"Pollution Within" National Geographic

Before reading the article on the National Geographic website titled "Pollution Within," I couldn't help but think "what chemicals are floating around inside of me?" The author, David Duncan, explored this issue and decided to test his own blood. DDT, PBDE, and other poisons commonly used in agriculture and production were found in his body. Although Duncan was in good shape even with the small traces of chemicals inside of him (even though he did have higher-than-normal levels of PBDE), many American families have discovered high chemical content in their children. High levels of PBDE, a flame retardant, has been reported in many infants across the country. Furniture, fabrics, and plastics are to blame for the PBDE exposure to infants which are inhaled in high amounts (above the safety quantity). PBDE is found to hinder memory, learning, and even behavior. Another chemical most commonly found in people is mercury. Mercury has been associated with the consumption of seafood, although other products contain this chemical. People and wildlife are threatened throughout the globe with the rise in mercury levels than ever before.
The most surprising fact mentioned in the article was stated on the final page which covers a program called REACH: Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals. REACH was approved by the European Union and its sole purpose is to require companies to manufacture chemicals that are safe to the public and outweigh the negative effects. REACH is currently opposed by the chemical industry and our own U.S. government. Why would the U.S. government oppose a program that benefits the public? Is it because of lobbyists convincing our government to eliminate any regulation proposals? I found this statement in the article to be very disturbing and how this type of opposition reflects other issues we face today (the oil spill, the economic crisis, etc.). We need to push for safer and biodegradable chemicals that are safe for consumers and the environment. We need to forget thinking in cost-efficient terms and think about a greener future.

My Ecological Footprint

My result on the my ecological footprint quiz was 5.49 Earths, meaning five and a half Earths are needed to sustain an entire population who live my lifestyle. I am dumbfounded by the result. My family tries to live within our needs by purchasing environmentally friendly products, buying organic foods, using minimal electricity, efficient appliances, and solar energy panels. This saddens me how much of an impact an average American family has on the global environment scale. After reviewing the results, I searched through the site to review ways to reduce my ecological footprint.
The site gives plenty of recommendations ranging from simple fixes such as using biodegradable products to higher end solutions such as purchasing energy-saving home appliances. Although these solutions will help lower America's impact on the environment, I still believe we will exceed the Earth's carrying capacity. A growing population and the increasing demand for goods will only lead to less resources and land available. While reading through the solutions page, I approached the issue with deeper, critical thought. The only solution to transforming our consumer lifestyle to a more sustainable lifestyle is to radically change our economic system. Our current system is powered by corporations who seek to make record profits and exploit the land for their own gain. We Americans, as well as other developed countries, need to stop our consumer addiction and become more educated on the negative impacts of the global economy. Instead of spending our income in Wal Mart, we need to focus on fueling our local economy and supporting our small businesses for goods and services. Localized economies will not only help the planet, but provide jobs for the community. Sure little changes can be done to help lower our impact on the environment, but we need to look at the big picture and transform our current flawed system that hurts us and foreign nations.

Corkscrew Mining

NBC-2 news recently reported that further mining projects in the Corkscrew Estero area have been canceled by Lee County commissioners. 1300 acres east of I-75 was potentially in danger of mining. The mining projects were believed to improve the local economy and outweigh the negative impacts. Residents banned together and protested against the mining. Many feared the project will devastate the local environment and harm the drinking water.
Every time I drive down Old Corkscrew, witnessing the giant mounds of dirt and deforested areas, I vision what the area used to be like before private companies arrived in the area. Miles of untouched cypress swamps, pine flatwoods, and prairie dominated the landscape. An abundance of wildlife: White-tailed deer, Florida Panthers, and Black Bears. Corkscrew reminds me of Florida's radical transformation from untouched swampland to shopping malls and golf course communities. Finally, people today have realized that we must protect every remaining watershed, cypress swamp, estuaries, and other ecosystems from total degradation if we want to enjoy its beauty. I'm finally happy to say that our local government voted against the private companies who only seek profit and who can care less about the health of our environment. I hope we can extend this type of protest from the local level to the national level (particularly oil companies).

Lovers Key & Environmental Engineering

While walking along the pristine Lovers Key beach, I remember why I've chosen to move towards a career in environmental engineering. Environmental engineers specialize in wastewater treatment, air quality, waste disposal, and measure the impacts of human development on the local ecosystems. Not only does this type of engineering field meet the needs of the local human population, but primarily focuses on ensuring that the natural world is by no means harmed in any way. Systems are designed to be effective, sustainable, and have no negative impacts on the surrounding environment. When entering the workplace, I want to make sure we protect our remaining wild places so future generations can enjoy Florida's wonders. Without the appropriate knowledge of the local environment, it will be impossible to design a facility that will be effective and safe. A perfect example of the lack of knowledge in Florida's sensitive environment was the development of canals, channelization, and dikes that rapidly occurred in South Florida in the earl 1900s. The Army Corps of Engineers arrived at the scene with intentions to support a growing population, but did not take into account the negative impacts on the surrounding wetlands that depend on the natural flow of water. As a result, today we spend millions of dollars trying to restore the "old Florida." As a future environmental engineer, I hope to work here locally in Lee County and make sure that our natural environment will remain healthy and will no longer suffer from improper practices.

Lovers Key State Park Visit

Earlier today, our class visited Lovers Key State Park. The area consists of beach, winding mangrove islands, and an important ecosystem vital to the survival of Florida's natural environment: the estuary. Estuaries act as an important habitat for wading birds, game fish, and other aquatic species. Mangrove swamps and seagrass beds are common. We witnessed several different mangroves: Red mangroves are found along the water, and black/white mangroves are found further inland. Mangroves act as a barrier against violent storms, provides habitat for fish and wildlife, maintains soil retention, and they even act as a natural filter. Unfortunately, the estuarine environment is constantly under the threat of human development and exploitation. Development and nutrient-rich runoff harms the environment daily. Not only does human activity affect the estuary and the survival of the aquatic life, but our local economy would be devastated if our natural places were to become a "dead zone." Florida's economy solely depends on tourism. If the fish populations decline, if the beaches are destroyed, and if the wetlands are polluted, then our area will suffer economically. To make sure we maintain a steady, sustainable, and healthy environment we can stress the environmental and economic importance of our local area to prevent any further harm or damage.

The Oil Spill and Florida Tourism

I read an online article on the New York Times titled "Florida Worries About Effect On Tourism" by Catharine Skipp. The article shines light on the local Florida communities who feel devastated and worried for the environment and the possible decline in tourism. The Panhandle has already felt the pain, the hotel industry as well as other businesses have already taken a 70% decline in reservations. On the west coast, there was a 15% hit in only three weeks. And one of Florida's biggest attractions, the fishing (a 5.2 billion dollar industry), is most worried about the oil slick moving closer to Florida shores. Dr. Ortner, interviewed for the story, feels the surface spill should not reach the sensitive Florida keys and Miami beaches. But, Ortner does worry about the fish population. He says fish larvae are vulnerable, especially to toxic oil slicks. Fish larvae damage will lead to lower fish populations and a damaged fishing industry. Dr.Ortner also concludes with a statement that mentions hurricanes, agreeing that a catastrophic hurricane season will devastate the gulf coast.
The BP oil spill will hurt the gulf coast for decades. Marshes, important nurseries for fish and birds, have already been destroyed and covered in oil slick. In my opinion, this can take decades before we can notice positive changes in the gulf coast environments. Regarding the hurricane season, some say a hurricane is more devastating and destructive than an oil spill. This is an incorrect statement. A hurricane is a natural event and environments can heal themselves readily after a storm, whereas oil spills are man-made and can damage ecosystems for years or decades. Hopefully, this oil spill might influence a movement towards green technology and move the public mindset away from "drill baby drill."

Earth Charter

Today, people around the globe face amazing economic, social, political, and environmental challenges. The environment is constantly exploited for economic gain, countries face terrible debts, human rights have declined in many undeveloped countries, and war is a constant threat. If these issues are not resolved and ignored, the Earth as we know it can perish quickly. Thankfully, organizations and committees like the Earth Charter Commission work together to start a new path towards social and economic justice, environmental sustainability, and peace. The Earth Charter Commission came up with their own document titled "The Earth Charter" that perfectly displays their principles and goals towards a safer planet for human civilizations. The document contains a preamble and four principles: I. Respect and Care For The Community Of Life, II. Ecological Integrity, III. Social & Economic Justice, and IV. Democracy, Nonviolence, And Peace. Out of the four principles I feel principle number three, social and economic justice, must be put into action to influence positive changes to our planet. Poverty is a major cause of degradation, disappearance of wildlife, and loss of habitat. If we can revise our global economic system that benefits the majority and not just the wealthy individuals, the environment as well as the health of many countries will heal quickly. When people struggle financially, any individual will do whatever needs to be done to feed their families, even if it means cutting down acres of rain forests or poaching endangered wildlife. Promoting an economic system that benefits the many and not the few, will guarantee a better world and will influence the other principles mentioned earlier. A healthy social environment will also prevent further damage to our natural world by stopping further warfare and other destruction. To restate, I feel our current social and economic decline is the number one cause of environmental destruction and must be resolved to move toward a healthier, more sustainable society.

Lee County Public Safety and the Oil Spill

Recently, I attended a luncheon with the Noon Rotary Club. One of the scheduled guests was an officer from the Lee County Public Safety office. He came by to provide information and answer any questions regarding the oil spill and its impact on Lee County. According to his own understanding of the situation, he said our beaches will not be protected from the spill. He believes the main priority is to protect the inlets, estuaries, and mangrove swamps from the hazardous tar balls and other pollutants. He did mention efforts have been planned to help protect our environmentally sensitive areas. He also reminded club members of the four hour courses that cover the essentials of proper ways to pick up tar balls along beaches. Although he thought the course was unnecessary, he lectured us on the types of tar balls and how to pick them up and dispose them. There are basically two types of tar balls: hard and soft. Both are to be picked up by scoopers and then disposed into a garbage bag to be taken to the incinerator. After discussing tar balls, he gave us his personal opinion on how to get rid of the oil sludge flowing in the gulf. He thought the most effective way to get rid of the sludge is to pour microorganisms around the entire infected areas. After the discussion, I thought our Lee County Public Safety visitor was wrong from many angles.
Why do we need to incinerate the tar balls? This will release toxins into the air and create even more pollution. Why can't we collect the tar balls and use them for energy? In regards to the microorganisms, that is a poor solution to the problem. Although these organisms will consume the oil, too much of these microbes will reproduce too quickly and block the sunlight for aquatic plants and fish. Blocking sunlight will kill everything and cause even more damage to the environment. If this is all we can come up with to solve one of America's worst environmental disasters in history, I fear the worst for Florida and other gulf coast communities.

"Story of Bottled Water" Video

After viewing the "Story of Stuff", we continued with another short clip titled the "Story of Bottled Water." I thought this video was both interesting and frustrating. Before watching the clip, I always felt skeptical about bottled water. Is bottled water cleaner and healthier than city tap water? Or, is bottled water just another corporate scam? As mentioned in the video, bottled water is actually less regulated than city tap water (a little scary), 2000 times more expensive than city tap water, less tasty (as discovered in research), and less sustainable. Using an economic mastermind plan, "Manufactured Demand", beverage companies were able to scare, seduce, and mislead people to purchase their bottled water. These companies campaigned their idea of bottled water and accused city tap water of being unsafe and "should be relegated to showers and washing dishes." Also, these same companies (Nestle) claimed that bottled water is environmentally friendly. To produce the bottles, oil is used in factories to produce plastic bottles, oil is used for exporting the bottles across the globe, and then the trashed bottles are either transported to "dumps" in poor undeveloped countries or incinerated, burning toxins into the air. Bottled water is by far one of the biggest scams and continues to be sold in schools, business buildings, grocery stores, etc. We need to come together and stop purchasing these products, as it harms the environment and other foreign civilizations.

"Story of Stuff" Video

Today's topic discussed in class was Aldo Leopold's the "Land Ethic" which covered the crisis between ethics and economics. To go along with the discussion, we viewed a short clip titled, "Story of Stuff." The clip is an excellent "eye-opener" that covers the issues associated with America's consumer culture and the causes of such a transformation in lifestyle. Astonishing facts were presented in the beginning of the video: one-third of our natural resources are depleted, 40% of the waterways are undrinkable, and Americans lay four billion pounds of toxic pollution. Why are these events happening everyday? In a nutshell, the host presented the "linear model" which explains our ongoing big business and consumer cycle and the cause of our current environmental and economic problems. The linear model was shown as follows: the environment - factory and production - shopping centers - houses and communities - waste disposal. The cycle starts with the environment, which is used for extraction with little concern for conservation and protection. Next, the natural resources are sent to factories for production with low-wage workers and terrible working conditions (a majority of the time). After production, goods are sent to shopping centers, which we consumers purchase and collect more "stuff" to take home. After our "stuff" becomes useless, the materials are taken to waste areas for disposal, harming the surrounding environment with dangerous toxins. This type of lifestyle is unhealthy, unsustainable, and scary. So, who's to blame for America's transformation from living within our own needs in a community to purchasing large amounts of "stuff" at local malls? The answer is big business. Even though some say the government is the source of the problem, most people forget who owns the government and who the most influential people in government really are. Corporations dominate the halls in Washington and control almost every decision government makes. We need to push for regulation against these multi-billion dollar corporations, and then transform the government that is fueled by the people and for the people.

A Land Remembered (Part 2)

I just finished reading one of the Floridiana books titled "A Land Remembered". Overall, I thought the book was inspiring. This story motivates the reader to learn more about Florida's past and to better understand our impact on the environment. The story starts with the MacIvey family trying to survive in a hostile environment and ends with the struggle to prevent personal self interest and greed from destroying more Florida landscape.
Sol, the son of Zech MacIvey, transformed the land his family owned. Sol's grandparents along with his father, respected the land and hoped Florida would always be a wild place. Surprisingly, Sol fell into the trap and convinced himself to dredge the swamps and convert the wilderness areas into agriculture fields. He made a lot of money with his business along with selling thousands of acres to developers. At the end, Sol felt deeply sorry for what he did and felt he betrayed his father's teachings. South Florida was never the same again as the state's population and need for development increased.
This story brings me back to the Babcock Ranch story previously posted. The Babcock family is a spitting image of the MacIvey family. Both families lived in Florida for many generations and survived and became wealthy through the cattle business. Finally as the demand for land increased, both families were willing to sell the land for their own personal gains and completely ignored the environmental impacts of their decision. Commonly, these lands are home to many threatened and endangered wildlife and help sustain Florida's wetlands and tremendous biodiversity. I think "A Land Remembered" would've changed the minds of the Babcock family.

Babcock Ranch: A Solar Powered City

I remember several years ago during the real estate boom in South Florida, the Babcock family threatened to sell off their land. The family understood how much the land was worth and was willing to sell the environmentally sensitive area to the highest bidder. I found this to be tragic and disgusting. Because of the increasing property values, the family's greed clouded their own conscience and they did not pay any attention to the negative impacts of possible development projects. Environmentalists and other activists urged the Florida state government to purchase the land before a private developer does. Unfortunately, Kitson & Partners purchased 18,000 acres for future development even though the state claimed the remaining 73,000 acres were studied to be the most sensitive areas to human activity.
I visited the Babcock Ranch website for updates on the Kitson & Partners project. Digging through the site, I found several articles and the Kitson & Partners online homepage. I reviewed a Time magazine article, The Florida Times-Union article, and sun-herald articles regarding future plans for Babcock ranch. CEO of Kitson & Partners, Syd Kitson, has pushed for a Babcock city that will be powered by solar energy. The planned solar fields that will power the city when completed, will be the largest solar powered facility in the world. Syd claims his main objective is to push for an environmentally sustainable city that will influence other South Florida communities. Although there will be strip malls and other large business buildings, he also believes the people who live within the city can find jobs and find the area to be a wonderful place to raise a family.
Even though Kitson & Partners plans on constructing an environmentally and an economically friendly city, the project still requires deforestation and environmental damage. Development will always have a negative impact on the Florida environment, especially the overuse of groundwater and other precious resources. The only positive side of this tragedy, is the vision of a city powered by clean solar energy. Kitson & Partners will either help transform communities throughout Florida by using solar power or they will hurt the land forever.

Echo Field Trip

ECHO, educational concerns for hunger organization, was formed to teach people in developing countries appropriate farming techniques and provide seeds and other necessities to help build healthier communities. ECHO is a global effort and hopes to spread their message to many people. At first, I've never heard of ECHO. After the trip to the North Fort Myers ECHO facility, I was astonished and amazed by their creative farming methods. The ECHO staff showed tremendous ecological knowledge and use their skills to come up with unique and efficient ways for low-income villages to help feed their families. These methods all used recycling methods that included animal wastes, plants, and man-made objects (cola cans, rugs, etc.). ECHO had a variety of farming techniques for each harsh environment found around the globe.
I plan to visit ECHO with my family soon and learn more to help the organization and people who are in need. Around the world, poverty is become more rapid and the need of food is rising. I'm certainly grateful organizations like ECHO are working hard everyday to help the poor and devote themselves to improving villages in the most impoverished areas.

Southwest Florida's "Oil Spill"

In the News-Press June 1st environmental articles, I found "Lake Okeechobee Water Releases Begin." The Army Corps of Engineers recently admitted that the Lake Okeechobee water levels are too high for this time of year, so therefore two billion gallons of freshwater must be dumped down the Caloosahatchee. The main reason for the freshwater releases, is to protect the old Hoover Dike from high levels and maintain a depth of 12.5 feet to 15.5 feet. The current lake level is 14.42 feet. So why release the water? The Army Corps of Engineers fear a very wet summer season and feel that the water must be released into the gulf to reduce the risks. Sanibel citizens and boaters this past Memorial weekend already noticed drastic changes. Salinity levels are way down, fishing was dead, and the water is much darker. Marine biologists do believe the darker water halts the algae blooms, but still believe there will be enough sunlight to cause environmentally dangerous algal blooms. These blooms will kill important estuarine plants that fish and manatees depend on for food and habitat.
Whenever I read stories concerning Lake Okeechobee and freshwater releases, I always wonder why there aren't any alternatives to this problem. Why can't we release the water into the Everglades as sheet flow? Is this too dangerous with its high phosphorus content? Can we somehow contain the extra water for future emergencies? I viewed the comments readers posted after reading the article, and one of the readers compared the freshwater releases to the BP oil spills in the gulf. I agree with his/her remark and feel terrible that the Caloosahatchee will continue to struggle.