Daily Archives: March 7, 2018

Personal Change

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Throughout this semester Environmental and Sustainability Studies has introduced me to the importance of change now. Personally I’ve realized that in order to motivate yourself to be a part of the greater good you must habitually and actively take part in addressing certain issues that you are passionate about. There are many ways to become involved such as citizen science, volunteer work, recycling, buying locally, and educating others on the importance of this issue. For me I have recently tried to change aspects of my lifestyle that have become habitual and are continually a threat to myself and the environment around me.
Upon seeing how many earths I would need to live sustainably I knew that I had to make a change in my lifestyle. Addressing consumption, wastage, and certain activities that have become second nature was the first step. I have recently been trying to go through my day as normal but maintain a sustainability conscious mindset. An example of one of the changes in my routine would be cooking food at home instead of buying out. I would have never realized the significance of this small change in lifestyle. Buying local allows for a strong local economy along with a building of character in local community. The impact is seen not only at the local level but all the way up to the global level. It reduces environmental impact at all levels by requiring less transportation along with less dependence on the big businesses that would otherwise be developing to meet our needs. This results in less congestion, sprawl, habitat loss, and pollution. When all of this is taken into account and a sense of community is created the local businesses take pride in their services and provide for a prosperous outlook for the future of a community. After a couple weeks of maintaining a routine of buying mainly local, recycling, and using a compost in my backyard I feel healthier, have more energy throughout the day, and seen a significant decrease in waste.
At first the urge to buy a burrito from moes southwest grill was hard to resist but after seeing the benefits as opposed to just being momentarily satisfied I have decided to stick with this change in lifestyle. This change has given me a new perspective on the consequences of maintaining oblivious and wasteful routine. If you haven’t already I would consider making this change and seeing the unanticipated yet noticeable benefits. Small changes like eating locally provide for a much brighter and sustainable future which is more important now than ever. Going through the day with this mindset of minimal waste and embracing an environmentally conscious lifestyle contribute to countless amounts of interconnected branches within sustainable development.

 

Scrubbing Carbon from the Atmosphere

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In the news article I presented in class, I discussed how scientists and engineers are thinking of ways of using technology to directly remove carbon emissions from our atmosphere. Through a multitude of methods both natural and man-made, all collectively known as negative emissions technologies (nets), these technologies show us interesting ways to effectively “scrub” carbon from the atmosphere. Scientists, however, aren’t convinced of the viability of many of these technologies, and that they may cause more environmental harm than good.

The nets listed in the article are direct air capture, enhanced weathering, ocean fertilization, and bioenergy methods like burning plants and planting more forests. Direct air capture involves building machines that specialize in sucking carbon emissions directly from the air. To be an effective method, however, we would need an incredible number of machines produced. Thousands upon thousands. This would not only be extremely costly, but it would take a significant amount of resources to produce that many machines, which makes this method not very viable or sustainable.

Enhanced weathering is the breaking down of certain rocks by naturally combining with the carbon in the air. It’s suggested that we should crush the mineral olivine down to fine sand and spread it across beaches. The issues with this method, however, is that it would require a ton of mining. Constant mining for minerals and the collection of resources needed to grind down the mineral. It simply would not be feasible to mine that many materials and distribute them globally. And again, isn’t a sustainable practice as we are collecting a large amount of nonrenewable materials.

Ocean fertilization involves the sprinkling of iron and other nutrients in the ocean in order to replenish phytoplankton population. Phytoplankton are tiny, microscopic plants that will utilize the carbon as they grow and sink when they die, taking the carbon with them. This method is a bit controversial, since the sprinkling of iron into the ocean is essentially ocean dumping. Also, there isn’t nearly enough research to suggest that this method would at all be effective. One study was conducted at a salmon fishery in Canada, however this study should not be trusted since it was conducted without any scientific oversight and was the source of outrage among scientists. And once again, where do we get the iron? This would be another massive use of resources and would not be sustainable over time.

The last two methods involve terrestrial plants, either burning them to utilize the carbon or through planting more forests. Burning them simply wouldn’t be nearly as effective as even the other methods, because you’d have to burn a lot in order to take out as much carbon as we put in. Personally, I think that planting more trees would actually be the most beneficial of all these methods. You’d be replenishing habitats, provide resources and shelter to the populations in those areas, while also contributing to reducing the carbon load on our atmosphere. However, the world currently cuts down way more forests than we plant, and planting new forests would require a lot of land.

While there is merit in trying to engineer our way out of the climate crisis, there are issues with our approach. The reasons being that, along with all the ones listed above, the economic costs to implement these methods is too high, and it’s just easier and more effective to reduce the amount of carbon being emitted into the atmosphere altogether.

Sources:

  • Fountain, Henry. “Can We Really Scrub Carbon Dioxide From the Atmosphere?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 28 Feb. 2018.
  • Norton, Michael, and Molly Hurley-Depret. “Negative Emission Technologies Will Not Compensate for Inadequate Climate Change Mitigation Efforts, Say European Science Academies.” EASAC Website, EASAC, 1 Feb. 2018, easac.eu/press-releases/details/negative-emission-technologies-will-not-compensate-for-inadequate-climate-change-mitigation-efforts/

Event blog “Floating Island”

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     Floating Island- Is it Real?

In February 16th, 2018 College of Charleston arranged a very interesting event where a promising science fiction writer, Dr. Melody, gave her speech on floating islands. She is currently an assistant professor at University of California, Santa Barbara. She said that although she was not an architect, she was struck by some pictures of floating islands in an article in “The Guardian,” and later, as a scholar of literature, she did some research on her own. She thought maybe those floating islands can solve the problems some pacific islands are facing due to global warming.

At the beginning of her presentation, she mentioned that several movies such as “Water World, China Mieville, Snow Crash, [and] 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea” were based on the concept of floating lands in post-flood worlds. However, the acceleration of sea level rise now requires the floating island to be taken out of the realm of science fiction. Small island states like Torres Strait Island, the Seychelles, Tuvalu, Micronesia, and the Maldives are considering many options to respond to a post flood future. She showed us a video that actually struck us about how vulnerable those island nations are. In the video clip the president of the Maldives said, “It’s not something in the future, we are facing right now… people were living here for thousands of years but ability sustain human life here seems to be very fragile”. The president Nasid also said, “if we cannot stop the global warming and sea level rising, as the president, it is clear to me that the most important to me to fight for our survival. In the video it showed how flat is the Maldives; there is no hill. The capital Malé has walls around it, but it is still very vulnerable to the rising seas.

Because of the increasing coastal erosion and sea level rising in the near future, perhaps the citizens of these threatened islands will be climate refugees. President Nashid has arranged climate activity forums (COP 21 conferences) and intragovernmental lowland organizations that are now advocating to reduce carbon emission to slow global warming to reduce the speed of this dangerous rise in sea level. If reducing carbon emissions does not work, the people of the Maldives and other island nations will be forced to evacuate to higher lands and become climate refugees. Dr. Melody said that the World Bank has recently come up with a structured migration program suggesting that people of these sinking lowlands can be transferred to the highlands of Austrailia and New Zealand. Some people of the archipelago of Micronesia and Fiji have already invested money to develop the legal framework to assist in climate refugee relocation.

Recently, another option has emerged, large international architecture firms such as Water Studio from the Netherlands and the Sea Studying Institute in Silicon Valley alongside various others in Japan, France, and the rest of the globe have been designing futuristic floating islands that could potentially be sold to the endangered small island nations. Most of these designs are periodically featured in newspaper like in “The Guardian” or the New York Times. These floating island structures could provide new and safer habitation.  In one interview with the President of Kiribati, he said that he has already had meetings with architects who designed some of the spectacles in Dubai with their artificial islands, and he thinks that building floating islands is a potential solution to save their nation, although it is not possible to accommodate every person. Now we can only wait. Perhaps floating islands will not simply remain in the dreams of science fiction writers as scientists and architects are working together to make these islands become real and efficient to save human lives.

 

 

News Report Assignment

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Unfortunately, I was sick the day I was supposed to present my news report. However, you can view the slide below.

Slideshow Presentation

Basically, this article is about the presence of volatile organic compounds in the Earth’s atmosphere. It is no secret that aerosols and adhesives are harmful to the Earth. That has been known for years. However, recent studies show that they are just as harmful to the Earth as gasoline emissions from our cars are. Unlike gas that is stored in gas tanks and burned over a period of time, hairsprays and other aerosols are sprayed directly into the air. Even more alarming, of all of the raw oil used, only 5% of that goes towards making aerosols, but it is responsible for 25% of air pollution produced by Volatile Organic Compounds. Compare this to the 95% of oils used towards fueling vehicles (which makes up 75% of air pollution from VOCs). This article suggests that we have grossly underestimated the effects of non-vehicle volatile organic compounds.

In addition to the obvious consequences of air pollution, these can also have negative health consequences. Exposure to VOCs can lead to asthma attacks. Additionally, exposure to air pollution is considered the 5th highest risk to human health. This number goes up even more in urban environments.

This combines a lot of what we have learned in class so far. Obviously, it is a form of air pollution. It also is a big part of our ecological footprints. Perhaps in addition to the questions about the foods we consume and the houses we live in, the ecological footprint calculator should also ask us about the deodorant, pesticides, hairsprays, and adhesives we use, since they can all be just as harmful to the environment. Another issue that the author brings up is how to regulate these products. Some people use several of these items that create volatile organic compounds daily, while others cannot stand to be around them. How do we go about determining how much or how little of these products can be used when it does not apply equally to everyone? This also has to do with consumption. How much of these products are produced and sold in mass quantities because of our culture of consumerism?

This article was published by BBC News. This is a reputable British news source. They are very open about their company. On their website, you can find the history of BBC, what they do, their annual reports, and a breakdown of where their funding comes from. Also, they provided information about the original source at the end of the article, which allowed me to easily find the publication in Nature.

 

If you are interested in reading it for yourself you can find the news report here:

 

If you are really interested in this topic, New York Times also reported on it. Read that here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/climate/perfume-pollution-smog.html

 

 

 

 

Consumer Product Analysis- Neutrogena’s Oil-Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit Foaming Scrub

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As consumers, we do not always take into account of how the products that we purchase for our everyday use can be harming the environment. It’s typical for a consumer to focus on what is needed for the current moment, rather than considering the effects of the product in the future. They contain ingredients and other components that consumers are not always aware of, in terms of the complex names listed in the ingredients area on the product. These products can create cycles of unhealthy and harmful effects that not only effect the environment, but a great deal of living organisms.

One of the products that is used in my daily regimen is: Neutrogena’s Oil- Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit Foaming Scrub. The purpose of this product is to cleanse one’s face and smooth away roughness without over-drying and irritating the skin. Typically, I use the product 2-3 days out of the week. The product requires the use of water in order for the product to work properly. Although this product can be beneficial to my cosmetic need/wants it contains ingredients and other components that are harmful to the environment. The first active ingredient listed on the product is Salicylic acid, which serves as the acne treatment. Some of the inactive ingredients include: Water, Glycerin, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Polyethylene, and the list continues. I, personally, am unaware of more than half of the ingredients that this product contains! I am certain that the majority of consumers are not aware of the ingredients and other components that are used in the products that they purchase.

Neutrogena is a brand of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Consumer Companies and manufactures and markets their products in over 70 countries. I am unsure about the exact process that takes place to manufacture this certain product, however most facial washes and scrubs are mass-produced in a factory with the help of machines. The products are then packaged in large quantities and shipped out. The factories require a lot of energy, like power, in order to produce these products in large quantities. There are multiple machines in the facility that are operating at once, so you can imagine the amount of power needed to keep them functioning.

The main concern with the product that I chose do discuss is that it contains microbeads. There has been great controversy about products containing microbeads because they are negatively effecting our environment. Microbeads are tiny spherical particles that are made of plastic and are used in many products like: body scrub, facial washes, exfoliants, and some toothpastes. These items require water in order to rinse off the access product after use, which is then are washed down the drain and entering the water systems. Since the microbeads are so small it is difficult for them to be caught by wastewater facilities that treat the water. This is a major problem because the microbeads will eventually appear in river, lakes, and oceans. Fish often mistake these tiny particles for other things and consume them. These fish then become toxic and are consumed by humans and other animals. This creates a cycle of unhealthy and harmful effects not only to the environment, but many living organisms.

You’ve reached the end of the products functional life, once there is no product left. You then are left with the plastic tube that it comes in. Neutrogena’s Oil- Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit Foaming Scrub is packaged in plastic tube, which itself contains many chemicals that are harmful to the environment. They also are not recycle friendly and are unable to break down completely turning into microplastics, which animals can choke on. In order to reduce these negative impacts that these products cause companies need to eliminate the use of the microbeads! They should also consider using containers that are eco-friendly and recyclable instead of plastics that contain chemicals. However, due to the great amount of controversy the United States enacted a ban on the use of microbeads in products. Johnson & Johnson already began to phase out microbeads in their products, which means as did Neutrogena since they are a brand of Johnson & Johnson. As of right now if you were to go to Neutrogena’s website you will see that this product no longer contains microbeads, however there are other companies like Amazon and eBay where you are still able to purchase it with microbeads. Another desirable goal would be to discard the products out there that still contain microbeads and make them unavailable for purchase.

https://www.sciencealert.com/microbeads-are-causing-the-fish-we-eat-to-become-toxic-study-finds

 

 

No Children Because of Climate Change? Some People Are Considering It.

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The news report I presented in class called “No Children Because of Climate Change? Some People Are Considering It” by Maggie Astor summarized different thoughts on people having children in the age of the Anthropocene. It included thoughts from Mormons (who are at odds to reproduce with their religious traditions), a woman from Ohio (who after an unplanned pregnancy decided to have a second child so her first child would not be alone while climate change takes place), and a couple who plan to adopt instead of have children. One bias to point out is that the New York Times only used one study and did not offer any others to compare to.  The articles audience was anyone and everyone who is concerned with having children in the 21st century. What it did was detail that reproduction rates have slowed due to awareness about the effect overpopulation has on climate change. The article was presented and pertaining to our current time that affects all people from all around the globe since climate change is a systemic issue. It important everyone reads and becomes increasingly aware the footprint humans leave and how it creates global planetary changes. Slowed reproduction is happening because people are becoming increasingly self-aware of their decisions, especially those who have seen climate change happen in their lifetime. The impact of this finding shows that people are concerned with how population growth is contributing to degradation of the climate, land, sea, and resources. It is relevant to society because will require planning of labor force and this will raise questions about how we should be dealing with climate change (especially among younger generations). This article shares a close relation with environmental and sustainable studies, especially since the study in the article was conducted by Conceivable Future (a nonprofit founded on the Notion that “the climate crisis is a reproductive crisis) who also was the study cited in the NPR article we read for class. This topic is undoubtedly interwoven into the idea that religion, philosophy and science play an integral part in our world view. This article is also closely related with our discussions on our ecological footprint since it details our awareness of our impact as well as the discussions of the Anthropocene. In class, Professor Beckingham used an image that I’ve linked below which shows the lessened impact of carbon emissions if one less child Is born. Overall this article was further informative about overpopulation and is a great resource if students want to educate themselves further on this topic and the opinions that are held by those who are of child-rearing age. Some questions I wanted to propose for discussion was How much of slowed reproduction is due to awareness of overpopulation? And, Is it possible to keep having children at a sustained rate and instead alleviate other issues that contribute to global planetary change? Once we better understand humans and their worldview, we can further understand how these worldview influence decisions and in turn, the impacts.

 

 

Astor, M. (2018, February 5) No Children Because of Climate Change? Some People Are Considering It. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/climate/climate-change-children.html

Personal Change

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Blog two: Personal Change

                There are probably many things I could change in my day to day life to live more sustainably. The short amount of time I’ve been in this environmental class, I can’t help but notice the different things I do in routine everyday that has a negative impact on the environment around me. One main thing that sticks out to me is the way I waste water. A good description of this is not being “water wise.” I found this saying in an article I read on how much water we waste daily. The article I came across made me feel better and worse. I was able to see that I’m not alone when it comes to wasting water, but also seeing how much damage it can do in the long run. The main way I waste water is my showering technique. In the dorms sometimes, it takes a minute for the water to get warm. I will let the water run while I am doing other things, like straightening up my room. I usually don’t let it run that long, but it takes around 5 minutes for the water to get to bearable temperature. I never really thought of the amount of wasted water that is until thinking from a sustainable standpoint. This water is being wasted and running back to the water treatment facility or the sewage. Compared to other countries in the world we have one of the best access to clean water, and for me to literally let it go down the drain is not very considerate on my part. Another way I am not “water wise” is throwing away bottles of water that still have water in them. This can also be bad because I don’t recycle the water bottles when I do throw them away. That’s another personal change I could make. When I drink the water out of the bottle I never finish all of it and it ends up sitting on my dresser. When I am thirsty again I want a cold bottle out of the fridge. This repetitive cycle ends up with me having about 5 bottles sitting around with room temperature water that I don’t want to drink. I usually end up throwing these bottles in the trash with the water still in them. I really take water for granted when I think about it. For both scenarios, there are other options that I can utilize. With the shower water, I can try to not run the water for so long. This is easier said than done.  With the bottles, I can be more resourceful and put the unfinished water bottles in the fridge right when I am done with them. Also, I can recycle the bottles! This change should not be that hard and should positively impact my life and the environment. I should be able to keep up this life style being that I am really the only one who controls this. I will be able to limit the amount of wasted water, which might not be a huge difference when we are speaking worldwide but every part counts.

Alexis Waters-Peterson

The future of energy is sustainable: Artificial Synthesis is real

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Solar energy is using the sun as a source of power, which is retained through photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies (energy.gov). PV technology is the use of solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity, and CPS is using mirrors to convert sunlight into heat. Solar energy is a very important form of energy because it is a resource that we do not need to harvest by exploiting the earth. The sun is a giant ball of energy just waiting for us to absorb the rays it shines down on the planet. Based on a report from the International Energy Agency, solar energy technology is rising in popularity, increasing by 50% in 2016, with mostly China and secondly the US leading the charge in the expansion (USA today). The growing mode of solar technology is the use of PV technology / solar panels, because of mass installation in China and support from the Chinese government. With the rising popularity of solar technology, it is only natural that the next step in pursuing sustainable forms of energy would be to develop artificial photosynthesis.

What is artificial photosynthesis? It is a way of storing the energy that it collected from solar technology. Right now, we can use solar panels to power our stuff, but it really is only useful during sunny seasons. If there was a way to store the energy collected for use during the winter/darker seasons, people could be using sustainable energy all year long. That is the goal of creating artificial photosynthesis. With the creation of artificial photosynthesis, scientists hope to “store solar energy in a way that can be used later on.” (ZME Science). In order to actually start the process of creating artificial photosynthesis, there needs to be a catalyst for the chemical reaction of converting sunlight into energy. Plants use photosynthesis to make sugar from the carbon dioxide in the air, and the process is jump-started by a catalyst. The catalysts science has available to it are usually one-atom catalysts, and there is an exploration into the production of a 2-atom catalyst. Boston College Associate Professor of Chemistry Dunwei Wang is heading up experimentation into a 2-atom catalyst and was able to produce one that is durable and great for water oxidation (ZME Science). The catalyst created is made of iridium, which is a factor into the 2-atom catalysts strength. Having a durable catalyst could be the first major step towards a future where the sun powers the planet, rather than the precious resources we have almost drained completely from the earth. Professor Wang explains that artificial photosynthesis stores energy by directly harvesting solar energy and storing the energy in chemical bonds, similar to how photosynthesis is performed but with higher efficiencies and lower cost.” (IFL Science). Further study is still needed before artificial photosynthesis can begin production and get into the hands of the people, but there are high hopes because technology like this would be so beneficial to humanity and would help the world move towards a future with less negative environmental impact, and reduce our carbon footprint, especially since the artificial photosynthesis is literally taking in carbon dioxide and turning into energy.

Works Cited

https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/articles/solar-energy-technology-basics

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/10/04/solar-energy-fastest-growing-source-power/730594001/

https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/solar-energy-photosynthesis-catalyst-06032018/

http://www.iflscience.com/technology/new-dualatom-catalyst-provides-important-step-towards-creating-clean-energy-through-artificial-photosynthesis/

Got Mercury?

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https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/melting-arctic-permafrost-toxic-mercury-environment/

Researchers have discovered that the permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere (specifically in Alaska) stores massive amounts of natural mercury. This permafrost is melting as a result of rising air temperatures due to climate change. The high temps are continuing to rise as more pollution from human activity is released into the air, and the ice continues to thaw.

This is a big problem. Not only is Global Warming an issue in itself but, studies have found that the soil in these areas hold nearly twice as much the amount of mercury than in all other soils, the ocean, and atmosphere combined. When it thaws, this massive amount of mercury will be released. The mercury bound up here may be 10 times greater than all the mercury humans have put into the atmosphere from pollution of the last 30 years. (National Geographic) As this happens far more of the pollutant will be allowed to build up in the atmosphere.

This is a serious problem because mercury is a toxic heavy metal that is very dangerous to the health of humans. Not only can it poison us, but it can build up in the water and affect the fish and other animals in the environment causing serious health issues. Mercury can have harmful neurological and reproductive effects on animals, leading to a shift in the health of the environment and our eating habits. As the mercury collects in the water, it will lead to the terrestrial food chain being affected and will eventually work its way up the food chain. Humans are at the top of this food chain. This will affect our health and ecosystems worldwide. The effects of this mercury take over will spread, for the mercury being released into the atmosphere will be spread globally.

Even though this is a scary outcome of the Earth’s rising temperatures, they are looking into a solution; or at least a temporary hold on this outbreak.

In certain regions they are researching putting certain animals back in these areas to walk over the fluffy snow. These climate adapted horses, ox, and bison will push down the fluffier snow to compact it down thinning it and making it dense. This lowers the permafrost temperature and allows a deeper freezing which will lower the temp and hold off on melting. They say that the fluffy snow act as an insulator to the ground and keeps it from getting cold.

This is just another example of an issue that is a result of Climate change that is a result of humans abusing the earth and being careless of the toxins they release. Hopefully we can be to restore the damage we have created before the irreversible results like mercury poisoning begin.

This article was a great source, I feel like it was intended to inform the public of the things that are happening around us as a result of our actions. However, biases could be involved by making people feel as though things are worse (or better) than they are in order to put certain ideas in to the public’s mind. Regardless, it is a good article that explains a recent event like so many others, that we need to be aware of to keep our actions and planet in check.