been made illegal once they were aware of the consequences?

Source: Liu, Marian. “Toxic Delicacy of Shark Fin Causes Ecosystem Chaos, and Consumers Are Pushing Back.” CNN, Cable News Network, 5 Feb. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/02/04/health/shark-fin-chinese-new-year-hong-kong-intl/index.html.

News report:

• https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/rare-plant-hunters-race-against-time-save-risk-species
• Rare-plant hunters race against time to save at-risk speciesOosthoek, Sharon. “Rare-Plant Hunters Race against Time to Save at-Risk Species.” Science News for Students, 7 Feb. 2019, www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/rare-plant-hunters-race-against-time-save-risk-species.

In the news report, answer:

• The source of the article
  • Science News for Students
  • SHARON OOSTHOEK
• The Questions: What/Who/Why/When/Where/How
  • What(the article tells us)
    • What the article addresses is the amount of rare plant life we are losing due to human development/climate change, etc. She speaks about the rare Alula plant which is only located only on the islands of Hawaii. The Alula was a very common plant before aggressive human development and animal domestication. Humans destroyed large amounts of lands containing these plants and with that brought pigs goats and rats which munched away at a lot of the plant life. Along with that other foreign(not native), plants/crops brought over out competed them.
    • A big factor in the alula plant disappearance is due to the diminishing fabulous green sphinx moth. This is the plant’s natural pollinator but due to the lands cleared for human development and the domesticated animals brought over here there are no longer enough plants for them to pollinate and therefore they have declined in numbers as well.
    • The only way for these plants to live is by us pollinating them, or else they will die off.
      • Did this by hand. “They would dip small paint brushes into the pollen of some greenhouse alula flowers and then dabbing it onto the stigmas of other alula flowers”.
    • What she also talked about was the Brewer spruce which is found in northwest North America only and are considered one of these rarest trees in the world. The biggest danger to the Brewer spruce is wildfires and climate change. There are only 6 specific places on earth to find these trees and they all happened to be in Oregon.
    • Along with this, there are no laws of protection for the Brewer spruce and therefore the only reason these trees are still around is because of their isolated growing location.
    • Was also mentioned to be a survivor of the glacial period 10,000 years ago.

• • Who
    • This affects all of us because soon there won’t be diverse ecosystems which means fewer animals, food, and resources.
  • Why(bigger picture)
    • It’s happening because people just don’t realize what are rare plant species and what aren’t. Also, many people don’t interact with nature that intensely to be able to identify such species. Self-interest drives many people and they don’t care about what plants they are destroying. According to a report from the Royal Botanic Gardens 1 in 5 of the world’s plants are at risk of extinction.
    • Humans development/climate change/wildfires.
  • When
    • This report was written February 7th, 2019, but does, in fact, use some information founded by rare plant hunters from 2016-2017
  • Where
    • Northern Oregon and the islands of Hawaii.
  • How(how it affects us)
    • Due to human development and the destruction of natural habitats.
• Impact of the event or finding / Relevance to society
  • The reason this is so important is that if we lose the Brewer spruce, Alula, and other rare species we could lose possible medical discoveries. Throughout history, we have seen plants used as a source of medicine and if they disappear we will never find out what they could have cured. Along with that plants are at the bottom of the food chain which means other, bigger organisms eat them and so on. If these plants are in abundance animals won’t be able to eat which then affects the whole ecosystem.
• Relevance to the course
  • This connects well to our course because it brings in the idea of system thinking. For example when you take one part of the system out(here it’s plants) the rest of the system will be affected and might even collapse.
• Any pertinent questions raised by the story

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