Month: March 2019

Because of the magnitude of environmental concerns in today’s society, this blog has been focused heavily on negative topics. While things like pollution, oil spills, and acid rain are all important issues to discuss, for the last post on this site I would like to keep things a little more light-hearted. To wrap things up, we are going to take a look at all the ways that we at Penn State can contribute to a better, healthier planet.

Penn State University, along with many other college campuses across the country, makes a statement by being environmentally conscious in many different regards. After reading this, hopefully you will have a much better understanding of and appreciation for all the ways that you can participate in this movement here at Penn State.

Penn State’s plan for environmental consciousness had four different categories: reduce, reuse, recycle, compost. The first category, reduce, is all about lessening the amount of waste we produce. The campus is covered with water bottle refilling stations so that students can fill their reusable water bottles as much as they want. This gets rid of the need for plastic water bottles that just get disposed of after one use. Plastic disposable water bottles are completely useless at this point, although Americans spend nearly $11 million every year on plastic water bottles. Regular tap water accounts for around a quarter of bottled water, so you might as well just get your water from a fountain or refrigerator. A total of around one billion dollars’ worth of landfill garbage is from the disposal of plastic bottles. On the flip side, reusable water bottles save you hundreds of dollars per year, and they are likely a safer bet than plastic. Plastic bottles can contain chemicals such as BPA which are harmful to your health, whereas glass or stainless steel will not have that risk. All in all, it might be in your best interest to take advantage of reusable bottles and the filling stations all over campus.

Sticking with the reduce category, the dining halls around campus have what are known as Green2Go containers. These are reusable carry-out containers that take the place of Styrofoam containers which go right into the landfill. By taking advantage of the Green2Go containers, the amount of waste is limited. Another initiative taken by the university to reduce is the Smarter Carpet Initiative, where Penn State carpet never sees a landfill and more thought is put into its purchasing. And ever noticed how your pages automatically print double-sided from the printers here? That is because Penn State is on a mission to reduce the amount of paper we use by limiting the number of sheets needed.

The next category, reuse, is focused on not letting anything that could still be used go to waste. The Trash to Treasure project allows Penn State students who are moving out to donate their unwanted items to the local United Way, so that all those items do not get put to waste.

The third category that Penn State focuses on to help the environment is recycle, which is probably the thing that you think of first when you hear about the university being environmentally conscious. We have all seen what seems like the hundreds of bins labeled trash, glass, hard plastic, paper, etc. Penn State does its very best to clearly spell out to us what goes where when we are throwing things out. Different items can be recycled in different ways, so it is important to consider what all you are throwing out instead of just heading straight for the trash bin. It is probably the easiest and least time-consuming thing you can do to get on board with Penn State’s initiative.

The final category here is compost. Any food waste, along with some paper products and other things, are actually compostable. What this means is that this can all be turned into something that can end up enriching the soil, rather than ending up in a landfill where it will do the opposite. The benefits of composting include the nourishment it provides for the soil and less need for fertilizers as a result, as well as the decrease of methane emissions from landfills. By including clearly labeled compost containers around the dining areas of campus, Penn State makes it so easy to dispose of excess food properly, so there is no excuse not to take part in this.

Through the many ways that Penn State University takes steps to be environmentally conscious, it has become so easy for us to do this as well. The next time you want to buy a pack of plastic water bottles or feel like throwing all your waste in the trash can, think about what the best thing you can do for your environment is, and join Penn State’s movement to go green.

The next environmental issue we are going to come across on this blog is one that I probably had the least amount of prior knowledge on going into this adventure. It kind of sounds like something a lot more imminently deadly than it is, something that a super villain in a movie would come up with potentially. What I am referring to here is acid rain.

Although not quite as scary as it may sound, acid rain definitely still something to be discussed in our long list of environmental problems. Acid rain is essentially rain with a significantly low pH (low pH means it is more acidic), which is caused by pollution in the air. The burning of fossil fuels is what pollutes our air and, consequentially, our rain as well. Factories contribute a lot to this issue, as well as exhaust from cars or other automobiles. These things release sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the air, which can eventually reach high enough in the atmosphere that they react with water in the clouds and produce the acidic rain.

The effects of acid rain are mostly noticed in aquatic environments, where the rain can lower the overall pH of the body of water. The acidic rain releases aluminum into the water as well. Some aquatic animals are able to tolerate changes in pH, but there is a critical level of pH for every species and once it hits that level, the species will struggle to survive. At a pH of 5, most fish eggs are unable to hatch, and at lower levels the adult fish will die. The aluminum released into the soil is also harmful to plants. That coupled with the fact that acidic clouds can cause harm to plants is the reason that areas of frequent acid rain contain a lot of dead trees. Fortunately for humans, our bodies are adapted to be unharmed by acid rain, but when the compounds in acid rain are released into the air, then they can start to cause some health problems.

There is a bit of good news surrounding this acid rain situation, though. The Clean Air Act was passed in 1990, which put regulations on emissions which pollute the air. Since then, there has actually been a decrease in acid rain, meaning the Clean Air Act really did its job. Comparing values from 1985 and 2008, the amount of rain or snow with a pH of less than 5 decreased in both concentration and frequency. Scientists are not surprised by this fact, because they understand that regulating emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide in the air will consequentially decrease the reactions they have with the atmosphere, which eventually lessens the problem of acid rain. This is different from almost all of the other issues on this site, because typically they just seem to get worse over time. For me at least (and hopefully for you as well), it is a breath of fresh air to be on the positive side this time. Do not get too excited though, because we still have a ways to go before this problem is no longer a problem anymore.

Although the Clean Air Act significantly helped with the acid rain problem, it does not mean that it made it go away. It is no secret that air pollution continues to be a concern in today’s world, and as a result acid rain is as well. It is still very important that we take care of our planet and be mindful of how we are impacting it. While much of the pollution comes from factories and larger sources, there are still things that we can do, even if they are minor, to help as much as we can. Energy production is a main source of air pollution, so conserving energy by doing things such as turning out the lights when you leave a room and all of those other little things we have been taught to do our whole lives can make just a little bit of a difference. Buying energy efficient appliances is something else that can decrease our impact. The biggest one is probably minimizing the amount of driving we do, because car exhaust immediately pollutes the air. Carpooling, taking public transportation, driving energy-efficient cars, or even just walking or biking somewhere are important steps to be taken.

Acid rain is not as large of a problem as it used to be, but it is still a problem nonetheless. The harm that it can cause to plants and aquatic environments is a very real concern, since so many living things can not survive if their environment is too acidic. It is our job to ensure that the impact of acid rain continues to slope downward, so that we can have a positive impact on our world.

In this week’s portion of our look into the issues that impact the environment, we are taking a look at one that tends to break all of our hearts (well, mine at least). The problem of oil spills shows up in the media a decent amount, and personally I feel like I often see videos and pictures of the ducks and other animals covered in oil as a result. It tugs at the heart strings a little more than some of the others.

Oil spills can result from any number of reasons, but mostly they are due to the release (whether intentional or not) of petroleum during the production process of oil. Oil spills can happen due to companies being careless with their oil production, or simply by accident. Regardless of how they occur, oil spillage is quite harmful to marine animals, whether they are birds, mammals, fish or otherwise. In mammals with fur, such as otters, the excess oil interferes with the insulation capabilities of their fur. The oil also affects the ability of birds’ feathers to repel water. Without these capabilities in full effect, these animals are at the mercy of the elements and can suffer from hypothermia. Oil can harm fish in ways that affect the normal functioning of their bodies. The possibility of ingesting oil is also a danger for animals, because it can be poisonous. All in all, oil is not meant to interact with marine life in such quantities. It brings about things like those aforementioned little ducks covered in oil- so sad…

Beyond the primary fact that oil is clearly not meant to be spilled in the ocean, there are other reasons as to why it is generally something that we want to avoid. The process of cleaning up oil from bodies of water is quite involved. There are a few different ways this can happen, but they are all large undertakings. Dispersants trap oil in small droplets for bacteria to degrade on its own easier, skimmers can essentially scrape the oil from the surface of the water, burning the oil after it is freshly spilled can get rid of it, etc. Some scientists believe leaving the oil alone is actually the best option. Either way, the spilling of oil requires a quite large amount of thought, time, and potentially money to take care of it. This is just another reason for it to be avoided.

This particular topic is a little different from most of the others that we have examined thus far in this blog. The biggest difference is that with the other topics, there is at least something we as civilians can do to either prevent the long-terms effects or lessen our impact on the environment. In the case of oil spills, unfortunately the prevention of them is essentially up to the companies that produce oil to be more careful with the production process. It is also more of a case-by-case basis rather than a gradual process because oil spills are specific isolated events instead of one constantly growing epidemic. With that being said, it is still an important issue to discuss and still has very serious effects on the environment which is all cause by human activity.

So the question here is this: what can be done to stop the effects of oil spills on our oceans? As I mentioned before, there is not too much that we as individuals can do, but there are a number of things that can be done by people who have a bit more power than you or I. One way to fix this is to determine the best way to clean up the oil spills using the most efficient and safest method possible. As of now, there are a few different ways that oil spills can be taken care of, but finding the best possible option will be very helpful. There are also a few different actions that companies can take to help proactively solve this issue. Some companies are practicing safer behaviors such as obtaining leak detection technologies, introducing training and worker safety programs, and setting spill reduction targets. The control of oil spills requires a large investment, but the companies that are willing to make this investment are building a better future by protecting our oceans and marine wildlife.

Oil spills are a very serious and sad issue to discuss, especially when you consider the life that is affected by them. It is imperative that oil production is improved by companies who care about the environment and the lives of so many birds, fish, and marine mammals that could be impacted by carelessness. The hope is that in the future, oil will only be produced using practices that are safe and careful to avoid spillage, so that we can save our marine wildlife.