Author: aratkiewicz

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This seminar has allowed me another semester of strengthening my relationships with my Macaulay friends, as well as allowing me to get to know more people from the program. Our poster presentation was an interesting journey, both because I got to get to know the girls in my group better, but also due to the research we put into the project. It was fun to collaborate on ideas and explore the city together with my group, and to be able to do so in a new environmental perspective I might have not observed my surroundings in before. My town was pretty harshly affected by Hurricane Sandy so I was aware of the issues contributed to flooding, but it was eye-opening to realize how severe of an issues flooding was, especially in areas that are densely populated by low income families that cannot afford to pay for expensive reparations and have no other home to go to if theirs gets destroyed in flooding. I wish we got to further explore the health issues that concern flooding, but we had so many different areas to get into in this project that we needed to focus on the ones that most captured the attention of our audience and highlighted why infrastructure has to be implemented as soon as possible. I also want to highlight my experience working with my fellow Macaulay students. Julia was my first friend in college so it was so nice to be able to spend more time with her, even if it was working on a project. I have had classes with Johanna and Naveera before, but I really enjoyed getting to know them more through this project. I don’t know if you know, but Johanna is one of the funniest girls in our class and Naveera has an absolutely magical singing voice! EXPOSED! Ultimately, this semester was an interesting mix of getting to know my fellow Macaulay peers better and to be able to understand the current climate and environmental issues form a new perspective, as well as understand how they affect me and the world around me, and how easily they could be solved with more awareness and funding! THANK YOU FOR A GREAT SEMESTER!!

Sustainability and Protecting Our Oceans!

Many countries have been becoming more and more proactive with their choices that impact the environment. Recently, Chile banned single-use plastic bags from 102 coastal villages and towns. Plastic bags are a serious issue because they are not being recycled, and most of them end up in landfills. They might seem light and like they do not take up much room, but 3.4 billion plastic bags were used last year in Chile alone! We need to promote a global initiative to recycle and reuse more. Globally only 14 percent of plastic is recycled! Our landfills cannot hold all the plastic we are dumping into them and 8 billion tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean a year! Scientists calculated that by the year 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. It is time for America to follow the lead of many other countries, such as Rwanda, Kenya, and Bangladesh, that have already instilled bans and charges on plastic bags, or at least begin to instill bans in coastal towns and begin to put charges in effect throughout the entire nation.

 

Battery Park City Adventure

 

How could the engineering of these systems fit into the cities integrated water management plans? What about for your assigned sewershed?

The cities integrated water management plans, including our chosen location of Chinatown which is affected by the Lower Manhattan Newton Creek sewer shed, could greatly benefit from the engineering of the Solaire systems. We could make promoting green infrastructure more alluring if it came with sustainable water systems that reclaim black and grey water which would allow for reusing water and the added benefit of not needing to use fertilizer, just like the open grounds around the Solaire. Taking care of our parks will be crucial as storm surges intensify, and parks such as the one between the Solaire and the waterfront can be focused on to instill systems for flood attenuation and stormwater management. Such systems would be beneficial in all the parks and spaces that border lower manhattan and the rising water levels surrounding the island.

How could art be used to draw attention to and educate people about the fate of city stormwater? (hint….look down as you’re walking the streets on your walk around battery park city)

Art could be used to highlight and emphasize current and future issues. The 9/11 memorial could serve both as a resting ground for our fellow Americans who’s lives were unfairly taken by the selfish act of terrorism, but also as an aesthetically pleasing corner of busy battery park city that uses sustainable water management systems to highlight water issues in the city. I am not sure why we were assigned to see the Jeff Koons Balloon Flower, but I am familiar with the artist and love his use of playful juxtaposition through his choice of taking a subject such as a balloon flower, which is light and airy, and giving it mass and density by choosing a heavy metal to make a sculpture depicting the subject, as well as a texture and shine that one would not expect from a balloon. The surrounding water fountain around the sculpture could be improved by using recaptured rain/stormwater or a sustainable water system that trapped and reused runoff water.

Feel free to check out my groups pictures of the Solaire, the park across the street, Teardrop park, the 9/11 Memorial, the Jeff Koons Balloon Flower, and our chosen location of Chinatown as the location most in need of attention related to our Lower Manhattan Newton Creek sewer shed, at this link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16ulR-TEeepNXSjgk6xCZzpeGE-GC1T2B?usp=sharing

 

Green City Design

“Liuzhou Forest City will be the first urban settlement in China that will be able to generate its own renewable energy, increase biodiversity, and effectively reduce urban air pollution—which is a major challenge for present-day China.”

Not only is this a major challenge for present-day China, it is also a concern for most other developed nations are facing. We need to start looking at sustainability on a global scale and working together to live in an environmentally friendly manner together by sharing innovations and ideas. There has been a lot of pushback on green design due to people not understanding the severe deleterious climate impact our current way of life is exerting on the Earth. People are also worried about the way change will impact their current way of life and accessibility to priorly expected comforts.

Here are the facts:

“Covering an area of approximately 175 hectares along the Liuzhou River, Forest City will have offices, houses, hotels, hospitals, and schools that will be entirely covered by a total of 40,000 trees and close to a million plants, including over 100 species. It will be connected to the main city of Liuzhou by a rail line with electrical train cars.”

We can still lead our ordinary lives in an environment that is designed to both serve us as well as our planet. This new city that China is planning to develop proves that a functioning metropolitan city can also compromise some space for nature and biodiversity. But can they truly hold a large amount of people while covering up every single persons environmental footprint?

“The new city will be able to accommodate an estimated 30,000 people, and its plant-covered buildings are expected to absorb close to 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide and 57 tons of pollutants, while producing approximately 900 tons of oxygen per year.”

Not only have they figured out a way to absorb the toxins we release into our environment, but found a solution to plant enough plants to supply us and our areas with excessive oxygen. It is time for us to learn from each other and start initiative cities like this world wide!

Construction is expected to begin in 2020. Can’t wait to watch the progress!!

Climate Change

“With higher population growth, more people will be vulnerable to climate change. Understanding how much society values those future people should be an influential component of climate policy decisions.”

This article was refreshing in that it not only focused on the depressing impeding doom of climate change effects, but also put the effect of climate change in perspective to our current happiness, and how much we care about the well being of future generations due to the climate change related decisions we can make during our time on this planet. Climate change might be due to our poor environmental decisions, but it is crucial to examine why certain decisions are being made, such as for pleasure, comfort, or through ignorance.

“At its core, the climate problem is about protecting the future against intolerable damages, so it’s essential that policymakers think clearly about how much we value our descendants. Our goal is that our descendants will think back to this generation and be convinced that we carefully considered their interests [when setting climate policy].”

Most of the population would agree that we want to leave a habitable space for our future kin, but this is becoming increasingly difficult with exponential population increase, and the build up of mismanagement in poorer and less developed countries who are either unaware of climate change effects and their causes, or simply do not have the economic ability to actively finance change and try to make a difference.

“If society values the absolute number of people who are happy, it also has a significant effect on the world’s optimal peak temperature. A higher population leads to a higher carbon price but a lower optimal peak temperature; this is because it is even more important to limit temperature rise when there are more future people who will suffer the damages.”

Ultimately, the article concludes that understanding the amount happiness, and average happiness levels of our global population can help put climate change in a perspective where we actively care about our children, and their children, and so on, because we are in the happy mental state that allows us to focus on more long term goals. This is interesting to explore because many groups of people do not have the privilege to ponder the well being of the people who will come after them, due to circumstances such as poverty, which statistically showcase less happy people, who would ultimately make less future oriented decisions, and would submit to choosing quick, cheap solutions that they can benefit from in the short term. In conclusion, we are still deciding how much we should value the future generations well-being, especially in the context of understanding what the population wants and why, and if we will be able to help those in need quickly now, or if that will impede our ability to leave a habitable Earth for our children.

 

Water Sustainability

We are in an interesting, vicious, endless cycle of consumers continuously demanding more from industries, but expecting the increase of production  to also include products that are both safe and sustainable for themselves and the planet. This becomes an issue when industries such as agriculture face several issues with water risks, including water crises impacting the global economy, and many companies experiencing water-related losses.

To be able to keep up with the modern sustainable mindset of the population, certain food and beverage companies go the extra mile to ensure that they only get resources provided to them by environmentally responsible sources. This encourages agriculture companies to have to meet certain sustainability standards, however, the main issue is that water facets are not explicitly controlled, thus prompting a need to define water facet related standards more clearly and highlight them to companies.

Ultimately, the goal is to keep encouraging sustainability standards in agricultural supply chains, but we need to make sure that these standards span across the entire sustainability spectrum, especially water.

 

Water

We need to start taking care of our environment, if we want to take care of ourselves! Researchers have found plastic fibers in over 80 percent of the samples they have taken from water ranging from the United States Capitol building to the shores of Uganda’s Lake Victoria. These plastics are originating from all kinds of sources like synthetic clothes, tire dust, micro-beads, and plastic utensils. We need to change the way we recycle and dispose of plastic materials, to prevent from future water contamination!

https://inhabitat.com/plastic-fibers-found-in-over-80-of-tap-water-samples-from-five-continents/

 

Sustainability

I was super interested in this fantastic new way to package water! I am always so upset at friends who use a lot of plastic water bottles, especially when they don’t recycle. I am a strong proponent of reusable water bottles, but am very excited about this even more advanced way to reduce waste.  I cannot wait to get to try this edible water bottle! They’re made out of seaweed extract (which is cheaper than plastic!!), and it will allow for so much waste reduction if it becomes implemented in our daily lives. Check out the video below to learn more about this great, SUSTAINABLE way to transport and consume water in the modern age!

 

Bio Blitz 2017

Bio Blitz 2017 was definitely an interesting experience. It is always exciting to explore new things, and it was great to get to do so with new friends! Our mentor for the day was a man who loved fish and fishing more than I have seen anyone care about something in a long time. Hearing about the different fish at Alley Pond Park was eye-opening to understanding the diverse amount of species present, even though we were only able to catch blue gills when we started fishing. It was sad to hear about the eutrophication occurring due to the phosphate in the water and excessive algae growth in the lake that is toxic to both humans and certain species that live in the lake. I think more emphasis was put on this disheartening situation because it was being explained to us by a man who really cared about the ecosystem that was being affected due to the changes in the lake. We were also joined by people from fish associations in the state and they entertained us with some life size fish models and fun facts, as well as let us take some funky photos with their array of fish!  Ultimately, it was fun to relax and spend some time fishing on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, but it was also interesting to learn about the different species and issues in a little unsuspecting lake such as the one we spent time at in Alley Pond Park.