Pamela Klassen, Student # 6852497

Blog 6

Reflection

Winnipeg holds three pollution-control centres on the outskirts of the city where our sewage and wastewater goes after leaving our toilets from our homes. Follow this link for a picture gallary of where your sewage and wastewater goes after leaving your home (Follow the Flush). Once it reaches these sewage treatment plants it passes through screens to remove larger objects such as sticks and garbage. The garbage along with the grit are shipped to a landfill. The rest of the material is agitated and odour is removed by bubbling the sewage and wastewater so the gases can get vented (CBC, 2010). The sludge sinks to the bottom as it passes through the tanks. The North End Water Pollution Control Centre controls the sludge process and the other two treatment plants ship their sludge to the North treatment plant. There the sludge is digested by anaerobic bacteria for about 10 to 20 days until the odour and organic matter are reduced. It is then spun to separate the liquids from the solids. The solid part (sludge) is sent to agricultural land where it is used as a fertilizer (CBC, 2010). This does not surprise me too much, after all it needs to go somewhere. However, it does surprise me that treatment plants are not designed to filter out all dangerous substances to our environment. According to the Waterlife documentary film most treatment plants are designed mainly to deal with bacteria, metals, and solids. However, they are not designed to filter out new chemicals or even excess nutrients. That is one problem with the sewage treatment plants in the city of Winnipeg. The manager of the wastewater services in Winnipeg, admits that the treatment plant does not remove nitrogen and phosphorus and therefore is resulting in the extra algae growth in Lake Winnipeg (CBC, 2010). The excess nutrients allows for more algae to grow. This causes reduced recreational appeal, drinking water problems with both taste and odour, and clogs fishing nets (Goodman, 2010).

              In the picture above you can clearly see the extra algae growth in Lake Winnipeg

Apart from the problems that you can see, algae growth has other major problems. The biggest is that the excess algae growth is leading to the process of eutrophication. Eutrophication is when the excess growth of plant life in a body of water leads to a decrease in the animal life. In winter when the algae die, decomposers break up the algae using up more oxygen. The oxygen level in the water decreases and many animals suffocate because they are unable to tolerate the high biochemical demand for oxygen (CBC News, 2010 and Lake Winnipeg Foundation). The manager of the wastewater services for the city of Winnipeg mentions that they are heading towards an added treatment process called a BNR process. This biological nutrient removal process involves growing a culture of bacteria that will consume these nutrients (CBC, 2010). 

There are many different types of nutrients discharged into rivers that many of us would never think of until we are faced with the truth. While watching the video eWaste (follow this link to watch the video http://www.babelgum.com/118286/edump.html ). I learned a lot about what happens to many of our electronics after discarded. The majority are exported overseas to developing countries where the people there spend long hour work days separating the plastic from the metals. This process releases toxic gases into the atmosphere while they heat the plastic and metals and is a health hazard to the people. Guiyu imports over 1 million tons of e-waste per year and a part from air pollution it is being disposed into rivers. E-waste products including cell phones, computers, TV’s, etc can be very harmful to the environment and the health of the people if not discarded properly. For example, lead often found in the computer screens was found in high amounts among 165 kindergarden children who had blood tests taken. They found that the older the children the higher their blood-lead levels and the average measured about 150 ug/l. Many residents of these countries work 10 to 12 hours per day inhaling the toxic pollution that burns their eyes and lungs, but do it because they need the money. The Basel Action Network (BAN) is an organization that focuses on confronting this environmental injustice and the harm it brings upon the residents living near the toxic waste dumps. Management includes preventing disproportionate and unsustainable dumping of the world's toxic waste to developing countries and as well as promote sustainable consumption of our use in the developed countries (Basel Action Network, 2008).

               Top picture shows an e-waste dump site near a river and the bottom picture shows                        woman separating the metal and plastic from an e-waste product.

Resources

Basel Action Network. (2008) Basel Action Network. Retrieved April 8, 2010 from http:// www.ban.org/main/about_BAN.html

CBC. (2010). Lake Winnipeg in Crisis. Retrieved April 7, 2010 from http://www.cbc.ca/ manitoba/features/lakewinnipeg/wastewater.html 

CBCnews. (2010). Oceans of Trouble. Retrieved April 7, 2010 from https:// angel.cc.umanitoba.ca/section/default.asp?id=MRG %2D100108%2D135747%2Dfa4d7ca9%2D8f3c%2D48c9%2D9eb0 

Goodman, L. (2010). Environmental Science 1000 [Lecture notes]. Winnipeg, Manitoba: University of Manitoba, Department of Environment, Earth, and Resources.

Lake Winnipeg Foundation. The problems. Retrieved April 7, 2010 from http:// www.lakewinnipegfoundation.org/problems.html

Pamela Klassen Student # 6852497

Blog 5

Towards Sustainable Development

Sustainability Development is the ability to meet our current needs without compromising the ability for future generations to meet their needs. This includes the concept of our “needs” and the limitations on the environments resources. It is an important aspect to consider in the act of development for all countries. Essential needs are not being met in many developing countries including food, clothing, shelter, and jobs. Yet in developed countries consumption goes far beyond these essential needs. The goal for development is to create an environment where the rates of consumption are healthy for both humans and nature in all the countries of the world. We need to recognize that consumption in one place will also have effects on another place. For example, the fishing of one country may affect the fish catch of another country. This is known as the ‘common interest’ because ecological interactions do not respect the boundaries of individual ownership and political jurisdiction. Sustainable development will promote a positive common interest by education, institutional development, and law enforcement. Not every ecosystem can be totally preserved, but we must recognize the limitations and the common interest we share.  

Strategies leading towards sustainable development include continuing to develop more environmental friendly technologies because many developing countries’ industries do not have technologies that are adequate for the environment. New technologies are needed to produce improved air quality, and external costs of pollution or waste disposal. The processes of converting to alternative technologies and upgrading traditional ones should take place in all countries because of the common interest and how effects of one place can effect us all. We need a technological system that can continue to search for new solutions and pay attention to vulnerabilities and past failures to avoid catastrophes that are harmful to the environment. Also the potential impacts of new technologies need to be assessed before they are widely used to make sure their use, production, and disposal do not overstress environmental resources. Another strategy is to integrate economic and ecological considerations when it comes to decision making. Increasing the efficiency of technology can also save costs. Enforcing the common interest should also be included in making development decisions. The law alone cannot enforce the common interest. Education including public inquires and hearings on the development and environment as well as available resources can help draw attention to the public. Public participation about the decisions that affect the environment can help promote citizens’ initiatives, and strengthen local democracy. If each person took into account their effects on others, the decisions will lead towards the common interest. Sustainable development’s goal is to promote harmony between humanity and nature both presently and in the future.

Controversy at Love Canal

Beverly Paigen talks about how she was involved in trying to settle a controversy over the impact of hazardous waste on the health of the people living in the Love Canal community. After over 20,000 tons including 200 chemical were deposited and buried, a school and surrounding homes were built over top. Some years later the chemicals began to sneak back up through the clay concerning many of the residents who found the chemicals leaking in through their basements. Many residents believed their health was in danger. 239 homes closest to the Love Canal were evacuated. However, the Health Department initiated health studies and claimed the people living in this area had no greater risk than people living in other areas. Paigen took action as well with studies of her own comparing dry homes from wet homes with the wet homes the ones that would be exposed to the chemicals. Her results showed that residents living in wet homes had a higher percentage of miscarriages, higher number of birth defects, asthma and urinary disease were more frequent, and various symptoms of nervous system toxicity were also reported. Her results were praised and many families with children under two or expecting women were evacuated. She believed the controversy was solved until a New York state scientist mentioned that the State’s data was more reliable than her data because they were based on diagnoses of physicians and hospital records rather than just the residents verbal reports. There were at least two unsuccessful attempts in solving the Love Canal controversy because parties to the conflict did not all agree on the facts that needed resolving, experiments, and actions that took place to resolve the controversy.

To solve a controversy, Paigen mentions that important steps must be taken. First, scientists need to be open to data and not attached to their norms. Their experiments should include peer review and criticism, publication of data, and replication. Second, community involvement should be included in the experiment and third, funds should be provided for the community so they can hire their own experts. If all steps took place then controversy’s would be easier to resolve if the solutions included ethnical considerations.

Restoring Rivers

Most cities and industries are located near water since the very first developments. U.S. streams and rivers became the dumping grounds for waste, in the hope that is would be carried away and disappear. There was little understanding of the ecological roles until in the 1960’s when the U.S. realized that two-thirds of their waterways were polluted. They had forgotten how healthy water could to cleanse water, store sediments, and provide materials essential to healthy coastal fisheries. The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 which, improved water quality mainly from controls over point-source pollution. However, in 2004 the pollution levels began to rise again and continue to be degraded today. The reason for this results from increasing industrialization, population growth, and increasing construction and pavement. Construction introduces large amounts of sediments into streams and pavement increases the amount of runoff into the streams and lowers the water table because not as much water can be soaked into the ground.

Many controls over water pollution have not been able to keep up with development. Margaret Palmer and J. David Allen argue that we need river restoration methods that are more effective. River restoration means repairing waterways that no longer perform healthy functions such as provide healthy drinking water, reduce floods, and removing excess nutrients and sediments that are harmful to an aquatic system. To develop effective restoration methods federal, state, and local polices need to be developed. Federal policies must be directed towards methods that are successful following ecological standards recommended by professional scientists. Monitoring and evaluation must also take place so they can learn from past experiences and which methods are most appropriate or most likely leading toward ecological improvements. Last of all many funds for river restoration are being decreased and therefore only together can we help move toward the goals of river restoration because the U.S. citizens depend on the necessities that healthy rivers provide.

Reflection- Living Outwardly Simply and Inwardly Rich

Technology has advanced rapidly in the past few modern years and all the new technology has advanced into a new way of life. Getting want we want faster makes us want more and more and our “needs” have higher standards. For example, phones and ipods has become a necessity for many people who feel they can’t live without them. We seek fulfillment in consumer goods leading to a society disease called “affluenza.” Affluenza causes us to keep working harder so we can keep up with all the new modern technologies to replace our old ones that are no longer good enough. As technology continues to advance the new gadgets replace the old ones and we become dissatisfied with our large computer when are neighbours are carrying around their fancy lightweight laptops. The media has done a good job with making people want more and it’s not just technology its everything from fast food to the way we want to look. Personally I’ll admit I have fallen into the affluenza trap. I love my ipod and my friends and I follow the latest trends in the clothes we buy. However, I believe that affluenza and the media has more negative effects that affect the whole North American society. Magazines showing models that look amazing in the “coolest” outfits make many of us, especially children and young teenagers, think that if we want to look good we have to be skinny. With this perspective many teenagers have been diagnosed with anorexia which, leads to other health problems. In a speech by Teresa H called Influenced by the Media she talks about how children are prone to the negative impacts that the media can cause (Follow this link to see write up of this speech http://socyberty.com/issues/influenced-by-the-media/ ). Since children’s minds are not fully developed the media shapes their expectations and many imitate what they see on TV, movies, internet, and video games (Socyberty, 2007). Younger children continue to be influenced at a rate that is rapidly increasing. For example, the age where people start owning cell phones keeps on getting younger.

In 2005 20% of U.S. 10-11 year olds owned cellphones whereas, in 2009 it has increased to over 35%. With this increase I believe that this is evidence that North America is affected by Affluenza caused by the media influencing the whole society. 

I think we can take action to combat affluenza if we head towards voluntary simplicity, a way of life that is outwardly simply and inwardly rich. Carl Honore looks at this as “slow movement” (follow this link to his video http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/carl_honore_praises_slowness.html ). In this video Honore talks about how society has become revolved around speed. Technology is advancing based on speed. We used to dial, now we speed dial. We have developed the message in our heads that “faster is better.” Honore states that speed decreases our patience and we no longer want to spend as much time with people. We are hurrying ourselves and taking no time to enjoy ourselves and take the time to talk to other people. He mentions that we need to slow down and discover that less can be more. A private school in Scotland banned homework under the age of thirteen because they believed that the children needed to slow down at the end of the day. The end results showed that the math and science average scores had increased by 20%. In reality when people slow down, they can think better, eat better, exercise better, and live better. It’s okay to take they time to prepare a meal and then really enjoy it. When comparing the following two picture the top shows an example of a slow food meal (top) compared to a fast food meal (bottom). The slow food meals look much more appetizing and I think many people would agree with me. Plus slow food gives you time to spend time with your family enjoying the meal together. 

I agree with Honore that slow movement is for our benefit and it is possible if we make it happen. Slowing down gives us the opportunity to connect with ourselves, family, and friends developing relationships that are deeper and stronger resulting in an overall greater happiness. Voluntary simplicity is our choice for a higher quality of life and living our your values (Hunter, 2010). Even though I know that I am affected by the affluenza that has affected North America I still believe that I need to keep in touch with my values. This means taking time to spend with my friends and family. These are the moments that I will remember more in the next 50 years than the more average time that I spend at school and work. When living with these values and memories in makes me an overall happier person.

Pacing ourselves helps us follow our values and become an overall happier person because we are giving ourselves time to live life to the fullest. Now lets talk about the environment. If pacing can help us live our lives to the fullest than why can’t it help the environment live its life to the fullest. If we pace ourselves in the amount of resources we are taking and only take what we need then we are improving the life of the Earth. This will lead us towards sustainable development, the ability to meet our current needs without compromising the ability for the Earth to meet the needs of future generations. David Suzuki addresses this solution in “Sustainability within a Generation.” (Follow link for the document http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/WOL/DSF-GG-En-Final.pdf ). He mentions that from our increasing developments we are tearing apart the earth and with it we are decreasing our planets quality. We must realize that the Earth has limits and there will come a time where the Earth can no longer supply us with our needs. Canada is not an environmental friendly country having one of the highest ecological footprints, second to the United States. The main cause for our high ecological footprint is over-consumption.

We need to protect our future and need to recognize that the Earth has limits. It is Canada’s goal to promote sustainable behaviour by setting an example. This involves methods that increase efficiency of technology, shift to clean energy, reduce waste and pollution, protect and conserve our water and wildlife, and build sustainable cities that follow the aforementioned goals.

Resources

Paigen, B. (2009). Controversy at love canal. In T. Easton (Eds.) Environmental studies (3rd ed.) (pp. 106-112). New York, NY: The McGraw- Hill Companies.

Palmer, M. & Allen, D. (2009) Restoring rivers. In T. Easton (Eds.) Environmental studies (3rd ed.) (pp. 113-117). New York, NY: The McGraw- Hill Companies.

Socyberty. (2007). Influenced by the Media. Retrieved March 24, 2010,  from

http://socyberty.com/issues/influenced-by-the-media/ 

World Commission on Environment and Development. Towards sustainable development. In T. Easton (Eds.) Environmental studies (3rd ed.) (pp. 198-202). New York, NY: The McGraw- Hill Companies.

                          Pamela Klassen Student # 6852497

Blog 4

Food Scarcity: An Environmental Wakeup Call

Consequences of environmental degradation is becoming more globally aware and evidence has shown that environmental degradation is leading to food scarcity throughout the world. People have been taking advantage of the surplus of the Earth’s resources and eventually this leads to scarcity. For example, the massive overfishing eventually led to scarcity of fish because they weren’t able to reproduce as fast as the rate of exploiting the fish. Land has also been increasingly expanding due to agriculture. The resources we take are beginning to affect us globally rather than just locally. This is proven from the evidence of climate change and the greenhouse effect. The result of food scarcity will eventually lead to instability to the society because many people will not be able to afford food as the prices begin to increase. More people will go hungry from the result of not being able to afford the nourishment they need for themselves and their family. As environmental degradation expands it is affecting the global economy as well. 

Many people agree that our over exploitation habits cannot continue especially with an expanding population. We need to become more sustainable in our living environment. This includes using more energy efficient technologies and converting to alternate energies that are less harmful to our environment such as wind and solar power. Also to reduce our over exploitation rates Future food security depends on creating a sustainable environment.

Environmental, Energetic, and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems

The sales of organic products is continuously increasing as people are realizing the serious impacts on public health and the environment that chemical fertilizers and pesticides are causing. The estimated environmental and health costs resulting from chemical fertilizers and pesticides are about $12 billion a year. Field investigations has shown that environmental benefits from organic crops were equal to or greater than conventional crops. This included high levels of soil organic matter benefiting soil and water resources through drought years. As well as crop rotations reducing soil erosion and pest problems and the recycling of livestock wastes reducing pollution while benefiting the agriculture. However, initially there were higher costs for organic farming systems the costs evened out throughout the year compared to conventional farming. The National Organic Program offers production methods that are based on certified practices that give the consumers assurance of how their food was produced. Their agricultural methods prohibits the use of synthetic chemicals, genetically modified organisms, and sewage sludge. The aim of organic agriculture is to increase ecological processes that conserve soil and water resources, yet still improve plant nutrition. Field investigations has proved that this can be down and the organic practices can be adopted to the conventional farming systems to show a sustainable and ecological improvement.

The Agricultural Crisis as a Crisis of Culture

Wendel Berry describes how his farming life used to be like in his childhood. Farms were usually held by families that lived on their farming property. They grew their own vegetables and produced their own meat, milk, and eggs. It was hard work, but the work payed for their ideal type of living. Today farming has lost its culture. Post World War II has led to new technologies and farms have become increasing mechanized. New technologies has led to bigger and more    economically based farms owned from business men all wanting to gain manpower. These bigger businesses has pushed the family farms aside who can no longer compete with the larger businesses. The farm people still remaining have to work even harder and are living more of what they buy rather than their own produce. The phrase “Get big or get out” has taken action. Farming has become a source of power and all about making profit and chemical fertilizers and pesticides are constantly being added. Berry describes this as “poisons” being added to their crops. The farm culture has been lost and replaced with technology. The traditional farming culture has been ignored. A farming culture that created farm communities based on familiarity and knowledge of the farm. The communities had value, aspiration, and connected with the environment. We are now left with only small parts of those communities and if it continues, all of the traditionally farm culture will be lost. The best farming requires nurture and that is done by a farmer and not a technician or businessman. A good farmer is one who understands the culture and that is what we need to work on. 

Women’s Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation

Vandana Shiva connects gender and diversity and describes how women’s work is involved in diversity. Many women work to sustain their families and communities and different woman have different jobs. Many women are not being recognized for their work because they musti-task and work at too many different kinds of jobs. In many cultures women take part in the agricultural work. They produce, reproduce, consume and take part in the biodiversity of agriculture. Their knowledge based on nature involves seed preparation, germination requirements and soil choice. These women produce through biodiversity. It is important to provide our crops with the right nourishment. Corporate scientists produce through uniformity where economic and power dominate. For women farmers, biodiversity has intrinsic value while for corporate scientists the biodiversity is just there to provide them with the raw materials they need for profit. Genetic engineering is becoming more commonly used and we need to become aware of the risks and possible future consequences. This can include altering the composition of food; new proteins that cause allergic reactions; antibiotic resistant genes may diminish the effectiveness of some antibodies to humans; may have risks on domestic animals; and genetically engineered crops may harm wildlife. Women farmers have the knowledge and skills for nourished crops and their practices should continuously be used.

Reflection

The switch to capitalism in the geographic past which, allows for private ownership rather than by the state has emphasized growth, profits, and a market economy. Capitalism combined with technological advance has led to the industrial revolution (Norton, 2007). From the past to present food has been a major source of income. We live in a world that is shaped by food from our own nutritional needs to economic growth. In the past cities needed to be located close to their resources and the food that the people needed remained close. According to the Von Thunen model there were different zones for specific agricultural use developed around a market. The product intensity decreases with increasing distance from the market. The city (market) was located in the centre. The most perishable foods needed to be close because they had the highest transport costs, followed by forestry products, crops, and last of all grazing (Norton, 2007).

In the film How Food Shapes our Cities, Carolyn Steel compares the old urbanization to the new urbanization with both revolving around food ( http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/carolyn_steel_how_food_shapes_our_cities.html ). Food used to be at the core of the city and getting food used to be a social event among the people living within the city. Today we have advanced in our technologies and shopping now usually involves for us to get into a car and drive to the nearest walmart. Steel described this as “food miles” and that is how she explained how cities feed themselves. This also includes the city’s dependence on imported goods and its reliance on transportation to bring food into the cities as they continue to grow and expand. New technologies have also changed the way we use and make our food. Today many new products allow us to cook by simply just adding water. Many new products that are “simpler” are constantly producing. We don’t have to make our own butter or slaughter our own chickens anymore. Everything we need can basically be found in one store already made for us. But how are these products being developed? The documentary film Food Inc. further explores this question. Today the average American supermarket has over 47, 000 different products all creating a fantasy image leading us to believe there was no harm in production. For example,  a cow happily grazing grass as in the picture shown below.

The reality is a factory not a farm and the animals are usually raised under inhumane conditions (Hungry for Change, 2009). The industry has developed a curtain over where our food is coming from and how it is produced. Industries have become more powerful and assembly lines goals are to develop faster, bigger, better, and cheaper produce. This means many pesticides, growth hormones, and genetic engineering are altering our foods to achieve these goals. For example, tomatoes are ripened faster by endosulfan. Many of these methods we don’t even know are safe. We need to become more aware of the reality and realize the harmful effects. Endosulfan disrupts our hormones and a low dose in a fetus can be linked to male reproductive harm, autism, and birth defects (Hungary for Change, 2009). Studies show that children who live near farm fields or other application sites are more likely to get childhood cancer or suffer from neurodevelopmental disorders (Hungry for Change, 2009). The reliance of pesticides and the increase in transportation to transport these goods has caused pollution in our atmosphere.

Over the last 48 hours my diet included:

Day 1

-Toast with peanut butter and honey, milk

-Pizza pop, grapes, orange juice

-Spaghetti, cheese toast, milk

-2 cookies, grapes

Day 2

-Toast with peanut butter and honey, milk

-Egg and toast

-Sausage and macaroni, grapes

 

I would say this describes my typical diet, but I usually also eat a lot of fruit when it is available in my household. I don’t usually pay big attention to where my food is coming from and I would say my biggest concern is the amount of miles my food travels. The average food item travels 1, 500 miles before it reaches a person’s home increasing the carbon admission in the atmosphere (Hungry for Change, 2009). My goal is to purchase more locally produced food following the 100 mile diet. The 100 mile diet was inspired by ecologist Gary Paul Nabham who used the phrase “Coming home to eat.” This diet was a year of eating foods that were produced locally within a 100 mile range in the San Francisco area. Documentaries such as Food inc. spread the truth about the food production and many people are becoming concerned of where there food is coming from. Eating locally gives us the opportunity to know exactly what we are eating and where it is coming from. Also we will be supporting many family farms and reduce the amount of transportation. Therefore will be helping the environment too by reducing the carbon admission into the atmosphere. The 100 mile diet has inspired many others. I even found a website holding a Manitoba 100 mile diet! This will help me find where I can get local foods close to my home. Follow this link to find out where you can find locally produced foods within Manitoba.

http://www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/food/consumers/index.html

Resources

Berry, W. (2009) The agricultural crisis as a crisis of culture. In T. Easton (Eds.) Environmental studies (3rd ed.) (pp. 137-140). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies. 

Brown, L. (2009) Food scarcity: An environmental wakeup call. In T. Easton (Eds.) Environmental studies (3rd ed.) (pp. 141-145). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies. 

Hungry For Change. (2009) About the issues. Retrieved March 9, 2010 from http:// www.foodincmovie.com/about-the-issues.php

Norton, W. (2007). Human Geography (6th Edition). Oxford University Press, Don Mills.

Pimental, D. (2009) Environmental, energetic, and economic comparisons of organic, and conventional farming systems. In T. Easton (Eds.) Environmental studies (3rd ed.) (pp. 146-151). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Shiva, V. (2009) Women’s indigenous knowledge and biodiversity conservation. In T. Easton (Eds.) Environmental studies (3rd ed.) (pp. 209-212). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQVll-MP3I

Pamela Klassen Student # 6852497

Blog 3

More Profit with Less Carbon

There have been some bad decisions over the past decades over humanity’s demand for energy resulting in global warming and the climate change problem. However, many new technologies are advancing replacing the nonrenewable resources that add harmful gases to our atmosphere. The greenhouse effect can easily be reduced and in fact, it is cheaper to fix than to ignore. Many companies are already taking a great leap forward with great increases in their efficiency rates for energy. Using more energy efficient resources has shown great improvements from replacing coal to oil, to lower carbon natural gas, and finally to renewable resources such as wind and solar power. Wind power has shown the greatest improvements so far and is constantly expanding. Denmark is already getting a fifth of its electricity power from wind energy and other countries are contributing in this technology as well. Today much of the carbon released into our atmosphere from the use of nonrenewable resources have been replaced with climate safe hydrogen. Only one third of the atoms released in our atmosphere from energy use are carbon resulting in less pollution. Apart from saving the atmosphere, using less energy has cut down in costs for many smart companies with an estimated savings of over $70 billion per year. Other benefits include eliminating all the social and political costs of getting and burning petroleum, which will decrease military conflict because petroleum will no longer be worth fighting over.

Some people may not realize about the benefits of saving energy and are stuck in the old ways of technology that are not so environmentally friendly. But educating humanity about the environment can help us learn the positive effects of converting to energy efficient technology. Every little bit of saving energy counts. Car companies have lowered the amount of energy used by simply building lighter cars and sustainable buildings have shown decreases in energy use by insulating more. This lowers energy use by lowering the amount of needed heating and air conditioning. This also lowers the costs for building because it eliminates the need to build as much heating and air conditioning technologies. More money is saved and therefore can be used to build more environmentally friendly technologies.

Reinventing the Energy System

We have come a long way since electricity was invented and it is now commonly taken for granted. Many people rely on the energy for transportation, air conditioning, television, etc. But today we face the danger of running out of the cheap nonrenewable energy sources. Environmental and health burdens fight that we need to head toward a cleaner energy system. Burning fossil fuels is the main cause for air pollution, and water and land degradation. Carbon left in the atmosphere from these fossil fuels has been found partially responsible for some lung cancers and respiratory problems and it is the global environmental effects that really boost the economy towards new safer energy systems. The world economy is constantly looking for new energy sources. An energy source that is socially, economically, and environmentally friendly. Coal, oil, and natural gas are already starting to be replaced by renewable energy sources. Moving away from fossil fuels brings us back to older technologies such as energy from windmills. The high amount of carbon in our atmosphere will be replaced by hydrogen, benign to our environment.

Today the increasing production of automobiles, electronics, software, etc. increases the need for energy dramatically. As more countries are developing the need for a more decentralized energy system is also required. A more decentralized, renewable-resource-based energy system will likely have a better chance of spreading energy services more broadly. More rural employment may be provided with the development of clean and advanced energy services helping out the poorer countries of the world. As more people become aware of the positive effects of a newer and safer energy system, the sooner we can build towards a more sustainable energy system. A new energy system that will meet our energy needs and benefit our natural world.

Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis

Human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and new agriculture technologies are releasing greenhouse gases into our atmosphere that are contributing to the global climate change. Carbon dioxide the main greenhouse gas mainly released from the burning of fossil fuels has increased faster than ever reaching a global atmospheric concentration of about 379 ppm in 2005. Mainly resulting from agriculture the methane’s atmospheric concentration has reached 1774 ppb which, far exceeds the natural concentration of methane in our atmosphere. Nitrous Oxide has also increased mainly due to agriculture, but has remained relatively constant since 1980.

From 1995-2006, these years has been ranked as having the warmest average temperature ever in the records of global surface temperature. Observations of the effects from climate change include increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level. The warmer air can hold more water vapour and therefore the atmospheric water vapour content has increased. More than 80% of the warmer heat added from climate change gets absorbed into the ocean, contributing to sea level rise. The melting of glaciers and snow cover also contributes to sea level rise. Other changes that have been observed include increase in Arctic temperatures, widespread changes in precipitation, extreme wind patterns, heat waves, and intensity of tropical waves. The effects of climate change may vary depending on the location on Earth. For example, observations has shown an increase in precipitation in eastern parts of North and South America and decreases in precipitation near the Mediterranean and southern Africa.

Continued greenhouse gas emissions would continue to show an increasing amount of the aforementioned effects. Even if we began to stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases released into our atmosphere the remaining carbon dioxide in our atmosphere would continue to show effects for centuries. Therefore it will be a slow change into reversing the climate change problem.

Principles of Conservation

At first the meaning conservation came from protecting the forests and land destruction. It now involves all natural resources and beyond. There are three main principles of conservation supporting the use of foresight, prudence, thrift, and intelligence when dealing with public matters. Conservation is using the greatest good to the greatest number for the longest time. 

The first principle of conservation involves development. It involves the use of the now existing natural resources existing on Earth for the benefit of the people who live here now. There is only a limited amount of nonrenewable natural resources and we need to only use the amount we need so it can be used for the benefit for future generations as well. The second principle involves for the prevention of waste. As the society realizes more about of the consequences of our waste on Earth and how it is polluting our environment, we are taking more control of our waste and using more caution of where waste is dumped. It is a matter of good business to control waste and it is becoming more possible just like it became possible to control forest fires. The third principle ties in between the last two. It is that the natural resources must be developed and preserved for the benefit of many and not just a few societies. From more developed to less developed countries the use of resources is unequal. We need to become more decentralized and the use of resources should benefit the world as a whole. As we educate society we are becoming more and more aware of the values of the Earth’s natural resources and the importance of it being conserved.

A Sand County Almanac

Aldo Leopold describes how he thought of the Earth’s land and how his view had changed after seeing the eyes of a dying wolf. The wolf had a whole other side of meaning than just a mean creature that kills all the deer. The wolf had a purpose, a purpose to control the population of the deer before the deer could harm the mountain it lives upon. If there were no wolves then the deer would take control of all the bush and soon there would be no more bush on the mountain and there would be nothing left for the deer to eat. The deer would soon starve themselves. Before he thought that less wolves meant more deer and afterwards he learned that we are better off having the wolves. Leopold believes that much of humanity’s outlook of the Earth is similar to what his view was before he saw the dying wolf. We take for granted of the land and what lays within and we love our gadgets. He mentions that there is no ethic that deals with man’s relation to land, plants, and animals. It is an ethic that we need to develop, one that gives an outlook of the Earth and the life within as a whole. An ethic would protect the integrity, stability, and beauty of the Earth and give the land value.

Reflection

Over the last decades technologies has greatly advanced and with it the world’s energy footprint has increased dramatically. Energy is a source of power and the world continues to destruct its landscape to gain it. In China for example, the building of the Three Gorges Damn caused destruction of thirteen full sized cities and relocated 1.2-2 million people. The people themselves were the ones taking apart their homes and cities with dynamite. This shows how much people are willing to go through massive destruction and transformation just to gain power.  In Edward Burtynsky’s film ( http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/edward_burtynsky_on_manufactured_landscapes.html ) he talks about how man has really changed the landscape through mines, damns, oil sands, etc. and how we have become disconnected with the beautiful landscape to gain power. Burtynsky showed many pictures showing what humanity has developed of our landscape and he wanted people to develop a meaning to these pictures. It is amazing what we have created and some are even interesting sites to see. Burtynsky describes this as a “Forbidden Pleasure” because it is beautiful and amazing what humanity is capable of creating, but at the same time we have to realize what harmful effects we are creating in our environment to build these mines and damns. Much of the most fertile agricultural land was lost in building the Three Gorges Damn.

The picture on the top shows a neat landscape creation that catches peoples eyes, while the picture in the middle shows what waste is created from creating these landscapes. The bottom is a picture of the Three Gorges Damn.

Edward Burtynsky believes that we are all drawn to a good life. We all want a house and a car, but he also believes that there are boundaries. Recycling can already help reduce our footprint and new energy efficient technologies are continuously being developed. We just need to be more concerned over our ecological footprints and turn towards ways that reduce our footprints wherever possible that turn away from land destruction.

The need for energy and power ties in to the creation of oil and tar sands. The Alberta Oil Sands is one of the largest in the world next to Saudi Arabia. When I was reading about the Alberta Oil Sands on an Alberta government website they were saying that through responsible development and advancement of technology they could become the largest source of oil in the world (Government of Alberta, 2010 http://www.energy.alberta.ca/OurBusiness/oilsands.asp. ) Another example of humanity wanting power.

When thinking about the future that I would like to see for the Alberta Oil Sands Project I like to think in Edward Burtynsky’s view. Like Burtynsky I believe that we are all drawn to a good life and in that way I think the Alberta Oil Sands should continue supplying us with the energy we need. However, I also agree that we need to head towards more sustainable ideas and in that case I think the Oil Sands project could be reduced and replaced with alternate energies such as windmills. I think humanity should continue to head towards alternate energies that are safer to our environment. This includes setting up more plants that use wind power as a source of energy.

Over the last centuries there has been great changes to our environment and habitat from agriculture to urbanization. Physical changes to our habitat also effects the life within. For example, chemical changes in our atmosphere are causing the greenhouse effect which, is already influencing many changes in the polar regions such as buildings slumping from the melting permafrost and changing the migration patterns of some animals. Fragmentation and the roads being built through wildlife habitats are causing roadkill because the animals are reluctant to cross, which also causes barriers to movement and migration. Much of our land is being degraded from fragmentation, deforestation, agriculture, urbanization, climate change, etc. E.O. Wilson is fascinated by the Earth’s diversity of living organisms. He talks about how the degrading Earth will decrease the Earth’s biodiversity and the dangers we are in from loss of biodiversity (Follow this link to watch his video http://www.ted.com/talks/e_o_wilson_on_saving_life_on_earth.html ). He believes humanity needs to understand more about the importance of biodiversity and how we need all the organisms on the Earth. Every organism has a purpose as mentioned by Aldo Leopold (2009) in A Sand County Almanac, how the wolves control the deer population. We are constantly trying to wipe out all the insects because they tend to be pests for us, but without them we wouldn’t have much of our plants and food. Loss in biodiversity can include huge losses in potential sources of scientific information, much of environmental stability, new kinds of products, and spirituality.

We all impact wildlife either if it is indirect loss such as fragmentation and urbanization or direct loss such as hunting and fishing. Many national parks are set up to protect the wildlife from human impacts. Wapsuk is located by the coast of Hudson Bay and protects the polar bear by supplying one of the largest denning areas for the polar bear. However, national parks also causes more interaction between the humans and wild animals. I however, believe that national parks can meet its dual mandate of access and protection. Even though interaction often results as a bad thing for the animals I think the protection national parks can offer balances out to more of a benefit for the animals. The polar bear population has declined slightly and protection can be achieved in Wapsuk by having no hunting within this area, and signs up saying not to feed the bears which, will decrease the likelihood of the bears coming into the communities. Threats to the Canadian polar bears also includes the loss of habitat caused my mining, oil drilling, and other developments. Wapsuk national park offers a habitat for the bears that supplies them with their needs such as a home that includes ice and water (Parks Canada, 2010 http://www.pc.gc.ca/dci/src/3d_e.asp?what=more&sitename=wap&theme=sr&btn_state=HTML&more_lnk=no).

                    Location of Wapsuk National Park, Manitoba, Canada

Resources

Government of Alberta. (2010). Oil Sands. Retrieved February 18, 2010 from http:// www.energy.alberta.ca/OurBusiness/oilsands.asp

Flavin, C. & Dunn S. (2009). Reinventing the energy system. In T. Easton (Eds.) Environmental studies (3rd ed.) (pp. 70-75). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Leopold, A. (2009). A sand county almanac. In T. Easton (Eds.) Environmental studies (3rd ed.) (pp. 10-12). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Lovins, A.B. (2009). More profit with less carbon. In T. Easton (Eds.) Environmental studies (3rd ed.) (pp. 65-69). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Parks Canada. (2010). The Wapsuk Polar Bear. Retrieved Feburary 23, 2010 from

http://www.pc.gc.ca/dci/src/3d_e.asp? what=more&sitename=wap&theme=sr&btn_state=HTML&more_lnk=no

Pinchot, G. (2010). Principles of conservation. In T. Easton (Eds.) Environmental studies (3rd ed.) (pp. 8-9). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2009). Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. In T. Easton (Eds.) Environmental studies (3rd ed.) (pp. 127-135). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies.