Reading Response #11 – Fast Food

Fast Food by Mike Rdsenwald

The article Fast Food by Mike Rdsenwald is a great bit of information about how green energy and technology are making their way into new territory. The use of green products in making and powering a race car has quite an allure to many, and while it may not be the most exciting thing that the Nascar crowd might hear, the idea that the Nascar crowd may hear about it is exciting.  The article is geared towards a tech friendly audience that probably hasn’t heard of this concept before but is intrigued by it.

The article covers only one main topic which is building a race car from green products, the main point is to show that this can and is being done today. While the car costs a fortune to build, it is only the first and can pioneer new methods of using green products in auto manufacturing.
By pioneering the way towards a more sustainable auto industry and pointing out how its being done, this article is very effective in its aim.

Environmentally, a bio diesel powered, ecologically friendly race car is probably a small step. While race cars are gas hogs and do pollute quite heavily, there are relatively few of them in operation and they would be making a small dent in our environmental well being. As an indicator of what can be done though, this article has great implications environmentally and is helping to make green products more of a daily use item.

Counterarguments to this article are the fact that bio diesel has an environmental toll all its own when more crop land is cleared and grown in corn and soy to provide the vegetable oils that we use for fuel.  In pursuing this topic, I would check into the benefits of using palm or cocoa oil for bio diesel compared to using vegetable oil. The mixture of the two for this car may have reasons that are beyond my scope, but it would be interesting to find out more.

Reading Response #11: An Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore’s documentary about the current environmental crisis combines the matter-of-fact-ness of scientific evidence with Hollywood producing. He didn’t want to just target science or environmental gurus, he wanted to rope in a general audience. Putting together a documentary rich with information that’s still entertaining to the average Joe is no small task. This documentary was a box office hit- rare for a documentary, especially one of this nature.

The basis of the movie was a sincere warning. He showed pictures of changing ecosystems and combined them with award-winning music. One of the most important issues he covered was that of the ice melting that is happening as a result of global warming. If the Greenland ice cap should melt, he showed how detrimental this would be to millions of coastal-dwelling people, let alone the economy and biodiversity.

This movie was effective because it succeeded in generating emotions. He made note that the issue really does in a way come down to humanity and the behaviors we’ve all chosen. Changing the behaviors of human beings is what has the potential to reverse or slow down global warming. Politics isn’t necessarily what will singlehandedly fix the issue. The most innovative policy could be written and passed but without behavioral change we aren’t going to get very far.

Critics might call Al Gore’s documentary an exaggeration or “a little over the top”. But the truth is, that is what we need right now.

Reading Response 13

I didn’t quite like this article. I didn’t understand the point of it, and I didn’t really understand quite who the audience would be. (I assume it’s biology teachers.) I’d go as far to say that it is completely useless. Peter McLean tries to explain in his article, The Need for Sustainability, that teachers must begin to teach their students about sustainability. While this is a noble cause, the article does not present any real solutions to the questions he raises. McLean, while citing various articles, brings up the fact that we as a race of beings are quite out of touch with nature. He then begins complaining about how this needs to change. He mentions very few ways that this can be accomplished, and instead leaves the burden of answering this problem to the reader. While there isn’t anything inherently wrong with this, the lack of consideration put into possible solutions makes it look cheap. My feeling is that McLean wrote this article last minute to fulfill some sort of tenure track requirement.

Sad, sloppy articles like this have no place in the academic community. Sure, increasing the amount of teaching in the area of sustainability would be good. How can we argue this? But finding ways to do so is where the trouble lies. Mr. McLean needs to find something he is passionate about before he writes, next time. I sent this article to my aunt, who is a biology teacher in Canada. She found it utterly arrogant. Her response was, “Duh. What sort of idiot posts this type of article? Of course we need to teach more about sustainability.” Every piece of information cited is something most high school students should know. Why, then, does the author feel it necessary to cite articles regarding these data, and to biology teachers none the less? It’s utter arrogance and a lack of true diligence.

Reading Response 12 – Earth911.com

Earth911.com provides a multitude of information regarding green living. Here, any internet surfer can find information on how to save energy, better their gardens, eat healthier, purchase green products and find information on how to reduce their carbon foot print.

The website is quite easy to navigate. The toolbar at the top of the screen divides topics into wisely chosen categories so as to divide up the immense amount of information on the page. The search tool was also found to be particularly useful. The color scheme is also easy on the eyes, and matches the “green” style of the websites content. Typing in the search word “trash” brought up many interesting articles, of which one was a featured article on the website’s homepage. They even have a search feature to find recycling centers in the viewer’s neighborhood.

The articles are also very pertinent to everyday life. Articles about Christmas and winter weather were posted on the front page. One I found particularly interesting discussed ways to winterize your home. I learned about how to find an energy auditor and how to decrease the amount of heat that I loose from leaking areas. The site also talked about tax rebates to those who improve the energy efficiency of their homes.

I think this site could have a very positive impact on the earth. By increasing awareness of recycling and green practices, hopefully people will feel more comfortable adopting them.

Reading Response 11 – Sperm Whales Bear Testimony

Again I find myself reading an information poor document. Obviously, the main point of this article is to inform the general public about the growing amount of pollutants in the ocean, and by keeping the verbiage to a minimum I agree that the author does accomplish this goal. I do, however, feel that the author could have included more data, or provided a link to the full research results. The link to the external article at the bottom of the document didn’t contain any additional information that I found helpful. Sure, we can’t argue that the oceans are polluted, but by stating that the increased presence of cytochrome P isoenzymes infers this is ridiculous. There are many factors one must consider before nailing down the reasons as to why monooxidizing enzymes, such as those in the CYP family, would be upregulated. (For example, there are higher levels of POP’s in arctic waters. Does this mean whales in the arctic have higher levels of CYP isoenzymes? Research shows otherwise.)

Why didn’t the scientists test for levels of organic molecules instead? They mention that they detected mostly DDT but didn’t offer any information as to how much, or perhaps where they came from. The technology needed to trace molecules to their origin is already present, and should have been used. While the article definitely benefits the environment through increasing awareness of these issues, I’d like to see some references and additional data in this article before I decide on believing the author’s viewpoint.

Essay#1-Proposal; Fairbanks Brave the Cold and Plug it in!

In 2002 Fairbanks and Anchorage were on the Environmental Protection Agency’s list of worst offenders for Carbon Monoxide pollution.  Other cities that made the top six were Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Spokane.  How does lowly Fairbanks with a population around 80,000 make a list comparing its pollution to cities like Anchorage and Los Angeles with populations ranging from 250,000 to 15,500,000 respectively?  There are several things whichcontribute to the poor air quality in the interior which are out of our control such as the frequent weather inversions which trap pollutants.  But we can’t afford to let any of those reasons excuse us from making improvements.   The air we breathe is such an important aspect of life-not doing something about the problem poses risks we can’t afford to take.  Studies have been conducted which offer sound advice to follow, but the wide population just doesn’t know those facts.  For the most part we know to plug in our car when it gets cold, and to get an IM test, but what else is there to be done?   Knowledge is power.  Learn the facts and the implications of failure to improve local air quality and you’ll want to learn how to do our part.  The trick  is in our ability to act accordingly.

One of the most popular but misunderstood causes to our pollution is our harsh winters.  Until recently all I knew was that Ice fog happens when it gets really cold, and that ice fog had to do with car emissions and the air freezing resulting in poor visibility and an icky cough for asthmatics like myself.  The truth about our winter cold weather pollution is however much more complicated.  The Tanana Valley is structured so that the sourounding  hills and mountain ranges block out wind and clouds, creating a basin in which warm air rises right on up and through the atmosphere resulting in lower ground temperatures-this results in an inversion of typical weather patterns causing warm air to be trapped close to the ground.  Because the cold air stays down, and not much wind comes through the valley to mix it up, pollution also stays close to the ground.  A big problem is that we have no way to disperse the pollution we can’t help but create, but as illustrated this is a factor beyond our control, what can be done about that?  Well, if we could blow up mountains and create pathways for wind to pass through and mix things up, that might help, but that’s not very realistic.  Instead, we can individually make a collected effort to decrease our personal contributions to the problem.

For example; try plugging in your car for at least two hours before you try to start it at temperatures below 20 degrees farenheit.  This can cut emissions by over half.  59 percent to be exact.  Many people put their cars on timers up here so that they can cut electricity bills.  They understand that the car doesn’t need to be plugged in all night, so they’ll have the timer set for 45 minutes before they leave.  While I’m sure that 45 minutes is better than nothing, a weeklong study conducted by Sierra Research group from California concluded that 2 hours is the time that it takes to make significant difference.  Further they found that 2 hours of plugging in only adds about 14 cents to the electric bill.  Worth it?  I think so.

The Sierra research group also concluded that 10 minutes of running the vehicle before driving in cold temperatures is ideal.  With this knowledge I was again enlightened.  I’ve always run my car for 20-30 minutes because that’s how long it took to warm up.  However, after 10 minutes of idling, the emissions from idleing start negating the plug it in idea.  Wouldn’t it be awesome if everyone knew about this and adhered to it?  The results could be amazing!  If 10 people could brave the cold and only warm their car up for 10 minutes, and then those 10 people told 10 people who also tried it out, there we have 100 people cutting personal emissions by 59 percent.  And still, if each of those 100 people told 10 people, we’re already at a thousand by third hand word of mouth.

You must wonder now if this is all still applicable, my sources are a few years old, and Fairbanks has passed all sorts of clean air acts, policies, and city ordinances to work on this.  Well, we’re still in danger.  The news miner printed an Article September 22, 2009 warning that Federal Agencies such as the EPA are threatening sanctions.  Sanctions are lawfully imposed punishments for not meeting the expectations or standards determined for a given group.  They’ve suggested that if Fairbanks specifically can’t come up with more effective prevention solutions and policies, within the next few years on fine particulate air pollution, Federal agencies like the EPA will come down hard on the state as Alaska’s environmental issues are managed by state government.  Though it is a local problem and we have to make local solutions, our failure will have adverse effects for everyone.  Talk of cutting funds for federally supported projects is in the air (pun intended).

Though I don’t have the grand solutions the EPA is asking for, I know that we can help the borough out by doing our part.  Educating ourselves on what we can do cut emissions is the first step.  Acting according to that knowledge and then sharing it with our friends is the next step.  If more of the residential population knew the role they individually play in the problem and solution
I think the local policies would make a greater difference.  What we need is education.  We have policies and ordinances which will prove effective; we just need to put them to the test.   Try it out, plug in your car at 20 degrees Fahrenheit or colder and only idle for 10 minutes.  Then tell 10 friends, and tell them to tell 10 friends.  I propose it will make a difference.  The efforts of our local leadership must be supported by the efforts of the individual.

Sources:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/special/oxy2.html

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF15/1583.html

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF0/046.html

http://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/sep/22/borough-not-fixing-fairbanks-air-pollution-could-b/

Research Draft: Water Pollution Causes Tremendous Environmental Problems in China

My hometown is Hengyang, China. This is a beautiful city, which is surrounded by a pure and clear river called Xiangjiang. When I was little, I often played in the water. I swam, dove and went fishing there. Honestly, Xiangjiang River has become part of my sweet childhood memory. However, since a paper mill factory opened near Xiangjiang, the river is no longer pure and clear. The condition of the water is getting worse day by day and children’s laughs have forever disappeared in that river. At present, Xiangjiang River is seriously polluted. Unfortunately, this is not a special case. Many cities have similar problems like the changes in Xiangjiang River. Although the city’s economic boom is quite considerable, the pollution is also a considerable problem. Statistics from the Report on State of the Environment in china (2008) show that 68% of total lakes have been polluted and 17.6% of 68% lakes have been graded class V, which is considered to be seriously polluted. All the attendant environmental problems are substantial. Industrialization of cities (especially smaller ones) has enormously harmed rivers and lakes, because it causes large numbers of aquatic species’ deaths, damage to human health and greatly reduces the agricultural productivity of the areas.

According to the “Report on State of the Environment in China” (2008), 66% of the total amount of wastewater was treated before being discharged into natural environment. And among the remaining 34% of untreated wasted water, 30% comes from manufacturing. This untreated waste has a substantial impact on water bodies. One of the major consequences is the water eutrophication.
Eutrophication is a process whereby water bodies, such as lakes, estuaries, or slow-moving streams receive excess nutrients that stimulate excessive plant growth (algae, periphyton attached algae, and nuisance plants weeds). This enhanced plant growth, often called an algal bloom, reduces dissolved oxygen in the water when dead plant material decomposes and can cause other organisms to die (United States Geological Survey [USGS], 2008)
In China, water eutrophication occurred in 67 lakes (51.2% of the total lakes) (Yang, Wu, Hao, He, 2008).

Ideally, from a chemical perspective, under normal circumstances water has a certain solubility of oxygen. This dissolved oxygen is not only required for aquatic life to survive but also works as a reactant in a variety of oxidation-reduction reactions. These chemical reactions could effectively promote some pollutants to decompose and in the end accomplish water self-purification.

However, the balance has been broken by factories’ excessive pollution. Factories, especially small ones in rural areas, do not have advanced sewage treatment equipments. They often pool manufacturing waste directly into rivers, either for saving money or convenience. Some of the waste contains nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus. Once these nutrients enter water, they could cause fast growth of algae and other plankton, and deteriorate water quality (Western, 2001).

Under eutrophic conditions, dissolved oxygen greatly increases during the day, but isgreatly reduced after dark by the respiring algae and by microorganisms that feed on the increasing mass of dead algae. When dissolved oxygen levels decline to hypoxic levels, fish and other marine animals suffocate. As a result, creatures such as fish, shrimp, and especially immobile bottom dwellers die off. (Smith, Tilman, & Nekola, 1999)

Dianchia Lake is a representative example of this kind. In the early 1970s the water of Dianchi Lake was graded as Class III which is the lowest water class applied to drinking water sources. However, by 2000, due to rapid population and industrial waterwaste, Dianchi water has declined from Class III to the inferior Class V. Now, a once beautiful lake has been spread with dark green algae and dead fish in which the transparency is less than 1 meter (Lu, Yang, Gao, Yu, 2005). Taihu Lake, in China, has a similar eutrophication issue. It is the third largest freshwater lake in China, located in the Yangtze River delta, one of the more developed areas of eastern China. In recent decades, because of severe pollution, water quality in Taihu Lake degraded from Class I/II in the early 1960s to Class II/III in the early 1980s and then to Class IV by the mid-1990s. At present, 83.5% of the lake area is eutrophic with an inferior Class V ranking (Liu & Qiu, 2007).

Another severe consequence is that manufacturing waste could damage humans health. As mentioned previously, water eutrophication breaks the balance of aquatic ecosystem and triggers excessive algae. When the blooming algae die, they can produce lots of algae toxins, which are threats to human health. Recent investigation showed that algae toxin is the metabolized production of Cyanotoxins which may cause digestion problems and liver dysfunctions in human bodies. However, this kind of toxin was detected in the Yangtze River, as well as many rivers and lakes of Yellow River valleys due to the pollution that comes from manufacturing waste (Yu & Len, 2004).

Other factories’ waste from chemical industries and non-ferrous metal smelting industries may also affect human health, because their waste contains a high level of heavy metals. Once water is polluted, these heavy metals could enter human bodies through drinking water or the food from these waters by which people may get infectious and parasitic diseases, acute or chronic poisoning or even cancer (Occupational Safety & Health Administration [OSHA], 1992). For example, acute cadmium poisoning may result in symptoms like weakness, fever, headache, and chronic cadmium poisoning may result in cancer (lung and prostate) (OSHA, 1992).

A realistic example would be the Liuyang case in Hunan Province. In the end of July, 509 of 2,888 local residents had been found to have high concentrations of cadmium in the urinalysis tests. Two of them died. The government believed the reason came from metal pollutants that were discharged by a nearby Xianghe Chemical Company into the water (Xinhua News Agency, 2009). Another serious case happened in Fengxiang County in Shaanxi, 174 children from three villages were diagnosed with lead poisoning, with 851 of 1,016 children tested found to have abnormally high levels of lead in their blood. And the poisoning is very likely caused by pollution from a nearby smelter (Jia, 2009). These two cases show that people have been greatly suffering from the water pollution that is caused by industrialization.

Manufacturing waste also strongly affects agricultural productivity. Theoretically, polluted water influences agriculture primary through irrigation. As sewage enters farm land, a partial amount is directly absorbed by crops and the rest of the large amount is accumulated in the soil. On one side, in terms of the pollutants that go directly into crops, the plants would show symptoms of being poisoned, when the concentration of pollutants in the plant bodies is accumulated up to a certain level (Wang, Wang, Brown, Qu, 2007). For example, with excessive nitrogen, apples would mature late and have a dim color. However, with an increasing amount of polluted water, crops have been greatly affected. In the “Regional Survey of Soil Quality”, 31% of vegetables and 25% of rice have been diagnosed to have lead content which are above the Chinese Food Hygiene Standard in Jiangsu Province. In Guangdong Province, 23% of vegetables have been detected to have chemicals like endosulfan sulfate, endrin aldehyde, and heptachlor, which are toxic to human bodies (Cheng, 2003). On the other side, the remaining large amount of pollutants that go in the soil also has vital impacts. For example, when some acid pollutants enter soil, they would lower the soil original PHs. Consequentially, some microbes are killed because they are unable to adjust to the new PHs and the enzymes they made no longer function. Besides, acid pollutants also help soil produce toxins such as aluminum, and use up necessary nutrients such as magnesium and calcium which are good to crops’ growth (Rodhe, 2000)

According to the “Report on State of the Environment in China” (2007), the total water consumption for Huaihe River Basin is 49.319 billion cubic meters. Water consumption used in agricultural irrigation is 31.285 billion cubic meters, which makes up about 63.4% of the total consumptions. Due to the severe water pollution, In 2007, there were about 13 million square meters of farm land were subject to different degree of pollutions by manufacturing waste which made up one fifth of the entire surface land. Besides, 22% of the polluted farm land was considered severely damaged. Based on this result, national grain production reduced around 10 billion kilograms. Direct economic losses reach up to 12.5 billion Yuan (About 1.8 billion dollars).

Thrilling truth and statistics impressively points out the fact that manufacturing waste has damaged to our lives. It causes water eutrophication which results in a large amount of aquatic deaths and decrease biodiversity. It also threatens human health with heavy metal pollutions. What’s more, it could affect farm land by irrigation. Its acid pollutants could be absorbed by soil, which leads to a decrease of the soil quality and a reduction of agricultural productivity.
References
Cheng S. (2003) Heavy metal pollution in China: Origin, pattern and control . Environmental Science and Pollution Research. Vol.10.192-198. doi: 10.1065/espr2002.11.141.1
Liu W, Qiu R. (2007) Water eutrophication in China and the combating strategies. Journal of Chemical Technology & Biotechnology, Volume 82, Issue 9, 781-786.
Lu JJ, Yang H, Gao L & Yu TY. Spatial variation of P and N in water and sediments of Dianchi Lake, China. Pedosphere.2005;15(1):78–83.
Khan FA, Ansari AA. Eutrophication: An ecological vision. The Botanical Review.2005;71(4):449–482. doi: 10.1663/0006-8101(2005)071[0449:EAEV]2.0.CO;2.
Report on State of the Environment in China. (2007). State Environmental Protection Administration of China. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from http://www.sepa.gov.cn (in Chinese).
Report on State of the Environment in China. (2008). State Environmental Protection Administration of China. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from http://www.sepa.gov.cn (in Chinese).
Smith, V.H.; G.D. Tilman, & J.C. Nekola (1999). “Eutrophication: impacts of excess nutrient inputs on freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems”. Environmental Pollution 100: 179–196. doi:10.1016/S0269-7491(99)00091-3.
Western D. Human-modified ecosystems and future evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.2001;98(10):5458–5465. doi: 10.1073/pnas.101093598.
Yu HM, Len Y. Elementary discussion on the harm of blue alga and its prevention and cure. Beijing Aquatic Product.2004;1(5):29–30.

Yang X., Wu X. , Hao H.L, & He Z..L. (2008) Mechanisms and assessment of water eutrophication. J Zhejiang Univ Sci B. March;9(3): 197–209. doi: 10.1631/jzus.B0710626

Rodhe, H. (2000). The global distribution of acidifying wet deposition. Environmental Science and TEchnology. vlo. 36, no. 20 (October) p. 4382-8.

Smith, V.H.; G.D. Tilman, & J.C. Nekola (1999). “Eutrophication: impacts of excess nutrient inputs on freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems”. Environmental Pollution 100: 179–196. doi:10.1016/S0269-7491(99)00091-3.

United States Department of Labor: Occupational Safety & Health Administration. (May, 2009) Retrieved November 29, 2009, from http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/cadmium/recognition.html

United States Geological Survey. (March, 2008). Toxic Substances Hydrology Program. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from http://toxics.usgs.gov/definitions/eutrophication.html

Western D. Human-modified ecosystems and future evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.2001;98(10):5458–5465. doi: 10.1073/pnas.101093598.

Xinhua News Agency. (August, 2009). 3 officials punished over cadmium pollution in Hunan. Retrieved November 29, 2009, from http://www.china.org.cn/environment/news/2009-08/04/content_18261752.htm

Yu HM, Len Y. Elementary discussion on the harm of blue alga and its prevention and cure. Beijing Aquatic Product.2004;1(5):29–30.

Yang X., Wu X. ,  Hao H.L, &  He Z..L. (2008) Mechanisms and assessment of water eutrophication. J Zhejiang Univ Sci B. March;9(3): 197–209.  doi: 10.1631/jzus.B0710626.

Wang S, Wang X, Brown,C.L., Qu, X. (2007, December 5). Current status and prospects of agricultural drainage in China. Irrigation and Drainage, Vol: 56, S1. S47-S58.

Smith, V.H.; G.D. Tilman, & J.C. Nekola (1999). “Eutrophication: impacts of excess nutrient inputs on freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems”. Environmental Pollution 100: 179–196. doi:10.1016/S0269-7491(99)00091-3.

Western D. Human-modified ecosystems and future evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.2001;98(10):5458–5465. doi: 10.1073/pnas.101093598.

Yu HM, Len Y. Elementary discussion on the harm of blue alga and its prevention and cure. Beijing Aquatic Product.2004;1(5):29–30.

Yang X., Wu X. ,  Hao H.L, &  He Z..L. (2008) Mechanisms and assessment of water eutrophication. J Zhejiang Univ Sci B. March;9(3): 197–209.  doi: 10.1631/jzus.B0710626

Response 12: Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food

            “Meat!  I need Meat!”  This is a common phrase heard in the United States today.  It is one quite commonly heard from a good friend of mine when he sees too much green and not enough meat on the table.  My wife will also say that this is something that I am known for saying as well.  America likes their meat.  But can America really afford to eat so much meat.  With animals being slaughtered across the nation and being raised just for our consumption, these animals live out their lives with enough room to maybe turn their head…before hitting the animal next to them.

            The United States has been eating whatever they want and all they want.  The result of mass food production is disease.  These animals are injected with so many hormones and antibiotics so they do not get sick and in their overstuffed quarters that they are not even very healthy for us to eat.  Over the last few years there have been all kinds of food poisonings, from salmonella to e-colli.  People are scared to eat out or buy food these days unless they know where the company got their food from.

            Other results from unhealthy eating in America’s lifestyle is obesity.  Everywhere we look food is unhealthy, go into just about any fast food restaurant and it is just overflowing with unhealthy foods.  I love living in Alaska.  I go out in the fall, shoot a moose and maybe a caribou and there is my meat for the year.  Healthy meat grown and raised quite literally in my back yard.  My mother in law does her own gardening and raises her own chickens.  My wife and I get some of those things and much better off for it.  Many people are doing these things, but America is not going in the right direction to make ourselves healthier or our planet healthier by raising and slaughtering all of this livestock.

Response 11: Reuniting a River

            Clean energy is a good thing, go green for mother earth, hybrid and electric cars, eat veggies.  All of these things are seen as good things for the earth and going green.  People say we need to clean up our act and clean up the earth along with it.  Sometimes when we are already green or are going green, it just might not be the best thing for our mother earth.  The Klamath River runs in both Oregon and California, the river has three dams on it that help provide energy to over 70,000 homes through Pacific Power.

            Most people would say that this is a good thing, that we are providing energy in a clean fossil-fuel free way.  That is true, but at the same time the river’s eco-system is being ruined.  Because of the three dams upstream the water does not flow quite correctly, the river upstream is also used for irrigation of some of the most fertile farm land in the Western United States.  By the time that the water gets to the lower part of the river, the Native American’s who have fished the river for over three hundred years have hardly any water for their salmon to spawn in or for them to fish.

            For the last few decades the farmers and the fishermen have argued over the water.  Now both are losing water and are finally getting together with the energy company to try and decide what is going to happen with their river.  No one knows what will become of the Klamath River and its citizens along its shores, but when trying to create a greener world all things must be considered in order to truly have a green earth.

Red Gold-The Red Gold of Bristol Bay (E.C.)

Bristol Bay, Alaska is the depository for the sockeye, or red salmon that return here each year to their natal stream waters. The rivers that empty into Bristol Bay are the breeding, dying and rebirth watersheds for millions of salmon that have been repeating that cycle in these waters for hundreds of thousands of years. Indigenous people, commercial fishermen and recreationists are drawn to these waters filled with sockeyes. Up rivers from the Bay, under the ground, there are other kinds of treasure-gold, copper and molybdenum. Pebble Mine is proposed by Northern Dynasty Company to extract those minerals to the possible peril of the Red Gold of Bristol Bay. The film Red Gold describes in detail the conflict Alaskans face with this proposed project.
Mines don’t just appear and disappear. Mining operations require infrastructure, power, waste disposal and roads. If Pebble proceeds it will contain the largest earthen-tailing dam in the world holding back treated ore reject, in a seismically active region. One spill could jeopardize the sockeye population. Alaskans are absolutely divided on this issue. Pebble Mine once in operation hopes to be the largest open pit mine in the world.
With Prudhoe Bay oil production lessening, many Alaskans see the Pebble Mine as a continuing employment and tax revenue provider. There are little opportunities in the bush for good jobs. The life of the mine is estimated at initially 50 years and would provide income and job security to those wanting to work. It would be an economic boom to the region.
But, one mistake, one earthquake, one failure of the dam and the watershed ecosystems could be lost forever. Is the project worth that chance? After viewing this film and listening to the differing opinions Pebble Mine does not seem worth taking the chance of losing these priceless watersheds. Watch this informative and insightful movie to decide where you stand.