Ditch the lawn and World Water Usage

As drought continues to grip the nation, TreeHugger recently posted an article about replacing our lawns with gardens. It also springs from a discussion I had with one of the rangers here in Cuyahoga Valley National Park last week. We waste so much time, money, and (most importantly) water to keep our grass looking green and healthy...but is there a true benefit to it? What if instead of vast expanses of grass we planted flower gardens, trees, and vegetable gardens. These plants can survive off of the rainfall or with minimal amounts of watering and, as a more important factor, can supply food and shade to you and your family. I believe we should only be allowed to plant native plants in our lawns. If a plant is native, it is perfectly suited for the amount of precipitation we get in our area...except the majority of U.S. lawns are covered by Kentucky Blue Grass. Better yet, why not plant xeric lawns, which require little to no water?

I was amazed while walking in Akron last night to see medians on some of the streets where people have been watering their flower gardens. They look great, yes, but what amazed me those most was a very noticeable line between bright green grass where it had been watered and the brown grass which is victim to the drought. Is our love of aesthetic beauty really more than our need to conserve water. In books such as Sandra Postel's "Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity," arguments are made that the next great war will be fought over water rights. I'm not surprised, nor do I disagree.
 
Even in our own nation, we have these problems. During 2008, the southern United States was gripped by another drought and the mayor of Atlanta began requesting that water be diverted from the Great Lakes to supply his cities drinking water (Read Article Here). While I'm sure this water would supply drinking water, how much of it would go to supply water to golf courses, lawns, and other non-essential resources? Additionally, around the world, nations are witness a water crisis. The waters of the great Colorado River no longer reach the mouth in its historic range. Due to city water supplies, agriculture, and more the mouth of the Colorado River now looks like this:

Spending time in Haiti over the past couple of years, I saw the need for clean, safe drinking water. People are bathing, washing clothes, swimming, urinating, deficating, and drinking out of the same water supply. I was there for the start of the Cholera Outbreak in 2010 and watched as people frantically tried to educate others on clean, safe practices...yet water was stilled pulled from the same polluted sources. The following is a pictur of one of my trips, on the northern coast of Haiti. Notice the shacks and people using the beach...the water was dirty. It was used for every purpose with no designation of where to go bathroom, where to drink from, and where to cook at.



(Orchard Hill Church, 2011)



The choices we make concerning water use affect everyone around the world. The United States is divided into 2 main watersheds. All water either enters the Pacific Ocean or the Atlantic, with the Continental Divide being this division point. In the Atlantic Ocean watershed, I (here in northeastern Ohio) live in the Great Lakes watershed, more specifically the Lake Erie Watershed, more specifically the Cuyahoga River Watershed, more specifically the Furnace Run Watershed. Need I go on? Everytime I flush a toilet or spill a cup of coffee (which I do more than you think), it ends up in the Atlantic Ocean. Take a look at the following picture and then lets look at my coffees impact:

So my little bit of spilled coffee flows into the Atlantic Ocean, hits the Gulf Stream, and flows either towards England or veers south near the western shore of Africa and...back around to Haiti. Yes, my coffee is an extreme example, but what about spilled oil from our cars, pesticides we use on our lawns, trash you throw out of your cars onto the road. We all live upstream from somewhere....but we also live downstream from somewhere else.

Here are just a few tips for conserving water:

• Shorten your shower to 5 minutes. You're not getting any cleaner after that point
• Do not water your lawn. Plant water-conservative species
• Use low-flow water features in your house
• Only wash clothes when you have a full load
• Turn off the water when you are brushing your teeth, washing your body, or shampooing your hair

Any simple Google search will return thousands of results, such as 100 Ways to Conserve Water. Be smart. Think what is downstream.

Biking to Reduce Prison Sentence

Today I came across this interesting article on CNN about Brazilian prisons that have instituted inventive ways for prisoners to reduce their sentences. One of these includes a reading program, where inmates can shave 4 days off of their sentence for every book they read off of an approved list following the completion of a book report (up to 48 days per year). The hope is that this program will help educate a largely illiterate and/or under-educated population so, upon release, they will be more suited to enter the workplace.

The second, and more interesting, program has inmates pedaling stationary bicycles attached to a bank of batteries. As the inmates pedal, the batteries are charged and power street lights in the nearby town...and their sentence is reduced. Apparently, pedaling for 16 hours will reduce your sentence by one day with no yearly limit.

(Photo: Santa Rite do Sapucai Prison, 2012)

It's an interesting concept. Expanding green energy opportunities, providing exercise and recreation for inmates, and offering a relatively large incentive of early freedom. I can truthfully say that I am confused about my reactions to this project. I believe it justice for what people have done. While I may not always agree with the system, I support it and know every four years I can campaign and vote to change the system. If someone is found guilty and sentenced to twenty years, I believe they should serve 20 years, not a day more or less (unless bad behavior...I don't believe it getting out on good behavior. It's prison, not time-out). Reading is great and so is green renewable energy...but is it really worth letting convicted criminals out of jail early? Why not use it as an incentive to watch a movie or gain an extra hour a day of recreation time...something that keeps the criminals in prison but still educates them and continues with the green energy initiative.

Have you seen similar stories somewhere? Email me with them, as well as your thoughts and ideas.

Caught in the act?

In James Conca's recent article, Fugitive Methane Caught in the Act of Raising GHG, Forbes Magazine argues that methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (true) and that over the span of the lifecycle of extracting natural gas it has higher emissions of CO2 (1,200 gCO2/kWhr [grams of Carbon Dioxide per kilowatt hour of energy produced]) compared to coal (975 gCO2/kWhr). I find their argument flawed. They even go so far as to state that the measurements for coal were taken only at the power plant source, where natural gas measures a weaker 600 gCO2/kWhr. The 1,200 measurement takes into account what they call "fugitive emissions," or those lost during the drilling process, etc.

Are there not fugitive emissions for extracting coal from the ground? How much carbon dioxide is used to run the machines to remove a whole mountain top from the West Virginia Appalachians? How much is used to haul this coal around the country? You cannot make an argument based upon two entirely scales of measurement. It's a flawed argument. Another huge factor Mr. Conca omits is the intrinsic value of nature. Natural gas drilling uses less land than coal drilling (water is another issues and I don't know the statistics for water used or polluted during coal extraction, so I won't argue it). My home in western Pennsylvania is dominated by natural gas wells and coal quarries. I can tell you that upon the drilling of the natural gas well, you are left with a small well head and a tiny dirt road into the area. Upon completion of a strip mine...well, I think we all know what you're left with. There is value in plants, value in animals, and extreme value in the ecosystem role that they play. Why not calculate life cycle costs of these or the ability to plants to sequester carbon from the atmosphere? Coal is getting rid of more trees than natural gas (based upon my own observations). So many factors come into play when we try to make these arguments.

I've said it once and I'll say it again. Natural gas drilling is a good alternative to coal for the moment...but not a long-term solution. We need to be taxing natural gas drillers at an acceptable rate and investing that in the research and development of more sustainable forms of technology. Would I love to see our country and our world relying solely on photovoltaic, wind, geothermal, and hydro power? It's a resounding yes and I fully believe every politician, regardless of party, would agree with me. It's just not economically feasible at this point in our nation to stop extracting natural resources. I believe God gave us these resources, gave us mastery over Earth, but also calls us to be stewards of the environment. We can use these resources, but still lessen our impacts and attempt to leave the plant unimpeded for future generations.

Follow up to "What the frac"

As a quick follow up to my recent post "What the frac" about the hydraulic fracturing method of obtaining natural gas, Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, recently posted this blog post about the devastation of fracking.

We have seen and read my thoughts, but I still urge you to look at what Mr. Brune has said. I support the Sierra Club in many of their endeavors. They are passionate about conservation work, are very science-driven in all they do, and continually educate the public and update their methods to stay relevant. Mr. Brune presents great points about the fracking industry. I don't believe it is a perfect system by any means, but I do believe we need to continue with it so as to refine it and make it better. The US (let alone the world) is not at a place to simple stop fossil fuel based electric production, but we need to push for that. Energy independence, sadly, will only come if we push on with our current energy addiction, but try to ween ourselves off it and invest in technologies like wind, solar, geothermal, and more. Yes, the technology is out there. We just don't have it effective or cost-efficient enough to be mass produced for the average consumer. Light bulbs use to be really expensive, yet as we refined them they became more efficient and lower in price. That is what we need to ween the US off of fossil fuels and enjoy a clean, green energy future.

No one, regardless of political party, wants dirty air and water, littered streets, and all of our lands developed. There is a happy medium. Even President Obama doesn't want to stop all progress. Not all liberals are tree-huggers and not all conservatives are oil barons.

Again, Email Me and let me know your thoughts!

Conservation Laziness

This post comes more from a place of anger than it does any current pressing issue that I have seen in the news (where mainly all of my recent posts have come from). This post relates to the laziness that I see as I explore the natural world around me and today really hit hard tonight. Let me preface by saying again that this summer I am working in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park as the Climate Change Intern as part of the George Melendez Wright Climate Foundation. I have a B.S. in Parks and Resource Management and an M.S. in Sustainable Systems. I will be starting my Ph.D. in Geography at Kent State University this fall. I also spent two summers working in the Yellowstone National Park area (Wyoming/Montana). If you haven't seen a pattern....I believe in conservation of resources, I believe that we are Biblically called to be stewards of the environment, and I don't believe it being lazy. Want to let me know your own thoughts? Please feel free to Email Me! I would love to hear your thoughts.

Beaver Marsh (Photo Courtesy Lincoln Prairie School)

Tonight while enjoying an evening bike ride down to the Beaver Marsh area of the park, I stopped on the boardwalk to see if I could find any beavers, muskrats (saw 1!), or other animals. On top of some of the lilly pads and spatterdock spread throughout the marsh, I saw cigarette butts laying on top of the leaves. Ok, I understand *sometimes* when someone is driving down the road eating something with their windows open and a piece of paper may fly out. Yes, it's happened to me on the highway before and it really bothers me. I don't believe in littering, I don't believe in ruining the environment. How lazy can people be that they would simply throw their cigarette butts into the water onto the lilly pads. Lets see the animals I count in the marsh: beavers, muskrats, raccoons, blue herons, redwing blackbirds, cedar waxwings, geese, blue gill, bass, sunfish, carp, snapping turtles, red-ear sliders, yellow finches, spotted newts, green frogs, bull frogs (and that doesn't even begin to touch the ones I have seen). Do you know what the effects of these animals eating something like a chemical-laden cigarette butt could be? Put it in your pocket, in your sock, have your friend hold it, or....I know this is crazy so bear with me...hold it yourself until you get to one of the trashcans not that far down the Towpath Trail.

I feel no remorse for laziness and no remorse for those who litter. Yes, God gave us command over the natural world around us but also that we may be stewards of His creation. By throwing our trash around us, we are continually raping God's creation and ruining the gifts we have been given Yes, I'll say it. I think litterers should be in jail. There we go. Call it crazy. Yes, I know the jails are already full of many societal leeches, but why not keep stocking them full up of other people who are continually draining our resources.

Visiting a National Park? The National Park Service has recommendations on how to have a Green Park Visit. Be smart..use a trash can, recycle, pack-in pack-out, Leave No Trace. Whatever you call it, you don't need to throw your garbage on the ground. I always tell people that I would rather you throw it on the floor of my car than out the window. I once stopped on the highway so someone could get something they threw out of the window. It's stupid. Those who do it are lazy and ignorant.

Blatant attack on premier national park

In what I deem a blatant attack from Congress (High Country News), earmarks in a recent transportation bill have once again opened up Grand Canyon National Park to the noisy drone of helicopters. Having never been to this park, I still feel that this is in blatant disregard of the National Park Service's mandate "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.” How can one preserve the scenic quality of a place such as the Grand Canyon while allowing helicopters to race throughout the park so tourists too lazy to hike down in on their own two feet can get a glimpse of it? Scenery, in my opinion, is more than just the sights you can see but encompass a full aesthetic value ranging from sights to smells, noises, and even emotional feelings.

A visit to a national park (state park, municipal park, or any public land) is a holistic experience, one that for many people can take one a religious, spiritual (or at the very least..utter relaxation) tone to it. These feelings get ruined when one is forced to listen to the loud noises of helicopters buzzing throughout the park. Our own John McCain, supposed lover of public lands and open spaces, was the one to earmark this into the bill and for that I denounce him. Bad move.

Would kayaking in the Everglades be the same if you were constantly inundated with the buzz of helicopters or being almost run over by speed boats? Would watching the geysers of Yellowstone take on the same appeal should there be ATV's running around on the algae mats. I think not. Our public lands are designed to be a tranquil place where one can get away from it all...the true form of recreation is to re-create oneself, yet this attack on the aesthetic experience in one of the nation's most visited national parks seeks to destry that.

Do you part to protect our public lands from intrusion. We are loving our parks to death. Hop on a mule, walk on your feet, or ride a bike...but do not permit helicopters, ATV's, snowmobiles, and other gas-powered forms of travel to disrupt our ethereal experiences.

A plantable beer coaster...

This was hard to believe, but according to this Tree Hugger post, Molson Canadian (one of my favorite brews) has been making coasters that are infused with Black Spruce seeds. When you are done drinking your beer, simply plant the coaster in the ground and, ideally, the seeds should germinate from it. Now this is a great idea! Not only is Molson beginning to do their part to restore trees and forests, but they are hitting a market that you do not hear too much about in the environmental world.

What other sort of marketing plans have you heard of like this? This news was first released by pfsk, who linked to the following promotional video:

Just another great idea..simple, not costly, and reaches people that might not normally be reached. Not only does Molson brew a wonderful brew, but has now begun to do their part to give back. Remember, it's not about how big of an initiative you can do, but it's about being willing to step outside of your box and try something new to be Earth-friendly. Left or Right, Republican or Democrat, Liberal or Conservative....we all have a part to play. Regardless of the lines that you adhere to, there is no one that wants to see all of our forests cut down and lands destroyed. Everyone has a conservation ethic, a Land Ethic as Aldo Leopold put it so elequently. Do your part.