A Brooklyn Project

“Stormwater runoff is generated from rain and snowmelt events that flow over land or impervious surfaces, such as paved streets, parking lots, and building rooftops, and does not soak into the ground. The runoff picks up pollutants like trash, chemicals, oils, and dirt/sediment that can harm our rivers, streams, lakes, and coastal waters.” (EPA) Given the basic definition of stormwater runoff, a lot of urban sustainable projects can be set up that could better our environment. For example, on January 14, 2015, according to the information presented by the Borough President’s office, a project by the name of “Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Stormwater Management Plan”, which will prevent half a billion gallons of stormwater from entering Brooklyn sewers. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams said that “When it comes to our overflow problem with our sewers, which are leading to damaging coastal floods and the release of raw sewage into our marine ecosystem, major changes are needed to protect residents, business and wildlife alike. The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Stormwater Management Plan, for which this office has sponsored funding over the last 10 years, is a blueprint to a greener and cleaner future in our borough.” The plan would recommend a water-shed approach that would “capture and retain at least the first inch of rain that falls on the greenway, the adjoining public right of way and impervious surfaces for one block upslope of the greenway.” According to the article, In a combined sewer system, stormwater and sanitary sewage from toilets and other waste sources enter the same pipes on the way to the city’s water treatment plants. During significant rainfall, the volume of water and sewage exceeds the pipe’s capacity, and the excess is released into surface water bodies such as the East River, Gowanus Canal, New York Harbor and Newtown Creek. In addition to preventing combined sewer overflow events, the plan suggests how the greenway can be built as part of an integrated flood protection system for areas such as Red Hook and the industrial part of Sunset Park, which experienced major losses from flooding as a result of Superstorm Sandy, as stated by the article.  The Brooklyn Green Initiative (BGI) will initiate the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, a 14 mile project, will compromise 23 individual capital projects and estimate in cost of about 100 million dollars.  Since the Greenway will be 14 miles of street, it is wise to implement the stormwater project along with it. The article concludes by saying that The high level sewer will capture stormwater from West Street and the side streets between West Street and Franklin Street and release it directly to the East River. This project will keep 4.5 million gallons of water out of the combined sewer system.

 

 

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2015/1/14/brooklyn-stormwater-management-plan-could-reduce-combined-sewer-overflows

Combating Climate Change

One of the most eye opening things I heard in my entire life was that the livestock industry (animals and all of their direct byproducts) produces more than 51% of all greenhouse gases on earth. Growing up I thought that cars were the worst thing for the environment. It was surprising that what I ate contributed so much to the well-being of our planet. Some outdated data suggested that livestock produced 18% of greenhouse gases (still a considerable amount). It has become much clearer that animal husbandry is the largest contributor to the climate change. Many scientists believe that this is unsustainable and must be changed immediately, If we have any hope of continuing life on earth. The husbandry of animals requires tons of land, water, and food. The deforestation of many areas is increasing at an alarming rate. Its not difficult to see why this is bad. Increasing the amount of animals and decreasing the amount of plants is incredibly counter intuitive. Its upsetting how we let this happen, but meat is such a central part to our lives. I have been a vegetarian for a few months now, and can say with certainty that meat is essential to every culture.

Where there is great concern there is also great excitement. Many companies are trying to produce meat substitutes that are designed to satisfy everyone. I must say that it is very promising and will definitely be able to replace every popular meat. Impossible Foods, for example, has created a meatless burger that “bleeds” just like beef. There is so much promise that it’s hard to not get excited. It is a win-win in the truest sense of the term. Its healthier than meat, no animals are killed, and it tastes just as good. The only problem is, is that it’s kind of expensive, but the price should go down when (hopefully) more people begin to eat it. With our environment in bad shape, I know I look forward to a day when Animal Husbandry is a thing of the past, and our “meat” is made of plants. 

http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/

http://www.impossiblefoods.com

https://www.terrapass.com/livestock-responsible-for-51-of-greenhouse-gas-emissions

Earthworms and Soil

Not too long ago, the presence of earthworms in the soil was overlooked because it was not thought to have any impact. But with further research, we now understand that biological life in the land is crucial to the development of crops. Earthworms have a variety of positive affects on the soil. For instance, they created vertical holes that allow rain to infiltrate the ground. They help neutralize the pH of the soil. They eat nematodes which could be harmful for the surrounding area. Their excretion help decompose the crops’ residue. They also create a topsoil which helps the growth of the plants. But humans have to do their part to aid the earthworms. They have to make sure they have a source of food such as soil residue and manure. Also, certain pesticides should not be used that might kill the earthworm population. Earthworms are often introduced to environments where they are not abundant in because of their long lasting benefits.

Energy Watchdog

Energy Watchdog is a product that helps alleviate the strain that the New York City power grid faces. It was created by Calm Energy, and is designed to not only act as a backup generator but also as a way to reduce energy consumption on a daily basis. Energy Watchdog is a smart technology in the sense that it will adapt to the tendencies of a specific building, remembering the energy demands of critical functions. Therefore, when power supplies are down, Energy Watchdog automatically shuts down less important functions and prioritizes the energy on necessary ones. The technology also reduces overall energy costs by decreasing overall energy consumption and by decreasing energy consumption during peak demand times. This device will prove especially useful in times where power lines are down, such as Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy crippled many businesses in the New York City area because of power outages and power usage inefficiencies. Had Energy Watchdog been implemented, many of the power-related issues from catastrophes like hurricanes can be alleviated.

Single Use Plastics

Plastic is a material that is used very often everywhere, but exactly how good is it for us? Although it is vital for certain things such as construction and infrastructure, there is still too much wasteful plastic in the world. 10.5 million tons of plastic waste is produced by Americans each year, but less than 5% of it is recycled. Much of the world’s plastic waste is thrown into dumps and oceans, contributing to the world’s pollution. About 50% of the plastic waste falls into one category – single use plastics. Since single use plastics are have health and ecological dangers, the use of single use plastics must be regulated.

Two of the most common types of single use plastics are plastic bags and plastic water bottles. After plastics bags are used once or twice, they are mainly forgotten and usually end up in the streets. These plastic bags eng up in sewers or drainage systems, increasing the risk of clogging such systems. This, in turn, increases the risks of floods – floods that have the ability to submerge countries! Plastics are also very harmful to marine wildlife. Plastics bags that end up in the ocean kill animals through choking and suffocation. Other types of plastics, such as from the netting or lines of fishing gear, also contribute to the 100,000 plastic entanglements of marine life in the North Pacific every year. Plastics are also very harmful towards humans because chemicals from plastics can end up in the human’s body through consumption of seafood, or even through water as someone drinks from a plastic water bottle. Some chemicals in plastics are carcinogenic, which can cause birth defects, skin diseases, vision failure, etc. Single use plastics is currently in a cycle that begins with human production, but ends with harmful effects towards wildlife and humans.

The use of single use plastics must be reduced. Even if the plastics are properly disposed of, its low density allows it to travel downstream into oceans. Plastics are also really expensive to make because they are made of organic carbon based compounds and must be derived from fossil fuels, which are nonrenewable gases. The cleanup cost of disposing plastics is estimated to cost $75 billion, according to the United Nations Environmental Programme. In the long run, single use plastics are harmful to the ecosystem and are very costly to properly maintain the use of it. To minimize the amount of plastic waste, all recyclable plastics must be properly disposed of. Proper legislation should also be taken to reduce the amount of single use plastics in the world to create a better environment to live it.

Sources:

http://ecologycenter.org/plastics/ptf/report1/

http://www.unep.org/gpa/Documents/Publications/ValuingPlasticExecutiveSummaryEn.pdf

http://www.cleanwateraction.org/sites/default/files/CA_Fact%20Sheet_final_0.pdf

http://www.sustainablecommunication.org/eco360/what-is-eco360s-causes/plastic-garbage

Rising Sea Levels: Staying Afloat in Florida and Antartica

Monica Saw-Aung

Final Blog Post

In 2006, Al Gore’s publication of An Inconvenient Truth garnered mass support for the global climate change movement. However, although the public acknowledges the impact of climate change, its consequences seem distant and gradual to many people. This is not the case for the residents of South Florida and the scientists studying West Antartica’s ice sheets. The impact of rising sea levels in these two locations emphasize the very tangible and widespread effects of climate change as its tides literally approach our doorstep.

(c) Lynn Sladky/AP

In South Florida, flooded streets have become a common occurrence. Regarded as the “ground-zero of sea rise,” West Florida suffers because of its low elevation topography and its limestone foundation. The low overall elevation makes the region among the cities most susceptible to storm surges in the nation. Florida’s limestone base is filled with holes which are, in turn, filled with water. Furthermore, South Florida once existed as continuous wetland (known as the Everglades), circumvented today by a complex water system consisting of pump stations, canals, and other water control structures. This system works by maintaining a dynamic equilibrium where more freshwater pushes out to prevent less saltwater from pushing in. Unfortunately, as the sea levels rise and the saltwater front pushes onward, Florida witnesses its coastal regions being overtaken by saltwater and its drinking aquifers becoming salty. From another angle, the water table also rises, causing a reduction of stormwater capture and more extreme rainfall conditions. Regardless of restoration plans, South Florida will most likely be inundated in the future, partially due to the rapidly melting ice sheet in West Antartica’s Amundsen Sea.



At the other end of the Earth, West Antartica’s Ice Sheet has fallen into irreversible decline. Most of the ice sheet is built on a bed below sea level, which makes the point of attachment between the bed and the ice sheet (grounding line) vulnerable to warm water delivered by ocean currents. If that wasn’t problematic enough, the bed also slopes down such that parts of the bed lie more than a mile below sea level, making it even easier for ocean water to separate the ice from its grounding line. A specific part of the West Antartic Ice Sheet, known as the Amundsen Sea region, faces the greatest risk because of its small ice shelves and its lack of grounding obstructions (e.g. islands). Should the ice sheet in the Amundsen Sea region melt completely, global sea levels will see a rise of 4 feet.
In a process known as thermal expansion, the higher sea temperatures of recent years also cause water to expand and infiltrate the ice to a greater extent.



Although Florida and West Anartica are seeing the extreme consequences of rising sea level right now, coastal land regions around the world should prepare themselves. Already, large storms are creating more destructive impacts with their powerful storm surges, as was the case with Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy, and Hurricane Irene in America. People who inhabit low-lying islands and flooding-vulnerable areas may have to evacuate and lose their homes to the unforgiving water.

The only way to put off this impending doom is to reduce our carbon emissions, but even then, as with the inevitable loss of the Amundsen Sea glaciers, sea levels will probably increase anyway. Still, as inhabitants of this planet, we have a choice if that sea level rise will be small or large. Instead of passively observing the environment worsen, we must reduce our carbon footprint in the ways we know how (see here for tips to reduce your footprint). Starting from something as small as biking to school rather than driving, every decision matters if we want to stay afloat.

Sources

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/12/21/the-siege-of-miami

https://www.nasa.gov/jpl/news/antarctic-ice-sheet-20140512/

http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-sea-level-rise/

http://www.npr.org/2016/05/10/476071206/as-waters-rise-miami-beach-builds-higher-streets-and-political-willpower

Food Waste

Food waste in the United States is becoming a serious issue, both from a social and environmental standpoint. Forty percent of food in the U.S. is discarded, with is economically burdensome as well, wasting $165 billion a year. It is estimated that on average, 1,640 tons of commercial food waste is created by New York City restaurants, hotels, schools, and other services. Unfortunately, the majority of this waste is not recycled, which contributes to perpetually growing landfills. In these landfills, the food waste decomposes and contributes to approximately 7% of overall greenhouse gasses annually. Recycling attempts such as composting and firmer food disposal regulations have helped to tackle this issue, however more needs to be done.

In addition to being harmful to the environment, food waste is a social issue as well; 42.2 million Americans live in households with very low food security. In particular, households with children, single parents, seniors, and black and Hispanic people experience higher rates of food insecurity. About 30% of the food currently being discarded is more than enough to feed the millions of Americans that do not have enough to eat. Food waste reduction methods that seek to send food to these households rather than landfills are ideal from a social and environmental viewpoint.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/us/food-waste-is-becoming-serious-economic-and-environmental-issue-report-says.html

 

http://time.com/4037087/food-waste-united-states/

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/17/business/cities-and-companies-tackle-the-food-waste-problem.html

Bioswales

Bioswales are long channeled depression or trench that receives rainwater runoff from solid impervious surfaces and have vegetation and organic matter to slow water infiltration during rain storms. Planted with vegetation suited to boggy conditions, the bioswales act like miniature wetlands that filter out and biodegrade the toxins contained in the runoff.

Bioswales are designed to manage a specified amount of runoff from a large impervious area, such as a parking lot or roadway. Because they need to accommodate greater quantities of stormwater, they often require use of engineered soils. They are also linear systems that are greater in length than width and are vegetated with plants that can withstand both heavy watering and drought. The effectiveness of bioswales increases with increased contact time between soil and stormwater, and increased vegetative cover.

This is all best achieved by using soils that can adequately slow down, infiltrate, and retain water, as well as support plant life. In areas where nutrients are a concern to water quality, soils capable of retaining high amounts of phosphorus or nitrogen should be selected, along with plants that use nutrients very efficiently. Bioswales are a type of green infrastructure that helps clear the soil contaminants as well as the rain water contaminants ultimately improving the groundwater quality.