Month: February 2022

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Turning against fracking

Hart, P. author B. P. (2022, February 3). Maplewood Township opposes PVSC fracked Gas Plant. Food & Water Watch. Retrieved February 1, 2022, from https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2022/02/03/maplewood-township-opposes-pvsc-fracked-gas-plant/  

Maplewood Township committee opposes plan to build a new fracked gas power plant in Newark. The decision was highly supported by citizens as fracking has many downsides such as potential to highly pollute nearby water and air, and also adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Jennifer Nelson of SOMA Action speaks out about the need for a renewable energy source in Maplewood, in replacement of old ideas involving fossil fueled power plants. 

I’m glad to see that a lot of people are on the same page about not building any more gas plants that harm the environment. There’s only so much more oil and gas to be dug up from underground, and it’s really not something we should rely on. I think it’s great that leaders are proposing renewable energy sources that wouldn’t have the dangerous drawbacks that these fracking sites would’ve had. The risks that come along with the previous plan in Newark could’ve caused catastrophic damage to all of the water in the area due to the high likelihood of a storm, which would spill billions of gallons of oil and gas onto Earth’s surface. This type of water pollution could have lasting effects for hundreds of years, and it would really hurt us humans that depend on it. 

 

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Water Pollution Affects Otter Population

Brown, M. (2022, February 1). Decline in Wales’ otter population linked to river pollution. Nature World News. Retrieved February 1, 2022, from https://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/49143/20220201/otters-declining-population-river-pollution.htm  

Recent studies by the NRW (Narutal Resources Wales) show a huge decrease in the number of otters in the UK, causing concerns for enviornmentalists and citizens. The otters are important because they are an indicator species for the rivers, so when the species numbers start to decline, it signals that there could be a huge threat to the health of the ecosytems and surrounding wetlands. According to group studies, harmful chemicals from plastics called PFASs were found in all the otters researched. This means that the rivers are so polluted, it could cause species to completely die out. Although there’s not enough evidence to prove the only cause of otter decline is water pollution, there’s definetley reasonable data to consider it a contributing factor. 

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that all of the otters in the study had PFASs inside of them during the same time the species was facing a major decline in population. This definitely has something to do with water pollution and poor water management systems throughout England. I wouldn’t be surprised if this issue continues to get worse and makes an impact on other animals that depend on this polluted river water, which could end up causing a loss of biodiversity and ecosystems. I think it’s sad that it might take a loss of a whole species for people to see the lasting impacts of using plastic and other products that are harmful to the environment. 

 

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River Pollution in Shropshire

BBC. (2022, January 15). River pollution: Shropshire water suppliers to be held to account. BBC News. Retrieved February 1, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-shropshire-60007443   

Shropshire is a town in England that’s facing the effects of water pollution. The council claims that the water companies will need to be held accountable for polluting their nearby rivers. One cause of this problem is that when it rains, combined sewage overflows directly into rivers because it has nowhere to go. Another reason this continues is because the town needs to put more money into their wastewater treatment system, which is a big factor that’s still being discussed. Many citizens are worried for their health, and in addition, polluted rivers are harmful to the environment, biodiversity, and many ecosystems. 

It’s important that Shropshire is trying to fix this problem, hopefully along with many other towns in England due to the amount of rain over the recent winter. Town citizens are doing the right thing by speaking up about this issue, and I think it’s great how the majority of council has acknowledged that this needs to be fixed. Water companies should definitely pay for some of these consequences, because the damage that this polluted water can do in the future is substantial. 

 

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Ecotourism Factoring into People’s Travel Plans in 2022

The article explains data drawn from a report of the Ecotourism Market. The report splits the Ecotourism market into types and applications in order to thoroughly and comprehensively investigate and identify market characteristics and opportunities. Ecotourism is a type of tourism that involves visiting fragile, pristine, and largely undisturbed natural regions, with the goal of becoming a low-impact, small-scale alternative to traditional commercial mass tourism. In the article it explains the ecotourism market is studied for international outbound travel only.

 

Many economic benefits stem from ecotourism and the Ecotourism market provides insight to why. As ecotourism is seen on a broader scale in the market it will provide other opportunities and economic benefits. One example is staff that work at ecotourism sites are given the opportunity to obtain training in skills that can be transferred to other fields of employment, as well as nutrition when they are provided with meals at work.

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Ecotourism Market 2022 Emerging Technologies

Growing environmental consciousness is primarily responsible for the expansion of the ecotourism business. Furthermore, increased traveler interest in tropical ecology, ethnobotany, primate ecology, and ancient civilization archeology has aided the growth of the worldwide ecotourism market. The growing availability of environmentally friendly tourist accommodations has aided the rise of the ecotourism business. The global ecotourism market is also analyzed on the basis of its prospects and future growth rate. 

 

The global market of ecotourism seems to be at its height according to the article. All the buzz in the air is creating more and more people interested in traveling in an eco-friendly manner. The market also seems to be very well researched with it being segmented on the basis of type of traveler. The growing propensity of people towards eco travel to experience foreign culture is exactly what is needed for the ecotourism industry to grow.

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Africa Finding Ways to Follow Through on Basic Water Rights

Water: Recognizing it as a human right. (2021, September 9). Aqua Africa Foundation. https://aqua4all.org/2021/09/09/water-recognizing-it-as-a-human-right/

Kofi Annan of Africa in 2001 stated that “Access to safe water is a basic human need there for a basic human right”. Annan Before his death established goals which included cutting the number of people without water or access to water resources in half, not only in Africa, but in the world. He believes that competition for freshwater would become more of a conflict and an issue in the future. More recently Africa hopes to meet the water opportunities in the 21st century by bringing together researchers and policymakers in order to provide more water and easier access to people in the country and world. The article took a take-out climate change and the variables in hardships it may cost and therefore there will be even more people with less water due to higher rates and severe ness of droughts. Apollo’s Nwafor from African Green Revolution Alliance stated “futurism means that we should be able to consider predictable policies and predict what may happen based on data”. This means the government can determine what actions to take and what policies to enforce in order to reach the goal.

I find it personally interesting that this goal was set or at least stated 21 years ago, however this article talks little about how far Africa and the rest of the country has come in terms of reducing the number of people without access to water. I think the most important part to take away from the article is recognizing that water is a human right and therefore we need to find ways to provide and get people access to it, in order to ensure their rights are being protected. I believe since it is considered a rate that it is in the government’s control and power to help those of their country and grant them their basic needs and rights. This article relates to environmental science considering its discussion among the right people regarding water and their access to water in this case in Africa. I believe a lot more change can be made as so many people still do not have access and water is scarce and climate change is only becoming more prominent therefore these governments need to act fast and make change.

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Central Valley Wetlands have almost all disappeared.

Patino, V. (2021, December 31). Central Valley Wetlands have almost all disappeared. Turnto23. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/central-valley-wetlands-have-almost-all-disappeared 

This article goes over the effects of disappearing wetlands in Central Valley on migrating birds. Because of climate change and the growth of cities, the area of wetlands has diminished. Cleaner water will not only benefit humans but will also benefit wildlife, specifically aquatic birds. The Central Valley Joint Venture hopes to conserve wetlands and create new riverside forests. It also plans to pay farmers to create artificial wetlands for migratory birds. Additionally, the article addresses the issue of water availability and how the cost is high. 

 

Interestingly, this news source claims that wetlands have almost completely disappeared, but the other sources I researched didn’t address this and focused on the solution. Additionally, I realize this source is probably not the most trustworthy as it doesn’t provide many concrete details. It also doesn’t give an exact location for where the wetlands are. But apart from that, it is good that the state and private companies are trying to restore wetlands for wildlife and humans. Restoring wetlands is an essential part of environmental science.

 

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Canada Gets Serious About Water Woes

Canada gets serious about water woes. Will Indigenous voices be heard? (2021, August 12). Christian Science Monitor. https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2021/0812/Canada-gets-serious-about-water-woes.-Will-Indigenous-voices-be-heard

This article discusses concerns around Indigenous peoples’ water, on their own land being extracted. A youth activist who is an Indigenous person of this area in Canada, Ontario, believes that “water is life”. Her and her people believe in their religion that it is only right to protect their water and right now they feel as if they do not have any voice among their government. They “are on the front lines of a new water fight in Canada” and hope to have some say upon the CWA which is trying to “modernize the water policy in Canada” due to concerns around climate change. The issue with this is that it opposes the indigenous people and communities beliefs of protecting the water that they have ownership of.

I personally think this is a very tough situation as Canada is trying to modernize and put new policies in place in order to change alongside the climate and to do what’s best for the environment overall. However, I also see how the indigenous people of Canada feel as if they have no voice in due to the fact that they are indigenous their belief is that they should have more power and control over the water that is there that the government is currently taking away from them. I think there’s a way that they can work together to both benefit the environment in order to limit the facts on climate change while also protecting the water for the indigenous people. I believe indigenous people are so set in their ways because it is what they morally believe is right due to their religion, however as are climate changes we need to learn to adapt and do what is best long run which I believe the Canadian government is trying to do.

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State ready to fill gaps if High Court Limits Water Law.

Egelko, B. (2022, February 1). State ready to fill gaps if High Court Limits Water Law. San Francisco Chronicle, 1/28/2022. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://digital.olivesoftware.com/olive/odn/sanfranciscochronicle/shared/ShowArticle.aspx?doc=HSFC%2F2022%2F01%2F28&entity=Ar00103&sk=67375259&mode=text#=undefined

The Clean Water Act protected certain types of water from pollution for 50 years. The Supreme Court wants to narrow the Act’s scope, which threatens certain wetlands. There are arguments of whether the Clean Water Act is specific only to bodies of water, and not wetlands. Politicians are concerned about California wetlands which are extremely important to the environment. Additionally, if wetlands in other states are not protected and destroyed, the damage will be caused to California wildlife and ecosystems. 

 

I think that the problem in this situation is that laws already put in place are vague and not specific enough, which lets different people interpret the guidelines in different ways. If better regulations can be put in place, there will be less confusion about which ecosystems fall under which laws. This article is related to environmental science because it concerns the Clean Water Act, which is a fundamental member of environmental laws. 

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Europe’s Possible Solutions to Managing Water Stress

Water resources across Europe — confronting water stress: an updated assessment — European Environment Agency. (n.d.). Www.eea.europa.eu. https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/water-resources-across-europe-confronting

Europe’s government has been deciding on possible solutions in order to manage the impacts of the water stress in the continent. Along with climate change, comes the concern of water scarcity which goes hand in hand with the increasing human population. On page 106 of the document, there are four main solutions presented, being continuing improving technology to have enough water per person, working with other economic sectors, restricting the use of supply in coastal areas with tourism, and lastly addressing the root being overexploitation of the natural resource.

This article expanded on the possible solutions the government can then implement policies and laws on in order to enforce or continue to enforce in order to ensure that the natural resource, water, lasts long enough and for as many people as possible in the future. I am most interested in the last solution being addressing the overexploitation of the resource because I think not only is it super broad, but that is the cause for all of these measures needing to be taken. In order to stop this damage from being done, the government would need to take action extremely quickly in order to stop or lessen the stress surrounding the water in Europe. I think that the rights people hold to have access to the water they want and need will be evaluated at some point considering how much the document talks about wanting to ensure each person and household has the capacity to have enough water for everyone in Europe to stay healthy.