Climate Change

During our guest speaker lecture on February 10 about the changing climate of the arctic I copied down the website that she suggested we look at.

http://www.ipy-cfl.ca/

I checked it out and it was very interesting. It has a lot of links and information about the people involved in scientific research in the arctic. I think that global warming in our arctic is a big issue that is becoming more talked about because of all the new research that is being done. What I liked the most about the website was the sound slides, especially the ones about the different schools and their trips to the arctic for scientific research. I have a friend who went on a trip to Antarctica during her studies at the University of Saskatchewan. She said it was amazing and recommends it to anyone that is interested in the environment and can stand a little cold weather. I have never been on anything like that but I think that it would be a good experience.

Blog Reflection

1. Can parks meet its dual mandate of access and protection?

2. How can this be achieved in Wapusk?

I believe that parks can achieve their mandate of access and protection. It is not easy but with enough caring workers and the right management plan I think that it is possible. Of course there will always be obstacles that we will have to over come. Different areas have different species and needs that must be met. I think that this is a big issue and one of the hardest things about maintaining a park. When you increase the amount of people coming through a park it gets harder to protect the park from everyone. However if you do not have enough people coming to the park then you have no money to protect it. It is a fine balance that takes an entire organization like Parks Canada to keep it maintained.

This can be achieved in Wapusk by creating interest in the park and reasons to keep it open. Because there is limited public access we need an increase in interest from schools and the scientific community. Hunting is only allowed if your aboriginal ancestors originally hunted in the area but even this is a potential danger since global warming is causing a change in the polar bear and caribou populations.

I think that National Parks are an important part of Canada's heritage. I used to live in Fort Smith, NT which has the main office for Wood Buffalo National Park. I even was a Parks Canada employee during the summer three years ago and got to witness first hand the hard work that goes into protecting a park and allowing access. I believe that parks are essential to preserving our most cherished natural environments.

Blog Reflection

What future would you like to see for the Alberta Tar Sands project?

After talking about the tar sands in class, watching the documentary with Emily Hunter, and personal experience from being in Fort McMurray a couple times I think that the project should continue but with some modifications. I think that there is too much money invested and government involvement in the project for it to stop. I believe that it is harmful for our planet and the oil they are producing will cause even more harm when it is used. However instead of fighting against the project there should be more co-operation between the groups like green peace and the oil companies. On that documentary I noticed that green peace would brake into the work site and put out a big flag on the ground to get there message across, but in my opinion that solves nothing. If we can get government support to put money made by the oil companies in the tar sands toward environment sustainable research and projects then it would help in balancing the destructive nature of this project. I'm sure that there is some form of environmental tax that the oil companies have to pay but if we can get support I'm positive that we could raise this tax and help our environment.

Online Activity

Edward Burtynsky on manufactured landscapes

I watched the video where Burtynsky talks about sustainability. He shows numerous photographs of the largest man made manufactured landscapes in the world. Places like the three gorges damn, largest tire pile in the world, coal mines, largest oil field in California, and the largest urban renewal project in Shanghai. He discuses Asia's increasing footprint which is directly related to the increasing population, development, and pollution. He talks about Asia's increasing economy and how a lot of our materials are being shipped there to be recycled. Some of his photographs are of huge plants that have thousands of workers and are producing a lot of the worlds manufactured goods.

His photographs are beautiful but have a scary symbolism that our ecological foot print is rising and we need to reduce it. He believes that if we start to reduce it here in North America then the principle of conservation will hopefully have an impact in Asia.

He also talks about his blog: http://www.worldchanging.com/. Which after some review has a good source of different news and links for sustainability. It covers areas related to sustainability such as cities, communities, business, politics, and our planet.

Another initiative Burtynsky is taking is developing a program for children to come up with sustainable ideas so that they can grasp the concept and learn to protect our planet. He is offering incentives such as prizes and money for schools so that it becomes successful. This is such a good idea because if these children learn at a young age then they will grow up using good sustainability practices.

Selection 4

A Sand County Almanac

Aldo Leopold

In the start of this selection Leopold comes to realize over time that wolfs create a dynamic balance of deer on the mountain. After he sees the wolf disappear and the deer population increase the mountain becomes ravished and stripped of all its resources. He realizes that a buck killed by a wolf will be replaced in three years but a mountain destroyed by too many deer will take decades to replenish. He realizes that what humans perceive to be a better solution for everybody is not always correct.

Ethics play an important role in human environment. An ethic may be regarded as a mode of guidance for meeting ecological situations. Ethics between individuals and society, and man's relation to land, along with the extension of ethics have caused many different arguments between philosophers. What is also important is that all ethics involve the individual as a member of a community of interdependent parts.

We must quit thinking about land-use as an economic problem and examine each question in terms of what is ethically right. The belief that economics determines all land use is not true. The evolution of land ethics is an intellectual and emotional process. Good intentions can be futile but also dangerous which is what Leopold came to realize after witnessing the wolf population decrease.

Selection 3

Principles of Conservation

Gifford Pinchot

In this article Pinchot explains how the movement of conservation of natural resources began in forestry and what its principles are. Conservation stands for development in the present and the future. The development and use of resources such as coal and water are as important to this generation and future generations. Conservation also stands for waste. We must manage waste efficiently but there are different views on how far we can go with the waste and destruction of natural resources. The last very important principle is that the development of preservation of natural resources must benefit all, and not be done to profit a few. These principles of conservation apply to all interests of the people and are valuable in education about our natural resources. These principles which originated in forestry will have their use in other applications for national efficiency.

This was taken from his book written in 1910. I think that over the last 100 years these principles of conservation which originated in forestry have gone into all aspects of governing the United States and Canada. I also find it interesting that he knew it is hard to draw a line on where waste and environmental damage is going too far. I believe that this was one of the down falls of society and has caused some of our societies mistakes because some people believed that what they were doing was not damaging. Some examples would be destroyed species habitats by lumber production/housing developments and forests harvested that have not reached maturity resulting in wasted unusable lumber.

Selection 26

Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Using ice cores they are able to tell that global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide have increased within the last ten thousand years. There has been a rapid increase of these gases within the last two hundred years. Carbon dioxide, which is an important anthropogenic greenhouse gas, has increased due to our use of fossil fuels and reduction in natural landscape. The increase in methane's and nitrous oxides is a result of mainly agriculture and fossil fuel use. All these changes have created a negative feed back loop that is increasing their impact.

These changes have been becoming more noticeable because they are causing warmer temperatures, an increase in atmospheric water vapour, warmer ocean temperatures, less snow/ice on mountains and in the arctic, a rise in sea level, extreme weather, and intense tropical cyclone activity.

The IPCC has come to the conclusion that all of these changes in our atmosphere are due to the increase in the gases: carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. And it is very likely that a major factor in the increase of these atmospheric gases was caused by humans. It is very unlikely that natural factors would have caused such an increase in our climate.

Our atmosphere will continue to warm into the future even if we would stop increasing our greenhouse gases and aerosols. The IPCC have made estimates of what the future temperatures, weather, and other regional-scale features will be like. Because these gases are already in our atmosphere and they take so long to get rid of we are sure to see future trends of warming and all associated problems that come along with it.

Selection 16

Reinventing the Energy System

Christopher Flavin and Seth Dunn

This article begins to talk about the trend of energy use. It started in the industrial revolution when coal was used and at the time no one expected oil to cause such a huge impact in society and the way our cities are built. And now that we are running out of fossil fuels the next century could also have as big a change in the energy system as when oil became popular.

Oil is becoming a scarcer resource since it takes millions of years to form as fossil fuels in the ground. The fact that we are running out of it along with the huge environmental impact of the carbon that is released from burning fossil fuels is causing an increase in demand to find new energy sources.

New energy systems have been developing and are in use today. Modern wind turbines, LED's, solar photovoltaic cells, thermovoltaic cells, and a solar power water splitter are just some of the new technologies that help us save and create energy more efficiently. Some countries are more suited for certain types of technologies because of their location. However the use of sustainable energy resources needs to be developed world wide, this means that poorer countries will need help from more developed nations. But just increasing our technology will not be enough. We need to reduce our consumption rate world wide, especially in more developed countries like the U.S. where the rate of energy consumption is the highest. The sooner we can shift to the efficient use of renewable energy the better for our planet and future generations.

Selection 15

More Profit with Less Carbon

Amory B. Lovins

Lovins discusses his ideas that he has been talking about for the past thirty years about how if done right climate protection can reduce costs in big businesses. Many companies have reduced their green house gases by moving to more energy efficient factories and they have seen a rise in quality, reliability, and profit.

Lovins believes that everyone should be using energy efficient techniques but that people have confused energy efficiency with discomfort or privation. He also believes that energy users do not recognize how much they can benefit because it requires a lot of people to make small differences to see a large change. Along with his idea that we can create abundance of energy by good designs he also believes that we should switch to fuels that emit less carbon. Lovins believes that we can save the most energy by rethinking how we can get more work out of the energy that is delivered to businesses and consumers.

Efficient technology has been getting less expensive over time. Lovins discusses how people usually don't use efficient technology when the cost of putting in the new materials is more than the savings over time of using them. He then goes onto discuss his house in Colorado that is super efficient at storing heat, an experiment in smart design with a house in California that keeps cool without air conditioning, and a carpet factory in Shanghai that reduced its cost just by widening and straightening their heat circulating pipes. What he was demonstrating is that efficient technology is available and all we need to do is use it along with applying smart designs to save money and our environment.

Lovins then goes on to talk about the efficiency of vehicles. Cars lose a lot of the energy they use as noise, heat, and friction which makes them very in-efficient. He then states that if you reduce the weight of a vehicle then the energy that goes into driving it will increase. He also said that cars don't have to be heavy to be safe. However the oil saved in designing new cars would not be very effective because there would still be older model vehicles on the road. Lovins thinks we should try to reduce our consumption of oil and maybe eventually replace it with a lower carbon natural gas. If we were to become independent of oil then we would immediately see the many benefits.

Renewable energy such as wind and solar is the way of the future and has been rising in use. If both efficiency and renewable energy continue to grow faster than the economy, then carbon emissions will fall and global warming will slow. People are beginning to favor choices that generate wealth and protect the environment and this needs to continue into the future.

Selection 12

Ecosystems and Human Well-being

Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005

This article talks about the assessment made by the United Nations concerning the growing need of an ecosystem management change to better human well-being. It discusses the goals that will be met to create a sustainable ecosystem and what consequences they will have. In more detail it talks about how the ecosystem provides everything for survival and over the past 50 years humans have been changing our ecosystem, which some have benefited from and others have suffered. Mostly poor people are suffering from the way we manage our ecosystem. Some problems in our strategies are that we are degrading our ecosystem and the benefits for some people create problems for others. Some believe that we are creating irreversible damage to our environment. And a third problem is that even our attempts to create more food production can lead to changes in the ecosystem and create poverty. Even though our population is expected to decrease in the next fifty years our changes to the ecosystem will continue to increase and cause damage. These problems are not easy to fix and all we can do now is try to diminish their effects. However the changes are big and are not currently being used. Some solutions to lessen the severity of our problems are changes in institutions, government, economic policies, social and behavioural factors, technology,and many other ideas.

It then talks in more detail about the four major findings of the assessment on the problems and if there are actions that can be taken to save our ecosystem. The first finding talks about how humans have been decreasing the biodiversity of life on earth by using up a lot of our resources. This also impacts species that live in our ecosystems and they have been decreasing as a result. We have had to increase our technology and area management to cope with the increasing consumption of ecosystem services.

In the second finding they state how humans have made changes that contribute to substantial net gains for overall well-being but that they have come at a cost. The net gains of some result in the loss of others, particularly the poor. These problems unless addressed will substantially diminish the benefits that future generations obtain from our ecosystems.

In the third finding they discuss the four MA scenarios which were created to study the unpredictable features of change in drivers and ecosystem services. The changes in our ecosystem are predicted to last long and pose a risk to our Millennium Development Goals put forth by the U.N. Our target goals are supposed to be achieved by 2015 but most goals cannot be achieved unless everyone puts effort in improving the management of our ecosystems. Three of the MDG's goals are to eliminate hunger, decrease child mortality/undernourishment, and decrease diseases.

In the forth and final finding they state that lots of resources and money must be invested in technology and education but that we will not see results for years. These options will help reverse the degradation of our ecosystem while meeting increasing demand for services. The costs of some of these can be high and other negative outcomes are uncertain. It then talks about how degradation is hard to reverse without addressing the negative effects and positive outcomes of the five indirect drivers of change. An effective response to sustainable development must address these drivers and overcome any barriers related to the ecosystem.

Offline Activity

Last weekend I went for a walk in Assiniboine Park with my girlfriend Hilary and her little sister Amy. Amy is only five years old and like any child very interested in the world. Along with answering thousands of questions we got to see a little wildlife and really connect with nature. I think that I might have even enjoyed it more than her and that when I have kids I will definitely be spending a lot of time outdoors with them.

Diavik Diamond Mine

I went to high school in the Northwest Territories and from personal experience I can say that Diavik Diamond Mine does a lot for the communities and the people in the north. I know a lot of people who work at this mine in particular and others such as BHP and Acadi. Diavik provides many jobs to people in the north most of the time you fly in and work for two weeks then you have two weeks off. They also have many community and Aboriginal programs all across the north. I even got a scholarship from them when I graduated from high school. I was checking out their website and the sustainable development link. Basically they list that they have safe environmental practices and that they give back to the communities in the north, which they really do. One of the major downsides about a mine is the habitat destruction. But I think that they support the northern families so well that what Diavik takes from the land they give enough back to keep the northern communities alive. Check out the website for yourself.

www.diavik.ca

Oil on Ice Documentary

In class on January 27 we watch the documentary film Oil on Ice. I knew a little bit about the Alaskan pipeline and that there was a wildlife reserve in Alaska to stop the oil companies from destroying all of the caribous habitat. What I didn't know that was surprising is that in the reserve the government left area 1002 under a special clause that could possibly allow drilling in the future. This area is the main calving grounds for the caribou and it would most definitely effect the herd if there were huge oil plants built there. What I don't understand is that why would the government make a wildlife reserve and then leave a special clause in it to allow some of the reserve to be drilled in the future if they could gain enough support. When you make a national park or a wildlife reserve your supposed to make it to protect the wildlife and land forever. Now that there is a chance, even as small as it is, the oil companies will continue to try and get support to drill there because it would mean more money for them. Oil is one of the worlds most sot after resources and the oil companies are large and very powerful, which is bad for the people fighting against them. I know that George W. Bush wanted to open area 1002 up for drilling but it didn't happen when he was in office. I just hope that Barrack Obama doesn't want the same thing.

Another very interesting thing on the documentary was that in a town somewhere in Alaska they were interviewing the Mayor/Chief about the oil companies. He was angry because they didn't give everybody enough money, that they don't offer any northerners jobs, and that they are destroying their way of life. But as they film him showing up to work he pulls up in his Hummer H1! I mean hes complaining about the oil company's and how they don't help him but he's driving one of the most gas consuming vehicles! This was very ironic and he should really think of all the positive things that the oil companies do for his town like bringing in money to their economy. However there are still more negative impacts of drilling for oil in the north than positive.

Blog Reflection

Where do your environmental ethics lie?

My beliefs are between ecocentric and biocentric but leaning more toward ecocentrism. I believe that the ecological system is more important than any biological being because it is needed to support all forms of life. However I also believe that all beings should be treated equal in that humans should not be allowed to destroy habitats for their own gain if there are other species already living there. But if there's a situation where a choice has to be made and either a human or another species will die then I think that priority should be given to the human being. This is an anthropocentric point of view but it is only in a specific case that I believe it should be applied. Humans can be placed along side other beings but we need to start believing that we are animals as well and that because we take more than what is necessary from the environment we need to give more back. I believe that solely biocentric or ecocentric ethical standing will not work because the world is complex and humans have evolved to far.

Blog Reflection

Is a deeper connection to nature likely to influence our decisions?

I think that if the majority of human beings had a deeper connection with nature then they would be less likely to make environmental damaging decisions. We rely on the environment in a lot of ways but we take more than what we need to survive and our society is not concerned with what happens to other living things that also need the environment. After watching the video "Going Home" in class I can support this argument by adding that we are animals but we think we are superior to other biological beings in our environment because we are smarter and have developed further. However other animals only take what they need to survive and create a sustainable balance, we disrupt this balance by our selfish ways. We have to go back to our roots when we used to appreciate and respect nature so that are decisions are better influenced. If more people would go out for a hike in their closest park or forest then they could get a better relationship with nature, see how beautiful it is, and I think it would help them want to protect it even more.