environmental1000studies

[environmental1000studies]

Semester Practicum

For my climate change practicum, I chose to join the astronomy club for the year. It fits perfectly because we learn more in-depth about the celestial phenomena that go on way above us, and it is a personal interest I am very passionate about. I would say the club, on average, takes an hour out of my week. Wednesday nights are dedicated to attending club meetings unless I have a conflicting obligation. The club operates on a presentation into activity regiment, varying from topics like the Eras of the Big Bang–the process in which our universe was formed in a matter of 3 minutes upon the unification of the essential forces into one super one: gravity, continuously forming and destroying particles in which the pure energy release expanding the universe, and cooling enough for nuclei to form to create other elements. Our universe is still expanding today, collisions still occurring, and eventually, a collapse. On the other side of the topic spectrum, we covered astrophotography, which I have since learned is very sensitive to light pollution. Also, weather patterns impact the nature of this work, leading to delays in studies due to natural phenomena. The club board is very introductory in teaching this information and equipment operation to club members, making it a bit easier to digest and process the new information I receive each week. 

One of our first quick-fire lessons of the semester was on operating a telescope, which may sound a little anticlimactic, but for me personally, it was a great ton of knowledge. After taking physics, I can say wholeheartedly that optics is not entirely common sense. Eyepieces, lens options, refractive and reflective images, and all of the settings in-between take understanding, which does not come on its own. Telescopes are more than mere instruments. According to the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, telescopes revolutionized the field of astronomy, allowing astronomers to see further beyond the eye; into the vast unknown with each advancement. We have discovered anomalies, black holes, other planets, and galaxies since the invention of telescopes in the 1600s, and progress only paves way for more. 

Another important tool I have discussed with club members is satellites. Enormous metal contraptions float above us, and record essential data for tracking climate change. According to “In the Air” from the Smithsonian Institution, sensors are able to capture levels of atmospheric gases, the sea, and our planet’s weather patterns. The information provided allows governments to make informed decisions when discussing domestic and international climate policies. Beyond this, scientists can use measurements to develop more efficient and cleaner alternatives to the methods we currently have in place. It is also vital for natural disaster response and aid efforts to monitor real-time data on events to ensure maximum safety. Finally, among the varied list of uses, agriculture has a spot. Satellites can help farmers adapt to climate change in their region by measuring various factors of soil and crop conditions. Now, all of this was not prior knowledge to me. This was a time for me to learn something new, and my fellow clubmates did not disappoint! This conversation, carried out over the semester, sticks out to me distinctly because I remember thinking, “These people are so smart!” I had the worst case of imposter syndrome for the briefest moment, but I walked away having a better grasp on the field as a whole! This intersection of our terrestrial home and celestial surroundings is undoubtedly a drastic benefit in combating climate change, and should definitely be a piece of common knowledge throughout society. Sometimes, people forget to interact with their natural surroundings, missing the wonder that surrounds them. 

I remember our club president telling a story of a time he was at Mauna Kea, this dormant Hawaiian volcano that is considered to be the best place on Earth to stargaze and is actively prioritized in being protected from light pollution due to its natural beauty. He could not believe his eyes, and at that moment, as he was telling the story, I felt envy. His experience sounded like a dream (I have it marked down as a place to visit when I travel to Hawaii in the future). But, the more I thought about it, the more I was saddened by the current state of our local environment. New York City is significantly lacking night sky visibility due to the immense amount of air and light pollution, as shown in the image below. New York City is renowned for its lights and screen displays, so obviously, it is not the ideal place for astronomical observations. Nevertheless, it is important to note the impact this has on our environment. My own personal research has resulted from a conversation we had earlier in the semester regarding the impact of New York City’s lights on migratory birds. Large amounts of birds failed to survive movement patterns due to disorientation caused by the city’s blinding lights that extend into the sky, resulting in restrictions put in place by the state. This is just one example of how we see the immediate impact of light pollution on the environment. Who knows what research shows about the translation of light pollution into air pollution–maybe I should look into that! It’s an interesting concept: light having an impact on the medium through which it travels..hmm! Regardless, NYC suffers due to the immense amount of light, and it is an important topic to carry into future research and prioritizations. 

All semester, we have been talking about the impacts of human processes, greenhouse gas emissions and our rapidly increasing rate of climate change, and the astronomy club is allowing me to see in my own eyes how it has impacted our atmosphere. I have only barely scratched the surface in topics and areas of study, but I am excited to learn more with time! 

wc: 980

[environmental1000studies]

12/11 water water water!

I recently learned about algal blooms followed by dead zones, as described in Chapter 20's opening case study, in my ecology class a couple of weeks ago. My professor was hounding the fact that algae are producers--they produce oxygen and carbohydrates. People easily get it mixed up that algae are the ones causing the depletion of the oxygen in water by consuming it, when in fact, it's the oxygen and photosynthetic products that limit itself. The reproduction and growth of algae during algal blooms cause a rise in zooplankton, which feed on the algae as fast as it grows. Sufficient zooplankton populations are able to sustain the predation by higher trophic levels, which leads to higher reproduction rates, and so on and so forth. However, the influx in consumers due to the algae blooms respirate at higher rates, which is the process of converting oxygen to carbon dioxide. The increase in consumer respiration depletes the water of oxygen, resulting in uninhabitable areas known as dead zones. Focusing on the Gulf of Mexico is especially interesting because of the oil spill that happened in 2010; I wonder what sort of long-lasting effects from that disaster we still see today.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, when the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded and sank on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico, 11 workers died, and the spill became the largest in the history of marine drilling. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, and fellow scientists have recorded wide effects on marine life, such as reproductive failure and increased mortality. Once again, I am from Texas, and the very few times I have been to our beaches in Galveston and Corpus Christi, they have never enticed me. The water is murky; beaches are small and trash-ridden; the health and maintenance of the ecosystem do not seem prioritized. Nearly 15 years later, remnants of the disaster are still present, highlighting the enormous catastrophe DWH was. 

wc: 330

[environmental1000studies]

12/4 pollution is cancerous, literally.

Earlier in the semester, I did a mini-research project and presentation on "Cancer Alley" in Louisiana. It's an 85-mile stretch from Baton Rouge to New Orleans along the Mississippi River and has the highest cancer rates in the country. This range has over 200 petrochemical plants along the river, causing water contamination and air pollution, leading to these detrimental consequences on human health. The state government does little to aid residents and work to protect their health by reporting false data on environmental conditions. Along with this, little funding goes toward the health crisis. I wonder what the current guidelines for public health and safety are in this region and what is being done by the residents to raise awareness of the direness of their situation.

There is currently a lawsuit against the St. James Parish Council filed by Inclusive Louisiana, Mt. Triumph Baptist Church, and RISE St. James in 2023, according to this recent article by the Center for Constitutional Rights. On October 7, 2024, groups of resident representatives went in front of the court and argued against the discriminatory practices used by the Parish Council when placing new petrochemical facilities. In recompense, the residents of the primarily-Black 4th and 5th Districts are pushing for a moratorium, a temporary suspension, on building new petrochemical facilities. These communities shoulder heavy burdens within their region. Since 1958, when the first facility was built in St. James Parish, at least 20 out of the total 24 plants are in Districts 4 and 5. Mind-blowing. Even within the overarching disproportionate effects felt along the sub-hundred-mile stretch, we see “sacrifice zones” within a “sacrifice zone,” where communities are impacted significantly more than others that suffer along “Cancer Alley.” 

wc: 284

[environmental1000studies]

11/20 guest presentation: farms in Thailand and Fordham food!

Ian Smith's, our guest speaker, presentation really captured my attention today. I got a chance to read the article on Thailand's sustainability efforts and use of rotational farming beforehand and found it extremely intriguing going into Ian's lecture on agriculture and food production, and the industry as a whole. Reading about the immense trade-off of carbon sequestration through the rotational farming method specifically stuck with me the most: a total of 480 tons of carbon emission in comparison to 17,000 tons of carbon stored through designated and controlled tree chopping down and burning the plot of land. This has been scientifically proven by members of the Karen community in Thailand who fought for the right to utilize this method on their native land, Hin Lad Nai. It interested me enough to note it down to look for any specific farms that use the technique and host volunteers through WWOOF–Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. I’m extremely interested/half-convinced in doing a period of WWOOFing, especially in Thailand. It is one of my most prioritized bucket list destinations, and combining it with this fascinating method is perfect! My brief search was inconclusive, but I am determined to find something.

I also enjoyed going into the breakout discussions on Fordham's food sourcing. It led me to further consider the aspects of food production I often overlook. There is little easily accessible information on the nutritional composition of the food provided to the school by Aramark, as well as the costs that come with it. These costs include but are not restricted to tuition, the cost of meal plans, the cost per meal swipe, and the quality of food that we receive in turn for these expensive plans. We also discussed other universities using different methods of sourcing, establishing relationships, and dealing with local businesses and chains to allocate meal plan funds so that they are usable off-campus. 

wc: 315

[environmental1000studies]

11/13 public land privatization: good or bad?

The case study in Chapter 10 of Living in the Environment focuses specifically on the stresses on the US Public Parks ecosystems and the systems they provide--"the natural services provided by healthy ecosystems that support life and human economies at no monetary cost to us" (Miller & Spoolman, 6). I found the brief paragraph on national park funding extremely interesting because of the proposed numbers and ideas. In 2018, the National Park Service was an estimated $11.6 billion behind on funding for overdue maintenance on park trails and various facilities (Miller & Spoolman, 223). I found the claim by some analysts that current private concessionaires pay a range of government franchise fees that average anywhere from 0.75%-7% of their gross receipts and could reasonably manage an increase to 20%, shocking (223)! To me, that is incredibly concerning. For another class, I am writing a blog on conservation work and ethical stances in NPS policies per park. I've read various stories and project plans that aim to combat the effects of climate change in the parks, but to further find out that their financial hurdles before this goal could be relatively eased if private owners were to pay a bit more, a reasonable and manageable amount. At the end of the case study, it notes that pressures behind efforts to sell US National Parks and public lands to private owners are rising. I wonder what this may look like. Would it be for the better if these lands became privately owned? Would we be losing something in return? 

My research has shown me that privatizing public lands such as national parks definitely has its pros and cons. Privatized areas, like the Tallgrass Prairie Reserve in Oklahoma, can be protective and benefit the land overall by conserving important species. In turn, people lose their livelihoods by not having land to work once it becomes privately owned. Furthermore, communities can have significant personal or cultural ties to pieces of land, and privatization disrupts these connections. So, like everything else within the environmental field, there is a cost-benefit ratio to be analyzed when deciding if it is worth it to privatize a piece of public land.

wc: 364

G. Tyler Miller and Scott E. Spoolman, Living in the Environment, 20th ed. (Boston: Cengage Learning, 2018).

[environmental1000studies]

11/6 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!!!

Chapter 21 on waste types, risks, and management strategies was very insightful, especially regarding e-waste. When I think about waste, I think about landfills and dumps, sewers and toxic, radioactive chemicals, not so much about electronics. I feel like all semester, across all of my classes, technology and its growing industry--therefore, immense waste production, have been a topic somehow, some way. Electric vehicles, lithium batteries (!), computers, and cell phones all accumulate as e-waste. E-waste is an economic loss from the valuable metals within the gadgets, harmful to the environment upon its incineration, and harmful to those in under-developed countries that treat it with acid to recover reusable parts. The following section on how to deal with waste was helpful after reading the insane numbers shown regarding our waste. Management is used to reduce and control the amount of waste and environmental harm done. Waste reduction, outlined by the four Rs (refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle), is a method used to minimize the production of solid waste and maximize the reusability of goods, etc. I wonder what alternative economies operate like in regard to e-waste and if there is a sustainable method that can withstand the rapid growth of electronic production and energy emissions.

As we see above, as of 2022, Asia was the world’s highest contributor to e-waste, with a total of 30.1 million metric tons as a region. We previously discussed in Week 8 that the Circular Economy is a viable economic model that should, in theory, sustainably manage e-waste. Within a circular economy, e-waste is recycled and reused, reducing the overall amount of energy, material, and waste generated throughout the product’s lifecycle. This isn’t meant to regurgitate the same information; rather, I think it’s interesting how applicable this model really is! It seems simple that something like this would replace our currently inefficient methods of production and e-waste management, but combating opposition seems to be a constant uphill battle, and waste generation continues to increase primarily in Asia, the Americas, and Europe.

wc: 334

G. Tyler Miller and Scott E. Spoolman, Living in the Environment, 20th ed. (Boston: Cengage Learning, 2018).

[environmental1000studies]

10/30 humans and our growing population...( :/ )

Reading about the population growth humans experience and how most of it is centralized in urban areas of low-developed countries made me think back to my group’s presentation on the state of climate change in Chad. The most climate-vulnerable country in the world–Chad–has been experiencing an influx of refugees from Sudan, placing them in urban areas, and in turn, the environmental state they live in is becoming intensely unsuitable. The discussion of carrying capacity and cultural carrying capacity was intriguing to follow human population growth, which is a serious concern. Following the example of Chad, the country could be reaching its' cultural carrying capacity as it is consistently declining in its ability to support current and future generations. Lake Chad continues to dry up due to extended periods of drought, and people lose their livelihoods, making it difficult to survive economically and environmentally. I do wonder how close the land of Chad is to its carrying capacity and what specifically can be done through legislation in Chad.

According to a Sustainability Map of Chad, at a current population of 18,278,570 with a sustainable maximum of 18.27 million people and an annual population growth rate of 3.08%, the country will soon exceed its carrying capacity. Climate change continues to worsen in the region, causing massive cycles of droughts and floods to further exacerbate the conditions. Doing some further digging, I found that in 2017, Chad launched the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and partnered with the United Nations Development Programme to implement climate change adaptations and manage resources long-term. We have seen Chadian people band together to raise awareness and combat the dire situation they are faced with in the news and media, but little is mass reported on the work being done to help the country. I will have to continue to watch the progress of the state of the country’s climate (as should everyone else), and considering the NAP layout was marked to end in 2023, I am curious to see what new strategies will be integrated in years to come. 

wc: 344

[environmental1000studies]

10/23 politics and the environment

This week’s chapter, “Sustaining Biodiversity: Saving Species and Ecosystem Services,” which introduces and expands on environmental politics and the government’s involvement, particularly in the complicated process of passing laws and policies, is my favorite so far. Policies are different from laws in that agencies are federally funded to enforce regulations, allowing for a check on the lack or excess of regulation enforcement by the groups affected by agencies. Insert lobbying, and the process of creating environmental policy has become entirely political. According to Spoolman and Miller, “the regulated try to…become the regulators,” which helps give a reality check on the state of corruption within our governments and the lack of protective commitment humans, or at least those in power, have to our natural environment (617). Rather than prioritizing what is most beneficial for the environment, lobbying holds biased policies above others using money and influence, potentially gaining unfair advantages in political processes. Personally, I wonder what, specifically negative, the impacts of environmental lobbying are. What does, or could, it look like in policies now? 

Upon some further research, I found a list of consequences that result from environmental lobbying. Primarily, legislation can be delayed from being passed due to political lobbying forces. An example of this would be the Waxman-Markey bill, a piece of US climate-change regulation that passed through the House and failed at the Senate due to more effective lobbying by firms that would lose from the carbon market it would have implemented. Furthermore, the public can often be deceived by big corporations, which will outright lie to gain public support against movements like clean energy solutions. This can be seen by the Caesar Rodney Institute, an oil-industry-funded program that fought against the implementation of wind farms under the guise of concerned residents. Corporations like these that generally lack care for the public’s well-being are frightening to have in power. Using deceptive tactics while having a position of power is corruption in its most basic form, and the public is left to suffer the consequences. 

Due to the recent election, the US is set to face some major changes in environmental policy and regulations. Donald Trump has already called for our re-removal from the Paris Climate Agreement, backing out on the promise to reduce national GHG emissions and aid developing countries in doing so as well. Policies are currently vulnerable and changing due to the political elections and movements going on around the world, allowing the public to glimpse into the control these corporations have over the legislation passed and representatives elected. 

wc: 422

G. Tyler Miller and Scott E. Spoolman, Living in the Environment, 20th ed. (Boston: Cengage Learning, 2018).

[environmental1000studies]

Practicum Check-in!

For my climate change practicum, I chose to join the astronomy club for the year. It fit perfectly because we learn more in depth about the celestial phenomena that goes on way above us, and it a personal interest I am very passionate about.I would say the club, on average, takes an hour out of my week. Wednesday nights are dedicated to attending club meetings, unless I have a conflicting obligation. The club operates on a presentation into activity regiment, varying from topics like the Eras of the Big Bang–the process in which our universe was formed in the matter of 3 minutes upon the unification of the essential forces into one super one: gravity, continuously forming and destroying particles in which the pure energy release expanding the universe, and cooling enough for nuclei to form to create other elements. Our universe is still expanding today, collisions still occurring, and eventually, a collapse. On the other side of the topic spectrum, we covered astrophotography, which I have since learned is very sensitive to light pollution. Also, weather patterns impact the nature of this work, leading to things like delays in studies done due to natural phenomena. It is very introductory in teaching this information and equipment operation to club members, making it a bit easier to digest and process the new information I receive each week. I remember our club president telling a story of a time he was at Mauna Kea, this dormant Hawaiian volcano that is considered to be the best place on Earth to stargaze and is actively prioritized in being protected from light pollution due to its natural beauty. He could not believe his eyes, and in that moment, I was saddened by the state of our environment lacking in night sky visibility due to the immense amount of air and light pollution. All semester, we have been talking about the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions and our rapid rate of climate change, and the astronomy club is allowing me to see in my own eyes how it has impacted our atmosphere.

wc: 348

[environmental1000studies]

10/16 $$$ makes the world (and hopefully the economy) go round

I found this week's chapter on the interconnectedness of the environment and economic systems very engaging. Miller's analysis of the impact of modern economies on our natural world was a bit eye-opening in many facets, especially when the ethical principle of sustainability was identified. This ethical principle states we should leave the planet and all of its life forms in better condition than we experience, and it is one that I didn't necessarily think would be defined in writing as it feels a bit common-sensical. Miller follows this definition by outlining the several ways our current economies are unsustainable, which was less shocking because we have current evidence from the news and simply living in today's age that our methods are not the most sustainable in the long run. Overall, it seems that human economic growth is prioritized over everything, regardless of the ongoing significant depletion of renewable resources. Consumerism is a way of life for many populations, and economic systems use flawed methods to push consumers to buy more while not equally distributing the economic benefit to impoverished areas, leaving countless without. Again, none of this is surprising when I personally feel that these issues are so prominent in our daily lives. Climate change cannot be ignored any longer as we experience disasters such as Hurricane Milton or the melting of the polar ice caps, and because we continue to contribute to these issues in search of money and power, it is difficult to imagine another form of life that prioritizes sustainability. With this, I wonder what would a sustainable economy look like and whether it is something reasonable to believe we can achieve as a global society.

Look no further! This little thing called the “Circular Economy” is it. The idea of a “low-throughput (low-waste)” economy, as defined by Spoolman and Miller in Chapter 23 of Living in the Environment, is to “reduce inefficient use and excessive throughputs of matter and energy resources and the resulting pollution and wastes.” Reusing and recycling nonrenewable materials, using them at a slower rate and more efficiently, enforcing environmentally healthier forms of consumption, and actively promoting waste and pollution reduction are all goals of the circular economy. Product life spans are extended, and there is less harm done to the environment compared to our current state. There are already circular methods enforced in various areas and businesses, but not yet on a global scale. There is hope!

wc: 405

G. Tyler Miller and Scott E. Spoolman, Living in the Environment, 20th ed. (Boston: Cengage Learning, 2018), 605.

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10/9 Let’s get ethical! Ethical!

I found this week's readings very interesting as they dive into the need for environmental reform and further sustainability in our urban areas and the natural world. This week's readings stick out to me the most because I want to eventually work with environmental policy within the National Park Service, and this service itself is a vast network of organizations that work to conserve and promote the sustainability of our natural lands. Living in NYC, it's easy to see that we don't have the same access to natural wildlife as in Yosemite or Glacier National Park, but the sustainability of the city and other urban areas is very important to not only our health but the health of the animals and other living organisms around us. Recently, I did a study in my Ecology lab on urban forestry, specifically in the Bronx, East Harlem, and the Upper West Side. There was a socioeconomic factor that played into the presence and abundance of various tree species in a 3-block radius, but the importance of these tree canopies we have along our streets was found. The implementation of urban forests is important to sustainability and human health because it promotes cleaner air, regulates temperatures, and gives homes to various wildlife within the city. Human interaction tends to have a negative impact on the environment through the various greenhouse emissions and pollution we contribute through our industries. Making advances in environmental policy using science is going to be how we slow the drastic heating of our planet that humans constantly escalate. It makes me wonder what sort of ethical dilemmas one might typically see when it comes to making environmental decisions, specifically in urbanized areas. What is prioritized, and what is put to the side?

So, I am currently taking an environmental ethics class, and for our semester project, I chose to create another blog focusing on the broad range of ethics within conservation efforts and policies enforced by various National Parks. This week’s topic of environmental ethics is the basis for that entire project, so I am excited to integrate newly learned concepts into this week’s chat! While I struggled to find specific ethical dilemmas within urban areas, I did stumble upon “Ethics and Global Climate Change” by Stephen M. Gardiner & Lauren Hartzell-Nichols. This article looks at ethical dilemmas regarding climate change. Briefly, the article outlines three major ethical obstacles encompassed by global climate change. First is the tragedy of the commons, which identifies the global struggle to achieve reduction goals because, individually, each nation proceeds to emit “unimpeded” (Gardiner & Hartzell-Nichols). Of course, people want to slow climate change and global warming and all of the bad that comes from it, but actively, countries continue to prioritize their production regardless of how much damage it continues to cause. Second is the “temporal diffusion of climate change”: long-term, cumulative effects that will eventually cause severe environmental damage globally (Gardiner & Hartzell-Nichols). It is cause for concern because of the unfairness in terms of the inevitable reality of the future, but also due to the collective inconsistency in international relationships and cooperation. Lastly, there is moral uncertainty when thinking about the value placed on nonhuman life, our obligation to protect that life, and to what extent (Gardiner & Hartzell-Nichols). So, that’s a lot! But it makes sense. Considering the environment ethically makes me a bit existential, and these ideas fascinate me. The human mind is capable of rational thought and reasoning, and our unique individuality leads to countless paths of thought and ideas. Selfish as it is, countries will put the stability of their nation ahead of the protection of the planet. Production continues despite the worsening outlook for future generations environmentally. Life is placed on a moral scale, in which humans with power decide what is best, leading back to the first issue. The cycle is never-ending, and personally, I do not see these polar ethical stances uniting to bring forth real change anytime soon. *Sigh*

wc: 659

Gardiner, S. M. & Hartzell-Nichols, L. (2012) Ethics and Global Climate Change. Nature Education Knowledge 3(10):5

[environmental1000studies]

10/2 Honduras' Water Crisis

For the Climate Week event, I attended a virtual session of the International Conference on Sustainable Development. During the session, a paper by David Shim, a student from Loomis Chaffee Boarding School, was presented. It talked about the local and naturally-grown solutions to aid in the water crisis in Honduras. Reading about the sanitation issues in Honduras due to climate change was extremely eye-opening because I did not know much about the crisis before attending the session. Shim pointed out that about half of the Honduran households do not have access to quality water free of E. coli, and the impact of this on low-resource communities. It will take bridging gaps between education, land use, and water mitigation to fully combat the crises and employ successful conservation efforts. I have been aware of the impact of polluted water on communities like Flint, Michigan, but regarding Honduras, the presence of crime, substance abuse, invasive plants, and local pollution were factors I had never thought of. Collectively, I understand these various impacts on impoverished societies, and this paper definitely made me broaden my horizons when considering the effects of climate change in various environments. It makes me wonder what Honduran policymakers are actively doing to combat this ongoing crisis and if they are not confident in the Honduran population to change to cleaner ways of living, how can effective policies be put into effect? Are there alternative resources available to Honduran populations to make the move towards less pollutive actions? How could they reverse what could very possibly be irreversible damage to the natural environment? Well…I did some research, of course. 

Now, seeing as I am not a Honduran policymaker but rather a mere university student with access to the internet, my information is coming from non-peer-reviewed sources. Organizational reports have been published but if it is not scientific or governmentally published, I maintain my hesitation to accept what I compiled to be complete and utter fact. That being said, Jose Alberto Vasquez Padilla published a report titled “Improving Access to Safe Drinking Water in Honduras,” which outlines a specific effort from a sustainability organization, Global Communities, to improve the country’s water and sanitation sector. Partnering with the United States Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA) as well as Honduras Agricultural System Strengthening (HASS), the organizations have restored close to 60 drinking water systems that have benefited close to 40,000 homes across many communities. The efforts seem to be driven by the communal and municipal levels of government, with federal reduction plans carried out as well. Education on water sanitation and maintenance is extended to communities through the development of action plans, providing knowledge as a resource to combat the effects of intense pollution due to climate change. 

wc: 462

Alberto Vasquez Padilla, Jose. 2023. “Improving Access to Safe Drinking Water in Honduras - Honduras.” ReliefWeb. March 21, 2023. 

Shim, David. n.d. “Climate Change Impacts in Honduras: Sanitation.” Loomis Chaffee Boarding School.

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9/25 Protected ≠ protected?

This week's article, "Europe is Sacrificing its Ancient Forests for Energy," by Sarah Hurtes and Weiyi Cai was a very compelling read. In order to go more green, European countries have increasingly relied on wood burning as a form of renewable energy and power. In turn, this is wiping out entire ecosystems that have been around long before any sort of human intervention. As I had never paid much attention to wood-burning as a form of renewable energy before reading this article, it was shocking to learn how dirty the process can be, especially when reading that there are scientific calculations to back the claim that wood emits more greenhouse gas emissions than gas, coal, or oil. It made me feel a bit at a loss for what the correct thing to do in this situation would be. On the one hand, Europe is urgent to move to more clean sources of energy; on the other hand, their preferred method of wood-burning will inevitably do more harm than good in the long run. It was also concerning to read about the significant logging and deforestation in protected parks and forests across Europe. To me, the purpose of protecting these areas is to promote sustainability and natural processes that will increase our biospheric chances of living green, so why are protected areas being torn down? Along with this, why are the governments prioritizing renewable energy targets over the protection of natural life and ecosystems that are essential to our survival as humans, especially when it is being proven that the chosen method is not clean in the way they may have believed it to be?

Fig.1 Map detailing locations of wood harvesting in and outside of protected areas.

Now…I will say. These semi-rhetorical questions came from a bit of an exasperated place in which I was completely befuddled at the thought of protected areas being disturbed and exploited. Especially when the article noted that “none of [it] is illegal,” rather, it is “encouraged by green-energy subsidies” (Hurtes & Cai). That is crazy! According to Jim Finley, science shows that burning wood and the process of deforestation release 2.5 times more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than natural gas or coal from the loss of trees. Governments authorize this due to their push to meet renewable energy targets, and instead of burning fossil fuels, countries are burning wood, which, logically, is renewable…but so much worse. Scholars and scientists are urging lawmakers to dismantle the integration of burning wood as a renewable energy method, pressing the point that wood burning should not be treated as a healthier alternative. 

wc: 425

Finley, Jim. “Burning Wood? Caring for the Earth?” Department of Ecosystem Science and Management.

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9/18 What does one do about deforestation...

In Chapter 3 of Miller's Living in the Environment, the core case study looks at the impact of the Earth's tropical rainforest on our environment, such as the variety of life it houses and its destruction's effects on climate change. I thought it was interesting to read about in more detail the ways humans have contributed to the increasing loss of these rainforests through deforestation. Habitats and species are lost entirely, atmospheric warming increases, and as a result, weather patterns can change in irreversible ways. I think living in a geographically different area than these rainforests makes it easy to acknowledge the destruction, but we do not live the direct impacts. Thinking of this, I wonder what it will take to slow the rate of deforestation, and if we collectively do, how might we see this impact the rate of current global climate change overall? Upon reading Jonah Busch and Kalifi Ferretti-Gallon’s “What Drives and Stops Deforestation, Reforestation, and Forest Degradation” and a 2013 study based on Costa Rican deforestation bans, I have found some driving reasons for deforestation, recent and ongoing international efforts to slow deforestation, and measurements of a post-deforestation-ban environment. 

Fig.1 Graphic summarizing deforestation effects

Overarchingly, deforestation is found in areas of lower elevation and convenient accessibility. Agriculture and livestock industries tend to be the major contributors to deforestation due to economic return, along with population and wealth growth (Busch & Kalifi. To combat the effects of deforestation, areas of land are protected and nurtured. (P.S.: Indigenous people are very good at keeping low deforestation rates on their protected lands!) Landowners or forest communities will require payments to uphold their trees, bringing higher value to the living organism over flat fields and lumber (Busch & Kalifi). A study was done in 2013 following a deforestation ban in Costa Rica, which provides insight into the visible and physical effects of what the environment will do if deforestation is ended. Measured from 1996 to 2011, Fagan et al. suggest that efforts to decrease the rate of deforestation, such as a ban, resulted in the slowing of “mature forest loss” and successfully rerouted export-cropland to “areas outside mature forest.” Thus, we have evidence of positive effects on the environment post-deforestation ban, albeit not globally encopmassing, but it speaks for something! Carbon emissions will significantly decrease and carbon sinks will be restored, which is beneficial for all life on the planet! Ecosystems and habitats will remain in place, providing refuge and resources to the species within. Simply put, the environment will be cleaner and healthier for all. 

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Busch, Jonah, and Kalifi Ferretti-Gallon. "What Drives and Stops Deforestation, Reforestation, and Forest Degradation? An Updated Meta-analysis." Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, (2023). 

M E Fagan et al 2013 Environ. Res. Lett.

[environmental1000studies]

9/11 What environmental problem troubles you the most?

What environmental problem troubles me the most, you ask? Easy. Fracking. 

As a native Texan, the state in which fracking is the most prevalent, it is difficult to overlook the impact the industry can have on our state and how the rest of the country can be affected. Fracking is drilling into the ground and hydraulically extracting oil and natural gases deep below the Earth's surface, which can negatively impact our environment. By this method, toxic gases and minerals, such as methane, can be released into the environment, negatively advancing climate change and polluting the air we breathe or water we drink, leading to various diseases and/or cancers.

Various solutions have been proposed in response to the negative impact of fracking, such as making the process "greener" by using waterless systems, thus reducing the large amounts of water used and lost to make these explosions. A pro of this is the amount of water saved in areas that may experience droughts more often, but a con would be the increased usage of gas, and economically, this is much more expensive than using water. Aside from waterless fracking, wastewater purification and the decrease of methane emissions can be potential solutions to the impact of fracking on the environment. By purifying the runoff from the site, this water can be reused in fracking systems so as not to mix with a pure stream of water, thus polluting it, and overall saving the amount of water currently used in the systems for one use. Decreasing methane emissions would decrease toxicity and pollution in the air, thus diminishing fracking's impact on climate change and reducing the health effects that can come from a polluted environment. Again, the downside to this is the increase in expense. Altering the technology to reduce methane emission or simultaneously purify the resulting wastewater can be costly as technology must be developed, and the process can take a long time.

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[environmental1000studies]

9/4 Nice to meet you!

Name your first environmental memory, go!

It was a cold, wind-bitten December night not too long ago (2023), and I, along with a favored companion, had traveled far and wide to catch a glimpse of the annual Geminid meteor shower in the dark cover of the void night sky–two hours south at Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York. The reason my fellow astronomy-lover and I had to make this trek was due to the immense amount of light pollution so graciously provided by New York City (this was sarcasm, btw). The visibility of the meteor shower was calculated to be the best at Rockaway Beach based on the observed amount of light pollution in the area and shared experiences among astronomers and viewers of celestial events–Reddit. Growing up in a North Texan suburb, the light pollution was and still is, not what it is here in NYC. I fell in love with looking at the night sky from a very young age, and at home, I have never not been able to see stars in the sky at night, weather permitting, of course. Having to create a plan, a route, to see a shooting star or two at 11 pm in an unknown area was overwhelmingly eye-opening, to say the least. The pollution is undeniable. The effects of the pollution are undeniable. Rather than step outside and lay in the bed of my dad’s truck in a neighborhood that had gone to sleep, I had to account for travel time, viewing time, and safety measures. I was forced to recognize the insanity that is New York City’s light pollution in its entirety. Recent, I know. *sigh*

Ecological footprint, go!

My calculated ecological footprint is as follows:

11.9 gha–the number of biologically productive hectares (2.5 acres) of land and sea needed to sustainably supply me with the ecosystem goods and services I annually use

20.3 tonnes/year of CO2 emissions

If everyone lived like me, 7.3 earths would be needed

Yikes!! Disappointed but not surprised, SMH. *sigh again* Like I said earlier, I’m from Texas. Admittedly, I have not grown up using sustainable practices; I drive a lot because things are far apart in that massive state. I live in a large household that supplies resources to my parents, three of my siblings, and five of their children. I fly often and usually far distances–home and various locations depending on where the softball team takes me. The results were humbling, to say the least, and I would be lying if I said it has not made me more conscious of my daily consumption. I have made a committed effort to do better in being more sustainable and transferring these newly-forming habits to my different way of life in Texas. It feels good. 

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