Selection 20

Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services

Boris Worm et al.

Research has shown that marine biodiversity loss is constantly impairing the ocean's capacity to provide food, maintain water quality, and recover from perturbations. Changes in marine biodiversity are concerning to what exact human impacts they would result in and are directly caused by exploitation, pollution, and habitat destruction, or indirectly through climate change. Globally, marine extinctions are slightly becoming more evident. Where as locally, areas are witnessing a rapid loss in populations. From experiments we have found that increased biodiversity of primary producers and consumers enhanced all examined ecosystem processes. These results along with tests taken from coastal ecosystems indicated that there is a positive correlation between biodiversity, productivity, and stability across trophic levels in marine ecosystems. These regional biodiversity losses impaired the number of viable fisheries, provision of nursery habitats, and loss of filtering and detoxification services. This data illustrates that substantial loss of biodiversity is closely associated with the regional loss of ecosystem services and increasing risks for coastal organisms. The collapse of large marine ecosystems also occur at a higher rate in species-poor ecosystems and proportional species losses are predicted to have similar effects at low and high levels of native biodiversity. Marine reserves and fishery closures have been used to reverse the decline of marine biodiversity on local and regional scales. Fisheries are able to recover easily because they can switch more readily among target species and can help us determine if and how can we reverse the loss of our services. There is a large variation in sample sizes and several variables that effect the outcomes, but the results do suggest that it is possible to recover lost biodiversity on local to regional scales. This trend of biodiversity loss is a because it projects the global collapse of all marine life currently fished. But by restoring marine biodiversity we can invest in the productivity and reliability of the goods and services that the ocean provides and recover from our biodiversity loss.

Selection 10

Life and Death of the Salt Marsh

John Teal and Mildred Teal

This article discusses the salt marshes that are found along the eastern coast of North America. These salt marshes can contain grass, salt water, and different kinds of biological organisms. Healthy salt marshes can have many different smells, most pleasant, but sick marshes smell of hydrogen sulfide. The north marsh, the Spartina patens, is covered with dense grass and can be harder if it has been harvested or spongy if it hasn't. The marshes in the south are covered only by Spartina alterniflora, with more separation between plants and the ground is stiff. As you get closer to the ocean and rivers you notice a change in the composition of the ground and depending on whether the tide is high or low the amount of water present. Dangers to salt marshes are from human activities and can be caused by pollution, dredging, filling, and building. These marshes are valuable ecosystems and our increase in population pressure is increasing their destruction. Some destruction is inevitable, such as creating the infrastructure around the marshes in order to preserve and enjoy them. We need to plan on the international level for the entire marsh system. We must preserve marshes by safeguarding against increased pressure due to population and industry blackmail. These salt marshes are an important natural resource that must be protected and preserved in its entirety.

Selection 31

Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment

Sandra Steingraber

This article talks about the authors experience with cancer. She had bladder cancer when she was young and cancer runs in her adopted family. This is evidence that environmental factors can influence cancer. She talks in more detail about her family's history with cancer and that her mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1974 and, to the surprise of her doctors, was still alive when this article was published. She then discusses when she first read about scientists identifying the gene responsible for human bladder cancer through transforming cancer DNA onto mice and pinpointing the exact alteration that caused the cancer to grow. It was determined that the cancer is caused by substitution of a double-ringed base called guanine for a single-ringed base called thymine. This would cause the cell to manufacture valine instead of the amino acid glycine. She then discuses findings of bladder cancer that came later which stated that people who have higher burdens of adducts than fast acetylators are at a greater risk of bladder cancer from exposure to aromatic amines. This includes more than half of the American and European population. We still don't know all suspected bladder carcinogens, their sources, how they interact with each other, and how we are exposed to them. There are certain jobs where people have been exposed to known carcinogens such as manufacturing rubber chemicals and pharmaceutical plants. What really concerns her is that almost a century after some of these findings we are still seeing some of these harmful carcinogens being manufactured, imported, used, and released into our environment. She believes that because we are obsessed with genes and heredity's influence in cancer we are not seeing that environmental factors are a cause of most cancers and have a large influence on genetic cancers as well. Rachel Carson urged recognition of an individuals right to know about poisons introduced into one's environment by others and the right to protect against them. To do this we first have to look at our ecological roots and determine what chemicals are already in our body's and environment. We then have to take a human rights approach when regulating how chemicals are used, released, disposed, and our unequal risks of being exposed to them. Toxic substances should not be used if there is another way of accomplishing the same task. This should be coordinated with active attempts to develop and make available affordable, nontoxic alternatives for currently toxic processes. We must save ourselves and the environment from the deliberate and routine release of chemical carcinogens.

Selection 33

At the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima or Why Political Questions Are Not All Economic

Mark Sagoff

This article is about the economic and political decisions we make regarding the environment. In the opening paragraph it lists cases where they have been applied such as the community of Lewiston, N.Y., where the Manhattan Project chemicals were buried without the knowledge of future residents. We have an environmental problem when a resource is not allocated in equitable and efficient ways. In political and economic decision making, sometimes seen as one, our approach of environmental policy is based on the consumers values. "The ultimate measure of environmental quality is the value people place on these services or their willingness to pay." We support decisions with a cost-benefit analysis, where the benefits out way the costs. This is widely supported, except when dealing with regulations vs. employees having a safe and healthful working environment, then this can be altered to ensure protection of the workers. Like in the American Textile Manufacturer vs. Donovan case of 1981. Problems have arose with the Occupational Safety and Health Act, where the benefits of the workers did not equal the costs associated to industry and the consumers. The cost-benefit approach treats people of equal worth and may only appear attractive for efficiency. We value public values and the natural environment that depend upon what is right for the community not the individual. This is achieved by supporting the cost-benefit analysis but having the final say in discrepancies allocated to a legislative debate and vote. For this analysis, what is valid is not most views, but how much people are willing to pay for their subjective preferences or wants. In a Kantian approach to ethics, some values are more reasonable to others and hence have a better claim to members of the community. Therefore, both values and beliefs are either correct or mistaken. The last paragraph in this article goes back to the case of the residents of Lewiston which were given a personal response to their questions and concerns. This response puzzled and confused the residents and it is clear that the cost-benefit analysis alone is not enough to allow us to have the power to act as a nation.

Online Activity

William McDonough on cradle to cradle design

I just watched this video on http://www.ted.com/ and think that what McDonough has done over his career is fantastic. I think it is a good idea that he has been analysing items that go to the public and breaking them down to parts-per-millions and analysing them further. This really tells us what is in our products and if they are harmful. I also think it was a great idea to make this list of materials available to the public so that anyone can analyse their products down to the parts-per-million themselves. I liked the work he has been doing with helping build recyclable products such as the rugs, shoes, and car metal, that was previously being wasted. I was very interested in his sustainable architecture projects such as the GAP headquarters building with native grass on the roof for birds to nest in. I also liked his idea behind the sustainable community and I believe that it would work because they are designing it from nothing and they have thought of all needs that must be met throughout the community. As a pre-architecture student, I think that sustainable design is the way of the future and will increasingly have a greater impact on society.

Class Discussion

We watched this video on the gas leak in Bhopal India during class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz-BfXLjQ9c

It was such a huge tragedy that should never have happened. When you deal with chemicals that are as deadly as that you should never take chances that can risk a leak. What was more shocking to me is that people actually lived right next to the chemical plant! Even though it was in India, they shouldn't of been allowed to build a chemical plant in such a close proximity to a residential area. But I think that this tragedy was an eye opener for India and other countries about what to allow to happen in your city and what ethical issues does it contain. It also showed the world why companies chose developing nations, because of low wages and a certain degree of low responsibility especially compared if it was in a nation like the United States. Since this happened a lot of other companies have been accused of taking advantage of developing nations and their residents, like Nike, and this hurts some of their sales because people don't want to buy their products. Plus it makes you think about the quality of their products if they are being made by someone who's wage is about 10% the cost of the product.

Blog Reflection

Consider the evidence of affluenza that you see around you. Do you see it in yourself, your friends, family, or North American society? Can you take action to combat affluenza?

Looking around and at myself I see affluenza everywhere. I don't think that anybody can say that they have never had affluenza. I am only 21 years old and have already accumulated a substantial amount of 'junk' that I don't really need. I have been with my friends when they have bought things that they soon discard and my parents have many items that were bought spur of the moment. I think that some companies market products specifically for the large portion of American society who are suffering from affluenza. I think that a big problem is that our society teaches us to want more and more stuff and that we would be happy if we had this and that. I think you can take action to combat affluenza in the form of reminding yourself what waste can come from purchasing items you will never use and I think that you would have a greater chance if you had support from a friend or family member. Another good idea is to make a list when you go shopping and only buy what is on that list, this helps with impulse shoppers. We must also understand that happiness is not totally defined by material possessions but being comfortable and doing what you love to do, whether work or play. However affluenza is a contagious condition and will not be easy to combat.

Online Activity

Alex Steffen sees a sustainable future

This video starts to talk about sustainable development and gives a brief description of how our society came to be. He then discusses the ecological foot print and how we are using the earth at a rate where we need about five planets to become sustainable. Well, we only have one planet which the resources are not shared equally on. He claims that we need a change in our society but right now no one knows what our new society should exactly be like. What we do know is that we can take the cities we live in and turn them into bright green cities that are denser, more eco-friendly, have better technology, and where the people are learning to use less. We can still help make our society as sustainable as possible. One of the biggest concerns is mega cities in developing nations who do not have a solid infrastructure in place and are growing at a extremely fast rate. A common problem with these nations is that when they do develop they tend to skip to the latest technology and do not get a basic structure in place so not everyone ends of being able to benefit. A lot of help can be given to developing nations from developed ones which will be of benefit to everyone. He talks about how most of the population in the world is children and that they are growing up in a different society than their parents and have different values. We need to help them learn to value our resources and environment so that they grow up using sustainable practices. He also believes that it's not just enough to survive but we need to make things better than they previously were. He finishes with a famous quote from H.G. Wells about the past being the beginning of the beginning, meaning that what we learn from the past helps us better ourselves for the future. I think that Alex Steffen is right in that no one knows the exact solution to a sustainable future. We do know how to help, which he talks about, by changing to greener cities, helping developing nations, and raising good values in our children since they are the leaders of tomorrow. I think that poverty is a major concern for sustainability because those in poverty are just trying to survive and are not concerned with global and future issues. Some of the technology he shows in the video is very interesting. The fan that resembles a shell is just good design that is taken from nature. The seeds that can detect land mines by producing red flowers are a genius way to help save lives and is very sustainable since it is a biological organism. I think that green roofs are sustainable building design at its best and should be required in all public buildings in cities. Just look at the Manitoba Hydro Place in downtown Winnipeg and how it saves so much energy every year because of sustainable architect. I especially liked the water pump that was a merry-go-round because kids have lots of energy and wouldn't have fun pumping a normal well. In general I think that a sustainable future is in a shorter grasp than we can see and that one day we will no longer be resource dependant.

Selection 24

Restoring Rivers

Margaret A. Palmer and J. David Allen

This article talks about how water quality and shortages are becoming an increasing concern for the United States. Aquatic life is becoming extinct at a high rate and the impacts of water shortage on humans is becoming more noticeable and is more frequently occurring. This has become a problem because of the history of cities being developed around water sources and pollution of these sources over the years has risen. River restoration is a solution which deals with repairing waterways, but the technology behind it needs restoration as well. The United States government needs to help by improving its regulatory and legislative federal policy reforms. The EPA has implemented many regulations to help farmers and communities to develop, implement, and enforce water conservation and quality strategies. Restoration strategies are now common in the United States but they are not seeing as big an impact as they should be for the amount of money and resources they are putting into it. Their solution to pollution is to reform federal, state, and local policies. A team of U.S. scientists, engineers, and restoration practitioners have recommended the common standards to be applied to each project to meet the required ecological goals. In order for restoration to be effective country wide, researchers must be able to learn from past efforts through monitoring. Funding is a big concern because existing funding must be used correctly along with current and future funding being allocated to the correct issues so that the restoration projects can be successful. Once these issues are all agreed on with the most effective methods being applied the United States streams and river will once again flow clean and clear.

Selection 23

Controversy at Love Canal

Beverly Paigen

This article starts by talking about the toxic wastes dumped into Love Canal. The Hooker chemical company dumped over 200 different kinds of chemicals into an empty canal in 1942 and then "sealed" it up. Later an elementary school was built on the site with housing developments all around it. People began to report high levels of birth defects, miscarriages, and mental retardation in newborns. The author, Paigen, was working for the department of health at the time and began studying the causes of these effects and whether they were genetic, geographic, or randomly distributed. She discovered that the high clusters of disease where located at locations of existing swales, swamps, and ponds, where the chemicals in the ground were accumulating. The health department denied the facts that the chemicals underneath Love Canal were causing the disease at first based on the Warburton and Fraser study and statistics they had received. Eventually, they realized that it was the chemicals on site and began evacuating the pregnant women and young children before they eventually relocated the entire families. The controversy was that the state knew there was toxic chemicals buried beneath the site and Hooker Chemical warned them not to build a school, but they did anyway and did not inform the residents. Hooker Chemical was not liable for any lawsuit because of a specific clause in the bill of sale and claims that they used the best technology at the time to dispose of the chemicals. However evidence suggests that because they were interested in profit gain they used the least expensive methods to dispose of the chemicals. When the residents turned to the health department for help and were largely ignored they viewed the department as not meeting its goals and responsibilities, they were angry since they paid for their salaries through taxes. It takes such a long time to reach resolutions in controversies like this one because: the department of health doesn't want to seem favourable to one side, the state only wants to evacuate those who would certainly be effected, there is a need for information gathered from different groups so the outcomes are accurate, threats are made to those who work for the state that disagree with their decisions (whistle blowers), the violation of social controls of scientific behaviour, and it is very hard for the entire party to agree on all aspects of their resolution strategy. Many of the controversies of Love Canal were stated as scientific issues but were actually ethical issues and the controversy would have been resolved easier if the ethics had been openly stated and understood.

Selection 39

Towards Sustainable Development

World Commission on Environment and Development

This article talks about how sustainable development must be defined across all nations and implies a concern for social equity between generations. Sustainable development regards meeting the needs of individuals world wide without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same. It encourages that we increase productive potential and ensure equal opportunities for everyone. Sustainable development must not endanger the natural systems that support life on earth, but recently human development has become larger in scale and impact and more threatening to our life support systems. It is a process of change in our exploitation of renewable and non-renewable resources, free goods, and developments in investments, technology, and institutions to enhance current and future human needs. Often political jurisdictions and areas of environmental impact do not coincide so we need a common interest from everyone. To do this we can use education, institutional development, and law enforcement. Achieving a common interest is difficult because not all environmental issues have solutions and our access to resources is unequally distributed. The development of technologies is also unequally distributed and third world nations tend to suffer. Risk management is also a factor when dealing with technology and must be taken into account. A final important aspect of sustainable development is the need to integrate economic and ecological considerations in decision making in order to better international relations and promote harmony.

Selection 41

Women's Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation

Vandana Shiva

This article begins with discussing the nature of gender and diversity. Diversity is the basis of women's policies and the politics of ecology. The survival of livelihoods is connected to the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources in all their diversity. Crop uniformity can undermine the diversity of biological systems. Women's work and knowledge is central to biodiversity conservation because they work between sectors and are capable of performing multiple roles. Women's knowledge in agricultural areas such as production and preparation of plant foods, dairy, and forestry arises from the gender bias which has a blind spot for realistic assessment of women's contributions. Women have been considered the custodians of biodiversity because they produce, reproduce, consume, and conserve in agriculture. There are differences between women's relationships to biodiversity and the corporations relationships. Like how women produce through biodiversity, whereas corporations produce through uniformity. Women see it as intrinsic value and corporations see it as "raw materials." Many differences between the two all lead to how women view biodiversity as biological and the continuation of life and corporations see it more as a market. This article ends with discussing genetic engineering and how it is risky for us and biodiversity.

Selection 29

Environmental, Energetic, and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems

David Pimentel et al.

This article discusses organic agriculture. It does not use harmful pesticides and reduces other external inputs to improve the environment and farm economics. Since a lot of money is invested in health care and environmental health loss related to soil erosion organic agriculture is very popular. A 22 year study comparing organic animal-based, organic legume-based, and conventional systems was conducted, recorded, and discussed. The organic systems had an increased groundwater recharge and reduced runoff compared to the conventional system. Even though it varies with the types of crops, regions, and technologies employed, the environmental benefits to reduced chemical inputs, less soil erosion, water conservation, improved organic matter, and improved biodiversity were discovered to be consistently greater in the organic systems than in the conventional systems. However there are challenges for organic agriculture such as nitrogen deficiency and weed competition. They also discovered certain technologies that are beneficial to use with organic agriculture. In the end organic agriculture has many benefits if done correctly.

Selection 28

Food Scarcity: An Environmental Wakeup Call

Lester Brown

This article discusses how if we keep using the earths resources that they will run out and we will eventually face economically disruptive climate change. He then goes into more detail about agriculture and how we will start to notice a rise in food prices, especially grain, when our environment is becoming economically unstable. Because the worlds population is growing we are needing to produce more food which is taking up more land. Even though in the last one hundred years there has been technologies developed for increasing productivity in agriculture, we are running out of land and the land we are using will eventually experience some kind of soil erosion. Along with land we are depleting our water sources. This is also due to over population and will also have an effect on the prices of food. Our increasing risk of food scarcity is a result of our over population and limited resources and may provide an environmental wake up call for the world.

To solve our problems of environmental degradation and ensure hope for future generations, Brown suggests that we stabilize population and climate. Some countries have already began implementing laws that only allow family's to have two children. We must reduce our carbon emissions and use new energy efficient technology to stabilize our climate. Our land and water use must be used with conservation in mind. Our food security of the future depends on creating an environmentally sustainable economy.

Selection 27

The Agricultural Crisis as a Crisis of Culture

Wendell Berry

In this article she discusses how farms used to be very diversified and local. These family farms dealt with all aspects of food production and all types of produce. Even though they weren't perfect in all aspects such as wastefulness, they did form a tight farming community. Since World War Two our farms have been becoming fewer and more expensive to run. We no longer can have a small operation and generations of farmers are moving on to something else that has more potential. With the modernization of agricultural techniques comes the disintegration of the culture and the communities. The institutions of agriculture have been driving farmers to grow so that they become efficient. This has put all that haven't grown out of business and is still putting those who grow at risk of others who have grown bigger. This has lead to our farmers values changing from those of husbandry to those of finance and technology. The definitive relationships in the universe are not competitive but interdependent and we must have culture with agriculture. We have ended up creating a moral ignorance in our agricultural society that has changed its culture.

The Meatrix

I visited a website that we briefly looked at in class.

http://www.themeatrix.com/

After checking out this site, which has a lot of corny but informative videos, I discovered links at the top of its home page to other websites. After researching further, one of the links directs you to a website about sustainable agriculture and food. It has a database of local sustainable farms and grocery stores in your area and it includes the Winnipeg area. Another link goes to an eat well guide which could help you if you need ideas about how to eat healthy and sustainably. A third link is a water conservation website where you can even calculate your water foot print. The fourth link is about energy choices and has a very good updated news blog. The meatrix site turned out to be better than I expected and has a lot of useful and interesting external resources.

Super Cows!

During class we have been talking about meat and the industry around it, particularly pigs. But I was reminded of a video I once seen about cows that have been created by selective breading.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmkj5gq1cQU

These "super cows" are the weirdest thing I have seen. It really does look like their on steroids! But if they claim to be as healthy for you as any other cow and they have more meat then it is a very good use of science. But I think people will always be cautious when dealing with scientific food production because this is what we thought when we developed genetically modified canola!

Blog Reflection

Food and You

-Write down your food intake over the last 48 hours.

-What foods do you eat regularly?

-What environment concerns relate to your diet?

Over the last 48 hours I have eaten: bananas, kiwis, apples, plums, perogies, taquitos, sour cream, bacon bits, bread, cheese, milk, sausage, rice krispies, chicken noodle soup, crackers, pepper, chicken, ketchup, BBQ sauce, and eggs.

Regularly I eat a lot of chicken, ketchup, fruits and vegetables, milk, cheese, soup, and bread.

The environmental concerns relating to my diet are that I have to go to the grocery store frequently to get fresh fruit and vegetables. The transportation for one person to drive there is bad. I do try and walk when I can but I usually get a lot of food and can't carry it the distance back to my house. I also prefer to go to the Superstore because it's larger but it's also further away from my house then the Safeway. Also the transportation in getting the fresh fruit and vegetables to my grocery store. Other environmental concerns relating to my diet are that fruits and vegetables can go bad if I buy to many and this is a waste of food. So I try not to buy such a large amount at one time. But this leads me to go back to the grocery store more often which is bad. Technically I could walk there everyday and get my groceries for the next day but this is very inconvenient. Another concern that probably relates to every ones diet is packaging.

Online Activity

2. Carolyn Steel: How food shapes our cities

This video on the TED Talks website is about how food has been shaping our cities for ten thousand years. Cities used to be restricted in size because we had to walk in our food and grow it all locally. This is how our markets in our cities developed because they were near the part of the city were that particular food came in, Steel gives some example of London's market history. Eventually, the train developed and it became easy for us to bring in food so our cities grew. After the train came the car and with it suburban sprawl. Because we can get food easily from many grocery stores a lot of people are losing a connection with their food. Instead of valuing their food they see it as a convenience and this makes it easy for them to throw away any unwanted food. Food has shaped the way our cities have been built and we no longer value our food because we don't know where it comes from and we can find it everywhere. We need to try and grow more locally and encourage community involvement to change our habits about food. Steel claims that one million people are obese and more than one million are starving and that the United States throws away half of its food that they have for sale because it becomes expired! This is the biggest waste when we import and grow food that is thrown away and we can fix this by getting people involved in the food that they eat.