Thoughts Regarding “Nature” 1-5

Dense, informative, academic, dry.  These are the main adjectives I could use to describe Nature: Western Attitudes Since Ancient Times.  For an academic class, I do think this book comes in handy as it addresses the concept of nature directly as compared to the subjective literary works of Edward Abbey, Terry Tempest-Williams, and Robert Sullivan.  Although this is a book I would not want to read for fun, it does seem like a necessary book to read for a class which addresses the many aspects of nature /the environment and our relationship to it.

 -Jerome

Ozone Affects Immune System

Duke University studies in mice shows that exposure to ozone in the lungs lowers the effectiveness of the body’s innate immune system.  There has been a long-time correlation between ozone exposure and cardio-pulmonary hospitalizations /deaths, however actual causal evidence has remained inconclusive.  The research team at Duke has found that ozone exposure in mice at levels approximating unhealthy levels for humans (~85 ppb as established by the EPA) appears to enhance lung injury in response to bacterial toxins, and more importantly, enhances programmed cell death (apotosis) in immune system cells that destroy micro-biological invaders.  According to one researcher, inhaling traces of ozone causes the innate immune system to overreact, killing these key immune system cells, making the lungs more susceptible to subsequent invaders, such as bacteria.   The researchers also found that the mice exposed to ozone had lower numbers of immune system cells circulating in the blood.  In consideration of these studies, the EPA is currently in the final phases of reviewing and possibly updating the standards for allowable levels of ozone in the air (~60ppb?).

-Jerome

Source.

Global Warming: Rising Seas

In many coastal areas the difference between high and low tide is greater than three meters.  Experts are predicting that by the end of the 21st century water levels will rise by three meters due to glacial melting.  To put things in perspective, in some places where high tide settles today, may be where low tide settles in 75 years.  High tides will consume low lying areas.  If you live in a 100 year flood zone, your house may be consumed by water.  While the changes will be very gradual, experts predict about 25,000 square miles of land on the continental United States will be under water.  Areas surrounding Boston, San Fransisco, New York, Miami, and New Orleans will disappear.  Along with the increase in water levels would be the potential for devastating hurricanes.  Hurricanes worse than Katrina.  These increases would be due to higher storm surge and higher, more frequent flooding.  Experts fear that the problem will not be combatted because nobody will notice the change.  The increases so small each year that by the time it becomes a problem it will be too late.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20840145/

- Steve Fowler

Vermont Wins Legal Victory Over Automakers

Vermont Wins Legal Victory Over Automakers
Benchmark Ruling Gives Individual States More Leeway To Set Emissions Standards
Montpelier, VT, Sept. 12, 2007
(AP) Vermont and other states scored a victory on Wednesday in their battle to get automakers to comply with rules aimed at reducing global warming.

State rules on greenhouse gas emissions don’t conflict with federal mileage standards and automakers should be able to develop the technology to meet them, a federal judge ruled.

“There is no question that the GHG (greenhouse gas) regulations present great challenges to automakers,” Judge William Sessions III, sitting in the U.S. District Court in Burlington, wrote at the conclusion of his 240-page decision.

He added, “History suggests that the ingenuity of the industry, once put in gear, responds admirably to most technological challenges. In light of the public statements of industry representatives, (the) history of compliance with previous technological challenges, and the state of the record, the court remains unconvinced automakers cannot meet the challenges of Vermont and California’s GHG regulations.”

Pollution Kills

The Top 10 Worst Polluted Places on Earth

From Larry West,
Your Guide to Environmental Issues.
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Report Raises Alarm about Global Pollution and Points to Solutions

More than 10 million people in eight different countries are at serious risk for cancer, respiratory diseases, and premature death because they live in the 10 most polluted places on Earth, according to a report by the Blacksmith Institute, a nonprofit organization that works to identify and solve specific environmental problems worldwide.

Top 10 Worst Polluted Places Remote but Toxic
Chernobyl in Ukraine, site of the world’s worst nuclear accident to date, is the best known place on the list. The other places are unknown to most people, and located far from major cities and populations centers, yet 10 million people either suffer or risk serious health effects because of environmental problems ranging from lead contamination to radiation.

“Living in a town with serious pollution is like living under a death sentence,” the report says.

-John Belleau

Website-http://environment.about.com/od/pollution/a/top_10_polluted.htm

zSB(3,3)

Peter Coates’ Nature

Nature was a very different book from the books that we have previously read. Instead of being a first person encounter of nature it was instead more of a school issued science book type of read. It gave us ideas of what many different people dating back to ancient Greece thought nature was. It was a harder read, not because it was more difficult, but because it seemed like every other line had information worth jotting down or taking into account. So it made it hard to decide what was important and what wasn’t. But the different definitions of nature was a good change from just one persons opinion of what he/she thought nature was.

-Brandon Hunter-

Trenton: More Reef Subway Cars By: Tim Rosendaul

Week 5: Article 4 (09/26/2007)

Trenton: More Reef Subway Cars

From: New York Times 09/18/2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/nyregion/18mbrfs-REEF.html?n=Top/News/Science/Topics/Oceans

 

New Jersey has asked New York City for 600 decommissioned subway cars to be sunken off the coast to create artificial reefs to attract marine life. New Jersey has one of the largest artificial reef complexes in the world.

However recently in 2003, environmentalists warned people that using subway car’s as artificial reefs could be more harmful than helpful. The old subway cars could be leaching high levels of asbestos into the ocean when they disintegrate, but recently environmentalist have run test to prove that the asbestos aren’t a threat to the ecosystem.

Though it’s in good attention to develop new kinds of artificial reefs for marine life, it seems that most artificial reefs don’t work. For example, look at tire artificial reefs, it said that they cause more damage than good. These supposed helpful environments would create places for marine life to live, but instead is causing more problems.

My opinions of Red

I thought that Red, by Terry Tempest Williams, was a pretty good story but was kind of all over the place on numerous occasions. Though it was an easy read it was a bit confusing due to the scattered writing.

This story was pretty different from Ed Abbeys Desert Solitaire because in my opinion Ed Abbey was more of a rough and tough guy, while Red you can tell that it was written by a woman. It wasn’t as ruggedly written, it was quite the opposite. It seemed as if Williams tried to make everything that she talked about beautiful no matter what it was. But I liked the fact that we were able to see the desert through the eyes of a man and then a woman, it was different but you can tell that they both respect not only the desert but nature itself equally, just in different ways.

-Brandon Hunter-

Lake Erie “Dead Zone”

Tim RosendaulProject ProposalLake Erie “Dead Zone”              For my project I want to focus on the growing problem of Lake Erie’s “Dead Zone”.  Being a native from Cleveland, Ohio, I thought this would be an interesting topic to further my knowledge on this subject and inform others about this growing problem in Lake Erie.            The cause of the “dead zone” in Lake Erie is from the depletion of oxygen in the late summers.  The causes are believed to be the configuration of the Central Basin of Lake Erie, to many nutrients (phosphorus) from human activity, and presences of foreign organisms (zebra muscles, quagga muscle) that consume all of the oxygen and produce more phosphorus.            During the summer months, Lake Erie goes through this process of which the top layer of water in the Central Basin of Lake Erie produce this algae.  The algae are fertilized by all of the phosphorus in the water and eventually when the algae dies it sinks to the bottom of the lake.  When the dead algae reaches the bottom bacteria and fungus decompose the algae, which then uses up all of the oxygen that is dissolved in the water.            For my project I want to further go into the details about the dead zone and how it has huge effects not only to aquatic organisms but also to the population around the Great Lakes.  I would also like to talk about the foreign aquatic organisms not native to Lake Erie and what roll they have contributed to the Lake Erie “Dead Zone” and other numerous problems. Sources:Substantial Web Sources

1. http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/lakeerie/eriedeadzone.html
2. http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/tabid/6159/default.aspx
3. http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/glindicators/water/oxygenb.html

Scholarly Sources

1. http://www.esf.edu/glrc/GLRRPages/GLRRPDF/GLRRSpring2001.pdf
2. http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_senate_hearings&docid=f:83720.pdf
3. http://www.epa.gov/oigearth/reports/1999/9p00212.pdf

 Random Sources

1. http://www.wkyc.com/life/programming/shows/lake_erie/
2. http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/lakeerie/eriedeadzone.html#Video:%20Lake%20Erie%20Oxygen%20Depletion
3. http://www.healthylakes.org/index.php?tag=toxic-algae

Environmental Cleanup Procedures

Everyday chemicals are released into the environment because of different types of spills.  These spills are usually related to human error.  Because the chemicals involved may be harmful to humans and/or the environment it is necessary to the DEP to be notified of a spill and for them to hire somebody to clean the mess up.  This summer I got the oppurtunity to work for a company that specializes in environmental work.  The business started as a company that just removed oil tanks that were no longer in use and grew to the main contractor for spills in the state of Connecticut.  I got to experience different types of chemical spills from the simple oil spill, to gasoline, toxic paint, and even acid spills.  Each spill is ca little different and no two are the same.  For this project I am going to explain to the class the different ways of dealing with chemical spills.  For example, when oil leaks into a river that is contaminated with PCS’s (poly-chlorinated biphenyls, which cause cancer) the hazmat team that comes to clean it up must dress in level D personal protective equipment to clean up the mess.  I will demonstrate the different levels of protection needed for different chemicals as well as the different procedures for different kinds of spills.  Soil Remediation was another specialty of the company.  If an underground oil tank leaks oil due to wear and tear of the tank underground for many years, excavators must be brought in to dig up the contaminated soils.  In the State of Connecticut any soil containing more the 500 parts per million (ppm) TPH (Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon) must be removed and disposed of.  Many times this leads to holes the size of small houses being dug.  So to review what will be done, I will begin by talking about the dangers of chemical spills.  Next I will show what is required of the personnel involved to cleanup the spills.  Also, I will cover the different kinds of protection that must be worn by the people cleaning the spills and the different procedures related to each chemical.  This will show everyone the dangers of even the smallest chemical spill that many people would just look off.   

Possible Web Sources:

 http://siri.uvm.edu/ppt/chemical/index.htm

http://web.princeton.edu/sites/ehs/emergency/spills.htm

http://cttank.com/index.html

Possible Scholarly Sources:

http://0-www.netlibrary.com.dewey2.library.denison.edu/Reader/

Practical Techniques for Groundwater and Soil Remediation – Book (Denison Library)

Exxon Valdez oil spill : fate and effects in Alaskan waters – Book (Kenyon Library)

Possible Props and Enhancements:

Personal Protective Equipment

Interview with my boss