Tag: environment

Categories
Final Project Interview Project

Steller Sea Lions: How can we help?

 

Steller Sea Lions live in the Pacific Rim from Japan to California with 70% living in Alaska. Sadly, their population has been drastically declining since the 1970s due to many reasons:

  • predation by killer whales,
  • increase in parasites and diseases
  • nutritional stress due to competition for food with humans.

Some fishing companies even deliberately kill these animals since they view them as competition and a threat to fish stocks. Currently, the western stock is endangered and the eastern stock is listed as threatened.

Check out our video below for what Beth Young and her colleagues are doing now to save the Steller sea lions and to meet these friendly animals!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcueT8-PTPE

 

What is the government doing?

Because Steller sea lions are endangered, several laws have been implemented to protect their survival.

  • Fisheries Act: a license is required to operate a fishery, and records of transactions and operations must be produced on demand of a fishery inspector or conservation officer.  This practice keeps fisheries from over harvesting, which would harm the Steller sea lion population.
  • Endangered Species Act: ensures that federal agencies do not harm any listed species which includes the Steller sea lion. Habitats where the listed animals are found are protected by the Habitat Conservation Plan.
  • Marine Mammal Protection Act:  provides population censuses, health assessments, development of conservation plans, and protection regulations.  This act also appoints staff to conserve and manage the populations of marine mammals that are at risk.

 

What about other animals?

Steller sea lions aren’t the only animals that can benefit from Beth’s research…

 

California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus) on Morro Strand State Beach, Morro Bay, CA. Photo by Mike Baird.

 

 

The California sea lion is a close cousin to the Steller sea lion. Currently classified as low risk concern on the IUCN endangered species red list, with time, they may become just as threatened as the Steller sea lion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Northern fur seal at the New England Aquarium, Boston, Massachusetts. Photo by flickr user cphoffman42.

 

Another species that could benefit from Beth’s findings is a much smaller second cousin: The Northern Fur Seal. Currently listed as at risk for endangerment on the IUCN list, they are experiencing a downward population trend.

 

 

 

 

 

With Beth’s results, we could ensure the food requirements of these species are met so they don’t become a forgotten fossil.

 

Check out the SCIE 300 communicating science podcast for more information on the Steller sea lion species, how Beth believes her findings could be applied to other species, and potential sources of error in her experiment.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Interview with Beth Young

 

In Conclusion…

The Steller sea lion plays an important part in the delicate balance of the ecosystem. Every species of life that it interacts with, from the food it eats, to its natural predators, will be greatly affected if the Steller sea lion population continues to decrease. We hope that our various media (the above video, podcast, and this blog post) are able to convey some of the latest research findings on Steller sea lions in a clear and understandable manner, and bring more attention of this matter to the public eye.

More information on why Steller sea lions are endangered, as well as summaries of the latest research findings made at the Open Water Research Lab can be found at the Vancouver Aquarium website.

 

Categories
Environment Issues in Science

Will the Polar Bear be our new national animal?

We are all familiar with the increasing global temperatures that encourage the melting of arctic ice but we don’t really think too much about how this will effect species other then ourselves. “Canada is home to two-thirds of the world’s polar bear population and we have a unique conservation responsibility to effectively care for them,” said Environment Minister Peter Kent. Best estimates suggest the polar bear population is approximately 15,000 in Canada. Polar bears have an important effect on the animal populations in the arctic. They provide food for animals lower on the food chain by leaving behind animals they have killed and not fully finished eating in addition to their bodies being food for animals once they have died.

 

 

CBC News Report

 

 

Polar bear waiting for a seal at the edge of a hole in the ice

 

Polar bears are the worlds largest carnivores and are also tied for the largest bears on Earth. Being carnivores in the arctic, their main diet consists of bearded and ringed seals.The polar bears hunt the seas in a very specific way. They find holes in the ice sheet where the seals would come up to breath. When a seal surfaces the polar bear can easily attack from above and haul the seal onto the sheet. Climate change is therefore causing the ice  area to shrink therefore causing a decrease in hunting ground for polar bears. The population is therefore decreasing as many polar bears cannot find enough food to survive or reproduce.

Polar bear perched on shrinking ice sheet

On Thursday November 10,2011, Environment Canada formally declared that polar bears were to be considered a “species of concern”. This decision was made through consultation with provincial and territorial governments, regional wildlife management boards, aboriginals and other stakeholders. The classification of “species of concern” is one level below a  threatened classification and two levels below an endangered classification under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. Peter Kent continued to say, “Our government is demonstrating leadership in protecting this iconic species. Listing the polar bear under the Species at Risk Act represents an important contribution to protecting our environment and the animals that live in it.”

 

There is some controversy around this issue as not all were in favour of labelling the polar bears a “species of concern”. One argument is that there has not been enough surveying done to make these claims as the surveys conducted were both too infrequent and too limited.  Others feel that climate change is impacting many animal species but polar bears are very good at adapting so it may not be as large an impact as they’re predicting. Some claim the polar bear population is actually increasing but is simply changing location.

 

Aboriginal hunting polar bear

The government will be taking action by setting strict quotas on polar bear hunting. To exercise traditional rights aboriginals will be allowed to continue hunting the bears. Currently about 534 polar bears are killed annually in Canada, 325 of them by Inuit in Nunavut. To increase awareness of this issue a Conservative senator recently proposed that we replace the beaver with a polar bear as Canada’s national animal. I think that would be a simple way to get the issue out there and also polar bears make a much cooler national animal!

 

 

 

References:

 

CBC National News:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/11/10/environment-polar-bear-listing.html

 

Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear

 

Photos:

http://dailyanimalfwd.blogspot.com/2011/09/maybe-i-should-have-brought-some-bait.html

http://donate.cwf-fcf.org/site/MessageViewer?dlv_id=6101&em_id=3401.0

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/should-all-animals-eat-a-high-fat-low-carb-diet-2.html

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45447

Categories
Environment Issues in Science Public Engagement Science Communication Science in the News

So is it too late?! Just ask David Suzuki…

On November 3rd, I witnessed one of the greatest examples of communicating science that I have ever seen. That evening, the University of British Columbia (UBC) was the lucky host to one of the most influential Canadians of our time: David Suzuki. He presented a lecture entitled “The Global Eco-crisis: Is it too late?”

 

David Suzuki, with a grayling from the Hart River, 2011. Photo by peelwatershed.

Who is David Suzuki?

If you have been living under a rock for the past few decades, you wouldn’t know that David Suzuki is one of the most well-known activists for reversing climate change, writing many books and hosting several TV shows on the subject. Most notably, he hosted the Canadian TV series, “The Nature of Things.” In 1990, David Suzuki co-founded the “David Suzuki Foundation,” a non-profit organization, which focuses on sustainability and climate change.

 

As David Suzuki braced the speaking podium, I prepared myself to be changed.

 

Humans are unique

David Suzuki began to trace the origin of humans from our common ancestors in Africa to today. What made   humans unique, he claimed, was their foresight. That is, our innate ability to predict or plan the future. He   explained that humans moved from Africa to eventually cover the world. Using our foresight, we exploited the resources of every location, only to move on when those resources were depleted.

 

Laws that we CAN change

Dr. Suzuki went on to describe the so-called “laws” that we have imposed on society today, specifically, a “law” called capitalism. But, he said, “laws” like capitalism aren’t really laws at all but they are “nuts!” because we can change them. With capitalism, economists rule the world and they just don’t give a “shit” about our environment and what we do to it. It is time that we change these laws and take control back from the economists. To do so, we have to take back our government and make it more representative. Vote.

 

Stop the excuses!

Moving on to current efforts being made, David Suzuki claimed that our government is full of excuses. As an example, he discussed the carbon tax. In Canada, we claimed that our businesses couldn’t survive a $15/ton carbon tax. But in Sweden, their business are doing just fine with a $120/ton carbon tax. It is time that we stop making excuses and get to work.

 

Never too late

Drop in the bucket. Photo by theilr.

 

Inspiring us, David Suzuki concluded that it isn’t too late. We can save our environment but first, we have to take back our government and the only way to do that is to vote. You may just feel like a drop in a bucket but he reminded us, with enough drops, we can fill the bucket.

From this lecture, I didn’t just learn that we need to change our environment but I also learned how to connect with your audience. David Suzuki kept the science basic and used language that was not only fun (there were more than a few swear words…) but easy to understand.

David Suzuki left me stirred.

Categories
Environment Issues in Science Public Engagement

Biodegradeability: (Bio)Plastic and its (re)use

Plastic Bags and Landfills: A Perspective from SJSU NEWS on Vimeo.

Even though plastic, which is present in many aspects of our lives, has many applications and usages, it is not biodegradeable. The reason of the continuation of manifacturing plastic is that it “only takes up 5 percent of the world’s oil supplies and, in doing so, provides us with an exhaustive supply of material”. You might think “what about replacing plastic with biodegradeable material?” Aluminum and glass are more expensive and not as versatile as plastic. Wood processed products also have their downsides, such as the chemical treatment and clear-cutting.

Today, researchers are working on the synthesis of bioplastics that are based on “renewable biomass resources”. Some of the bioplastics are made to be biodegradeable, and their main applications are: packaging, easily-discarded items (e.g. utensils, bottles), and storage (e.g. food containers). The other that are produced to be nonbiodegradeable are used in areas that need endurability.

 While bioplastics will eventually provide a clean, recyclable, nontoxic alternative, energy and environmental analyst Christopher Flavin, author of “The Future of Synthetic Materials” insists that oil-based plastics aren’t going anywhere just yet. He predicts that the next 20 years will see bioplastics absorb a mere 5 percent of the global plastic market [source: Kahn].

 Meanwhile, we can use daily plastic products in an environmental friendly manner. For example, we can re-use plastic bags.  I recommend you to read “10 Smart Uses for Old Plastic Bags” and “5 Unusual Uses for Plastic Bags” for ideas of re-using old plastic bags.

According to 2007 estimates, most plastic bags are only used an average of 12 minutes and then discarded. Consider that the world uses a staggering 1 million bags a minute and you begin to see how big the problem is [source: Batty].

Take action and conserve the world!

——————————————————————————————

Further reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioplastic

http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/new-uses-for-old-things/10-smart-uses-old-plastic-bags-10000001097755/

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/can-we-replace-plastic.htm

Categories
Environment Issues in Science New and innovative science Science in the News

A Step in the Right Direction: A New Power Generation Strategy

 
Figure 1: Demonstates potential incorporation of technology into existing sidewalks in populated areas.

The world today is constantly struggling to find new, environmentally friendly ways to generate energy. The major power sources today include oil, gas, coal, hydroelectric, and nuclear power. Until recently no one has thought to use everyday life to help generate usable energy.

Laurence Kembell-Cook, director of Pavegen Systems, has had the ingenious idea to harvest electrical energy from pedestrian’s footsteps. He is going to use sidewalk tiles that will be connected to a lithium battery to supply energy to electrically powered devices in the surrounding area. This could range from traffic lights to advertisement boards on sidewalks or supply energy to light up displays at the mall.

 

Figure 3:Simple schematic of Pavegen tile mechanism

The basic design is outlined in Figure 2 and a demonstration of the Pavegen tile system can be found online . The pedestrian will step on the tile, displayed in Figure 3, which will cause it to glow, just like the tiles in Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” music video. The five-millimeter compression will initiate a mechanism (unreleased to the public) which allows the kinetic energy to by converted to usable electricity. The tile can also store the energy for up to three days in an onboard battery. Each step on one of these tiles contributes 2.1 W per hour of electricity. Out of the energy the tile absorbs, only five percent goes into lighting up the tile leaving 95 percent of the energy to be used elsewhere. Personally, I believe the energy to light the tile is significant as it gives people a positive reinforcement,which may increase their participation. However,

Figure 3: The light up tile model to be used

it also could be argued that energy lighting the tile is wasting energy that could be used elsewhere which I also recognize. The tile itself is made of nearly 100 percent recycled materials, mostly consisting of rubber and some stainless steal which both contribute to its durability. These tiles are designed to be weather resistant, water-resistant, and are easily added to existing structures. The company claims the lifespan of each tile is approximately 5 years or 20 million steps.

 

 

 

Figure 4: Computer generated models of the applications of this technology on sidewalks in front of the Westfield Stratford City Mall.

The first commercial application will be placing 20 tiles across a very busy intersection in London between London’s Olympic stadium and the newly opened Westfield Stratford City mall. The opening of the mall alone is estimated to bring in around 30 million customers within the first year, that’s a lot of steps!

The aim of this project it to collect a small amount of energy from a large number of people. The growth of this technology will rely heavily on the tiles production costs. If this project gets approved the company hopes to introduce this technology into subway stations, malls, or any other high traffic areas. I believe this would be a fantastic venture for our society so we can finally take a stand, or a stroll, towards helping generate clean energy in the future.

Figure 5: Computer generated models of the applications of this technology in subway staircases.
Categories
Environment Issues in Science

The Green Car Trophy: Did Hybrids Cheat to Win?

Whether you sincerely care about the environment or not you have probably heard about the Toyota Prius. As the icon of ‘green cars,’ the Prius provides spectacular fuel economy and most importantly, outputs less environmentally harmful carbon emissions. The Prius is able to achieve these feats because of its innovative hybrid drive-train, which combines a small gasoline engine with an electric motor. The electric motor generally powers the vehicle using a large battery pack at slow speeds, while the gasoline engine kicks in at higher speeds or whenever power is needed.

Photo by: Robert Scoble

Sure, as test figures reveal, the Prius indeed uses less gasoline when being driven, but do the Prius and similar hybrid electric vehicles really reduce the negative impact on our environment? Delving into the manufacturing process of hybrid vehicles will surely make you think otherwise.

Research suggests that the manufacturing process of a Prius contributes more negatively to the environment than driving several gas guzzling sport-utility vehicles, for a distance triple its lifetime mileage ever could. The culprit which taints the Prius’ beloved reputation is its main component, the battery. The amount of effort required to make this Nickel-based battery is absolutely staggering.

A hybrid car’s battery production starts with mining and smelting nickel. The factories which carry out this process are dangerously damaging to the environment. They let out copious amounts of Sulphur Dioxide, the major cause of acid rain. Energy coordinator David Martin of Canadian Greenpeace spoke about the impact of such a factory on its city saying, “The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside”.

 

‘each container ship is as polluting as fifty million cars combined’

 

The next process required to create the battery is refining of the nickel, which is done in a select few specialized places across the globe. As a result the nickel must be transported to this specialized location. Ensuing refinement, the nickel must then be transported again to another place for further modifications to be able to incorporate it into the battery. Finally, it must be shipped back to the manufacturer for assembly. In the Prius’ case, the nickel must be shipped from Canada, to Europe, China, and back to Japan. All this shipping is no simple task. It requires the use of massive container ships. Regarding these container ships, a study by the Danish government’s environmental agency revealed that each container ship is as polluting as fifty million cars combined.

The issues discussed so far are only about 75% of the problem. As with other batteries, the batteries used in hybrid cars have the inherent flaw of a limited lifetime. After this lifetime, the cars will become impractical to use. At this stage, the batteries will require special attention for disposal, as they contain environmentally harmful electrolytes.

It can be attracting for consumers to buy into hybrid electric vehicles, given they are at the pinnacle of fuel efficiency. However, consumers need to ask themselves whether the environmental impact of manufacturing and disposing of the batteries in hybrid cars is outweighed by the lower lifetime carbon emissions produced by driving the vehicle itself.

Until science figures out eco-friendly manufacturing processes, we should probably focus on carpooling, using public transport, and other alternatives to hybrid vehicles!

 

watch?v=YGT6alnrg7I

Spam prevention powered by Akismet