Urban Ecoist

As I was watching the CNN yesterday, I couldn’t help but notice that President Barack Obama drinks bottled water. Here is video coverage of the President’s town hall in Green Bay, Wisconsin June 11, 2009.

The swig in question takes place later in the meeting during the Q & A portion, but you can clearly see the bottle at about 5:22 into the clip.

So, there I was, jiving on the President’s thoughts about health care reform (which should have happened in the 1990’s, if not sooner — thanks, GOP!), and I was a little taken aback when I saw Mr. Obama take a swig from a clear plastic water bottle without a label. And that struck me as funny, too. His press appearances are like TV shows in that they will not show a brand name — unless the company making the brand pays for it.

And I wasn’t taken aback like I was shocked or offended because I am so granola and self-righteous about it…but more taken aback because I am surprised that no one has gotten to him yet about bottled water. I understand that the man travels a lot, and maybe it is easier on his system if he drinks only one kind of water, but then again, water is water and bottled water comes from all kinds of sources, so I kinda doubt that he insists on drinking only one “brand” of water. And hi, he’s a smoker, so it’s not like it’s a taste thing.

I guess it’s more of a situation where a subtle difference may make a larger impact due to the person making the difference. If Barack Obama showed up in Green Bay with his own water bottle (BPA Free, of course), that would make a subtle statement. A statement not only to the people attending that Town Hall meetin’, but also to anyone watching the coverage. He doesn’t have to pose with a fancy-schmancy stainless steel reusable water bottle or take a long dramatic drink from it, either, though that would be funny if done in the right way.

But of course, much like Michelle Obama’s White House garden, I’m sure that some bottled water industry group would start throwing a fit about how tap water is endangering the safety of nation’s water supply…

Need a water bottle yourself? Check out Gardenaut’s extensive review, and I like that site, so I’m linking to it.

Barack Obama, water, bottled water, tap water, reusable water bottle, BPA free, Michelle Obama, garden, Green Bay, Wisconsin, town hall, tv coverage, president

File this one under dire news…

Less than two weeks after the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger (who despite all my fears has turned out being one of the better governors out there — I may just yet change my mind about actors going into politics) declared a state of emergency in the state of California due to drought, a new report details that California will be hit hard by rising sea-levels in the next century.

Maybe California should start building more desalination plants like the proposed Poseidon desalination plant below.

First, it is true that California is suffering under drought conditions. The US Drought Monitor shows an improvement this past week, but that improvement is from “exceptional drought” to “severe drought.” Click here to go to a nifty 12-week animated drought map of the US. But for the month of January and February, the northern “ice cap” of the High Sierra’s presented a dangerous situation for a state that must support not only a huge population, but also a major agricultural region in the Central Valley.

California’s state water board is busy crunching the data on conservation efforts underway, including the Governor’s request for voluntary residential reduction in usage and if need be, the state may have to impose water rations.

Secondly, the Pacific Institute has released a report on possible impacts of sea-level rise on the California coastline, a popular spot for not only residential areas but also waste dumps. If the dire predictions of the IPCC come true, California could expect losses in the billions when it comes to property and infrastructure lost.

And the bad news is that most of the available climate models used by the Pacific Institute do not take the possible melting of Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets into account, so the estimates of a 1.5 meter rise in sea levels may be a little on the low side.

Geez, poor California…If an earthquake doesn’t destroy the coastline, global warming will.

governator, California, Schwarzenegger, drought, state of emergency, sea levels, global warming, agriculture, infrastructure, climate change, Greenland, Antarctica, water, rationing, Pacific Institute, High Sierras, earthquake

I was just reading the City of Chicago’s Green Alleyways Handbook, and I came across the idea of building a rain garden to help with storm water runoff. Then I started thinking about it, and with Spring’s showers on the way, now would be a good time for us all to consider building a rain garden in our urban spaces.

Now, obviously, some urbanites will not have the option to construct a rain garden, large or small, as they may not have any yard space at their disposal. It’s not like you can build a container rain garden (or can you?) — but you can find a way to capture your own fair share of rainwater to save from the sewer (but make sure it’s not in a copper bowl like in that one episode of Different Strokes when Dana Plato’s hair turned green), for example, in a rain barrel. But that’s another topic, another day.

Rain gardens are not rocket science, but you do have to do some planning and a little science will come into the project before it’s done. It is best for your back if you already have noticed a spot in your yard where there is a depression where rain water already collects during storms. If you have multiple low-spots, choose areas next to paved areas like patios or roadways or by downspouts. Although remember that you will not want the water too close to your house (within 10 feet) or large trees, either. Sure, a rain garden may be dry 85% of the time, but there is still that other 15% of the time.

A great place to start your planning is a site called Raingardens.org. appropriately enough. It’s a really comprehensive site, which I won’t do justice to by gleaning pertinent info and passing it off as my own, so check it out by clicking here. The organization is based in Western Michigan, but anyone living anywhere can learn from the site’s extensive information.

Whether you have a little space or a lot of space, you give a little something back to the groundwater that supports your life by letting a bit of your garden space work to recharge that groundwater. Rain is filtered naturally through your rain garden, where it finds its way down, down into the deep soil and into the groundwater supply. If it were not for your rain garden, that same storm water may instead find its way into a swollen roadway which picks up all the leaking fluids from cars young and old and then into the sewer system, where it will meet more microbial friends, before being treated at a facility and then returned to your groundwater supply.

Maybe I’m being overly dramatic, but with the inevitable Water Wars coming…start planning now.

rain garden, garden, gardening, rain water, storm water, rain, water management, sewer, treatment, groundwater, water supply

A “green” or “living” roof is nothing new, really; Europe has been a big fan for some time now. However, the US is just starting to catch on to the idea, and again it floors me that something that is this good of an idea didn’t catch on years ago. Kinda like solar panels on the White House…

The idea is simple. Instead of traditional roofing materials, layers of materials including “soil” (it’s really more of an aggregate like in hydroponic growing methods) are installed complete with plantlife. Instead of a hard surface, rainwater falls onto the soils and the plants. The natural roof filters water naturally and slowly, rather than just rush the water off through the storm drains into the sewer system. Some green roofs go all out and actually use the space to grow crops or create a natural habitat for wildlife.

The Fairmount Waterfront Hotel in Vancouver, BC, Canada has a roof-top garden that produces about $30,000 worth of produce and herbs yearly.

The “green roof” trend is growing outside of Europe. Japan requires that 20% of all new roofs on larger buildings be “planted.” The self-proclaimed “greenest city in America”, Chicago, Illinois is encouraging green roofs on new buildings and on retrofitted roofs with tax credits.

There are some downsides in green roofs, mostly by way of costs and the feasibility of retrofitting older buildings that were not designed to carry the extra weight of the plant-roofs. But costs can be mitigated by way of the savings that green roofs bring in terms of cooling costs. Hard-surface roofs can get mighty hot in the summer, and that heat is transferred inside to an extent. A green roof will stay around the ambient temperature, even in the middle of August.

Those cooling tendencies of green roofs also help out the area around the building, and by extension, if all roofs were green or partially green at least, the surrounding community will benefit. That is why Tokyo is pushing green roofs so hard. Tokyo’s average temperature has outpaced global warming increases by 5.

green roofs, natural roofs, eco-roofs, plant roofs, planted roofs, roof construction, sustainable roofs, green building, sustainable building, US, Tokyo, Europe, Chicago, Illinois, heating, cooling, costs, global warming, temperature

Ask any gardener and they will tell you that perennials make your life a lot easier when it comes to garden chores and plantings. In such, that perennials grow for many years, unlike those prima donna annuals that need to be added every year. If you are an urbanite looking to add perennials to your garden space, then you need take into account the fact that city plants must be able to tolerate city pollution. And considering the lifespan of perennials, shrubs and trees, urban gardeners should take extra care to find hardy species that can withstand air pollution to ensure a healthy garden for years to come.

Perennials

Everyone likes flowers, so today, I’ll concentrate on perennials that produce lovely flowers, as opposed to perennials that are striking for their foliage. Although the three species I have listed below have lovely foliage as well.

Coreopsis: Also called Tickseed. Think of tickseed as a smaller cousin to the sunflower with a lot of small blooms. I had a couple of coreopsis plants and they provided me with a summer’s worth of cut flowers, that last for some time in the house. There are many varieties of Tickseed (the seeds kind of look like ticks, get it?) and some are annuals, so be sure what you are buying, although the annuals do self-seed and can even become invasive if left to their own devices. But we are talking perennials here. Some varieties grow taller than others, but all coreopsis is tolerant of poor soil and little water, a bonus to city gardeners. Although originally a native wildflower, cultivated coreopsis’ do better when divided every few years.

Phlox: I used to take my dogs for walks along this river and into a forest along side of it. We always had a certain destination in mid- to late-summer. There was a grove of wild phlox that created a truly magical atmosphere in this forest, in gently dappled summer sunlight. And the fragrance produced by these striking purple flowers that bloom in clumps is a nice addition to any city garden. If you have a spot that gets a light shade and good circulation, you may want to add phlox. Phlox attract butterflies to your garden as well as being a treat for rabbits, which you may not want, but hey, city rabbits need to eat too. Some varieties are better suited for xeriscaping than others, and some cultivars grow tall while others grow short in mats.

Yarrow: Named after Achilles (achillea) for it’s medicinal properties back in the Trojan War, this perennial is well-known for many good reasons. It grows in poor soil (preferring it even), attracts beneficial insects and seems to make other plants healthy when planted nearby. Yarrow leaves can be added to soups as a bitter green or cooked like spinach. It also just happens to have a lot of really good natural chemicals in it’s flowerheads to help with certain maladies like allergies and even the common cold. Yarrow blooms in the spring and early summer, producing umbrella-like blooms on stems that can be three feet tall in some varieties. The blooms dry really well for cut flowers, or you can try your hand at homeopathy.

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So, we have been discussing planning and creating a roadside garden for your city space. These gardens can be either between your lawn and the street or between a sidewalk and the street, depending on what level of urban dwelling you call you own. Of course, often in cities, you may be renting and live in an apartment with no yard whatsoever. We can talk about that, too, in the future, that is how to create “temporary” garden spaces.

I have already mentioned that urban gardens must be able to tolerate higher levels of air pollution than, say, a country home’s garden (depending on the country house, unfortunately, it seems that no where is clean).

When planning a garden space in such an area, you may or may not want to incorporate taller plants such as trees and schrubs. But with taller plants, you can create a bit of privacy for your front yard, an urban oasis if you will. Not only that, but you can create a screen for that car-generated pollution, in addition to a nice spot for birds, bees and butterflies.

Shrubs

Trees can be a bit much — too tall or too wide for many smaller urban spots, so luckily, there are some really fabulous shrubs and bushes out there that are both evergreen and deciduous and can withstand urban pollution.

Butterfly Bush: I love butterfly bushes (left). They can grow tall and hedge-like, or you can prune them severely and grow them smaller. In addition to attracting this bush’s namesakes, hummingbirds also dig the butterfly bush. The flowers grow out on graceful arching branches and they are quite fragrant. They make super cut flowers in the house, and the more you cut, the more purple or pink flowers these bushes will produce.

Forsythia: Forsythias are wonderful and a welcome sign of spring. This shrub breaks out of the “new season” gate with bare branches that load up with little yellow flowers very early in the spring. Forsythias are easy growers and easily pruned back to whatever space you want them to fill with vibrant green leaves. They also live for a very long time if cared for, properly. The picture above is a forsythia bush that is over 50 years old.

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January. The cold, the snow, the ice, the cabin fever. Other than the inordinate amount of video games that I play over the winter, I also begin planning out what I will be doing in the garden this next season. I look through seed catalogs, garden supply catalogs, books on garden design, reference books on perennials. I really do spend too much time on my garden plans, but planning in advance can save you a lot of work in the future.

Speaking of the future, or possibly the present for some of us around the country in those regions experiencing drought conditions, water is quickly becoming a scarce commodity. And besides, who likes spending all that time watering the garden? That’s time I could spend in the hammock.

Let me introduce you to xeriscaping, or garden design that requires little supplemental water and produces little waste. It’s one of those made up words using Greek to make it sound all sciency, xeros meaning zero and scape which pertains to a landscape or an area of land. Roughly translated, “dry scene” landscaping uses plants that are native to the area, and if the area happens to be an area like Southern California, those native plants are naturally drought-resistant. Otherwise, they sure couldn’t be natives.

Check with your local nursery to see what they have available that’s native and needs little to no additional irrigation that what it would get from normal precipitation patterns (of course, every summer has a dry spell in which you will have to water everything, but normally, you shouldn’t have to water these plants every day.

Even if you are in an area in which water is not a problem, you should still consider planting species in your garden that don’t require a lot of extra water. Save the water for your veggie garden. You can get lovely flowers and ornamentals in the colors of the rainbow that are also drought-resistant. Save on your water bill or your water table out in the country.

A few examples of drought-resistant annuals

Zinnia

Marigold

Cosmos

Moss Rose

A few examples of drought-resistant perennials

Sedum

Yarrow

Purple Coneflower aka Echinacea

Iris

Hens and Chicks

Phlox

Culinary herbs like sage, thyme, lavender, and rosemary

xeriscaping, drought-resistant, gardening, gardens, water, watering, irrigation, garden design, landscaping, plants, annuals, perennials

It is not often lately that I can applaud the actions of the Environmental Protection Agency. But today, it was announced that another agreement was reached between the EPA and three major manufacturers of sulfuric acid. The three companies — Chemtrade Logistics, Chemtrade Refinery Services, and Marsulex — will pay civil penalties for pollution emitted that violated the Clean Air Act in addition to the combined $12 million in new pollution controls that the companies will install to curtail harmful emissions of sulfur dioxide.

Remember sulfuric acid…it makes acid rain. We don’t hear as much about acid rain anymore, do we? A lot of that has to do with the Clean Air Act. And certain industries are better than others at cleaning up after themselves, but the acid production industry has not been held all that accountable until recently.

“The companies are expected to reduce harmful air pollution by an estimated 3,000 tons per year, which is well over half of their annual emissions,” said Granta Y. Nakayama, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Today’s settlement will improve air quality for millions of people.”

“This settlement is the product of our sustained effort to bring all sulfuric acid manufacturers into compliance with the Clean Air Act,” said Michael Guzman, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division. “We are pleased that the cooperative effort among us, our state counterparts, the Northern Arapaho Tribe, and the defendants resulted in this victory for the environment.”

Between January 2010 and January 2013, at its four production facilities in Beaumont , Texas ; Shreveport , La. ; Tulsa , Okla. ; and Riverton , Wyo. , Chemtrade will upgrade existing pollution control equipment called scrubbers to meet new, lower emission limits for sulfur dioxide. At its facility in Oregon , Ohio , Marsulex will improve chemical processing equipment, which will reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by no later than July 2011. Finally, Marsulex will install a new scrubber at Chemtrade’s sulfuric acid plant in Cairo , Ohio , to meet lower sulfur dioxide limits by July 2011. — EPA

Sulfuric acid production burns sulfur (or sulphur, if you prefer) to produce sulfur dioxide (SO2). SO2 readily combined with water to produce H2SO4, otherwise known as sulfuric acid. Concentrated sulfuric acid is used in many industries like fertilizers, steelmaking, ore refining, petroleum refining, and it’s even used in making nylon and detergents.

Reductions in sulfuric acid emissions will come from new scrubbers and lower allowance limits. The new short-term limits that the companies have agreed to finally follow are from 1.7 pounds to 2.5 pounds of SO2 per ton of product, according to the EPA.

The civil penalty comes from modifications made at Chemtrade and Marsulex that increased emissions, and since neither company bothered to gain proper permits to do so or the required scrubbers to limit those emissions, they effectively violated the Clean Air Act. The fines will go to the Federal government ($460,000) and the rest will go to the four states where the six manufacturing plants are located.

Good job, EPA, doing your, um, job?

Clean Air Act, sulfuric acid, sulfuric dioxide, acid rain, Chemtrade, Marsulex, EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, federal, government, emissions, pollution

This is one of those news stories you hear, and you just shake your head in disgust.

Maybe if the Coal Industry had spent all those clean coal advertising dollars on building better containment areas for the enormous amounts of toxic waste that clean coal is producing, these spills would not keep happening.

It was reported this morning that yet another TVA coal-fired plant has suffered a spill of its coal by-product. And this spill happened in a holding pond that was seriously just inspected and as of December 31st, was deemed safe.

The Tennessee Valley Authority that runs the Widow’s Creek Fossil Plant near Stevenson, Alabama has claimed that the spill is smaller than the Kingston spill in Tennessee last month. And this spill’s waste is mostly gypsum, which is a naturally occurring benign substance used in the manufacture of dry wall and cement. It can also be used to promote coagulation in tofu, adding calcium. Just in case you didn’t know that, tofu-nuts.

However, by early afternoon, the “spill” was renamed a “leak.” The TVA now says that it was a pipe that was leaking and they did not know how long it had been leaking. Hmm, shouldn’t that have been discovered during the recent inspection?

The TVA also claims that the gypsum leak did not significantly leak out into Widow’s Creek (appropriately named for its close proximity to a coal plant, if you ask me), but instead remains in the holding pond. Normally, the gypsum is held in that pond and then dried out and sold to companies that make cement.

On the same day that the leak at Widow’s Creek was discovered, another story came out that the Kingston Fossil Plant had two previous leaks that were not adequately repaired before the major coal ash spill a few days before Christmas.

That TVA sure is doing good work…More coal-fired plants, please. [super sarcasm]

coal, ash, spill, leak, gypsum, Alabama, TVA, Tennessee Valley Authority, Widows Creek, Kingston, Tennessee

So today I got an email from Corporate Accountability International asking me to send off an email to my state’s governor asking him to cancel state contracts for bottled water service. Good idea, right? I thought so, too, and sent the email. It is amazing what a little bitching can do…

But then I thought about bottled water. And how bottled water is more often than not, bottled city tap water. While staying at my aunt’s in Brighton, Michigan (around the same area as Hell, Michigan — no lie), I drank bottled water. It’s what you do in unenlightened areas of the country — oh, gee, that makes me sound really smug, doesn’t it?

Ok, it is not fair to call people who drink bottled water unenlightened. You see, my aunt spent 14 years in Southern California, and everyone was forced to buy bottled water as the LA Megasprawl’s water sucks. She is a creature of habit, and after moving to Michigan against her will, she did what she always did. She signed up with a bottled water distributor that brings those big bluish bottles to her house. She inverts the bottle in a stand and viola, she has drinking water.

However, while staying with her over the holidays, I changed one of those bottles. I read the little tiny label that peels off when you open the bottle. It said “City of Cleveland” and municipal drinking water. My aunt is buying Cleveland city water.

I brought this interesting little tidbit up to her, and she was not aware that the water came from Cleveland, which may be highly ranked for its sustainability due to its water source being Lake Erie, but does not rank highly when it comes to water quality. She said she didn’t care. She answered that it was better than well water.

Is it though?

I did not have the heart to ask her how much she pays for Cleveland water.

If you do buy bottled water, read the label. Find the source. You may be paying for water that is lower quality than the water that comes from your tap.

Corporate Accountability International, water, quality, bottled water, tap water, Cleveland, Brighton, Hell, Michigan, sustainability

I have covered this topic again and again, and sadly the consequences of coal mining and coal-fired electric generation plants have come home to roost…actually 15 destroying homes in the roosting process.

Thankfully, no one was killed or seriously injured in the accident. However, the toxic effects of the coal fly ash spill are still being debated by those responsible, of course.

Here’s a great quote from a New York Times article that rehashes the debate over coal ash and its dangers.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has issued no warnings about the potential chemical dangers of the spill, saying there was as yet no evidence of toxic substances. “Most of that material is inert,” said Gilbert Francis Jr., a spokesman for the authority. “It does have some heavy metals within it, but it’s not toxic or anything.”

Oh, that “it’s not toxic or anything” is really reassuring, isn’t it? And what’s with that “most of the material”? What else is there besides the supposedly inert, non-toxic material?

Fly ash is a by-product of burning coal to produce electricity. And the same icky stuff that is found in coal is concentrated in the coal ash, so if you are worried about the heavy metals in coal, you should really be concerned about the heavy metals in coal ash.

And those heavy metals are…

arsenic

lead

selenium

chromium

nickel

vanadium

beryllium

cadmium

barium

molybdenum

and don’t forget the good ol’ radioactive substances in coal and fly ash like uranium, thorium, radium, and radon.

The biggest threat that most of the aforementioned substances pose is when they are inhaled or ingested. Almost of those substances are carcinogenic or carry other threats of developmental damage to animals and humans. Once that sludge dries, it will become air-borne dust. And obviously, it has already been introduced into the water supply.

Inert, maybe. Not toxic, hardly.

And when you add most of those heavy metals to water, it is a dangerous situation, indeed, whether you boil that water or not.

Fly ash is called fly ash because it used to be the by-product that flew off into the sky from coal-fired plants. The Clean Air Act put a stop to that, and the fly ash had to be captured by the plants. Unfortunately, there is that old law of matter not being created nor destroyed, and the fly ash had to go somewhere. Coal-fired plants simply built some earthen dams and made their own landfills. However, that was hardly the solution as whenever it rained, fly ash leached into groundwater supplies.

Another 2007 E.P.A. report said that over about a decade, 67 towns in 26 states had their groundwater contaminated by heavy metals from such dumps.

For instance, in Anne Arundel County, Md., between Baltimore and Annapolis, residential wells were polluted by heavy metals, including thallium, cadmium and arsenic, leaching from a sand-and-gravel pit where ash from a local power plant had been dumped since the mid-1990s by the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company. Maryland fined the company $1 million in 2007. — NY Times

I hate to keep pilfering from the NY Times, but here is a really good graphic to give you an overview of how fly ash is produced and a map of the Kingston fly ash spill. Click on the image for a bigger view and better detail.

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One thing that is unavoidable in a city is compacted soil. Cities are already covered with pavement and concrete, but even the soil in cities can act as a barrier to water. Compacted soil is a natural result from people walking on or vehicles driving on the soil. When a city’s landscape prevents water to flow through, groundwater supplies slowly dwindle, and in a time in our history when water is becoming scarce, cities need to find ways to allow infiltration.

Usually, compacted soil is only a nightmare for gardeners and landscapers. Urban farmers will spend hours digging up compacted soils, trying to break up dense clumps into smaller clumps that will increase the spaces between particles and allow oxygen and other elemental necessities for proper vegetative growth. This is a simple enough idea, but compacted soils also need to be broken up in order to allow water to flow through and down into the groundwater supply. Urban soils are especially compacted, and thus act as an impermeable barrier to water. This barrier is preventing water in the form of rain and snow from flowing through soil.

Well, what do you know, but trees can help break up compacted soils. Trees root systems are excellent at going deeply into the ground, pushing their way into any available space and then just plowing right through into areas not so available, too. The bigger the tree, the bigger the root system, and the more soil the tree will move into, breaking up compacted soil. If the soil is permeable, water in the form of precipitation will freely flow through the soil.

And now, science is proving this theory(?). Researchers from Cornell, Virginia Tech and the University of California at Davis have been conducting experiments “digging” into this issue, and the results are not surprising, but still helpful to city planners.

The lack of infiltration opportunities affects groundwater recharge and has negative repercussions on water quality downstream. Researchers know that urban forests, like rural forest land, can play a pivotal role in stormwater mitigation, but developing approaches that exploit the ability of trees to handle stormwater is difficult in highly built city cores or in urban sprawl where asphalt can be the dominant cover feature.

A group of researchers from Virginia Tech, Cornell, and University of California at Davis have been investigating innovative ways to maximize the potential of trees to address stormwater in a series of studies supported by the U.S. Forest Service’s
Urban and Community Forestry Grants Program. The results of the studies were published in the November-December issue of the Journal of Environmental
Quality.

Virginia Tech scientists used two container experiments to establish that urban tree roots have the potential to penetrate compacted subsoils and increase infiltration rates in reservoirs being used to store stormwater. In one study, roots of both black oak and red maple trees penetrated clay loam soil compacted to 1.6 g cm-3, increasing infiltration rates by an average of 153%. –SPX via Terra Daily

The two other studies furthered the “just plant trees” solution and tried out structured soils, which are engineered to carry a pavement load while remaining permeable as well as geotextiles that will also allow tree root growth to penetrate compacted soils, thus increasing the infiltration rate of water.

I don’t really want to say “duh” here but, it kind of seems like a natural reaction as it is pretty obvious that more trees are better for cities. It is heartening to find out that some university grad students are interested in proving that fact.

urban, city, trees, groundwater, water supply, infiltration, water, Cornell, Virginia Tech, California, Davis, university, studies, research, experiments, root, system, roots, growth, concrete, pavement

Ah, snap. I have mentioned this Lame Duck Bush Federal Fire Sale in the past, and how I fear it, and how we should all be scared about what kind of damage Dubya will do as a final “smell ya later” to the country he and his friends have looted.

And today, I get news that the Environmental Plunder Protection Agency has repealed the 1983 Stream Buffer Zone regulation that has tried to save rivers and streams and the valley floors they flow through. I worried about this happening.

You see, since 1983, there has been a little rule that prohibited mining operations from mining or dumping their waste anywhere within 100 feet of a stream. Now, personally, I think that is fairly lenient, I mean, one hundred feet? That is it. I can hit a golf ball that far with a lob wedge and about a quarter of a swing. No matter how little a buffer one hundred feet gives, it was all we had — until now.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is easing the way for coal companies to dump debris from mountaintop mining into nearby valleys and streams in a move deplored by environmental and Appalachian citizens’ groups.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday approved the repeal of a 1983 law that prohibited surface coal mining within 100 feet of flowing streams. Most U.S. surface coal mining is done in the steep mountains of Appalachia, across Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.

EPA’s approval was the last hurdle for a proposal that originated at the Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining. The rule goes into effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, which has not yet occurred.

This will allow more mountaintop-removal mining, where coal is mined by blasting off the tops of mountains and the crumbled mountaintop debris is pushed into adjoining valleys, environmental groups said in a statement.

“The EPA’s own scientists have concluded that dumping mining waste into streams devastates downstream water quality,” said Ed Hopkins of the Sierra Club. “By signing off on a rule to eliminate a critical safeguard for streams, the EPA has abdicated its responsibility and left the local communities that depend on these waters at risk.”

Some 126 million tons of coal came from U.S. mountaintop mining in 2007, accounting for 10 percent of U.S. coal production, said Carol Raulston of the National Mining Association.

Raulston disputed the environmentalists’ charges, saying the new rule was “merely a clarification of what is required in order to conduct any type of mining activity.”

Mountaintop mining is safer for miners than underground mining, but its ecological impact has drawn fire from local communities and environmental activists.

More than 400 mountaintops have been stripped of trees and flattened, 1,200 miles of mountain streams have been buried under mining debris since mountaintop mining began in earnest, the groups said in a statement after EPA approved the rule.

“The EPA’s decision is a slap in the face of Appalachian communities, which have already endured enough injustice from mountaintop removal,” said Vernon Haltom of West Virginia-based Coal River Mountain Watch. “My home and thousands of others are now in greater jeopardy.”

The U.S. environment agency said in a statement that it worked closely with the Office of Surface Mining to “enhance environmental protections in the final rule, including requirements that no mining activities may occur in or near streams that would violate federal or state water quality standards.”–Reuters via Planet Ark

I love the Carol Raulston quote. “Merely a clarification” to allow more destructive mining on more mountains is what I think she left out.

Again, my urban ecoists, you may ask what exactly do mountains have to do with urban ecology? My first reaction to that question is to make fun of you for asking, as you must be clueless about how the wilderness and the city are intertwined and it is mining that supports our cities with coal-powered electricity, but then I would remember that I made a New Year’s resolution to be nicer. (I know it is only December 4th, but I like to practice my resolution so that once 2009 comes around, I am ready to rock). And hi, cities, both large and small, get water from rivers and streams, that are fed with other rivers and streams. Think interconnected.

But seriously, we city-slickers should be a little more concerned about where our electricity comes from. You can spout off all you want about wind and solar, but guess what, if you live in the US, you are getting the warming glow of your computer screen from coal — at least 57% of that glow.

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So, after being a resident of the area for two years, I can safely say that Southern California has its fair share of urban ecosystems. Along the coast, and inland for a bit, and except for a pause of housing developments between Southern Orange County and San Diego, the entire Southern California landscape is its own brand of urban living.

That said, I happened upon this news about Southern California Edison (SCE) building an artificial reef for a kelp forest. You see, Southern California Edison is one of the largest power companies out there, providing power to 13 million people in 180 cities in 11 California counties. And one way that SCE powers so many homes is with the help of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The San Onofre nuke plant generates 2200 MW of SCE’s electricity that powers numerous pools in SoCal. Ah, I kid, hospitals, grade schools, and fire houses also get power from San Onofre. At least a portion of it.

But it seems that like most nuclear power generation facilities, SONGS needs water to cool the reactor or else it will get much too hot and cause a meltdown (in a very simplified version of how a nuke plant works). SONGS uses ocean water, as it is abundant due to SONGS location on the ocean. The intake valve is about 3000 feet offshore, but the output valve is situated at about 6000 feet offshore. Therein lies the problem of San Onofre and the solution in the form of the artificial reef.

It’s not so much that the water discharged is too warm, but rather that the cloudier near-shore water is being transferred to an area that is home to a rather sizable kelp reef that thrives in clear, non-cloudy water. Kelp needs sunlight to grow. Cloudier water means less sunlight is getting to the kelp. Kelp is an important habitat for fish and other species that depend on the “forest” for safety, stability, and food. In fifteen years of research at the site, it was determined that the kelp forest was indeed suffering a bit from the cloudy water, and if the kelp suffers, so does the neighborhood — of fish and other marine creatures.

Click on the image for better detail.
So what does SCE do? It figures that there isn’t much that can be done to prevent the cloudy water from reaching the area of the kelp forest, as the pipes are already built, and it is not like the plant itself can be located farther away from the kelp. Instead, SCE and the California Coastal Commission did some studies and concluded that if a new reef were built northwest of the San Onofre nuclear plant, the kelp could relocate and restore the area for fish and wildlife.

From the article:

SCE environmental engineers began with an experimental 23-acre reef northwest of the power plant to test the first-of-its kind design researchers had developed.

Utility and commission scientists analyzed a new single-layer rock design as well as several types of material, evaluating how best to develop a sustainable giant kelp forest. The results formed the basis for SCE’s construction plan that was endorsed last February by the coastal commission. Construction of the two-mile reef began in June and recently was completed.

So you see, urban ecoists, sometimes the appliance you plug in has far reaching consequences to many other ecosystems. Find out where your power comes from.

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I ran across this over the weekend, and though it so brilliant that I had to share it.

Prisons across the United States are going green, and by that I mean that inmates are growing organic produce, composting the food waste from the prison kitchens, and even recycling shoes into that rubber turf that is being installed around playgrounds.

Above: Ironwood State Prison in California operates its own solar power plant.

An Oregon prison is raising honeybees, an Indiana prison built a wind turbine to reduce its energy costs, a California prison has solar panels, and a North Carolina correctional facility has built a cistern system to capture rain water.

Can we really learn a better way from those who have strayed? Seems we can. The programs at the prisons are not only a great way to reduce costs, help the environment, and divert refuse from landfills, but also the pro-green programs are teaching the inmates valuable skills and giving them responsibilities to encourage self-confidence and a feeling of community.

From the Associated Press:

LITTLEROCK, Wash. – Of all the things convicted murderer Robert Knowles has been called during his 13 years behind bars, recycler hasn’t been one of them.

But there he was one morning, pitchfork in hand, composting food scraps from the main chow line and coffee grounds from prison headquarters — doing his part to “green” the prison.

“It’s nice to be out in the elements,” said Knowles, 42, stirring dark, rich compost that will amend the soil at the small farm where he and fellow inmates of the Cedar Creek Corrections Center grew 8,000 pounds of organic vegetables this year.

Inmates of the minimum-security facility, 25 miles from Olympia, the state capital, raise bees, grow organic tomatoes and lettuce, compost 100 percent of food waste and even recycle shoe scraps that are made into playground turf.

“It reduces cost, reduces our damaging impact on the environment, engages inmates as students,” said Eldon Vail, secretary of the Washington Department of Corrections, which oversees 15 prisons and 18,000 offenders. “It’s good security.”

As around-the-clock operations, prisons are voracious resource hogs, and administrators are under increasing pressure to reduce waste and conserve energy and water.

In 2007, states spent more than $49 billion to feed, house, clothe, treat and supervise 2.3 million offenders, the Pew Center on the States reported this year.

As the prison population has grown this decade, up 76 percent from 1.3 million in 2000, the number of prisons and jails has risen with it. The latest U.S. Bureau of Justice data show 1,821 facilities in 2005, up from 1,668 in 2000.

To keep costs down, the Indiana Department of Corrections installed water boilers that run on waste wood chips, and built a wind turbine at one prison that generates about 10 kilowatts an hour and saves $2,280 a year.

At Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, Calif., 6,200 solar panels send energy back to the grid, enough to power 4,100 homes a year. The prison was trying to meet an executive order requiring state agencies to reduce energy use by 20 percent by 2015, said a spokeswoman, Lt. Sue Smith.

North Carolina’s Department of Corrections switched to chemical-free cleaners and vegetable-based inks. This summer, because of a water shortage, inmates converted 50-gallon pickle barrels into small cisterns that capture rainwater.

Under a state mandate to reduce energy use, the Oregon Department of Corrections replaced old appliances with energy-efficient ones, installed solar water heaters and used a geothermal well to heat water. It also modified washing machines so they could reuse rinse-water to wash about a million pounds of clothes a month.

At Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton, Ore., inmates recycle scraps from old prison blues to make diaper bags for women’s shelters and dog beds for animal shelters.

“We try to model prosocial behavior,” said Vern Rowan, business manager for the Oregon Department of Corrections. Being sustainable “is something that everybody should be doing, regardless of where they’re at.”

Cedar Creek, in the heart of a forest, feels more like an outdoor retreat than institutional lockup.

Most of the 400 inmates are in a work program, and put in between six and eight hours a day.

The responsibility of caring for the prison’s three hives of Italian honey bees falls mostly to Daniel Travatte, 36, a soft-spoken former drug addict who is serving 10 years for attempted armed robbery.

Under the supervision of prison counselor Vicki Briggs, Travatte has learned to harvest honey — which inmates occasionally eat with breakfast biscuits — and use beeswax to make lotions. He’s become an expert on their habits.

“I’m trying to change myself,” said Travatte. “A lot of people go through prison with no intention of changing. I love working with the bees. It keeps me busy. I have a lot of responsibility to take care of.”

While there isn’t scientific evidence that such activities are helping inmates, Nalini Nadkarni, an environmental studies professor at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., notes anecdotal evidence that it’s working.

“They were stimulating their minds and having conversations that were different than ‘How much more time we have left’?” said Nadkarni.

One inmate went beyond conversations, enrolling in a doctoral program when he got out and co-authoring a research paper with Nadkarni on a moss-growing project she started to help reduce the impact of wild moss harvesting on forests.

While Cedar Creek went green out of economic necessity — it had to conserve because it didn’t have the wastewater capacity to expand four years ago — it is now embracing other benefits, said Dan Pacholke, a state prison administrator who helped implement many of the practices.

Cedar Creek uses 250,000 fewer gallons of water a year, saves $6,000 to $8,400 annually on garbage bills and avoided a $1.4 million sewage treatment plant upgrade.

A large “Con-Post” marks the prison’s composting station, made of recycled concrete blocks and reclaimed wood, where Knowles spends about six hours a day, making sure the compost gets enough heat, moisture and air to break down food scraps.

“They trust me to do all this with no supervision,” said Knowles, who is serving time for the hit-and-run death of an off-duty police officer.

“I like growing the vegetables,” Knowles said. “My mom had a garden. I can see having my own garden.”

Sorry, I rarely like including an entire article in a post, but I really had a hard time deciding what paragraphs to include. I find this inspirational and I hope that the positive reaction to the established programs will encourage other correctional facilities to follow suit and develop their own gardens, composting programs, and develop ways to convert old systems to renewable and sustainable ones.

And what can we on the “outside” learn from these prisoners? Composting is easy, and organic gardening is also pretty easy. Not only are you providing your family with fresh, healthy produce, but if you include your whole family in the garden, you are giving kids responsibilities which will in turn give them self-confidence. Not only that, but getting kids out in the garden is a great way to teach them about how consumption and our part in the larger cycles of the Earth and its ecosystems.

I think schools should also take a note from the prisons of America. Have students spend an hour in a school garden or turning compost. Have a school wind turbine, and teach kids how it works. Have students organize a scrap drive, like back in World World II, and encourage them to lead the green revolution.

Viva la Revolution!!

And it took prisoners to lead the way? Maybe not, but going green is a great component to an inmate’s rehabilitation.

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