Category: Uncategorized

Addison Smith

In 2015, the United Nations along with 193 nations welcomed the Sustainable Development Goals. Pope Francis, Nobel Peace Laureate Malala, and superstar Shakira came to the UN and pleaded for a world free from poverty, inequality, and climate change. Their emotional speeches and songs struck excitement around the world, as hope emerged from this agreement. By 2030, these goals, to name a few, seek to eliminate poverty and hunger, promote quality education for all, and eradicate the effects of climate change. However, after the agreement was signed, many argued that the goals were too idealistic or too unrealistic; others argued that these goals did not go far enough. We are now five years into the agreement– is the world on track to eradicate poverty, hunger, and climate change by 2030? Does the SDG excitement still exist? The answers to these questions are ambiguous, as the world is on track to accomplish some goals, while extremely behind in attempting to accomplish others. However, holistically, the world is not on track to accomplish the SDGs. We must take decisive action to change our course.

Michael Green, an economist and CEO of Social Progress Imperative, forecasts the world’s progress towards these goals based on economic modeling. According to his predictions, there is only one country in the world that is projected to accomplish all 17 goals—Denmark (The Future). It is worrisome to think that 193 nations signed an agreement, but only one signer is projected to accomplish the outlined goals. According to Green, based on the current track, the world will not accomplish the 17 SDG targets until 2094— that is 64 years after 2030 (The Future). What is the world doing? Did these 193 nations actually expect to accomplish these goals? If so, it clear that the world must change its trajectory.

According to the SDG tracker, the world is progressing in terms of eradicating hunger, providing accessible healthcare, and providing clean water and sanitation. In fact, the world could accomplish ninety percent of these three areas by 2030 (“SDG Tracker”). Green argues that if the world could change its trajectory, these three SDGs could be accomplished completely. However, he makes it clear that the world is not progressing towards the SDGs pertaining to inclusiveness and gender equality. In fact, he says that the world is actually declining. According to the SDG tracker, the percentage of domestic violence has increased worldwide; the discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community has increased, and number of childhood marriages has increased (“SDG Tracker). The SDGs are grounded in the idea that no one is left behind. The world cannot not choose some SDGs to target while neglecting others. If no one is going to be left behind, the world must works towards all of the SDGs.

It is evident that if the world expects to meet its projected goals, or even get close by 2030, the current trajectory must improve. It is time to realign the world’s investment in the SDGs. The large, powerful nations must first set the example. The G7 countries are considered the seven richest nations in the world, and, unfortunately, they are all failing to accomplish the outlined goals. They have the resources to eradicate poverty, inequality, and climate change in their nations, yet they are not investing the necessary time or money to hold up their end of the bargain. How can developing nations be expected to meet the SDGs, when the most economically powerful countries in the world are failing to do so?

Ultimately, the 193 nations that agreed to the SDGs must do better. We must rekindle the excitement and enthusiasm that we had in 2015. We CAN accomplish these goals. We CAN eradicate poverty, hunger, inequality, and climate change. Frankly, time is running out; we HAVE to accomplish these goals. Our world depends it—our livelihood depends on it.

Citations:

“About the SDG Tracker – SDG Tracker.” Our World in Data. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2020.

The Future: The Global Goals We’ve Made Progress On– and the Ones We Haven’t. Perf. Michael Green. TED. TED, Sept. 2018. Web. 01 Mar. 2020.

“Sustainable Development Goals.:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform.” United Nations. United Nations, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2020.

 

Ethan Gallagher

1/31/2020

This past year, I got to travel to Nashville for a school event, and one of the places on our itinerary was the city’s music city center. With this beautiful architectural piece being “1.2 million square feet” (nashvillemusiccitycenter.com) and home to many unique art pieces that would make an art gallery in and of itself, the awe-inspiring building does not stop at that. More impressively, this building “has been awarded LEED¬Æ Gold certification for New Construction by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system is a globally recognized symbol of excellence in green buildings” (nashvillemusiccitycenter.com). This impressive accomplishment is not only a huge deal for architecture but for the sustainability community and environmentalists. 

As we dug more and more into this building throughout the day, I saw a lot of aspects that really made this building stand out and live up to its LEED Gold certification. One of the really impressive parts of the building was the green roof which “is the largest in the Southeastern United States, is composed of 14 types of vegetation which slow rainwater runoff and direct it to a 360,000-gallon collection tank. Harvested rainwater is used to flush over 500 toilets and irrigate outdoor landscaping. The vegetated roof also cools the exhibit hall below and the air around it, reducing HVAC loads and initial equipment size” (clarkconstruction.com). This had to be one of the coolest things I have ever seen in a building. I had never seen anything remotely like it before.

                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a part of this certification, we were told that this certification recognizes five key areas of environmental health being, “sustainable site development, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality” (nashvillemusiccitycenter.com). With these accomplishments, the facility is able to save a lot of money on resources and do so by creating as little of a carbon footprint as possible. Some other key pieces to this are that the building is successful in, “Reducing portable water use by using high-efficiency flush and low-plumbing fixtures, implementing LED fixtures to promote interior lighting energy savings […] using low-emitting materials for adhesives, sealants, paints, coatings, flooring products, and composite wood products and furniture, and using recycled content in materials (Zork).

Along with the LEED Gold Certification, the Nashville Music City Center has also been Eat REAL Certified, a member of Corporate Sustainability Roundtable, Get Food Smart, Nashville’s Food Waste Initiative, and is a recipient of the Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award (nashvillemusiccitycenter.com). This stop on our trip was definitely my favorite, and it is so inspiring to see a highly successful center of such a large size achieve these outstanding sustainability goals. Being that I want to one day pursue commercial real estate and development, this initiative inspires me to reach the same goals in future projects across the U.S. I hope to see the success of this building start a trend for developers to start in many cities around the world, and help produce a more green and eco-friendly city environment.

 

Sources:

 

“Creating Noteworthy Experiences.” Nashvillemusiccitycenter.com, www.nashvillemusiccitycenter.com/.

“Music City Center Earns LEED Gold Certification.” Music City Center Earns LEED Gold Certification | Clark Construction, 22 July 2011, www.clarkconstruction.com/news/music-city-center-earns-leed-gold-certification.

Zork, Condy. “Nashville’s Bridgestone Tower Achieves LEED Gold (USGBC Tennessee).” U.S. Green Building Council, 8 Jan. 2019, www.usgbc.org/articles/nashville%E2%80%99s-bridgestone-tower-achieves-leed-gold-usgbc-tennessee. 

Pictures from www.nashvillemusiccitycenter.com as well as my own

Rebecca Hearn

YouTube creator MrBeast, from North Carolina, started a sustainability campaign. #TeamTrees has the goal to plant 20 million trees by 2020. I have been a long-time viewer of MrBeast, and his content is always over the top. His videos involve large amounts of money and usually some type of giveaway or crazy challenge to win a car. The premise of his channel is simple and unique. He produces entertaining content on a large scale. When he posted his video titled “Planting 20,000,000 Trees, My Biggest Project Ever!” I was shocked. There is a lot of talk about how young people have to take control of the future and become environmental activists to save the planet. There is limited discourse or variety on how youth can actually participate in climate action. Creating a lack of hope in youth leads to less political activism. I have become aware of this by living in the Greenbelt and in the way that we approach climate change because of how different it is from negativity seen elsewhere.

MrBeast, on the other hand, is anything but negative. He goes through the nasty statistics but, the majority of his video is about him, his friends, and the community he brought together having a really good time planting trees. He also incorporated the correct planting habits into his video. A few weeks ago, the Greenbelt class planted two trees on campus as part of our Arbor Day celebration. A big part of this planting project was a focus on planting the trees correctly. Our instructor, Kyle Stackis, from Trees Upstate explained proper planting procedure and how people don’t know the proper procedure. In the video you can see MrBeast and his friends put into practice the proper planting procedures that we had just learned about on campus. Not only were they having a good time, but they were demonstrating the effective and correct ways to go about this particular activism.

It was fascinating to see a huge social media star, with over 25 million subscribers, use his platform to spread an environmental campaign . Because he acted, a whole new group of people have been exposed and educated on environmental issues and been provided with a positive way to act.

So, what is happening as a result of this? MrBeast used the video to announce his #TeamTrees campaign. A campaign, in association with the Arbor Day Foundation, to plant 20 million trees by 2020. It has a simple approach: 1 dollar = 1 tree. As of today, November 7^th, 2019, the donation count is at 14,224,186 trees. If you go to teamtrees.org you can see the live count. If you scroll farther down, they are offering merch, additional resources, and a donation feed. If you go to the “most trees” tab you can see the top donations. It becomes clear that this is much larger than YouTube. The top donor with 1,000,001 trees is Tobi Lutke, the CEO of Shopify. The second top donor is Elon Musk, technology entrepreneur and CEO of Telsa, SpaceX, and more. These big names are able to show their support for environmental action and it builds MrBeast reputation as a “larger than the platform” YouTuber.

Mark Rober also shows up in the video. He seems like a normal everyday guy, and then he explains that he is a former NASA engineer who helped put the Curiosity rover on Mars. Wow. He made an informative video for the #TeamTrees campaign that helped explain why we should even be planting trees. He explains the topic in a fun, approachable, and consumable way. I didn’t even have an answer for “why trees?”. Sure, more oxygen?? But I really didn’t know why. You can watch the video for a more eloquent and visual explanation, but the short version is that trees store carbon. We plant more trees and we have more carbon storage. Trees are our carbon sink. If we plant trees and focus on doing it correctly, we get big, healthy trees. The bigger the tree, the more carbon they can store. A big issue of climate change is the amount of carbon in our atmosphere. More trees, less carbon.

I wanted to talk about the #TeamTrees campaign for a couple of reason. First, because of the Greenbelt. We just spent a whole class planting trees. It feels like effective activism, even though our trees are small now. There is a sense that we planted the trees together, had a good time, and did it correctly. There is this sense of planting something that will be around for a long  time, maybe even longer than you will be. It felt like I was a part of #TeamTrees, that I was creating long lasting change, and walking the talk, and creating my own form of personal empowerment. The second reason I wanted to talk about this was because of my fascination with culture, specifically micro cultures like social media and YouTube. I tried my best to explain the background and the significance of what this meant for YouTube culture. As a viewer and someone interested in environmentalism, I was inspired to see this community, specifically MrBeast, do something bigger than any of them individually. They used their platform for good. Most of the time when I see people do this, they don’t make it true to their content or to themselves and the “call to action” fails. That wasn’t the case with MrBeast, the video was interesting, fun, lighthearted, informative, and, ultimately, effective. So many big names have come together and made a real effect to educate people or show their support through videos and donations. The campaign ultimately gives me a hope, hope for activism, hope for YouTube, and hope for our future.

 

Sources:

MrBeast’s Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPJKxAhLw5I&t=260s

Mark Rober’s Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7nJBFjKqAY&t=672s

#TeamTrees: https://teamtrees.org/

Trees Upstate: https://www.treesupstate.org/

more sources:

Nowak, D. J., & Crane, D. E. (2002). Carbon storage and sequestration by urban trees in the USA. Environmental Pollution, 116(3), 381-389.

O’Brien, K., Selboe, E., & Hayward, B. M. (2018). Exploring youth activism on climate change: Dutiful, disruptive, and dangerous dissent. Ecology and Society, 23(3), 42.

Addison Smith

I find it astounding that according to the World Health Organization, 4.2 million people die every year as a result of unsafe air pollution, and 91% of people live in places where air quality exceeds the World Health’s safety standards. I find it even more astounding that there 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. The worst part about these astonishing statistics: they are completely preventable.

We have created a culture of convenience and one time usage; it is killing our world. For example, we use plastic water bottles, plastic straws, and plastic bags one time. First, the production of these items release harmful pollutants in the air that create smog and cause lung disease such as asthma, emphysema, and even cancer. After we use these items, they end up in our rivers, lakes, streams, and oceans, which cause detrimental health effects in humans, animals, and ecosystems.

While our circumstances look quite grim, there are new, promising innovations that are drastically decreasing these harmful air pollutants. For example, Daan Roosegaarde created the Smog Free Tower in 2015. This tower is much like a vacuum cleaner: it takes in unclean air, and through an ionization process, it then releases clean air back into the environment. “It can clean 30,000 cubic meters of air every hour, and it can suck in up to 70% of PM10, which are tiny pollutants that lodge in our lungs,” according to ENS Clean Air. These towers stand around 23 feet tall, and cost $54,000. They are meant to clean small spaces, like public parks and other public spaces. I believe that these vacuum towers are the keys to the future of clean air, as they have been extremely successful in large cities like Beijing and Tianjin. Now, it is time for our government to prioritize clean air and create incentives for businesses and other institutions to invest in these towers.

In the ocean, the situation seems even more grim. However, Ocean Cleanup, an organization dedicated to cleaning our water sources, has created a passive cleaning system. It is considered a passive system because it does not rely on any external forces. In fact, it relies on natural forces such as solar, wind, and current powers. These natural forces along with an anchor collect large amounts of pollutants and concentrate them in one physical location. Then, a vessel goes into the system and removes the trash, much like a typical garbage truck. According to Ocean Cleanup, this system has the capacity to remove up to 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in just five years!

These innovations are promising, and I am beyond thankful for these wonderful inventors because they very well might save us. However, as consumers, we cannot simply rely on the next innovation to save us. As previously mentioned, we have the capacity to prevent much of our water and air pollutants. It is time to create a culture that prioritizes our world over mere convenience.

Sources:

“Air Pollution.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 24 Sept. 2019, www.who.int/airpollution/en/.

“New Positive Results for the Smog Free Tower.” ENS Clean Air, 6 Aug. 2018, www.ens-cleanair.com/en/new-positive-results-for-the-smog-free-tower/.

“Oceans.” The Ocean Cleanup, 2016, theoceancleanup.com/oceans/.

Staff, Ng. “Ocean Trash: 5.25 Trillion Pieces and Counting, but Big Questions Remain.” National Geographic, 29 Nov. 2017, www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/1/150109-oceans-plastic-sea-trash-science-marine-debris/.

 

 

Ethan Gallagher

Often when thinking about protein in our daily diets, the first things that come to mind are chicken and beef. While these are the traditional ways that we often get our protein, it comes with a big environmental cost that has a much better alternative.

That alternative is crickets! While you may be thinking that there is no way that this could be a potential supplement for protein and that it would be gross to eat, let me explain.

To start, crickets have double the protein then beef does, it contains more calcium than milk, and it has more vitamin B12 than salmon or beef. On a sustainable side, crickets grow 13 times faster than do cows, they require 2000 times less land than livestock and require 2000 times less water than cows do. To put that in perspective, it takes 2000 gallons of water for a cow to produce 1 pound of beef. For crickets, it only takes them 1 gallon of water to produce the same amount of protein as 1 pound of beef. Also, cows give off around 100 times more greenhouse gas then crickets do, and also cows require 10 pounds of feed to produce 1 pound of beef, whereas crickets only require 1.7 pounds. Not to mention, only 40% of a cow is used as consumed meat, whereas 100% of the crickets are used by being dried and ground up, leaving around 80% of its original body weight. There is no waste!

This form of obtaining protein is relatively new in the past few years and hasn’t really been able to develop for many years. With this industry still developing, there is still much room for how crickets are harvested and how this process can be done as cost-efficiently as possible.

There are various companies taking advantage of this emerging food trend, such as Crik and Chirps. Chirps was a company started by three college students that discovered the value of cricket protein and began making products such as cricket protein powders, baked good mixes, and there most popular, cricket chips. Chirps have been featured on Shark Tank, successfully making a deal with Mark Cuban, and also is on Forbes 30 under 30.

While this industry is still in its beginning stages, there has been much progress made, and surely there should be a larger future market for this source of protein as it is more sustainable, nutritious, and delicious!

 

Sources:

“Chips Made with Cricket Flour – As Seen on Shark Tank.” Chirps Chips, eatchirps.com/.

Knapp, Alex. “Farming The Next Big Food Source: Crickets.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 30 Jan. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2018/01/30/farming-the-next-big-food-source-crickets/#355910fa1168.

“Why Cricket Protein?” CRIK Nutrition, criknutrition.com/pages/why-cricket-protein-powder.

Charlotte Moore

Anyone who has recently driven along Interstate 85 from Greenville to Atlanta or Charlotte knows how frustrating traveling through Upstate South Carolina is.  Construction, coupled with the sheer volume of traffic on the roads, has the potential to more than double the duration of any trip.

Even more concerning than the additional travel time for your weekend getaway, however, is the impact of this heavy traffic on the environment.  With weak (although improving!) public transportation in Greenville County and the surrounding areas, the Upstate suffers from severe automobile dependence.  The automobile is simply more convenient for most residents, so Greenville citizens pile into their cars and commute to work, travel across the state, or simply zip a mile or two down the road to the grocery store.  This is something I see quite often even on Furman’s campus, where students will hop in their car to go anywhere, even to simply drive to class. Although the car’s reliability may be convenient, it has some major drawbacks, including increased traffic and the obvious CO2 emissions.  Altogether, single-passenger cars are the opposite of sustainable transportation, defined by the Geography of Transport Systems as “the capacity to support the mobility needs of a society in a manner that is the least [damaging] to the environment and does not impair the mobility needs of future generations.”

 

Luckily, a solution may be coming to Upstate South Carolina in the near future.  In mid-October 2019, the Georgia Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration publicized their three proposals for a light rail system running between Charlotte and Atlanta.  The fastest and most expensive of the three options could make the trip in just two hours, half the time it takes to travel between the cities by car. More importantly, light rail transportation systems produce 62% less in greenhouse gas emissions per

passenger mile than the average single occupancy vehicle, meaning that the adoption of such a light rail system could significantly reduce the impact of travel in the Upstate on the atmosphere.

However, only one of the three options proposed utilizes existing railway.  According to the Federal Transit Administration, the construction of new fixed rail transit facilities “normally have significant effects on the environment.”  These influences are detailed in the Environmental Impact Statement, and include impacts on air quality, noise pollution, wildlife, parklands and recreation areas, water resources, and biological resources. 

It remains to be seen what impact, if any, the construction of a high-speed railway would have on the Interstate 85 corridor.  The project is not yet definite, nor is it fully funded. Nevertheless, such an initiative could have a major impact on the development of sustainable transportation in the Upstate.

 

 

“Atlanta to Charlotte Passenger Rail Corridor Investment Plan.” Georgia Department of Transportation, Georgia Department of Transportation, Mar. 2019, www.dot.ga.gov/InvestSmart/Rail/Documents/Atl-Char/05-Affected%20Environment.pdf.

Cavallaro, Gabe. “3 Options for High-Speed Rail Route That Could Connect Greenville to Atlanta, Charlotte.” The Greenville News, The Greenville News, 23 Oct. 2019, www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/2019/10/23/multi-billion-dollar-rail-could-connect-greenville-atlanta-charlotte/4052926002/?fbclid=IwAR37cnyxCg-v9vTozW9N48ciUcXqIjk49GJft3efwlMpUPo7gtGVUwU1fLY.

Rodrigue, Jean-Paul. “Transport and Sustainability.” The Geography of Transport Systems, 18 Aug. 2019, transportgeography.org/?page_id=5725. 

“Transit’s Role in Environmental Sustainability.” Federal Transit Administration, United States Department of Transportation, 9 May 2016, www.transit.dot.gov/regulations-and-guidance/environmental-programs/transit-environmental-sustainability/transit-role.

Ryan Singer

The sewage and wastewater treatment system is the barrier that separates our surrounding ecosystem from waste that our homes and businesses produce.  Sewage a “mixture of contaminants containing pathogens, toxic chemicals, heavy metals, debris, nutrients, nitrates, and phosphates…from both domestic and industrial sources”.  That is, pretty much anything that we pour down the drain or flush down the toilet.  And educating ourselves on what should and shouldn’t be going into our sewer/septic systems helps keep our lakes, rivers, and oceans cleaner from harmful pollution.

Here is a list of common things that are (yet shouldn’t be) flushed, poured, or put into our wastewater treatment system:

1. Grains, such as pasta or rice, and flour swell greatly in water and can coagulate to cause blockages in pipes.
2. Fruit pits and orange/lemons peels don’t break down in water and are best if composted.
3. Bones are not disposed of effectively when scraped into garbage disposals and can splinter or get stuck pipes.
4. Eggshells contribute to granular waster, which causes other forms of waste to clump together, causing blockages.  Try composting them instead.
5. Coffee grounds are the worst when it comes to causing drain blockages.  Before rising mugs out with coffee grounds in them, dump it in the trash or compost.
6. Fats, oils, and grease should never be disposed of down a drain.  This includes all cooking oils, motor oil and other car fluids, cooked/melted fat from meats, salad dressings, and mayonnaise contribute to nearly fifty percent of the sewer overflows across the United States.
7. Animal feces and cat litter, not only clog drains but also can attract harmful bacteria and vermin.
8. Sanitary Towelettes, Paper Towels, or Flushable Wipes do not dissolve and breakdown the same way toilet paper does in water.  Furthermore, after use, they are often covered in human bodily fluids or congealed grease and continue to expand while in water.  These often get clogged in wipes and pipes and tangled in pumps, causing damage to wastewater treatment systems and causing cities more money.  Just because a product is labeled as flushable, doesn’t mean it should be flushed.
9. Hygiene products such as cotton balls/Q-Tips, dental floss, facial tissue, Band-Aids/bandage wrapping, and menstrual products all expand, tangle, and stick to themselves and each other, especially when they are made from plastic, which is not biodegradable.
10. Hair, like floss, will form a sort of net and gets tangled in practically everything and does not break down in water.
11. Condoms not made of latex will not disintegrate in water.  They are best disposed of at waste management centers because of the harmful content of human fluids.  If condoms are flushed down the toilet, they can eventually make their way to oceans and be mistaken as food for fish.
12. Diapers are often too big to even flush, but if they do, they usually don’t even make it past the u-bend in the toilet.  They’re just too large to be flushed and cause problems.
13. Gum obviously is very sticky and should not go down the drain
14. Cigarette Butts, other than adding the plethora of toxic chemicals contained in them to the water system, they can also cause clogs, and it’s just a huge waste of water.
15. Fish, despite popular belief, don’t break down in water can absolutely cause a clog.  A proper burial is recommended instead.
16. Medication should never be flushed down the toilet. This isn’t so much a clog concern, but rather an environmental one. Sewage systems have complicated biological processes to break down waste and medications can interfere with that. Most medications cannot be removed from the water, so they end up in our lakes, oceans, rivers, and ponds.  Drop off all unused/expired medicines at local pharmacies which should have access to chemical/medical waste disposal units.
17. Chemicals, such as bleach, paint, sealants, solvents, thinners, cleaning solutions all fall under the toxic/hazardous waste category and can often not be removed from water by treatment systems and can enter and harm ecosystems.  Often, more eco-friendly alternatives are available.

 

Controlling how we manage our waste, including what goes down the drain, fosters a cleaner and healthier environment.  Out of sight does not mean out of mind, as dirty waterways diminish the health of people and the environment.

Sources:

Brain, M. “How Sewer and Septic Systems Work.” How Stuff Works. https://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/plumbing/sewer3.htm

Gray, J. “Sustainable Sewage Design.” Sustainable Build, March 3, 2016. http://www.sustainablebuild.co.uk/sustainabledesignsewage.html

Mason, S., Singer, K., Collins, D. “Fats, Oils, and Grease.” North Charleston Sewer District, 2017.  https://www.ncsd.sc.gov/fats-oils-and-grease

Morgan, B. “16 Things You Should Never Flush Down The Toilet.” House Beautiful, June 29, 2018. https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/cleaning-tips/a21992808/what-not-to-flush-down-toilet/

Rinkesh. “25 Things You Should Never Put Down the Drain.” Conserve Energy Future. https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/things-you-should-never-put-down-the-drain.php

“10 Things to Never Throw in a Toilet: Don’t Flush That!” Hiller Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, & Electrical. https://happyhiller.com/blog/10-things-to-not-throw-in-toilet/

 

Cole Becherer

Desertification, defined by  the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, is “land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities” (UNCCD 1994). Desertification stems from many different sources, some being completely natural and some being greatly accelerated by mankind’s treatment of the land. Because of the vast amounts of fertilizers that are used across the world on many corporate and private farms, much of the soil gets an obscene rise in salt content, rendering the land useless for farming. Excessive grazing from cattle and other various animals can also cause desertification. When animals have unrestricted access to feeding on a pasture, the land quality can degrade at an alarming rate. 

Luckily for us, desertification is a relatively preventable phenomenon, given we take care of the earth that we cultivate. The best things that humans can do in order to prevent desertification is that we can take care of the land, and practice safer farming methods that will help preserve the land. Making sure that not so much soil is exposed to wind and sun by having a set amount of vegetation can help prevent wind erosion and can keep the soil moisturized and capable of growing plants. If farmers controlled where their animals could graze, and did not let them freely graze the same spot of land for extended periods of time. The human effect that we have had on the climate and the Earth is nearly irreversible, so the least we can do is take care of what we still have in order to stall the inevitable future. 

Climate change, a huge issue for today’s environment, is something that is not to be ignored when considering desertification. The recent change in the environment has caused certain seasons to be much dryer, and allows for many natural (and unnatural) phenomenons such as wildfires, and other various things that can cause land to die and not be able to regrow. Many governments, such as the Brazilian administration, have taken it upon themselves to burn down massive amounts of forest in order to create new farmland. With the changing weather patterns following humanity’s effect on the Earth through Global warming, we must strive to be better prepared to take care of our land, before we lose it forever, and it is no longer farmable. 

 

Bendiksen, Jonas. “Desertification, Explained.” Desertification Facts and Information, 31 May 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/desertification/.

“Explainer: Desertification and the Role of Climate Change.” Carbon Brief, 20 Aug. 2019, www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-desertification-and-the-role-of-climate-change.

“United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.” United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, www.unccd.int/.

Aquaculture and the future of Farming

Caroline Lackey

Aquaponics allows for the growth of plants and fish in one, much, smaller area. Aquaponics is one of the many small space agricultures that can be used in cities and to maximize yields as sustainably as possible. It uses a tank of fish with soilless plant growth. Aquaponics is a closed-loop system that introduces no chemical fertilizers or pesticides into the water. This decreases nutrient runoff into rivers, lakes, and oceans. The crops and fish harvested are in turn organic leading to a higher profit turn out for the farmer. Indoor aquaponics is also able to be climate controlled by the farmer allowing most crops to grown despite the season. Aquaponic systems are also much less likely to succumb to natural disasters such as floods or droughts. It can be done at a home or commercial level and can decrease the effects of farming on the environment as well as increase the amount of food in areas that do not have access to fresh produce.

The use of aquaponics leads to an increase in jobs, an increase in sustainable practices, a decrease in unused space, and a decrease in food deserts. Persisting past the obstacles in creating urban agriculture could lead to a solution to a whole host of problems. To succeed in combating food deserts, large amounts of money must be put into the solutions. The best way for this to happen is to use a combination of private and public money. Federal and local governments spend millions of dollars to subsidize stores with no real result (Allcott et al, 2018). Channeling that money into solutions like indoor aquaponics would be more productive.

However, this has already been put into place and has been a success in Chicago. In 2010, an abandoned meat packing building and Plant Chicago has used it to create an aquaponics center. The fish and plants grown are sold in local farmer’s markets and to restaurants. The plant also creates energy from leftover biowaste and will eventually become a net-zero energy user with the ability to sell electricity back to the grid (Tomlinson, 2015).

Aquaponics is also in use at Walt Disney World. Much of the produce grown at EPCOT is grown with high-yield, low-impact ways. Plants on grown vertically, in fact the tomato ‘tree’ grew 32,000 tomatoes in 16 months, setting the record for most productive tomato plant. They also use a combination of hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics in order to to save space, water, and fertilizer. Disney grows and serves between 20 and 30 tons of their own produce and fish every year in their own restaurants (Lynch et al., 2018).

 

Allcott, H., Diamond, R., Dubé, J., Handbury, J., Rahkovsky, I., & Schnell, M. (2018). Food deserts and the causes of nutritional inequality. Working Papers (Faculty) — Stanford Graduate School of Business, , 1-78. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=134420535&site=ehost-live

Lynch, C., Bertone, R., Yancey, J., & Stiers, J. (2018, June 1). How Walt Disney World’s Farm Grows Its Magical Produce. Retrieved from https://www.farmflavor.com/florida/walt-disney-world-farm-grows-magical-produce-earth/.

Tomlinson, L. (2015). Indoor aquaponics in abandoned buildings: A potential solution to food deserts. Sustainable Development Law & Policy, 16(1), 16-40. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lft&AN=113893030&site=ehost-live