Author: carolinezuba

Newtown Creek & Greenpoint: How Activism Helps

Though our presentation does not directly focus on the oil spills that have dramatically changed Newtown Creek for the worst, rain runoff still contains the remnants, and continues to be a huge issue both in the soil and in the water.

What our project does directly focus on, however, is the important place of community activism and engagement in reinvigorating the Newtown Creek area. Innovative activism will be able to target all the issues facing the Creek, including discussing runoff, CSOs, current pollution, and the eventual elimination of the remnants of oil spills and waste in and around the creek.

Jan Mun is one of these activists – and she is an artist. Her land art installation and social sculpture, titled Fairy Rings at Exxonmobil Greenpoint Petroleum Remediation Project Site, aims to navigate science, art, and sustainability using mycoremediation. The process using fungi to decompose surrounding pollutants and eventually shape a new, better ecology.

Battery Park City

One of the most interesting things I learned on my trip to Battery Park City was that the park holds composting in high esteem. The park was originally created using soil and rock from large construction projects. The compost of every business and residence in the area is added to the composting facility at the park. I found that the park was similar to an oasis, and was truly a beautiful place. Even the library uses energy-efficient lighting. Many features were designed using recycled materials.

Reinventing Waterways

Cities such as Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati are leading the way in improving their waterways. These public spaces are not only economically brilliant for increasing jobs, local businesses, and investments, but are also important for sustainability efforts and for increased standards of living. In such cities, waterways are being cleaned to allow city dwellers to engage in activities along the water, and in some places, even in the water.

Megacities & Green Infrastructure: Learning by Example

By Caroline Zuba

Today’s megacities have a lot to offer to residents. Not only are they attractive commercial centers, they offer an abundance of resources ranging from schools, doctors, non-profits. In megacities known for their high-pressure lifestyles, mental health is often overlooked. In growing cities like Tokyo, suicide rates are high, and mental health in general is low.

An often overlooked “solution,” or at the very least a potential help, is green infrastructure. Helpful in climate change work and water management control, it is easy to dismiss green infrastructure as useful for nothing more. However, this recent study shows that green infrastructure improves the general quality of life and may be helping improve mental health in residents. Accessibility to nature is often an issue for those in economies that do not prize either mental health, greenery, or down-time, and so the city must become responsible. In this case, Tokyo is stepping up to the plate to fight stigma and aid its community.

Green infrastructure, as mentioned before, is also useful in water control and climate change work. Trees are an exceptionally cheap way to help a city. Not only is mental health being addressed, the payoff is $505 million in decreased air pollution, improved stormwater remediation, savings in heating/cooling costs, and CO2 sequestration.

Kiribati: The Race Against Climate Change

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P7jXveokDY?ecver=1]

By Caroline Zuba

The article I posted on Twitter, shown above, is ominous, yet painfully true. Titled “Kiribati’s fight for survival,” the article discussed how the 33 islands that make up Kiribati, a low-lying nation in the Pacific, are in tremendous danger with climate change. The highest point on most of the islands is only a couple of metres above sea level. On one island, South Tarawa, there is only one road.

Rising ocean water as a result of climate change is threatening to engulf the islands. Not only will it sink Kiribati, it also leaves it susceptible to storm damage.

Houses on the lagoon side around the village of Eita have been isolated by salt water from sea incursions and storm surges.

The most immediate concern, tied also to climate change, is fear of crop destruction. Sea incursions and king tides are ruining taro plant pits and fresh water sources. Villagers are already being forced to relocate, as evidenced from the photo. One villager says the following: “I talk about life because before this land was full of banana, babai, coconut trees, so many coconut trees, so many trees we get food from, but now how can those trees continue to live when you don’t have fresh water to give them? This is community land and so everybody has a right to live on it but now it seems like the sea has taken that away.”

“At the southern end of Abaiang in the village of Tebontebike, Maria Tekaie leans against an uprooted coconut tree that used to be 100 metres from the shore. The village had to be moved recently, as did the babai pits, due to the incursion of the sea.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The plight of the Kiribati is real for many other countries worldwide, but as the video explains, they might be our very first climate refugees. And as my discussion question asks: Who will be saved? The industrial work of countries like the U.S. and the UK are a good deal responsible for recent temperature changes that are affecting sea levels, and yet the lives of their entire populations is not at stake – the Kiribati’s are.

Water Sustainability

Caroline Zuba

Water sustainability is an important topic, especially in regions missing adequate water supplies. In this TED video, Fahad Al-Attiya discusses how Qatar creates its water supply. With suddenly increasing populations, the country utilizes technology to create a water supply. In this case, they use the process of desalination from lakes and rivers.

He also mentions the crisis that is about to occur. People are demanding more meat and other energy-needing foods. At the same time, climate change is declining yields. Qatar only has enough water reserved to last under two days. Big companies are also ruining the small farmers.

In our classroom discussions, we have often talked about how important companies are to sustainability. Though he mentions industry, Al-Attiya is the one who creates them – they are not the ones monitoring, lobbying, or forming policies. He intends to promote education and technology to support a sustainable solution for the water needed.

Human Migration Due to Climate Shift

By Caroline Zuba

At our the last class, we spoke extensively about the key roles that water plays in our lives, and the roles it plays in maintaining an urban environment. We also discussed to some degree the catastrophic events that water causes, including combined sewage overflow in the modern day.

Missing from the conversation were recent studies discussing how water played a huge effect at the beginning of mankind. Naturally, most people are familiar with the rise of civilization, and the need for new communities to build around rivers or other bodies of water to facilitate trade and commerce, as well as allow irrigation (see: the Nile, China’s Yellow River in the North and Yangzi to the South). Yet, recent evidence as described in the article has determined that our first ancestors may have migrated out of Africa in search of wet climates. The climate had shifted to a hot spell, and the climate of the entirety of North Africa became hot and dry. Paleoclimate research indicates that the region shifted from the Green Sahara into a stretch of land hotter than it is today, and as a result, humans sought the wet – meaning, they followed the water. I found this to be an interesting discovery for anthropologists and historians alike, as well as modern scientists.

This image has been added to this post as an example of the vast fluxes in climate in the continent of Africa.

Indigenous Communities & Food Security

By Caroline Zuba

When discussing sustainability, indigenous communities are a top priority.

Tourists tend to be indiscriminate in their vacation choices. Palau, for example, is an archipelago of 700 islands heavily reliant on tourism. Yet, a recent study has taken note of the effects of tourists consuming the fish that they have been gawking at on their trips. According to the study, tourism on the islands surpasses the local populations by around nine times.

“Dive tourists taking a lunchtime break in Palau. Image by Colette Wabnitz. Credit: University of British Columbia.”

This presents a massive problem when many indigenous communities, including those in Palau, rely mainly on coastal fish populations. Not only is fishing a food source, it is also one of their links to the culture that defines them. In fact, it is a maintenance of an identity, and the depopulation of fish in the area endangers lives and cultures. Food security is thus at the forefront of discussions regarding Indigenous rights, and tourism is increasing the vulnerability of these groups by increasing changes in the ecosystem.

The study found a potential solution: The health of the reefs can be sustained by shifting to consuming open water fish, including sustainably-harvested tuna. The notion of sustainable tourism is addressed, and the article mentions that this sort of tourism should also include protecting the food of the local people.

MT & Crocodiles

In “Something is changing the sex of Costa Rican crocodiles,” Science Magazine interviewed Chris Murray regarding his recent work. Murray and his colleagues were hired to investigate a weird trend noticed in the crocodiles in Palo Verde. His team backed the trend: Male crocodiles suddenly (or, perhaps, not so suddenly) outnumbered female crocodiles 4:1. Also importantly, however, the scientists realized that the tissues of the animals had traces of a synthetic steroid.

Interestingly, the researchers believe that the synthetic steroid, discovered to be the hormone MT, was causing the crocodiles to switch sex. They speculate that the source of the hormone comes from tilapia farms, but that it could also possibly come from pollution or sewage. The debate regarding the source of MT, the realization that the hormone has been found in crocodiles from Palo Verde National Park and the Tárcoles River presents numerous issues. Is the hormone affecting other marine life (like the tilapia, or other fish)? What does this contamination mean for crocodiles?

American crocodiles, according to the article, are considered vulnerable, and the Costa Rica area that these crocodiles call home is one of few places that the species really thrive. If the hormone affects reproduction, the crocodiles could be in big trouble. In addition, tensions between area residents and the nearby crocodiles are fairly tense. If the hormone alters the behavior of the crocodile (which is a possibility), it can further sour relations and leave the crocodile population in further danger.

I chose the article because it is an interesting piece about a problem discussed constantly today – the effect humans have on their environment. MT, a man-made steroid that is not biodegradable, is prescribed for those with breast cancer, menopause, or erectile dysfunction. The effects on animals like crocodiles and fish are fairly unknown, and vulnerable animal populations could be faced with a number of problems as a result. Such pollutants can have a world-wide impact.