Examining Global Environmental Problems 2011

What would you do if you were the very last human being on Earth? Well, Lonesome George (or Solitario Jorge, as he is known locally) is in a very similar situation, the only difference being he is a Pinta Island tortoise (Geochelone elephantopus abingdoni). He’s only Pinta Island tortoise left in the world. He’s estimated to be around 100 years old (he could still live for another 50 years!), resides in the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galapagos Islands, and when he dies, the Pinta Island tortoise will be extinct. How did this happen? It’s the same old story: Giant tortoises thrived on the Galapagos Islands until humans came along. Then people such as whalers and merchantmen who had to spend large amounts of time at sea began to keep the tortoises (who could go up to 18 months without food or water) on their ships for their meat as an insurance against scurvy. Also, as more people settled on the islands, they introduced foreign species, mostly farm animals. Pigs would eat the tortoise eggs and donkeys and goats would eat all of the vegetation which the tortoises depended on. This resulted in a significant decline of the giant tortoise, almost wiping out some subspecies, such as Lonesome George’s.

There has been a significant effort to keep the species going, to no avail, however. George mated with a female turtle of a similar species, but the eggs never hatched. There’s even a $100,000 reward for anyone who can find a compatible mate for George, although at this point, he’s getting a little old for mating.

Lonesome George is quite a unique case, and he has become an emblem for the increasing endangerment we are putting the world’s species in. Although there has been quite an effort put into the preservation of this particular subspecies, George’s story, among many others, shows we need to start taking more preventative measures to keep the list of endangered species from growing out of control.

Lonesome George video

Something else which is quickly becoming endangered are these blog posts, and our class for this semester. This course has been so valuable to me; education truly is one of the most important factors in facilitating change. The curriculum, as well as my classmates’ blog posts have opened my eyes to new issues and solutions which I was never aware of, and I’m eager to share my newfound knowledge with anyone who will listen. My carnivorous brother and I recently got into a heated debate on the validity of vegetarianism, and he was forced to alter his stance on the subject after hearing my argument backed by evidence and facts acquired from our class lectures and blog posts… and he’s probably the most hardheaded person I know…

It’s true that the case studies we’ve studied have left us depressed and discouraged, but I think the most important thing I’ve come away with from this class is that humans have the potential for great resiliency and creativity. We’ll all eventually graduate from college, armed with knowledge, prepared to take action, make the right decisions, cast the right votes, etc. etc. etc., to do something about all of these global environmental problems.

For my second activity blog, I decided to tag along with the environmental club and learn more about how Mary Washington heats its campus.  I will admit, first, that the main reason I was choosing this over just writing about Earth Day festivities was because I wanted to explore UMW’s heating plant (mission accomplished!), but I inadvertently learned a bit more than I thought I would.

On the surface, I learned that UMW heats its buildings through natural gas, not coal (and thankfully not natural gas retrieved through fracting). It also doesn’t use nearly as many resources as I thought it did — our furnaces are actually too big for us most of the time, to the point where they are using the minimum amount possible in most cases.  More importantly, however, I learned that our administration cares enough about its students to give six kids a tour of the heating plant, and talk to them seriously for two hours about how we heat our campus just because they were concerned about how we did it.  I think that is really, really cool.

I was really surprised when I walked into the conference room and there were two officials there, one of which, Jay, is the energy manager and the top dog in the university when it comes to our heating and cooling.  He didn’t just show up though, he talked to us seriously, not just dismissing our concerns.  It was obvious that he was trying to understand our concerns about how and from where we got our energy.  He admitted that money was a large factor in what makes up our energy considerations, but told us that we could also try to get more green energy into the process gradually if we petitioned the administration.  He also said that once green energy becomes more affordable, the university will start using more of it — for example, he said that we’d probably have solar panels, and a lot of them, in the next ten years, because the technology was starting to become more affordable and efficient.  He said the first building would probably be Jepson, because science buildings need the most power of anything on campus.

I came away from the meeting knowing much more than I thought I would, not just about what’s inside the heating building, or the possibilities for secret club meeting houses on the premise (they exist), and for that I’m pretty happy I went.  I have a lot more confidence in the administration than I did before.  Although I never saw them as some evil corporation before, I just didn’t think that they paid that much attention what the community thought of their actions.  Clearly, I was mistaken.  I’m pretty glad to admit that.

On April 7th I attended the Talk on Florida Wetlands by Dr. Christopher F. Meindl of University of South Florida in St. Petersburg.  Now, if you “Google” that name you will find that he is  a very prominent writer and contributing author  on a lot of issues on Florida Everglades. He is very interested in anthropogenic impacts on the Wetlands and the system ability to recover. I thought that his interpretation of the people and the Everglades story was like relating events as it was from a battlefield (as we know the conquering of the wetlands has been quite turbulent for both sides)  with  presently  26ooo miles of dikes and levees and 8 million people using the  resources,  the current state of this natural reserve is “an intense competition between farmers, urbanites and the ecosystem” (Dr. Meindl, in his own words).   I was impressed with his adoration for  the natural beauty of the Wetlands, he was very thorough in explaining the vegetation , including the mangrove trees and climate of the area tying to his own observations while going fishing or doing research.  He also expressed his  appreciation for many people trying to instill awareness for the natural importance of the Everglades, mentioning Mrs. Marjorie Stones,  an author  of “Sea of Grass”  describing “plight of the everglades’.

In the light of our studies, specifically tying the population increase and its impacts on the resources and the environment, one can wonder how can people avoid developing  more land for agriculture  and housing, but one must also ask if the development is based on need or on profit?  I think that in the case of the Everglades,  the driving force behind the development was the latter one and later – further “invasion” on the wetlands system was motivated by the protection of that investment against the flood and the storms.  Again, the consequences of  not understanding how the natural forces work in the  the environment causes the imbalance and then  more damage to both sides- humans trying to protect the initial mistakes and the environment further impacted by those  “efforts”.  Our guest speaker was clearly on the wetlands side even when he spoke of the so called “restoration”  as in the case of removing some of the canals and returning the rivers their initial flow – my understanding was that at this point ANY human activity in the Wetlands will be another invasive disruption in the system and any positive results will take years to really count.

PS.

Dr. Meindl  has also shared this picture  of the python eating the deer (below). The python is a foreign species in the Wetlands just like a human, it devours the native animals, just like the human “devours ” the Everglades’ native resources,  and here in this picture  – the python has won. Well, consequently, the human has recently declared  an “Open Season” to hunt pythons in the Florida Everglades, hm…. it really is a battlefield…   Check this article: Python season opens on state lands; all you need is a license and $26 permit

python eats a deer in the Everglades

This semester we were presented with what was often shocking and usually sad truths of what we as humans have done to the planet Earth. I’d say we know not what we do, but that would be false. Finally the information is available to the world and with information and education we can change the world, and save ourselves and hopefully what is left of this beautiful world that we call home. We have studied the issues that have impacted the world and we have typically learned how we can work against these problems. One thing that I know however, and I am sure I must sound like a skipping record, is that if the human population wasn’t so inflated the vast majority of the environmental issues we see and try to deal with today, would be much reduced if not non-existent. I ‘m aware that this sounds idealistic but I believe it is as real of a solution as recycling and sustainable fuels are. If everyone in the world only had one or maybe two kids within a few decades perhaps centuries the population would subside significantly, giving way to greater potential standard of living for those alive. I understand some people would like to have a big family with lots of children running around all over the place, popping out of hiding spots, saying just the darnedest things, and thats great, adopt. There are so many beautiful children in the world who need a good home, and we as Americans ( we are so truely lucky) can make a real difference. By spreading this mindset as well as other environmentally conscious ones we will slowly be able to regain harmony with our environment. Without harmony we do not stand a chance. I believe that if you have more then 1 or 2 children you are an irresponsible person.

As can be seen on kcallaha7′s most recent post is a chart of human population growth. This depicts the classic J-curve growth that occurs in a species before a mass extinction. If we want to avoid or at least prolong the mass extinction of Humans (geologically speaking we are doomed when our sun super novas, assuming we live through the impending ice-house cycles of Earth) , we have to work together and make small steps in the right direction.

Don’t trust me? Thats cool. Don’t take my word, I found a clip of what Jane Goodall thinks about it and she says it as well is it can be said.
Jane Goodall on Overpopulation

Activity:

About a week ago I attended a lecture presented by Dr. Rodney Dyer, a professor in the Biology Department at VCU.  I knew Dr. Dyer’s work concerned the genetic makeup of plants and mathematical models of gene flow, but I had no idea how his work was directly related to many of the environmental concerns we face today.  Especially concerning loss of biodiversity.

He talked about how the evolution of one species is not independent of interactions with organisms;  But instead, coevolution, resulting from the interactions between different species over time, is viewed as one of the major processes organizing the earth’s biodiversity.  Biodiversity that we depend on for every natural system to function as it should.

These coevolutionary interactions are highly dynamic in space and time. Dr. Dyer studies the degree to which geographical patterns of inter-population gene exchange within a species (gene flow) are similar between interacting species influences on both local and global coevolutionary patterns.

Understanding this can help humans better realize our impact on the habitat of one species on a variety of different species, simply because they may rely on each other for their own evolutionary success.  It can also perhaps explain why some species are endangered or have gone extinct.  I think it’s fascinating that these intertwined relationships exist between organisms, I also think it’s important to remember this when attempting to conserve one particular species.

Final Thoughts:

This semester a wide variety of environmental concerns and possible solutions were explored; We faced grim statistics and terrible truths about our impact as human beings on the earth.  While this is true, the class was an extremely refreshing experience overall.  We were given a glimpse into various issues and were allowed to investigate and explore them further in depth through blogs and class discussions.  The refreshing part of it all was that there are so many people out there, like those in our class who are passionate and willing to work towards a better future for all.

Change involves the ability of  many minds to come together, with new ideas and opinions.

Change also involves a perfect harmony of activism and scientific knowledge, of being loud and being precise about the concerns your voicing to the world audience.  A balance must exist between creating political unrest to draw attention to the issues and working with the system to develop solutions to them.  We must be rebels with a well stated cause.

I thoroughly enjoyed this class, and look forward to seeing the change that each of my classmates will make one day.  It will be people like us, and those we reach out to, who will be accomplishing it.  The semester is over, but our fight is not!

I hope to keep this blog and continue posting important problems and interesting solutions when I come across them.

-Brittany

The 3 photos above, and the whale on my blog page were taken by Yann Arthus Bertrand.  He is an incredibly talented photographer famous for his aerial shots of our Earth From Above.  Check our more of his work here.  I’m a little obsessed with him.

Biodiversity-

As this graph shows, human population and extinction rates have been rising at the same amount, in the same time frame. These increasingly high extinction rates result in a loss of biodiversity on a global scale. As the graph suggests, human actions have led to the large growth in extinction. (Note: extinctions are a natural occurrence when a specie is unable to adapt to a changing environment….but our current levels of extinction are not natural)  Why should we care? According to this MSNBC article, we still have time to stop or slow down the Earth’s 6th Mass Extinction. However, in order to know how to stop or slow down a mass extinction, first we need to know what causes it in the first place. As Dr. S taught in class, there are 5 main human-caused extinctions:

1. Excessive Predation: hunting, raising wild animals as pets

2. Habitat Destruction: deforestation, housing developments, growth of cities

3. Destruction of Keystone Species: species that play a crucial role in their ecosystem–> without it the ecosystem could collapse.

4. Introduction of Exotic Species: competitors overthrow native species, unnatural predators disrupt the food chain, diseases spread especially among plants.

5. Pollution and Contamination: BP oil spill, water pollution, air pollution, climate change

It is important that we all do our part in trying to stop the 6th mass extinction, but it also goes further than just an individual level. It needs to be an international level. We need to get governments from across the globe to recognize the serious problem on our hands. However, that starts with community efforts (like our campus for instance). Communities can appeal to their government representatives and let them know that this issue is important to us. Let’s all do our part in trying to stop excessive predation (give up hunting as a hobby, or do it less, or make sure the species you’re hunting is not endangered), habitat destruction (deforestation), destruction of keystone species, introduction of exotic species, and pollution and contamination (recycle, throw trash in trash cans, etc).

Final Thoughts-

Over the semester I have learned so much from this class, and honestly i’m going to miss it so much in my upcoming semesters! I am now more knowledgeable about global problems, but also specific case studies of these problems (domestically and internationally). I have learned different solutions to these problems…there is hope that we can fix them! These global problems are the issues that I hope to help solve someday, and maybe that’s why they mean so much to me. Whether there will be one solution, I don’t know. I think it is more likely that a number of solutions, creative ideas, technological advances, and a more thorough understanding of nature will help us solve these problems. I think it is important to note the global trends that Dr. S lectured: rise in population, rise in water demand, decline in natural resource supply, rise of ecosystem services suffering, decrease in crop yields, decrease in biodiversity, and an increase in climate change.

Let’s spread the word by appreciating and respecting the true value of nature!

Fun Earth Day Activities:

On Friday, I stopped by the Underground to celebrate Earth Day! I was happy to see that there was a good turnout (even though it was raining!), because that means that we have an active community who cares about our environment! There were many fun activities such as tie dye, decorating reusable cups (I made mine with a sun, earth, and an ocean!), making t-shirts, and many more. While this was a fun, lighthearted celebration, I did keep in mind what Earth Day is truly about: respecting our Earth and our environment.

-Kristen Callahan

One more thing: to celebrate Earth Day, NPR’s “Science Friday” did a program inspired by Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking book, Silent Spring, which set in action the environmental movement. In this program, host Ira Flatow interviews a  scientists who are taking a new approach in the recording of animal sounds, an important biological research method. Instead, they are recording the sounds of the entire ecosystem, “the rhythms of nature” as one of the scientists called it. This holistic approach comes with the increased understanding all of science of the importance of entire systems working together, and how everything is inner-connected. As the interviewees explain, much of the time the animals are playing off each other, and different clips can show different times of day and year. They are able to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy ecosystems. As Carson aptly noted, silence is often not a good sign.

Give the clip a listen- it’s really beautiful and quite interesting. There’s even a clip from a coral reef; who knew they could record underwater!

P.S. If you like nature, which I assume you do, PLEASEEE watch David Attenborough’s “Life of Mammals,” easily accessible on Netflix Instant. Not only do you get to see some of the coolest animals out there, but David himself makes frequent appearances and proves to be the most entertaining animal of them all! Enjoy.

The end of this class coincides well with not just Earth Day but also last weekend’s Powershift, shown by the posts of many other members of the class. While I don’t agree with necessarily every part of the weekend or the movement, I did find many parts of it extremely inspirational. Speeches by people like Al Gore and Van Jones re- energized me among all the distractions of other parts of life, especially the stress which comes with the end of the summer. It is a shame that it happened at the end of the year because we all have such a strong desire to make change now but I think that it serves as a great reminder for something we learned throughout this whole semester. We will constantly learn new, shocking things that will push us towards action, just like the things we learned all the time during this class, but to keep that momentum going is a challenge and we must overcome the laziness that comes with forgetting in order to be sure to truly accomplish things.

In my opinion, our best chance at making a difference is to take things in steps. Often we get overwhelmed through wanting to fix anything. That is why I hope that next year we can launch a campaign to get our school off being powered by coal and switch to renewable sources. It will necessitate a lot of education, communication, and research but I believe that we can do it. We just need everyone to keep the energy they have now and apply it when we get back, which I think we all have the potential to do.

Finally, to celebrate Earth Day for more than just one day, I want to continue to challenge myself and everyone else to not just try to live greener by recycling, buying organic food, post-consumer paper, and all of those things that are helpful but still stay within our current situation. Instead, I believe we need to find ways to live outside of the current paradigm that is built on consumerism, materialism, militarism, and all the other destructive -isms and find our place in a system that is completely new and works with nature. I think that’s the only way we’ll be able to get out of this place where we are now.

Happy Earth Day! Here is an image of Argentina from space to remind us of how spectacular our world is.

this final blog post has spurred a lot of thought concerning global environmental problems and their solutions. perhaps the most important thing i learned from this class was that these problems are truly global in scale. though we addressed case studies of particluar problems in certain countries or regions of the world, we learned that a.) these problems truly affect the entire planet and not just the region of the world we studied and b.) most of the problems are occuring on a global scale, and are not just a probelm in the region of the world we studied. by this statment i mean that all of the global environmental problems throughout the world are occurring in more than one region and are affecting reaches of the earth thousands of miles away. the second most important concept i took from this class was the solutions aspect. all of the solutions we discussed seemed fairly grassroots, hands-on and “easy fixes,” if given the right tools and education. large, sweeping gestures or blank checks are not needed to make minor differences in the way people treat the environment, nor in the way they understand it. with a little hands-on education, people from every region of the earth can come to better understand their particular region and what can be done to protect/enhance it. corn should not be grown the same way in all 50 states of the united states, just as  water problems should not be treated the same throughout all regions of the world. this class introduced me to the idea that though the future may look bleak, there is still a chance of saving what we have. we learned from previous civilizations what not to do, so hopefully with our newfound knowledge and passion for wanting to protect our resources, something can be done.