Category: Students

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Sustainability In Regards to Electric Powered Cars

 

Sustainability consists of three different aspects of civilization: society, economy, and the environment. All three aspects must be taken into account whenever making decisions about how to prosper in the present and in the future, by balancing economic progress, social progress, and conservation of Earth’s resources. This NY Times article was about different countries planning to eventually ban gasoline and diesel powered cars. The chief executive of General Motors put emphasis that this decision should be made by the customers, rather than forcing them to buy electric cars, that the customers have a right to choose the “technology that meets their needs” (Bradsher). G.M. in China have been attempting to create plug-in hybrid vehicles that can drive 50 miles per charge on the electric battery and 100 miles after that on the gas engine. The decision and her statements have come into debate on whether vehicles should be allowed to progress to become more green.

In order for our society to progress, we need to take into account all three aspects of sustainability. It is important to introduce the idea that cars should be altered to be more environmentally friendly, because diesel and gasoline powered cars contribute a significant amount of CO2 emissions that increase air pollution and global warming. However, it is also important to ensure that the economic and social aspects of society can support this decision based on the concept of complete sustainability. If the electric car is not as efficient and more expensive than a gasoline car, a majority of people, unless committed to helping the environment, will go for that option. The chief executive made a fair point that the customers will choose according to their needs. The only way to promote the greatest amount of sustainability and progress for society is to continue trying to improve the efficiency of environmentally friendly cars to the point that they reach the efficiency level of gasoline and diesel powered cars in technology and mileage, and then proceed to phase out a need for gasoline cars. They must also take into account the cost of the cars and the living styles of the majority population, whether they afford to be environmentally friendly. Despite everything, it was also important for countries to announce their inclination to introduce and promote electric powered cars as being an important and hopefully established part for the future of our society if we want to continue living on Earth comfortably.

Replacing Plastic?

An inexpensive biomaterial that can be used to sustainably replace plastic barrier coatings in packaging and many other applications has been developed by researchers, who predict its adoption would greatly reduce pollution. Completely compostable, the material — a polysaccharide polyelectrolyte complex — is comprised of nearly equal parts of treated cellulose pulp from wood or cotton, and chitosan, which is derived from chitin — the primary ingredient in the exoskeletons of arthropods and crustaceans. The main source of chitin is the mountains of leftover shells from lobsters, crabs and shrimp consumed by humans.

These environmentally friendly barrier coatings have numerous applications ranging from water-resistant paper, to coatings for ceiling tiles and wallboard, to food coatings to seal in freshness, according to lead researcher Jeffrey Catchmark, professor of agricultural and biological engineering, College of Agricultural Sciences.
The potential reduction of pollution is immense if these barrier coatings replace millions of tons of petroleum-based plastic associated with food packaging used every year in the United States — and much more globally, Catchmark noted.

He pointed out that the global production of plastic is approaching 300 million tons per year. In a recent year, more than 29 million tons of plastic became municipal solid waste in the U.S. and almost half was plastic packaging. It is anticipated that 10 percent of all plastic produced globally will become ocean debris, representing a significant ecological and human health threat.

Source:https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170920144704.htm

Urban Sustainability

https://twitter.com/gabicohen6/status/909804813377994752

This article discusses Freshkills Park, which is a park built on what used to be a landfill in Staten Island. In PlaNYC 2030’s original 2007 urban sustainability plan, the Bloomberg administration set a goal that every city resident would live within a ten minute walk of a city park, showing how important parks are to urban life. While we know that they are an enjoyable place to spend time outdoors, there are also ecological benefits. Green space absorbs heat and carbon dioxide, assists in controlling storm water runoff, and can help preserve biodiversity.

In rural settings, people have their own outdoor land to enjoy alone. However, in cities, people depends on parks to enjoy the outdoors. Park design can vary by topography, climate, culture, public demand and capital investment. A lot of thought is put into placing a waterfall to drown out the noise of people or where to place a Pond so there aren’t too many people in one area. But not many times are parks placed on landfills. I think Staten Island is setting a great example of urban sustainability. If you can’t tell what used to be there, and you’re getting good use of the space, why not turn a garbage dump into a park?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Macaulay Bio Blitz Salamander

This little guy is a spotted salamander which we found underneath a log. Unlike the red striped salamander, this spotted amphibian has lungs, though he does take in a lot of moisture through his skin as well. It was rare to find 4 separate salamanders so early because the majority of them are still hibernating under the ground. I hope to go back and find a few again because it was a very interesting experience, finding that there were these amazing creatures in the same park that I’ve been to since I could walk. It makes you realize that ecosystems are everywhere and you just have to know where to look.

Greenbelts and Nitrogen Dioxide

In “Roadside trees trap asthma-inducing pollutants“, a new study challenges the popular notion that having more trees automatically means having cleaner air.  A new study looked at the wooded areas net to roadways. A common pollutant from vehicle exhaust, nitrogen dioxide,  may be trapping it and causing the ground levels to as much as 21%. Nitrogen Dioxide can make it harder to  breathe for people with respiratory disorders.

Urban Ecologist Heikki Setälä from the University of Helsinki measured air quality in and around 10 greenbelts. After taking these measurements, they found that percentages of Nitrogen Dioxide were on average; 14% higher than in the fields some distance away from it. Setälä suggested that wind might be the cause in the study. The denseness of the trees make it more difficult for pollutants to disperse.

I was attracted to this article because of how it challenges the belief that to combat climate change and pollution, we just have to plant more trees. We have to be more strategic with how we implement environmentally friendly infrastructure.  As noted by Sara Janhäll, who says, “We can use vegetation much more than we do, but the design can be totally wrong, and then you won’t get an air pollution-reducing effect.”

 

 

Meltwater Fingerprint Documented by Satellites on a Global Scale by: Maryia Shaban

The human population constantly leave elements of their existence in the nature of the world around us. Our footprints are all around us and we constantly leave them. Geophysicists have put together a “global-scale” image of the secondary effects of the melting glaciers on the planet’s sea levels.

Sea levels have been rising and falling at rapid rates, but not evenly around the globe. Scientists have started to piece together the puzzle of this phenomenon. Ice sheets on planet Earth, being denser than water, exert a gravitational pull on all water bodies in their proximity. Similarly to the way that the moon exerts a noticeable gravitational pull on the water creating tides, except at a much less dramatic level,glaciers pull on the water around them creating an elevated sea level at their edges. As the glaciers melt in consequence of the further opening of the ozone hole (our footprint), they become less massive therefore exerting a smaller gravitational pull on the rest of the water and lowering the sea level. Simultaneously, the land rises up because the ice does not weigh it down so much. This creates an even further drop in sea level.

The loss of mass changes Earth’s gravitational field causing the water from the glaciers and ocean water to move away towards faraway coastlines; the resulting pattern of sea-level rise is the fingerprint of melting from that particular ice sheet or glacier. In some parts of the world therefore the sea level will rise and in others it is prone to decreasing. Most of the burden of rising sea levels is taken on by the middle and lower latitudes.

To read more about this phenomenon visit scientificamerican.com under the Earth and Sustainability tab.

Macaulay Honors BioBlitz 2017

When we arrived at Alley Pond Park for BioBlitz last Saturday, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I’ve always been, for lack of a better term, a water-person, so I knew I wanted to partake in some sort of aquatic activity. But unfortunately I was placed in Group 9 – the designated insect-catching team. The lead professor demonstrated two main capturing techniques that we would be using: netting (which involved specialized nets for aerial and aquatic environments) and sifting. The first technique required you to gently sway a net across clusters of bushes, low-hanging branches, and flowers, on which insects would typically be resting. The second technique required you to collect and filter out ground soil in which insects live. We then used an aspirator to “suck up” and collect anything we caught.

After being allotted 30 minutes to catch and collect as many insects as possible, we began to analyze and compare what we found. When surveying the amounts and the types of insects in the different areas of the park, it was crucial to take into account the variable of time; whenever we relocated to a new area, we made sure to stay within a consistent time frame. The most common findings included ants, mosquitoes, spiders, and grasshoppers. But perhaps the most interesting creature was the wasp mimic, an insect that is genetically coded to display the physical characteristics of a wasp as a defense mechanism against predators. Insects play pivotal roles in our ecosystem. Chief among them are their ability to pollinate certain plants and flowers, as well as their ability to decompose organic waste. Although we certainly did not make any breakthroughs in the field of entomology that day, I walked away with a greater appreciation for the importance of insects in the natural world (along with a whole lot of bug bites).

Bioblitz 2017

At Alley Pond Park, my group was in charge of collecting soil samples around the park so our leader could determine the difference in microbios in different areas. Two of the samples we took were aquatic, while one was not. After hiking for 20 minutes, we arrived at a small pond that encircled a large cage-like structure. I learned that this structure is called “the lion’s cage” and is used to catch  debris during natural disasters.

My main job was to take a small about of soil into a large tube, so it could be tested later on. Getting down and dirty for the experiment was definitely a fun and new experience.  The soil here was thick, dark, and compact. Our second location was not near water, but an area under a pair  of hanging pants on a tree we encountered on the way to our last location. I automatically realized that the texture and visual of the sol in this area was very different. The dirt was much looser and lighter in color, making it much easier to get into the sampling tube. It would make sense that different bacteria would live in this type of soil compared to one that has been affected by water.

Our third location was our second aquatic sample. We  arrived at a pond that was inhabited by fish (many dead) and birds. We climbed under the wooden bridge we were walking on to get the sample of dirt. The texture of this soil was similar to the first, but more freshly wet since the tide had just fallen. We continued to stay in that are to take in the scene, have a conversation about what we learned, and watch the tide continue to fall.

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Overall, BioBlitz a very unique experience that I would not have had otherwise. Getting out of the city atmosphere to learn about nature and ecology was truly thought-provoking and mind opening. It is crazy to think about the fact that there are million of microbios in even one gram of soil. I learned that although animals, water, and plants are important to the environment, so are the tiny bacteria we can not see.

Bioblitz – log lifting and amphibian searching

During the Bio Blitz at Alley Pong Park I got my Timberlands all mucked up marching around in marshes, lifting logs (many of which had suspicious fungal growth along its sides), and crouching down determining whether the organism in the dirt was either a salamander or a particularly fat worm.  As we passed the salamanders gingerly from one hand to the next we were careful not to hold them sleepy by their tail (we were informed of their ability to drop their tail and run). One of the group members, Julia Duze, noticed that one of the salamanders had their left limb missing – which is how the class learned about the salamanders’ regenerating ability. It was also interesting learning about what makes this landscape habitable for salamanders (we learned that in Long Island different salamander species live on opposite sides of the terrain and intermingle in the middle. Our tour guide attributed this to the climate, specifically how humid or dry the area was.

I also discovered I have a knack for spotting toads and frogs. After finding two adolescent toads blending in with its scenery I spotted a New York State wood frog camouflaging with the dry grass, which what I was told was a rare find since it usually did not venture far from the ponds – which we weren’t too close to.

I really enjoyed the BioBlitz and was surprised to discover such a range in diversity in a park in New York City.

 

BioBlitz 2017

Arriving at Alley Pond park I did not know what to expect. I had heard things about previous BioBlitz’, but was still very foggy on what was to come of it. I was assigned to the aquatic team and within the team i was broken off into a smaller group of three in which we went to different ponds scooping out bugs with nets. Our first couple of tries were unsuccessful, but we quickly learned to spot the tiny bugs crawling under wet leaves. Each time we found a bug we would suck them into a glass vial. At the end of our thirty minute collection period the vial was filled with different species ranging from firefly eggs to flies. We then dumped the contents of the vial into another vial that was filled with alcohol which was used to preserve the bugs for a while until they were stored for further studying. After collecting at the first pond we walked to the other side of the park to collect bugs from there. This time we were unsuccessful, the pond water was very thick and shallow  were we were trying to collect. With the muddiness and the excessive amounts of algae we were not able to collect any samples, but the attempt of dragging nets into thick algae was interesting.

Although the BioBlitz was not something i would do on my own; the experience was like no other. It was not only a fun learning experience, but the overall atmosphere of my group was enjoyable. We had three group leaders who continuously got lost trying to get from one pond to the next which made for cheerful banter. Once we ended the trip i was left with an experience ill never forget, knowledge and the satisfaction that i was helping the community learn more about biodiversity and its affects on the ponds at alley pond park. I would definitely encourage everyone to explore this park.