by Beth Gray

Photo taken from Discovery Magazine article: http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/055

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) explains that “the Arctic is global warming’s canary in the coal mine.”    This environmentally sensitive area of the globe has been in danger for decades but recent images provide visual proof of just how dire the situation is.  The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado provides a daily update on the declining volume and size of Arctic sea ice.  The daily images show where the sea ice boundary currently is with an orange line showing where it was in 1979.  The NSIDC reports that as of August 16, “Arctic ice extent was 5.95 million square kilometers.”  This may seem like a massive amount of ice but as NSIDC notes, this represents a decrease of some 1.68 million square kilometers below the 1979 to 2000 average for the season. 

Though Arctic sea ice does melt during the Arctic summer (a time when the region experiences 24 hours of sunshine), this season’s melt has been dramatic.  A recent Washington Post article explains that “After going into the melt season with more ice over a larger area than recent years, sea ice extent plummeted by a daily rate of 26,000 square miles per day during May, which was the highest rate of loss ever observed for the month since satellite records of sea ice began in 1979.”  On his blog, Nick Sundt, Director of Communications, Climate Change Program at the World Wildlife Fund, put this figure into perspective writing, “That is an area roughly half the size of the entire United States (including Alaska)…”  As if the analyses from satellite images was not startling enough, however, researchers studying the region are finding that the situation is worse than even the satellite images are showing.  In a Time Magazine article earlier this year, David Barber, an Arctic climatologist at the University of Manitoba, describes his experience in visiting the area:  “Some of what satellites identified as thick, melt-resistant multiyear ice turned out to be…’full of holes, like Swiss cheese.  We haven’t seen this sort of thing before.’”

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by Beth Gray

This past December, more than 120 Heads of State and Government traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15).  The Conference, lasting for close to two weeks, was intended to be the launching point for a comprehensive worldwide agreement on how to most effectively combat climate change.  Even with the best of intentions, however, few who attended the Conference have expressed much satisfaction with the progress made and eventual outcome of the meeting.

The proceedings were plagued with administrative and logistical difficulties and contentious moments between some of the world’s biggest carbon emitters.  For example, as estimated by one attendee, some 45,000 people attended the Conference – great turn out except that Copenhagen’s Bella Center where the event was held can only accommodate 15,000.  Aside from the obviously cramped quarters into which Heads of state, their delegates, journalists, representatives from NGOs, and others were overcrowded, even greater difficulties hindered the progress of the discussions.  Read the rest of this entry »

by Beth Gray

In February 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, commonly known as the Recovery Act.  According to the Administration’s website established to track the Recovery Act and the funds allocated from it, the purpose of the Act is three-fold: to “create new jobs and save existing ones,” to “spur economic activity and invest in long-term growth,” and to “foster unprecedented levels of accountability and transparency in government spending.”  The Recovery Act included more than $80 billion in clean energy investments.  As institutions of higher education begin addressing their own carbon footprints and the issues related to climate change in general, there are opportunities for them to apply for funds through the Recovery Act in order to implement projects that can help.

Various government agencies have been provided with portions of the total allotted in the Recovery Act and institutions of higher education may find funding for their sustainability projects through these agencies.  For example, the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is responsible for some $16.8 billion of Recovery Act funding.  Included in that total is some $11.3 billion for projects related to weatherization, state energy programs, and conservation block grants.  Additionally, according to Financing Sustainability on Campus, a National Association of College and University Business Officer’s publication, the Recovery Act allocated $3.1 billion to the State Energy Program (SEP) “for onward allocation by state energy offices to higher education institutions and other organizations within their jurisdictions.” 

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Images of the Three Gorges Dam from Nasa's Earth Observatory Website.

China’s Three Gorges Dam project is marred in controversy and serves as an example of man’s attempt to harness nature and nature’s stubborn resistance.  Officially approved in 1992 by the Chinese government, the project was originally conceived by China’s most famous Nationalist leader, Sun Yat-sen, decades earlier in 1919.  The project is intended to harness the power of the unruly Yangtze River which in the last 2,000 years has flooded the towns and villages that rest on its banks more than 1,000 times.  Several of these floods have caused tremendous loss of life.  Perhaps the most significant of these floods occurred in 1931 when more than 300,000 lost their lives in the cities of Nanjing and Wuhan and another 40,000,000 were left homeless.  While the Yangtze’s flooding has caused much death and destruction, the Chinese have recognized that there may be value in the river’s power.

The Chinese government sees great potential in using the river as a major source of renewable power for a nation that is growing in both population and energy dependence.  The Dam, once completed, would generate 18,000 megawatts of power, more than eight times that of the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River.  The project which has been estimated to cost some $24 billion has created tremendous controversy for several reasons, however.  Human rights activists, for example, have voiced concerns over the required relocation of entire villages and towns.  Scientific American reported in an article that the Chinese government had ordered the relocation of “some 1.2 million people in two cities and 116 towns clustered on the banks of the Yangtze.”  Though promised fair compensation for their land, many of those evacuated have reported that they have been offered as little as 50 yuan, or $7 a month, as compensation. 

Besides the toll the project is taking on the immediate lives of the individuals living in the area, there are extensive and significant environmental concerns associated with the project.  Though the project was eventually approved, environmentalists inside and outside of China raised concerns that the “Three Gorges Dam…had the potential of becoming one of China’s biggest environmental nightmares.”  Though Chinese officials have previously denied any environmental fallout from the project, some are beginning to realize that recent events and environmental phenomena are significantly linked to the Three Gorges Dam. 

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by Beth Gray

APUS Earth Day Volunteers at CTMS

Thursday, April 22nd was Earth Day.  Americans have been celebrating Earth Day for the last 40 years as a day to recognize the importance of preserving our environment and its health.  For a brief history of Earth Day, see our article posted last week.

This year’s Earth Day happened to coincide with Bring a Child to Work Day, an initiative administered by the Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Foundation.  Bring a Child to Work Day is a program designed to encourage young people to learn more about what the adults in their lives do in their jobs.  Students who participate gain not only a better understanding of their adult sponsors’ jobs but also job opportunities that they may not have previously considered.  This year, several dozen young people participated in this event at American Public University System’s (APUS) two locations. 

APUS’ Sustainability Committee saw the opportunity of having so many young people on campus to take some time to talk about sustainability with them.  A Committee member made a brief presentation to the group about the school’s sustainability efforts specifically and the importance of “going green” in general.  Needless to say, the creative minds of these young people impressed the group; the students provided some great ideas for how to be good stewards of the environment and were excited to share their own efforts to “go green” at home and in their schools.

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by Beth Gray

Today is the 40th anniversary of the celebration of the first Earth Day.  While today Earth Day and the sentiment surrounding it is a part of our everyday lives, the notion of a day to acknowledge the importance of being good stewards of our environment was not always so commonplace. 

In the early 1960s, Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin) began to formulate ideas for what would eventually become the first Earth Day.  Disturbed by the fact that in the midst of other significant events of the decade, “the state of our environment was simply a non-issue in the politics of the country,” Nelson proposed to President John Kennedy that he undertake a national conservation tour.  Convinced by Senator Nelson’s argument that the environment was a key issue that was being overlooked in the political sphere, President Kennedy began his conservation tour in September 1963, traveling through 11 states in five days.  Senator Nelson himself acknowledges that the tour itself failed to achieve his ultimate goal of putting the state of the environment at the top echelons of the nation’s political agenda.  He continued to advocate for environmental protection, however, and it was in 1969 that the idea of Earth Day finally occurred to him.

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by Beth Gray

The 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver have come to a close.  The United States stood strong atop the medal podiums, taking home a total of 37 medals, edging out Germany with 30 and the host nation, Canada, with 26.  Few would argue that the Canadians staged a successful event.  Vancouver is known for having an environmentally friendly and forward-thinking population and in planning these Olympic Games, the Canadians were cognizant of the environmental impact such an event could have.

The City of Vancouver touts an active environmental program.  Vancouver hosts a variety of programs for residents including “One Day” which encourages citizens to take proactive measures to reduce carbon emissions in the city.  The city’s One Day website boasts a variety of ways in which the city and its citizens are working toward a more environmentally friendly future.  For example, “all new commercial and multifamily buildings are required to meet the strictest energy efficiency requirements in Canada” and for more than a decade, the city has actively promoted alternative modes of transportation with great success; since 1996, Vancouver has seen a “44 percent increase in walking, a 180 percent increase in bike trips, a 20 percent increase in transit use, and a 10 percent reduction in vehicle trips.”  Vancouver also hosts a program called Green Streets which encourages citizens to beautify their neighborhoods by adopting and maintaining street gardens. 

Olympic planners stated early on that Vancouver would strive to host the most environmentally friendly Games the world had ever seen.  With more than 250,000 visitors traveling to Vancouver for the Games, the city faced a tremendous challenge in achieving that goal.  In attempting to meet their goal, however, the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) took several significant steps.  Upon winning the city’s bid to host the Games, VANOC formed a meaningful partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).  More tangible efforts toward greening the Games included low-flow toilets that used rainwater for flushing, separate waste receptacles for compostable waste, and energy-efficient grass covered roofs.  Additionally, VANOC increased its already expansive public transit system, encouraging visitors to move around the city using more environmentally friendly means. 

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by Beth Gray

A new phenomenon is sweeping across the globe and affecting millions of individuals and their communities.  The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recently announced that some 50 million people have become climate refugees, displaced from their homes due to dramatic climate changes.  As droughts, water shortages, and natural disasters increase in direct relation to climate degradation over the next several decades, scholars have estimated that by 2050, the world could have as many as 200 million climate refugees. 

The 50 million already facing displacement due to climate changes come predominantly from developing nations where climate changes are coupled with already existing war and poverty to intensify the situation.  The map below was originally published on the UNEP website and concisely depicts the areas of the world most prone to climate refugee problems.  Though predominantly a problem associated with developing countries, the map draws attention to the fact that no area of the world is immune from issues of climate change and the refugees who may need assistance as a result. 

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by Ashley Adams

Earth's tectonic plates. (Image from The Geography Site)

Earthquakes are caused by the moving of earth’s tectonic plates. Tectonic plates are large masses of rock that cover the earth’s surface and are continuously moving either apart or together.  When these plates shift it causes vibrations in the earth’s crust, a phenomenon known as an earthquake occurs.  The magnitudes of earthquakes are measured using the Richter scale.  This scale is based on a logarithmic scale where an earthquake measured at 5 is ten times greater than an earthquake measure at 4.  The scale has no upper limit so it can measure an earthquake of any magnitude.

The earthquake that shook the country of Haiti on January 12, 2010 rated as a 7 on the Richter scale with a death toll of 212,000 in the capital Port-au-Prince alone.  Since then, there have been aftershocks that have measured as high as a 5.9. The largest earthquake recorded to date was in Chile and rated as a 9.5.  This earthquake and resulting tsunamis killed approximately 1,655 and injured 3,000 people.  Interestingly, the death toll of the Chilean earthquake is small in comparison to that of the Haitian earthquake even though the Chilean earthquake measured significantly higher on the Richter scale.  In 1976, Tangshan, China had a 7.5 magnitude earthquake with 255,000 deaths. 

A country’s infrastructure greatly impacts the damage done to buildings and the number of human deaths.  For example, Haiti’s buildings prior to the earthquake were not built to high engineering standards causing them to collapse more readily and resulting in a large number of deaths.  A comparable earthquake to the recent one in Haiti occurred in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California in 1989. It was a 6.9 on the Richter scale and caused 63 deaths.  The well engineered buildings of that area performed well during the earthquake; as a result many of these buildings sustained damage but did not collapse.  Human casualties and injuries as a result of the infrastructure collapsing are the immediate concerns after such a devastating earthquake.

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