Ch.9 Energy

If I were to come into the position of Secretary of Energy I would choose to rather focus on finding methods to cut down the total miles people need to drive, rather than increasing miles per gallon. The issue is quite simple really, lessening the dependence that people have on their own personal vehicles will be a benefit to us all. We can accomplish this through a variety of ways, some being drastic changes to our lives as we know them and some are relatively simple.

My thoughts go like this: other countries have focused on public transportation and improved it to the point where it is more practical to take it than drive yourself. While improving the number of miles able to be traveled off the same gallon of gas would without a doubt be an improvement, in order to become fully sustainable we need to ease off of them sooner rather than later. A step forward in decreasing our reliance on personal vehicles is much more cost-effective for the average consumer and much better for the sustainability of the planet. Reinvesting money into improving the public transport system to solve the issues people usually associate with it, cleanliness, speed, and efficiency to name a few would be a great improvement to the already underutilized transport system.

The three forms of renewable energy that I will be focusing on are solar, wind, and geothermal energy. These three forms of energy were the ones that I believed would be most likely to gather the greatest amount of energy while still remaining cost-effective. Solar is a common method already used today that after further refining in the efficiency of the panels, will yield much greater numbers. I believe the best panels today are between 20%-30% efficiency which only leads me to assume that if those numbers ever reach 90% or 100% efficiency we will see a vastly different world than the one we see today. Wind energy is also another great option that works in tandem with solar. Both methods are not available 100% of the time due to there being differences in both sunlight and sometimes the wind is just not picked up. Combining these methods will prove to be very effective if implemented correctly. Finally, geothermal energy is a recent discovery with promises to deliver vast amounts of reliable energy that is drawn from the Earth's heat.

A social cost could likely come from any of these. People simply are used to the idea of having ever-present energy at a moment's notice. There is the possibility that with these methods of energy creation there could be downtime in some areas, which people will not be used to. An economic cost would be the high levels of capital required to build and implement these systems into our grid. Finally, an environmental cost could come from the amount of land that needs to be cleared in order to set up effective wind or solar farms, but I believe the benefit outweighs the cost of all of these issues.



Photo sources: https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/estimating-cost-and-energy-efficiency-solar-water-heater
https://archive.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/solutions/technologies/geothermal.html

Chapter 11 - Livable Cities

Today, I will be covering three quotes from Chapter 11 of Margaret Robertson's book, Sustainability Principles, and Practice. The impact that sustainable and liveable cities around us is incredibly important for us. A majority of people are now choosing to live in cities rather than in the rural countryside. This is for a variety of reasons, but if cities and more urban living are going to be the primary habitat for people, then we need to ensure they are built sustainably and responsibly so that they don't pollute and enhance the lives of both the planet and the people.

"New developments are almost always based on the assumption that people travel in automobiles every time they move from one place to another." 

- Robertson, M (2017) p.209

The section in which Robertson touches on Sprawl, which is what we tend to think of as urban sprawl, is most commonly what we would think of when a city is mentioned. Large concrete cities that are heavily dependant on cars for daily routines are not part of being sustainable. As the quote by Robertson details above, any new sprawl-like developments are always going to assume and account for vehicles in the area, to a large extent. Until there is a new method of convenient, inexpensive, and reliable transportation. The cities today are part of a vicious cycle where people move there with cars, architects build around the plan of ever-increasing vehicle/people populations, and the cycle repeats. Liveable cities that have more sustainable measures like encouraging biking, pedestrian walkways, and active-lifestyles are the only logical step moving forward. Existing cities need to be renovated with sustainability and avoidance of sprawl in mind.

"Planning healthy, sustainable communities requires the integration of top-down pro-fessional skills from multiple disciplines with bottom-up, community-driven thinking and decision-making."

 - Robertson, M (2017) p.211

I like this quote from the text because it really tells us the amount of care and thought that has to go into creating a city with sustainability in mind.  The process starts from the top to the bottom, plans need to be made first-hand by the community about whether or not measures such as the ones listed in the book are worth the cost and time to develop them. Fully integrated systems that all benefit one another such as rainwater collection feeding into use for irrigation throughout cities would make them a lot more worthwhile.

The benefits range from helping keep the environment cleaner, but also in helping people's moods by increasing the amount of greenery they see, to also helping drive down water costs and electrical ones. So many tangible benefits could be gained by creating a green-focused city, but it will indeed take a lot of planning and money to get completed to that level.

"Coastal cities will face increasing intensity of storm surges and rising sea levels which will inundate whole neighborhoods. Some inland cities will face increased flooding, perhaps together with water shortages."

 - Robertson, M (2017) p.221

This paints a grim picture of the possibility people will likely be facing in the near future if no dire action is taken by leaders in an effort to reduce the level of climate change and adapting sustainability-focused cities. Coastal cities such as Naples, Miami will be some of the first directly impacted by the rising seawater as a result of climate change, A large percentage of people in Florida are impoverished and unlikely to have any other options to move if a climate-related disaster occurs. Due to this reason, our government needs to take responsibility and move forward with plans to reduce waste and pollution as well as implement sustainable city planning.

Photo References:https://www.statista.com/chart/5852/the-worlds-most-sustainable-cities/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/29/climate/southern-states-worse-climate-effects.html

Ch. 12 - Food

In this week's blog posting I will be examining chapter 12 in Margaret Robertson's book, Sustainability Principles, and Practice. The vast majority of the chapter opens up by describing what we would generally call food, and how every organism, both big and small, depends on some type of food to derive their energy from.

"Agriculture occupies about 35 percent of the Earth’s land surface" 

- Robertson, M (2017) p.224

This astronomical figure is a bit hard to wrap my mind around. The fact that our planet is covered by nearly 70% of salt water and the rest is land that has to be dedicated to both living, agriculture, and all the other things we as a people need is a bit startling. That figure needs to be dramatically lowered in the future if we are going to cut down on our water usage when it comes to agriculture, which just so happens to be the number one way in which we as Americans wastewater. In addition, this figure is only expected to grow alongside the ever-increasing population of the world. The infrastructure and methods we use to farm crops for consumption is a wasteful one and we should attempt to refocus our efforts on different methods of production, instead of creating more farmland.

The section in which the author mentions GMOs or Genetically Modified Organisms, seems a bit off to me. While talking about the risks of GMOs, Robertson says:

"Others (scientists) believe that the uncertainty about risks remains too great to justify their use." 

Robertson, M (2017) p. 227

I don't necessarily believe that the risks of consuming and farming GMOs outweigh the benefits that they have brought to not only the agricultural community but to humanity as a whole. As stated in the textbook, humans have been selectively breeding for millennia, and only recently have we figured out how to beneficially manipulate the genome of plant species to isolate traits that we desire in our crop foods. GMO crops not only tend to have higher yields, but also some use less water which is essential to a sustainable future. More crops for a lesser amount of energy use required to grow a crop is exactly what we need to focus on in order to have a larger impact on sustainability, while still being able to eat many of the same crops.

Finally, in the section in which the author talks about Obesity and Hunger, I found something incredibly interesting about how humans as a species are likely pivoting towards unless some drastic measure is taken.

"One cause is lack of activity, brought on by several cultural factors and exacerbated by the automobile culture and suburban sprawl. Another cause is food content, with two factors of particular concern: diets high in meat and diets high in sweeteners such as sugar and corn syrup."

- Robertson, M (2017) p. 229 

This quote is concerning to me on many different levels.  Socially, we are moving at an ever-increasing pace with technology quickly outstepping our knowledge and making many aspects of our lives easier. I don't see that advancement slowing down any time soon, and with more and more nations becoming as affluent as the traditional ones you hear about, health as a result of overconsumption is definitely going to be a growing issue. Better education for more impoverished countries that have not had many years of food security needs to be implemented, or else I can definitely see many countries becoming as unhealthy and as ravenous as the United States for example. Also, high fructose corn syrup has generally been confirmed to be the absolute worst thing you can consistently put in your body, that just so happens to be everywhere in your life. There is not a single thing that isn't sweetened with it nowadays and has become an easy, cost-effective way to make things taste better and seem more appealing. Getting off high sugar diets needs to be implemented by a large percentage of the population if they ever intend to improve their health.


Picture sources: https://www.meatthetruthforyourkids.com/english/social-justice-and-global-hunger/
https://www.kimbertonwholefoods.com/avoiding-gmos/
https://www.top10homeremedies.com/news-facts/reasons-why-high-fructose-corn-syrup-is-dangerous-for-health.html

Ecosystems & Habitat - Chapter 7

Ecosystems and Habitats around the globe are what sustains life on the planet, and thus are essential functions of the world for both human life and all other life to prosper. The very first paragraph of Chapter 7 in Robertsons' Sustainability Principles and Practice has an interesting quote to set off the tone of the rest of the chapter. The quote frames how bad our situation is and truly how dire the science says it is, and yet not nearly enough action is being taken to prevent or slow down the rising change in habitats and ecosystems around the globe. In the words of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment of 2005 which was quoted in Robertson's textbook:

"The state of the world’s ecosystems has changed more rapidly in the last 50 years than at any time in human history." 

 Robertson, M. (2017) p.110

 Unfortunately, this statement holds true and the fact of the matter is the situation will only deteriorate unless action is taken quickly. Currently, we are in the beginning stages of a mass extinction event. Some previous ones throughout history were caused by a variety of reasons ranging from volcanic activity to asteroid impacts. The current trend of extinction though is being perpetuated by industry and the releasing of greenhouse gasses that change the makeup of our atmosphere. Extinction rates are currently :

"Reaching 1000 times the background extinction rate, with species going extinct at a rate not seen in 65 million years" Robertson, M. (2017) p. 111.

This figure is truly a scary thing to witness happening and the general populace not taking it seriously is even more worrisome. Instead of perpetuating the mass extinction event underway, we should be promoting biodiversity in areas that have a vast amount of species in it. Areas such as the Amazon Rainforest which harbors thousands of species and is very reminiscent of the lungs of the Earth was recently caught on fire. The world watched it burn while the Brazilian administration did absolutely nothing to control it and some even say it was a direct result of the policies the Brazilian president wants to introduce. I believe that a bigger stance on the ecosystems around the world needs to be in place. A sole focus on humans has directly driven us towards the 6th mass extinction event in the history of the world, and that should begin changing sooner rather than later.

"Overexploitation is a sign that humans are spending Earth’s natural capital rather than living off its interest."

Robertson, M. (2017) p. 117 

This final quote was interesting to me because it tied in a concept that is heavily taught in my business courses while being used to describe overexploitation of our planet's resources. I really like how the author worded this quote, it was easier to understand what she was talking about while reading it and put into perspective how consumption of resources would ideally work in a sustainable culture. I understand though that throughout human history we've been taught to overexploit everything to either make a profit or survive, the nature of exploiting resources must change from now on so that it is prevented in the future and we can live sustainably.


Photo Sources: https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2017/09/21/mit-professor-predicts-earths-next-mass-extinction-to-begin-by-2100/#322b95456e57
http://landdegredationassignment.weebly.com/impact.html

Water

This week's blog post will be about Chapter 6 "Water" from Robertson's book Sustainability Principles and Practice. The chapter highlights the importance of Water as it works in our ecosystem and how it helps sustain us as a species, as well as being vital to the overall health of our planet. There was a fascinating quote that appeared in the first paragraph for me that I found quite interesting.

"About 97.5 percent of Earth’s water is salt water. The remaining 2.5 percent is freshwater, most of which is frozen in ice and snow." Robertson, M. (2017) p.90

This quote struck me because the sheer abundance of saltwater on our planet is shocking when compared to the amount that is actually useful to us humans. A mere 2.5% of freshwater is usable which in relation to the massive amounts of saltwater in the oceans is truly a scary number when we all think about how much we already consume. You see people every day buying 24 or 35 packs of bottled water while their tap water at home is largely the same, it's absurd the amount of extra water we end up consuming which doesn't flow back into the hydrologic cycle as quickly as we consume it. This delay in refilling the hydrologic cycle causes a shortage of water and eventually will cause us to not have the amount we need to sustain ourselves.

The following quote is one that highlights the culture we have in the U.S of completely uneven distribution and unsustainable practices.

"In the US, most of the fastest growing cities are in regions with the least water: Texas, Arizona, California, and Nevada, and a large percentage of the nation’s irrigated agriculture is concentrated in areas with limited water supplies, including the Great Plains and southern California." Robertson, M. (2017) p.91

Usage of water for agricultural purposes in areas where they have no natural water seems like quite the oversight in proper conservation practices. I know recently there have been droughts in areas like California that have lasted many months and caused nearly catastrophic damage to many of the areas, and this uneven usage of freshwater has likely worsened that situation. Proper management and rationing of water for non-critical purposes in areas that are deprived of it as a natural resource should be commonplace. Not only would that lessen the environmental impact on these areas when they overuse water, but also their local ecosystems and hydrospheres would be more easily able to collect and refill their own stocks.

The final quote I will be highlighting in this post is about the desalination of saltwater, which in my opinion, if perfected, could be a solution to our freshwater needs.

"Drinking water produced through either reverse osmosis or distillation costs 3 to 5 times as much as water from conventional treatment methods, sometimes more."

Robertson, M p.100

With the sheer abundance of saltwater on our planet, 97% vs 2.5% freshwater, you would think that instead of trying to conserve the amount of freshwater we should just take the salt out of the saltwater and create more freshwater instead. Unfortunately, the reality of this isn't that simple. According to the book, it is 3-5 times more expensive to desalinate salt water instead of just drinking fresh water. If this process is refined or some breakthrough in desalination occurs in the near future, this could potentially solve the water issues our planet will face when climate change begins to set in. If refined it could possibly cheaper and more effective to have plans in local areas providing clean fresh water to the populations instead of having to rely on either groundwater and/or aquifers to provide those resources. This would help keep the hydrosphere of these local areas completely intact as well as still being able to provide all the water needs of the local area. If we've only been using 2.5% up to this point, once we have access to the rest of the water we would have more than we ever need.

Photo Sources: https://www.proptiger.com/guide/post/worldwaterday-10-ways-to-conserve-water-at-home
http://www.croplifeasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CLI_FF_2012_A4_FNts_Pg4_Conserving.jpg

 

A Land Ethic

This week during our work we were assigned to read Chapter 16 of Robertson's book Sustainability Principles and Practice. The concepts in this chapter focused on the need to revitalize and revamp the current system of education in our society. Shifting that focus from one that worked for an industrial society, to one that is now in the transition period to a sustainable one. A quote from the first section that speaks of how our current climate is destabilizing and we need to change our education to stress this came up during my reading. 

"As climate destabilization, fossil-fuel constraints, resource depletion, mass extinction, collapsing ecosystems, economic contraction, and social instability continue to rise in spite of the efforts of highly trained specialists, it seems clear that continuing with the same educational approaches can only lead to more of the same results." 

Robertson, M. (2017) p.317

There are so many multi-faceted important issues facing us as a result of not already having a sustainable world. Just the seven listed by Robertson are already quite scary all on their own, but once they all start happening at the same time should we realize we are too far behind already? Changes must be made in the educational system to engrain students with sustainability in mind. FGCU making Colloquium a mandatory class for graduation is a great start. I personally feel as though conservation and sustainability need to be taught at a much earlier age so that students can grow up with these ideas in mind. Once the seeds of sustainability are planted in a learners mind, per se, then once that person finishes school they are more likely to have a greater understanding of properly sustainable practices and is more likely to spread those on later in life, which will be great for conservation purposes.

The following quote I will be highlighting is from page 320 in the section Learning by Doing: Experiential Learning. 

"If students collect trash from a local stream, they are performing community volunteer work; if they collect trash from the stream, analyze water quality, determine the sources of pollution, examine the role of public policy, and share their find-ings with local residents, they are engaged in service learning."

Robertson, M. (2017) p.320

This quote bothered me a little bit when I reflected on my own service-learning experiences and the others of students here on campus. Many of the service-learning opportunities offered on campus seemingly don't align with what the book says the definition of service-learning opportunities really is. In my past, I have volunteered at the Naples Cat Alliance many times and had others with me as well, but we did not really get any of the other deeper-level examinations as to why we were doing it. I believe that for many more students to take away from their service-learning experiences, their community partners need to internalize how what they're making the students do is a real service-learning opportunity. Instead of just treating it as free labor for the community partner - which is how I think it is currently being used by many partners, make students feel like what they're doing is actually helpful for our local area and ask them to participate more in the service opportunity, even after the volunteer work is done.

My final quote is from the conclusion of the reading, in which Robertson quoted a Chinese collector Kuan-Tzu on one of their philosophies.

Kuan-Tzu, a collection of Chinese philosophical writings from the third century BCE, said: “If you are thinking a year ahead, sow seed. If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree. If you are thinking a hundred years ahead, educate the people.”

Robertson, M. (2017) p.327 

This type of self-awareness is something many people nowadays need to internalize. Far too often now are people so quick to get immersed in their own struggles before realizing that our planet is dying and we need to step up sooner rather than later to take action. Kuan-Tzu says it best that to think about ourselves in one hundred years, we must educate the people so that they can take it into their hands and save the world from us.

Photo Credits: https://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2012/08/conservation-education
https://www.symbols.gov/index.html

What is Sustainability?

Welcome to my blog! For the first week of this blog, I would like to say that this whole blogging thing is new to me and I will hopefully be improving over the next couple of weeks as I get used to the guidelines and how this whole concept works. Over the first week, we have been reading Sustainability Principles and Practice, by Margaret Robertson. We've have been tasked with giving our input on three quotes from the first two chapters of the book. I found the reading to be very intriguing and informative, to say the least. Learning about a wide variety of concepts and sustainability terms that I was not so familiar with has been an eye-opening experience. Further ahead in the blog I will be highlighting three quotes that resonated with me from the assigned reading. 

The first quote I will be highlighting is "Today we live on the threshold of what has been called the “fifth great turning” (Heinberg 2011, 284), a turn away from a fossil fuel-powered, climate-destabilizing, growth-based industrial economy and toward a sustainable, regenerative society" (Robertson, 2007). I found this quote interesting because I have never heard of the term Anthropocene be used before to describe a new era where humans are the driving factor. Before now, I had always assumed that most of these eras had specific things tied to them usually being related to some geological matter. To now know that we as a species is influencing the planet on a global scale enough to have an era dedicated to us really just shook my mind on the impact we all have.

The second quote I will highlight is "In Life in the Woods, he wrote: “What we call wildness is a civilization other than our own” (Robertson, 2007). To think that even in the 19th-century people had this level of insight is truly surprising. During this time the industrial revolution was slowly beginning to make its way into the world and I'm very glad Thoreau was one of the pioneers of conservational thinking with a quote as insightful as this. Realizing that the planet is made up of many interconnected systems, and taking care of those systems, is crucial to effective conservation.

Finally, on page 14 the author mentions something that is a stark contrast from what we see today, "Energy conservation was promoted by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975. Two years later the US Department of Energy was created." (Robertson, 2007). The fact that legislation in the 1970's was passed so quickly and then an entire departmental agency was created boggles my mind. It's crazy to think about how 44 years ago the government seemed more passionate and thoughtful about the environment. In a current age where many of these regulations are being rolled back, it's interesting to note that even so long ago priorities were different. Given that we have a more profound understanding of our effects on the planet, I think a lot needs to change before we start enacting more beneficial legislature in the future before it's too late.

Images from:
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/defining-true-sustainability/
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/laser-technology-ancient-mayan-1214558