Let Me Tell Ya About The Birds and The Bees and The Flowers and The Trees

I know it has been a few weeks since I have posted anything. For this I apologize. No excuses given, just an apology. However, one thing that has been on my mind almost incessantly over the last couple of weeks is ecology. It's that branch of life and environmental sciences which looks at how biological life interacts with other members of the habitat. This can even include non-biological life such as soil, water, and climatic patterns.

Why has it been on my mind? In two words: it's fascinating! I have long been interested in these interactions and currently my work at Freshkills Park as well as my personal reading have reminded me that this is something I am deeply passionate about. The wonderful thing about ecology is that it exists in some form on every scale. Whether in an urban environment, the tropical forests, or coral reefs, ecology is present.

Some scientists focus on the whole ecosystem - interested in the big picture - while others are fascinated by narrower focal points, either between two species or a single group of organisms - such as plants - and how they interact with the rest of the system. My personal interest definitely focuses on plant ecology as I understand the singular importance that plants play in most ecosystems. You take out the plants endemic to a specific habitat and you have yourself a completely different ecosystem. Even switching which plant species is dominant within the ecosystem can alter the overall interactions inside the system.

Ecology is complex. Studying one system in one part of the globe does not mean you can make predictions about what will be going on in the same system located in a different region. Conditions are altered on a near continuous basis. What we know about an ecosystem now did not hold true for that system even 50 years ago. You add the fact that humans have had some sort of impact on every ecosystem and on most species and you are left with a royally complicated situation. But that is what is fascinating to me about it. Ecology is studying how biological life and its interactions with local physical and chemical elements are changing in real time.

You might say, "Look at what humans have done to the planet. It is ruined! Why would you want to actually know how bad the damage is?" You would be partially correct that humans have wreaked havoc with the ecosystems of this planet. Life has always dealt with havoc-induced changes though. Ecology can not only study ecosystems so we can be informed about how we must alter our activities, but ecology can also study how ecosystems are responding to our inputs. It's not always negative! Plus, we are learning from some of our mistakes and we have been giving back to nature. This dynamism is what makes life interesting.

There are no links on this post to back up my claims. This is just from my heart. You may not get it but so what? We all have our reasons why the environment means something to us. Ecology is my reason. What's your reason?

Too Important Not To Share

I have previously written about the threat that plastics pose to the natural world, both in the oceans and on land. Today, an op-ed in The New York Times details the growing spread of the Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch. It is horrifying and we must work to make changes in our disposable-friendly global culture. Please take a few moments and read this article today. Spur yourself to change by not only properly recycling all of your plastics, but also by avoiding using plastic wherever possible.

An Answer To The Question

You may have heard that global temperatures have flat-lined over the last decade. While these past few years have been overwhelmingly hot when you look at global mean temperature, there actually has been no increase in the temperature since roughly 1999. Climate deniers and global warming skeptics love to bandy this little fact about, saying it proves global warming and climate change are hoaxes. They just love to think that the scientific community doesn't know what it's talking about or that there is some huge leftist conspiracy driving scientists to come up with what they view as bunk.

However, as usual, scientific study has been able to determine this plateauing of global average temperature for the last 15 years. On ScienceDaily.com is an article detailing that researchers have found that water cycles in the Atlantic Ocean have been drawing down the heat down to the depths. Scientists participating in the research say this cycling occurs on roughly 30-year cycles, so this phenomenon will not occur forever. In addition, just because temperature has flat-lined does not mean global warming is no longer a threat. The carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are still trapping the heat within the confines of our atmosphere. Temperatures are still warmer today than they were 40 years ago. On top of this, all that heat being drawn down into the ocean could assist in the warming of our oceans which could have devastating effects on polar ice and the ability of certain species to thrive within their oceanic habitats.

Yes, science keeps giving us new things to be concerned about and they raise more questions, but they also find answers to these questions. This is the relentless pursuit of science - to discover the truth no matter how long it takes or how deep the research must go. That is why I love science.

The Aged Pipes

Yesterday, I was listening to NPR's Environment podcast that highlights all environmental stories broadcast over the past week. One story on the state of our water infrastructure here in the United States really stood out. An expert on our water supply told of how we have a really old infrastructure and replacement policy has ridiculously long time frames. In fact, based on current policies nationwide, most regions would experience three 1-in-100 year storm events before they would replace their water infrastructure. Think of that. We expect cast iron pipes to last all the pressures put upon them to last roughly 300 years.

This news story really made me take a new look at the water crisis that is emerging. As I have written before, finding and sustaining water supply will be a challenge in the coming years due to climate change and over usage. However, what if we have a water supply but the delivery system is prone to massive breaks? This was recently demonstrated on the UCLA campus in California where more than 20 million gallons of water shot to the surface after a 93-year old water main broke there. Here in New York City, water main breaks are a frequent occurrence.

The NPR story rightly pointed out that we don't think about our water infrastructure enough, and we are unwilling to pay the price for upgrades. Again, water is an essential resource. We need it, and with water supplies ever decreasing, we need to ensure that delivery is efficient with no loss along the way to our glasses or bathtubs. We may have more advanced water infrastructure than many parts of the world, but the materials are outdated and if we don't address the problems, we will be no better off than a rural community in the developing world that relies on a single well in the town square where residents must carry their water away in buckets. The solution to this problem is easy enough, fix the replacement policies and get water users (commercial and industrial building owners, homeowners, and farmers) to pay just a few dollars more every month so that our communities can invest in updating and replacing our water infrastructure. The key to this easy solution is us pressuring our lawmakers, as it always is.

Maybe This Isn't A Fool's Errand

Here is a link to The Guardian newspaper and an article that discusses that sometimes facts do convince the skeptics of climate change/global warming. That is good to know, but the real conundrum is how to convince those who seemingly refuse to be convinced. Is it possible? I don't know what the answer is, but I know I will still try and provide some insight into our environmental challenges and triumphs. Even if we can't get others to accept the evidence, we can learn more about our world and the global environment in which we live.

Urbanites

One of the biggest challenges we face as a species is how to deal with increased urbanization. More and more of us are living in what can be termed urban centers. The density of population clusters in and around cities continues to rise on a monumental scale. Yes, some of this can be attributed to a growing human population, but what we are witnessing now is whole scale migration from rural areas to high population centers.

Some have argued that urbanization can actually be good for the environment. It is true that with good city planning, an urban center can bring down emissions with the help of mass transit, LEED standard buildings, and city policy that favors practices that take environmental stewardship into account. In New York City, citizens' average carbon footprint is smaller than the citizens of Vermont due to the availability of mass transit and walkability of the city.

Of course this doesn't hold true for every city. Los Angeles is much more car-oriented and therefore has a higher carbon footprint per capita than other cities. There are also other factors we must consider that increased urbanization is having on the environment. As human population continues to increase, food production must increase. By concentrating our numbers in cities, food production must occur with less hands and greater reliance on mechanical and industrial techniques. While it is hoped that technology and policy will help to steer farming practices to an eco-friendly path, this cannot be guaranteed to happen within every country. Food production also relies heavily on the use of water, and without improved techniques can actually degrade overall water quality. After food is produced, it must be transported to cities and preserved until consumption, contributing to the overall human carbon footprint.

Additionally, urbanization requires the development of infrastructure. Construction can be quite carbon intensive, whether it be the building of residential and commercial complexes, or tunneling underground to develop mass transit or sewage systems. While humans are developing sustainable materials and practices, when it comes down to it construction will always be a huge factor in our impact on the environment/climate.

These are just a couple of examples of the challenges we must address as we become an urban species. I am not against urbanization at all (seeing as I'm a proud resident of NYC), but clearly there are better ways to frame a city within an environmental context than others. For our current urban centers, further planning and adjustment must be undertaken to ensure we are reducing our footprint and impact on local ecosystems. For emerging urban areas, city planners and officials must take into account that they have a chance to show a city can be prosperous and environmentally conscious from the outset. Beyond cities, farmers, ranchers, and those who make agricultural policy must look for ways to drastically cut their impacts on the environment. Urbanization is happening, but we must think of the challenges that are appearing and we must take the right steps now.

Sometimes Moving Pictures Are Better Than Words

I just found an amazing YouTube account. It's called CrashCourse and they do things ranging from history to science. I looked through their ecology videos and found this great little video that explains some of the impacts humans are having on the environment. Take a few minutes to watch this engaging video and then show it to your family and friends who believe that our actions cannot greatly affect the environment. Education beats ignorance any time.