our planet's most pressing environmental issues as seen through the eyes of a 21-year-old
12.2.2003
Another side of Saddam
Earlier in the semester, I blogged about a UF Center for Wetlands researcher who has been working to restore Iraqi marshlands that were drained by Saddam Hussein’s regime following the 1991 Gulf War.
As I keep up on state, national and global wetlands news, I find this has been the dominant wetlands news story, gaining coverage from community papers like our Gainesville Sun to huge international audiences like New Scientist, and most recently, Wednesday’s USA Today. All of this is not surprising, especially when you consider that these marshlands are believed to be the historical location of the Garden of Eden. And Saddam destroyed them.
In addition to running a page-and-a-half article in the main section of the print paper on the busiest travel day of the year, USA Today posted a more in-depth interactive presentation on their Web site. The presentation, created in Flash, includes audio comments from the reporter, a slideshow of photos and historical maps that show the reduction of wetlands over time.
Still people haven’t heard the news. I showed the USA Today story to a news guru this week who hadn’t seen any other coverage of the story. “This is one of those areas where the press could be doing a better job,” he told me. “Why isn’t there more coverage of Saddam’s malicious actions on his own people?”
The NY Times ran a story about the drained marshlands this morning also, but focusing on a completely different angle: while the area may feel the impacts of war, there is little fighting here.
Converting South Florida's wetlands into agriculture fields may have put the lands at increased risk for freezing conditions, according to a study published in Nature in November.
The New York Times reported on the study's results: if the wetlands had not been converted, there would be less freezes because water holds more heat and is less likely to freeze. Wetlands also recover from freezing temperatures more quickly than agriculture land.
Times reporter Anahad O'Conner wrote: "What we saw is that the wetlands act as a buffer against these colder temperatures," said Dr. Roger A. Pielke Sr., a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University and one of the study's authors. "The natural land cover holds more heat than the agricultural areas, making the freezes less frequent and their durations shorter."
I think the findings are pretty ironic, given the fact that most South Florida farmers settled in the lower portion of the state to get away from the freeze line and cold spells that occasionally impact the more northern portions of the state.
Don't mess with nature, because you can never win.
The study's researchers said they hope to use their findings to better understand how land-use change affects the local climate and to make more accurate predictions of threatening freezes.
The Environmental Protection Agency is home to a number of Internet databases that can help you find out more information about environmental conditions in your area.
Their most recent addition, the Enforcement and Compliance History Online database that provides visitors with “easily access extensive information on EPA’s environmental inspections, findings of violations and enforcement actions at more than 800,000 facilities nationwide” just celebrated it’s first birthday.
In it’s first year of operation, more than 1 million searches were conducted on ECHO, as citizens across the country searched for compliance and enforcement information related to the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which regulates the disposal of waste.
Check out other EPA databases that have information about your local area
AirNow “tells you how clean the air is and whether it will affect your health.” You can even see a Web cam to show local visibility patterns.
Find out where the water from your backyard drains to in a heavy storm with EPA’s Surf Your Watershed database.
Envirofacts is “your one-stop source for environmental information” on waste, water, air, toxic, land, and radiation. The site is searchable by zipcode.
Question the accuracy of online environmental news
After UF professor Mindy McAdams came to speak to my media ethics class about ethical concerns in online media, I had one of her example dilemmas fall into right into my lap:
Last week, another professor e-mailed me an unattributed story about an EPA official who resigned because he disagreed with the results of a controversial wetlands study. The study showed that wetlands actually produce more pollution and waste than they prevent. This may be the first environmental study to show evidence of that. Typically, wetlands are thought to act as environmental filters, cleansing excess nutrients, metals and other pollutants from the land, and cleaning the water that passes through them before it ends up in sources of our drinking water. Thousands of industrial and agricultural projects would love to hear otherwise, because it could mean that they no longer have to build around or mitigate for wetlands. Instead, building on top of them could be seen as a civic duty. Needless to say, this article was destined to cause quite a riot. After skimming it, I immediately forwarded it to my boss.
Becoming more suspicious, I logged on to Lexis-Nexis and did a search on the official’s last name. I found nothing. Not one article.
Next, I typed his name into Google’s news search. I found two hits. The article that I had initially read had come from a two-week old “Democracy Now!” edition. Sound objective? Right…
The second story ran in the Salt Lake Tribune, but the official’s resignation was not the focus of this article; there were only two lines about him in the story.
Next time, I’m going to take the time to do the background check before I spread potential biased/poorly written “news” to others. Just like Prof. McAdams said – it only has to be online for a second and you have no idea how many people have read it and forwarded it to their friends. At least I caught this one.
Nevertheless, I realize many good stories, especially environmental and wetlands stories, begin with little public recognition. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are inaccurate or aren’t worthy of coverage. It
More than 100,000 people attended Gainesville’s downtown Arts and Crafts Festival on Saturday, and a sizable crowd is expected to return again today.
I stopped by myself for a short while yesterday, trying to scrounge for affordable Christmas presents. While the college-budget gift selection was small, I was surprised to find just how many environmental organizations were present for the event:
At Imagination Station in the center of Gainesville’s downtown Arts and Crafts Festival going on this weekend, children created crafts with recycled products. Big Blue came by for the event to teach children about the importance of recycling.
The Gainesville Curbside Recycling Center had an adult education booth near the Hippodrome. Passersby were asked to sign pledges to commit to using recycling household products and buying recyclable materials more often.
(I thought the booths were especially timely because President Bush and the Environmental Protection Agency declared Saturday as America Recycles Day. Bush reminded the nation that “many of the products used every day, including aluminum cans, appliances, office paper, cardboard boxes, furniture, and clothing contain recycled materials. We also recycle motor oil, tires, plastic, glass, batteries, and building materials, and we are developing new ways to recycle electronic products -- the fastest growing portion of America's municipal waste.”
The Gainesville Sun ran an article on Sunday to about the effectiveness of recycling programs in north Florida, and explained that many programs are in jeopardy because of their expense.)
A Keep Alachua Beautiful booth with educational information on how to reduce pollution to our lands, air and water. Volunteers were passing out free pocket ashtrays for smokers who don’t want to
Another group was promoting water quality the launch of GainesvilleCreeks.org, a new Web site that includes water quality information and guides for how to keep our county waterways clean. The site is run in cooperation with the City of Gainesville and the St. Johns River Water Management District.
What you can do:
Check out the downtown festival today for plenty of arts and crafts and a little bit of community and environmental awareness, too.
Every home game weekend, UF produces 12 to 13 tons of municipal waste. Over the course of the year, campus produces 8,000 tons of waste.
According to Dave Newport, director of Greening UF, the university is moving to reduce the amount of trash that it throws away. Some solutions include moving toward biodegradable plates, cups and food service products at the football stadium the student union food court. The university has even toyed with the idea of creating an on-campus compost unit – an effort that could potentially bring the university money instead of paying for disposal of our trash in other places.
During last weekend’s Homecoming Game, Newport and a group of campus volunteers called “Zero-Waste” worked with the stadium food service staff to serve everyone in the skybox seating with biodegradable utensils, plates and cups. Campaign ads promoting the event were announced at halftime and student volunteers wearing UF T-shirts were spread around the stadium to spread the word about the initiative with others.
Newport said the response, even from BullGator businessmen, was overwhelmingly positive, including comments like “Why haven’t we been doing this all along?”
After the game, the waste was collected in biodegradable trash bags and sent UF’s Organic Recycling Center of Excellence in Sumter County, where studies on the effectiveness of the biodegradable materials will be conducted.
Under his administration, UF President Young challenged Greening UF to devise a plan to guide the university to a position of global leadership in sustainability. Newport hopes the new UF president will maintain the same level of commitment.
“EVEN IF GLOBAL WARMING isn't real, the rhetoric over President George W.
Bush's environmental record alone is hot enough to raise the temperature in
Washington. ‘It's the worst environmental record in American history,’ charges
Carl Pope, the Sierra Club's executive director. Absurd, retorts James L.
Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).
When Bush Administration plans are implemented, he says, ‘the air will be
cleaner, the water will be cleaner, and more wetlands will be protected.’ ”
-- the opening from Business Week’s“How Green is the White House?”
Since I already took off the blinders and brought up politics, I figure this is an appropriate time to mention other environmental issues in the Bush administration that are getting mixed, if any, support:
Two of the other biggest issues:
Global Climate Change: Many scientists and environmentalists fear human’s release of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide) may be causing to the biggest environmental degradation of our time – global warming. Not only, did the President drop his plan to cap carbon emissions as soon as he stepped into office, he made a international statement of apathy by refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. When he finally decided to establish national regulations to limit emissions, he made them voluntary and therefore, essentially insignificant in the eyes of many environmentalists.
Clean Water Act: President Bush controversially called for the redefinition of wetlands which have been historically protected by the 1977 Clean Water Act. Responding to a 2001 Supreme Court ruling that limited the Act’s jurisdiction over isolated wetlands, Bush is looking to clarify whether isolated, non-navigable wetlands should be protected by the Act. According to the New York Times, "the Bush administration signaled its willingness to consider a much broader approach that could ultimately remove from federal jurisdiction up to 20 percent of the country's wetlands. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers said the action would ‘clarify and reaffirm’ the agencies' authority ‘over a vast majority of the nation's wetlands.’ But critics, including leading environmental organizations, said the plan could reduce the scope of the Clean Water Act well beyond what the court required."
earth to michelle is maintained by Michelle Aldridge, a dual-major senior in online media journalism and natural resource conservation at the University of Florida. She hopes to combine her passions for writing and the environment in her future career. For more about Michelle and her goals and interests, check out her Web portfolio.
