Monthly Archives: February 2018

Sea Level’s Rising in Delaware

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Introduction: 

In this blog post I will be discussing my presentation on Sea Level’s Rising, specifically in Delaware, and how this is effecting our Earth through climate change, ice caps melting, and our use of emission. As we all know, global warming is not a myth, but something happening right in front of our own eyes, and global warming has many different effects that could change the way we see the Earth in 20-30 years, and will most likely affect our next generation. An article that I would like to mention is by Penn State, and this article gives a great understanding to what global warming is, how it is specifically affecting Delaware, and how we can prevent some of the aftermath that will come of our sea level’s rising (I will link the article below!). There is also a news article I will link that talks about how Delaware specifically is being affected by the sea level’s rising, including a video on what our Earth could look like if all of the ice melted. Although it is very unlikely that all of our ice caps will melt, it is still interesting to watch the video, and see how some of our beloved cities (including Charleston), would be underwater or have land compensated for because of the sea level increase.

Summary: 

So to continue with our current discussion, I think it is important to also mention what global warming is, and what some of the reasons our ice caps are melting. Global warming as said by the google dictionary is, ” a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect cause by increased levels of carbon dioxide, and other pollutions.”. I will be focusing on the gradual increase in the overall temperature of the Earth, because this is one of the main contributions to why the ice caps have began to melt. With our Earth’s temperature increasing, our oceans are also getting warmer, which is what causes the ice to melt. Ice melting is a large contributor to sea level’s rising, because our ice caps are starting to lose density, so water that should be frozen is now being put back into the ocean, which concludes in our water’s rising. A fact from the Penn State article shows that in the years 1993 to 2008, we have increased sea level by more than one and a half times the amount of water increased in just those years. This shows us that our waters are increasing at the fastest rate yet. 

In this image (above) you are able to see the contrast between the Average Global Sea Level Rise since the Industrial Revolution, and a bar graph showing the Climate-related Contributions to Global Sea Level Rise. The first graph (left) shows us that our sea levels have increased about eight inches since 1880 because of the loss of ice on land, and with the water expanding due to the increasing temperatures. In the second graph (right) you see that there are two bars, one showing thermal expansion, and the other showing the melting land ice, both studying from 1972-2008, to 1993-2008. As shown, when the thermal expansion of the water became to rise slightly, the inches of melting land ice went up dramatically, showing us that 52 percent of sea level rise comes from our ice caps, and glacier melting.

To bring this back to the specifics of the article, places like Delaware have become majorly affected by the sea level rise, since they have a low lying topography, making them higher at risk for flooding, and possibly going underwater in total. In the state of Delaware lies a town called Lewes, which has had a 16 inch increase in sea level, making simple rain storms cause flooding, and putting land underwater. With the rising sea level, town Lewes is having to take extra precautions to flooding, including making higher barriers, so the entire town does not stay flooded. Unfortunately, because of the increase there has been predictions that show there could be a five inch increase in sea level, and for areas like this, it could cause evacuation, and major conflicts for living stability.

 Deleware Sinking, http://www.capegazette.com/article/sea-level-rising-delaware-sinking/114930

One of the most asked questions regarding climate change, or rising sea levels, is how we as citizens can stop the progress of damage that is being done to our Earth. One of the best ways we can reduce this is to lower our emission, which includes gas, and radiation. Some simple ways to do this could be through carpooling, lowering gas consumption, recycling, using less hot water, and burning less fossil fuels. All of these things are something we as a society can begin to decrease, and we could possibly see a great change in our earth’s environment, atmosphere, and overall temperature.

Lastly, the ice caps, and glaciers melting is not only harming humans, but our wildlife as well. One of the most popular species that comes to mind when we think about extinction due to polar ice caps would be polar bears. Below are many different pictures showing the unfortunate events that can happen to polar bears when they are not able to find ice to live on, and how they are starting to starve to death, because they are not able to obtain food. This world was theirs before it was ours, and because of that we should take extra care of our wildlife, making sure they are not being compensated due to our human footprint, and the negative impact we are making on the Earth.

 Google Images 

Conclusion: 

To conclude, our sea levels are rising to an extent where we are being forced to take action. Our wildlife, and land are being compensated due to the fact we are losing ice caps, glaciers, and destroying our Earth in ways that are becoming noticeable to society. There are many ways to help reduce this, but all together one of the most important things we can do is recycle, and lower our emission, so that we can begin to cool down the Earth again. If we reduced our emission we could possibly cut between six to twenty inches off of our sea level rise, and lower the overall temperature of the Earth. We must also learn how to adapt to this rise, and start funding more programs in order to solve this problem!

Video links/article links that are very helpful, and talked about throughout this blog post:

Delaware updates sea level rise planning scenarios

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/11/01/can-we-stop-the-seas-from-rising-yes-but-less-than-you-think/?utm_term=.eeed337c26ec

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180124172428.htm

Search, “What the Earth would look like if all the Ice Melted”, on youtube.

 

Less meat on your plates: Lower extinction rates!

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A personal change that I considered changing was to eat less meat in order to live more sustainably. Prior to this attempt of this lifestyle change, I never realized how much meat I incorporated with my diet for a protein source (chicken) and how much red meat (steak) I eat weekly. So, for the past week, I decided to cut out meat from my diet, and instead of seeking poultry for protein, I substituted that source of protein with pinto beans and black beans. I’ll be honest and say that I am not a huge “bean person.” This substitution was probably the most difficult aspect that I had to adapt to, because I never liked them in my childhood because of the texture of the beans. Meat generation is a standout amongst the most ecologically dangerous enterprises on the planet, in charge of huge measures of water use, ozone harming substance outflows, pollution and territory annihilation. You have three possibilities daily to enhance the strength of the planet, by diminishing your meat utilization you can decrease your ecological impression.

Eating privately sourced products of the soil additionally brings down the measure of fossil fuels used to transport nourishment over long distances. Which leads into what I want to continue to make different changes in order to enhance the way of living more sustainably. I want to try next to change where I get my fruits and vegetables; attain produce locally.  Eating less meat, or just cutting it out like I did, will help with your health and energy levels tremendously! While I just cut off meat completely last week and being an active meat eater prior, I struggled with not thinking about eating meat. I would have a tendency to constantly have a craving for meat, but consciously knew I couldn’t because it would mess up my recording of how the week of not eating meat felt like. So for me, as you can tell it was pretty hard. Like I said before, looking to beans and nuts for protein solely was a huge change for me and by the end of the week, I did get used to the texture and taste better. An unanticipated benefit was that the change in diet made me feel more full for a longer period of time than did certain meats (nutrient-dense foods). An unanticipated challenge during this diet would have probably have been fighting the impulses to get meat during the duration of the week.

In my experience, I would like to stick to this change in moderation because it did make me feel good. I do not think that I will be able to cancel out meat completely so drastically, but I do think that gradually I will be able to reach that point by controlling portion size to having like say 4oz of meat a day, and then gradually leading to weekly, monthly, etc. My advise to others contemplating a similar change, is that you can do it! And the fact that this simple change can do so much good to yourself and the Earth just make it all much the better! Also, if there is anyone like me, that the best way to do this is eat meat in moderation and gradually diminish in the timing you feel comfortable with.

 

Eating Local

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Climate change is a very large problem that affects people and animals around the world. Keeping up with your ecological footprint, and looking at it as a way to further your own health while also furthering the health of the environment not only around you, but also around the world is very important. One somewhat easy change that is mutually beneficial is changing your diet from processes goods to local goods.

Consuming local food is very important for different reasons. The first reason eating local instead of process goods is it is healthier for you. Although it might cost more and be harder to find local grown crops and meat is a lot healthier to consume. Processed food has hormones and chemicals that help it last long enough to get to your table. This has been proven to influence human health. Not only are you getting weeks and sometimes month old food, you truly never know what is in your food or who has touched it. The perk of eating local farm raised meet or local farms is that you know where it comes from. Your food isn’t just cleaner but taste better since you are eating it sometimes within days since it has been harvested. I want to start eating only local foods to better my health and the environment.

Another reason that eating local farm raised food is a positive thing is that it helps support local businesses. This is very important economically; I believe that it is really important to support your local businesses because they use less preservative and usually take better care of their animals and the environment they produce their crops in. It also is good for the environment due to the fact that they don’t have to ship out there goods, resulting in less carbon monoxide going into the Ozone.

The final and most important reason is that it will help lower your ecological footprint. Stopping the use of large farms and leaning towards local farms helps lower many major problems that human induce. It would lower the amount of pollutants due to pesticides and other harmful chemicals large-scale farms use.

After eating more clean for the past week I have realized many things. I realized that I am not accumulating as much trash as I have previously. I feel better due to less hormones and chemicals entering my body and I feel like I have actually helped make a small step towards lowering my neglect of the earth. Some challenges I faced are that it is hard to find affordable local food. The prices are higher but I believe it is worth a few dollars here and there. Another challenge is that it takes up more time, so I can see why people don’t do the switch over to local foods, but I believe it is really important. I believe that if everyone did this, the world would be in a better place, not only usage wise but also economically, which appeals to most people.

Halsey Institute: Sea Change – The Tide is High

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After grabbing lunch one day, I wandered into the Halsey Institute. I am a junior at the College, this is my first year here in Charleston because I transferred from USC, but it was the first time I had ever been in the Art exhibit. I was honestly just trying to avoid doing homework when I walked in, but I was never expecting the impressive creations that I just so happened to find…

First, I was met with magnificent art created by my peers. As I strolled, I was dumbfounded with how talented some people are and quite envious of their abilities. I briefly daydreamed of being an art major and had a “the grass is greener on the other side” moment, assuming that all art majors do is theraputic coloring and there must not be any papers or studying, but I recognized my ignorance and quickly snapped out of it, especially given my lack of ability. It was a nice thought for a moment.

Second, I found myself walking into this other room off to the side that was being monitored by someone at a desk and thought I must be coming on to something important. Then, beholden right in front of me, and frankly above and all around me was this large intricate, abstract, lightly lit fixture surrounding me. It was instantly soothing. Captivated by its originality, I read the description and found that it was created by Aurora Robson and created out of plastic debris. The title, “The Tide is High.” I thought how could this possibly be considered debris? She clearly did an incredible job making an eyesore into highly celebrated piece of artwork.

After I continued through the exhibit, I started to learn more about the theme encompassing Robson’s work as well as the cause. Robson is a NY based sculptor that explores ecological issues. Her work typically resembles other worldly organisms found in the depths of the sea which is where this “debris” will most likely end up. Her art is aimed at guiding viewers thoughts and ideas on their trash and where it goes in addition to its consequences. I also read that this piece was co-presented by the SC Aquarium and that Robson did a project with College of Charleston students to collect waste on a local beach clean up that will be used to make works of art. What an awesome opportunity! The artsist has another piece called Wave that is presented at the SC Aquarium.

Included in the Halsey Institute Sea Change exhibit were other art works made out of recycled trash or photos that interestling depicted our impact on the planet. Everytime I see something of this nature (no pun intended) I am overcome with feelings of guilt and stress. We all contribute to these issue, keyword: all, and it is near impossible to change that many habitual behaviors. I learned in an intro Public Health class that knowledge alone is not sufficient enough to change behaviors, we have to be motivated, and I am sure a large amout of us are, but these are such complex (wicked) problems – cue the stress – so how do we even begin to solve them? We need a major change in emotions, thought process, and behaviors  in order to rectify or heal the damage we have done to our home. It is safe the exhibit (Sea Change) accomplished their task, at least with me anyway.

Reference: AURORA ROBSON – THE TIDE IS HIGH. (2017, November 01). Retrieved February 07, 2018, from http://halsey.cofc.edu/main-exhibitions/the-tide-is-high/

Chasing Coral – A Netflix Documentary

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Chasing Coral

Summary

“Chasing Coral” is a gloomy but surprisingly hopeful film on the topic of coral bleaching and how climate change has escalated its impact in recent years. The director, Jeff Orlowski, also produced a film on climate change’s impact on arctic glaciers called “Chasing Ice” (2012). Orlowski even brings a few of the main cast members from his previous documentary to illustrate how climate change is a global issue. The film begins with shots of coral reefs and a monologue from Richard Vevers stating how vital coral reefs are for not only to marine life but for millions of humans as well. Vevers, concerned about the health of the reefs, started The Ocean Agency after working in advertising for many years. Vevers grew worried with the deterioration of coral reefs when he noticed that sea dragons were disappearing from his favorite spots. The goal of Vevers’ organization and this film is to better educate the public on coral reefs. He has and continues to work on doing just that by “bringing google street-view underwater” with a specially designed 360 degree camera that captures images every 3 seconds.

However, Vevers wanted to better illustrate coral bleaching and how quickly its impacts can take place, so a team of scientists and hobbyists came together to develop a way to make time-lapse cameras capable of staying underwater for four months without human interaction. Due to the intense pressure being so far underwater and other factors like hurricanes, the setup had to be very sophisticated to handle a plethora of issues. The team was able to develop the technology and set the cameras up in troubled spots in Hawaii, Bermuda, and the Bahamas. However, the team still ran into issues later on when retrieving the images. Despite setting the cameras onto manual focuses, all of the cameras became out of focus sometime when they were underwater making the footage useless. This required the team to come back together to find a way to prevent the cameras from becoming out of focus again, which was done by adding new lens to the cameras. The team then set out for new troubled locations along the Great Barrier Reef in Australia near Keppel Island and Huron Island. Fortunately for the reefs, a series of thunderstorms and a tropical cyclone brought cooler water to the region preventing a bleaching event.

Unfortunately for the team, this meant that they were not going to capture a bleaching event anytime soon. However, they received tips from residents on Lizard Island and New Caledonia that reefs in the area were undergoing a “strange event” so the teams quickly left their posts abandoning their time-lapse cameras. Instead, the time-lapse was recorded manually by having a scuba diver, like Zachary Rago, dive to the reefs every day and take pictures at several set spots everyday for several months. Rago and other divers were successfully able to obtain enough footage to show how coral bleaching destroyed the reefs within months. The footage was disheartening, but it effectively showed how coral bleaching can destroy an ecosystem in a relatively short amount of time. The documentary also concludes by stating that this is a global issue and shows videos of people all over the world sharing their experiences with coral bleaching.

Comparison photo shown in film showing a healthy reef becoming bleached.

The film ultimately states that the increased concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels is the main culprit behind the increased mass bleaching events. Animations and illustrations were used to show how this is the case. When fossil fuels are burned, they emit a gas called carbon dioxide (CO2), one of several greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases help to keep heat trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere or otherwise the Earth would be too cold for survival. However, since there is a higher concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere now, more heat is being deflected back to the ground. The ocean has a very high heat capacity, so this excess heat is mostly being absorbed by the oceans making them warmer. Unfortunately for coral reefs, they are not resilient to an increase in temperature so they begin to experience effects rather quickly. Raising surface ocean water temperatures 2 degrees Celsius (roughly 4 degrees Fahrenheit) can be enough to significantly impact and even kill certain reefs. Fluctuations in surface ocean water temperature is another normal natural phenomenon, but scientists feel that the recent upwards trend and the rate at which its increasing is to be blamed on greenhouse gases.

Coral Bleaching and Warming Oceans

Recorded sea surface temperatures compared to average between 1880-2015.

While coral bleaching is a natural phenomenon, the increased occurrence of widespread bleaching events in recent years has scientists all over the world worried about the future. With oceans continuing to warm on average, projections show that average surface sea temperatures could rise to the point it could support the mass extinction of coral reefs within our lifetime according to the documentary. How much sea surface temperatures will rise can be predicted and modeled, but it does not mean that they will come into fruition. In fact, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provides several projections in the documentary on how much their experts believe sea surface temperatures will rise. One projects shows a linear path of rising temperatures while others show temperatures rising then leveling off at some point between now and 2100. There are many factors that can affect global sea surface temperatures, so it is not surprising that scientists cannot say for sure how much further the oceans could warm if greenhouse gases continue to be added to the atmosphere.

El Niño’s Impact?

Sea surface temperatures 2015-2016 showing strong El Niño event taking place.

The documentary also points out that in 2016, 29% of the Great Barrier Reef was killed off due to a massive coral bleaching event.  It is actually not too surprising that the Great Barrier Reef suffered so much in 2016, as a prolonged and very strong El Niño event was taking place for much of 2015 and into 2016. An El Niño occurs when warm water (usually 0.5 Celsius above average or higher) appears off the coast of Ecuador and Peru or along the equator in the Pacific Ocean usually during the winter. This warmer water impacts the global atmosphere resulting in adverse effects in different portions of the world. When an El Niño event is taking place, portions of the Northern Great Barrier Reef usually see dry and warm conditions which can aggravate coral bleaching episodes. Climate change could elevate the impacts of El Niño, but otherwise El Niño is a naturally occurring phenomenon that impacts the global sphere usually every couple years.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this documentary really helped me understand the issue of coral bleaching and how it can affect the human population as well. I personally knew about the issue of coral bleaching but I did not know how bad it actually was. The film is ultimately right about how this is also an issue of public knowledge and that a better way of communication is needed between scientists and the public. The organization has a website that I highly recommend checking out if you would like to get involved at: http://www.chasingcoral.com/take-action/

 

This film can be viewed on Netflix here: https://www.netflix.com/title/80168188

More information on El Niño: https://www.climate.gov/enso

Take Action