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.

This Is Why I Love Being A Scientist

I thought I would share with you the post I have written for a soon-to-be-posted entry on the Freshkills Park blog. Part of my internship function is to conduct an independent research project. Because of my love of plants, biodiversity, and ecosystems I have decided to look into the problem of aggressive (invasive) plant species that have become established and taken over large sections of habitat within the park. Of course, Freshkills Park is not the only place to face such a challenge. We have been dealing with this for a long time, and it happens all over the world. We often don't realize that some of our native species are considered extremely invasive in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Anyway, here is the draft version of my blog entry. I will link the final version once it goes live. Enjoy!

Long Term Planning with Planting

One hundred years ago, forested swamps and tidal wetlands characterized the site that is now becoming Freshkills Park. In 1947, Robert Moses changed all that by designating the spot to be used as a landfill. The original plan of three years of garbage tipping followed by urban development turned into something far more complex, resulting in Fresh Kills gaining the infamous title of world’s largest landfill. All the disturbance associated with pit construction, tipping, and capping altered the landscape and its ecosystems in radical ways. Since the closure of the landfill and the gradual conversion of the site into a park, nature has tried a way to find a sense of normalcy.

The problem is what is normal now is not what was normal 100 years ago. The tidal wetlands and forested swamplands have been greatly fragmented and grass-covered mounds rise more than a hundred feet above the water. New ecosystems – the grassy mounds – have been introduced and the old ones, while still there, are a shadow of their former selves. To complicate matters, a few plants from exotic regions of the world have made Freshkills their home and have aggressively asserted their dominance in this altered landscape. The issue we face as the park moves forward is how to create a long-term plan that addresses the base factor of each ecosystem – plants.

I attempted to explore this issue by visiting the Greenbelt Native Plant Center which is adjacent to the northern end of Freshkills Park and seeks to provide the park with a great range of native plants. As a division of the Parks Department, the goal of the plant center is to be a repository of the biodiversity inherent in New York City’s plant landscape. The center’s director, Ed Toth, discussed the philosophy and process by which they operate. It turns out their goal is to not just collect and grow seeds from populations of native plants collected in the metropolitan region, but to preserve the range of genetic diversity that each species has. He used the example of a shrub that has 10,000 berries on it. Some collectors, he said, might be happy to just sit at that one shrub all day and collect the berries and call it good. However, that does not capture the range of genetic diversity contained within the entire species that may help it to survive existing – as well as new – stress factors that species faces during its struggle for survival. The mantra at the GNPC is to cast a wide net – collect a large amount of seeds from a large amount of individuals.

This science-based approach may help New York City’s native flora deal with encroaching competitors as well as the effects of climate change. Mr. Toth argues that while the success of dealing with aggressive neighbors, habitat fragmentation/degradation, and climate change will occur on a species-by-species case, if there is enough genetic diversity left within our native flora they will be able to adapt and flourish. He points to the fact that native plants have survived within both our worked and natural landscapes despite the heat-island effect which has occurred ever since the city became a conglomeration of pavement, highly-massed buildings, and infrastructure.

It is important to remember that landscapes within the city, like at Freshkills Park, are not the same now as they were 100 years ago. We have irreversibly altered most landscapes, and to think we can return them to those exact same conditions is to not understand the problem. We can improve plant ecosystems to a healthier, more diverse state, but many of what are termed “invasive” species are here to stay. According to Mr. Toth, if we want to change the landscape we must work the landscape slowly over time. Planting native species, monitoring their establishment, and educated maintenance regiments will help to inform and guide what should be an adaptive management plan for the range of species of flora in Freshkills Park. By observing and working with the plants we want to conserve on a regular basis, we should be able to get a sense of how the plants are reacting to certain environmental stressors. Such long term planning is likely to provide Freshkills with a healthy and genetically diverse ecosystems despite everything that nature and humans throw at it.

Uncharacteristically Pleasant

Summers in New York City are usually hot, humid, and oppressive. It's position on the northeastern coast of North America make it open to a subtropic-like climate during the summer months. The past few days, however, have been very pleasant. Ever since a powerful set of storms came through on Tuesday, temperatures and humidity have dropped giving us a feeling for those non-rainy British summers. I have loved every minute of it.

Of course, this weather, as well as the much cooler temperatures felt across much of the Midwest - as well as the crazy weather in the West - have come as a result of the jet stream bringing down cooler air from the Arctic Circle (some in the media hailed this as the return of the polar vortex, but it is not that). The weather is great right now, and as wonderful as it is, this isn't normal. Temperatures and air in the Arctic Circle usually remains in the polar region during the summer months. Back in winter, the chilly blasts from the Arctic were also quite unusual. Scientific research is helping us understand why this is unusual, though not completely abnormal.

It turns out that the amount of sea ice in the Arctic is a huge driver of our weather patterns. Less ice in the region reduces the strength of winds, causing the jet stream to become wavier - thus allowing cooler air from the north to make its way down here. This concept is the same during both the cooler months and the warmer months. In fact, the British were warned that their winters could become much colder and more like the European continent if sea ice continued to diminish on a larger scale during the polar summer. Again, the jet stream that currently prevents colder air from pervading the British Isles most of the time, is weakening to the point that is becoming vulnerable to Arctic blasts.

We know that climate change is affecting the polar regions of more quickly and more intensely than other regions of the planet. We like to think that the what goes on in the unpopulated hinterlands of our poles is far removed from us. However, our chaotic weather is closely linked to how unstable these areas are becoming. This is where climate change really begins to make itself manifest. We may be having great weather now, but it is a silent reminder that things are no longer the same up at the North Pole.

There Is Beauty In The Muck

Yesterday I was reminded of the uniqueness of New York City's varied ecological landscapes. I took part in an ongoing wetland monitoring project that the city Parks Department is carrying out to assess the state of our region's wetlands. Venturing out into a tidal salt marsh on Staten Island, I battled knee-high, putrid mud, boggy water traps lying hidden between the hummocks of salt marsh grasses, and dense Phragmites stands that rose 10+ feet high over my head. Despite the great deal of energy it took to extract myself from the mud when I occasionally became mired in it, as well as the strategy of jumping from one hummock to another, I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to catalog the biodiversity in this particular salt marsh.

Between measurements of vegetative life, and during periods of much needed rest, I also observed the wildlife that existed right here in the middle of this urban environment. Fiddler crabs (hundreds of these creatures), many different species of dragon flies, and a great deal of marine birds provided a testament to the importance of salt marshes in terms of sustaining wildlife and providing a unique habitat. The ultimate goal of the monitoring project is to prioritize the restoration and management strategies of New York City's wetland regions. It is hoped that this will improve the general health of these habitats, as well as improving the ecological services these systems provide to the city.

Why are salt marshes important? Let me count the ways. While most of us may never venture onto one, they are far more than a place where water levels rise and fall a couple of times a day. They are not the barren places our predecessors thought they were - land that was wasted and needed reclaiming. For coastal regions that must face the constant onslaught of the seas, salt marshes are the padding that reduce the destructive nature of wave action and tidal extremes caused by storms. Not only do they protect humans as well as the land from these physical forces, they also work to create a seamless zone between dry land and sea for biological life to exist. The plants which have evolved to tolerate high salt contents and the shellfish that live at their water-logged base, help to filter the water and alter the chemical compounds within the water so that a diverse range of plants and animals can inhabit the area. In addition, far from being a place where mosquitoes and other biting insects thrive, a healthy salt marsh contains predators which help to control the pest populations.

I for one am very glad that there has been an attitude adjustment about salt marshes and wetlands in general. This is an example where politicians, planners, and the general public have to a large degree paid attention to studies of scientists to inform and alter their views of a particular issue. This change in mindset also comes at a critical time. As climate change continues, and sea levels continue to rise, tidal marshes are fast becoming a threatened ecosystem. Urban development often comes right up to a salt marsh, which will prevent it from naturally retreating to higher ground and thus preserving the ecosystem as sea levels rise. Increased frequency of droughts and changes to the sedimentation regime (brought on by rivers silting up or being dredged) also pose a high risk to the health and stability of these ecosystems. I encourage political leaders and city planners to pursue restoration of our salt marshes and in some cases creating man-made marshes which will not only protect their urban centers from flood damage but will preserve these truly amazing pockets of life.

Redemption

To celebrate my newly acquired position as an environmental monitor at Freshkills here in New York City, I thought I would inform myself and others about the place that used to be a human-made atrocity. Freshkills is located on the western edge of Staten Island. From 1947 to 2001, it served as New York City's municipal dumping ground. It infamously became the world's largest landfill and some argued it's piles of rubbish were getting so high they would be taller than most mountains along the eastern seaboard. Important wetlands gave way to stench and pollution.

All of that has changed now. Since its closure in 2001, a grand reclamation project has been underway to turn the area into a network of woodlands, wetlands, and other green spaces. The public park is now the largest in New York City, three times the size of Central Park. The entire reclamation project will not be completed until 2030, but it is already showing how we can undo a lot of the problems we have created. Reseeding native plants and planting flora in experimental ways is providing ecologists and land managers a glimpse into how urban ecological restoration takes place. During Superstorm Sandy, the wetlands in Freshkills absorbed a lot of surge, just as they would have in a "natural" setting, resulting in diminished storm damage on the western side of Staten Island.

The methane created by the decomposition of the waste has been harvested and put to use as an energy source. Native fauna are returning to the area, replacing the vast flocks of seagulls trying to eat our garbage. The water is less polluted now than it has been in years. While Freshkills has a way to go yet - and it will never be what is was before it became a landfill - it stands as a testament that society can right the environmental wrongs we inflict. It takes innovation, it takes leadership, it takes risk, but it can be done. I am excited to be a part of this project and to carry out environmental research in the park.