Evergreen

Here is a beautiful video created by the french animator Yoann Lemoine. It artistically illustrates some of the environmental challenges that our planet is currently facing due to human actions. The video begins as a buck awakens and finds himself to be alone in an desolate wasteland. Confused by the devastation surrounding him, he runs away in search of the forest which was once his home. Suddenly he stops short as he is confronted by the source of the destruction. Despite overwhelming odds, the buck perseveres and his efforts provide hope that there is still time for our planet to be healed.

- Amy Evans

The Journey of OR7

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/us/wildlife-activists-follow-lone-wolfs-trek-into-california.html?_r=1&ref=endangeredandextinctspecies

This article just kind of caught my eye while I was surfing the New York Times website.  OR7 is the name that biologist gave to a wolf that they have been tracking with GPS for the past 2 and a half years.  The special thing about OR7 is that he is the first wild wolf to have migrated into California in the last 88 years!  I thought that this was really interesting because it kind of relates back to Aldo Leapold and his experience with wolves.  OR7 has become somewhat of a celebrity in California and even the rest of the United States.  People have even made twitter accounts acting as OR7.  The article goes on to talk about how it is most likely that more wolves will be moving into the area.  There is a lot of controversy going on in California because some people see it as a bad thing and some people think that it is a great thing.  It sound to me like California is probably going to take steps to protect the species if more do end up moving into the area so it is a pretty exciting deal.  Hopefully the wolves will start moving even farther south throughout the whole united states.  I think it would be cool to have wolves in Nebraska again!!

                                                   

                                        COLTON BOESCH

Humans are Natural Vegetarians

Shattering The Meat Myth: Humans Are Natural Vegetarians

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/shattering-the-meat-myth_b_214390.html

I found this article from a fellow friends Facebook post and I thought it was interesting.  This article states that humans have only been consuming for about 10,000 years.  It is stated that early humans had diets very much like other great apes, which is largely plant based, foods that we could pick with our hands.  Meat eating was then see to be started by scavenging of what carnivores left behind.  The problem with meat eating is our bodies have never fully adapted to it therefore strong meat eaters in our society today have higher incidences of cancer, diabetes and heart disease.  The article then goes and describes the physiology of humans and how we are built to pick fruits and veggies, not tear hide, hold down prey with our HUGE claws, or rip large amounts of meat with our canines... we simply are not built for that.  Basically the overall health of the population could increase if we all eat more fruits and veggies.

I agree with everything this article has to say.  I think that if we really allow people to understand the physiology behind the human body we could potentially get people to change their habits.  Our meat consumption in the United States is ridicules and the obesity problem is tied directly to that.  Not only does our meat consumption correlate with this countries obesity issue but it also allows for inhuman livestock practices and unnecessary amounts of GHG's released into the atmosphere.   If we educated people more about this issue and the other issues meat consumption causes we might be able to change some peoples minds and stop these on going issues.  

-Mariah Lundgren

Landfill Gas

I was happy to learn that Lincoln now has wells for landfill gas collection at Bluff Road Landfill as of last year and has completed phase 1 of the their Landfill Gas Collection and Control project.  I'll explain what is meant by "phase 1" after I explain what landfill gas actually is.  Landfill gas is a mixture of gases produced by microbial decomposition of the organic materials in municipal solid waste.  Municipal solid waste is about 60% organic material and the gas produced is about 50% methane and 50% Carbon dioxide with less than 1% being non-methane organic compounds.  The Clean Air Act of 1996 required "large landfills" to install landfill gas collection wells, but Lincoln has not reached that size yet.  But Mayor Chris Beutler wants to stay ahead of the game and take the environment into consideration saying...


"I have long believed that you can have strong economic development and a cleaner environment, and this project is an excellent example of that reality. It's also an example of acting to clean up our environment without waiting for federal or state mandates."


So, phase 1 completion means that there are now 54 vertical gas extraction wells on about 61 acres of the landfill and that gas is being burned (flared).  This may sound bad but the burning of the methane breaks it down to carbon dioxide and as most of you know, methane has 23 times the global warming potential than carbon dioxide.  It was calculated that flaring this gas takes the equivalent of 30,780 passenger vehicles out of the Lincoln's atmosphere.  Burning it off also reduces odor problems.  Phase one was estimated to be about $2.2 million and most of the money conveniently came from landfill user fees.


The next step for this project would be to use the landfill gas for electricity and could potentially provide 2,250 homes with electricity.  Lincoln could also make money ($300,000 per year) by selling carbon credits on the international market, since Lincoln's air is relatively clean.  I do have some insider news because of a class field trip recently.  Pipes are soon going to  be placed from the landfill to a near by Power Plant called Terry Bundy Generating Station, owned by LES, which already uses natural gas during peak energy use, so a transition to this fuel source would not be that huge.





Check it Out!
http://journalstar.com/news/local/article_6d721ec2-eb8b-11df-b4c0-001cc4c002e0.html
http://lincoln.ne.gov/city/mayor/media/2010/110810.htm
http://www.lincoln.ne.gov/city/pworks/projects/waste/sldwaste/landfill/


-James Reece

Facts about Recycling

Here is a few web sites about recycling.
http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-recycling this one has a unique fact about kisses wrapers. Saying that: More than 20 million Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of aluminum foil. But most people dont even think about it and just through it in the trash.

oops.

and then this website: http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html saying that:
Because so many of them are recycled, aluminum cans account for less than 1% of the total U.S. waste stream, according to EPA estimates.

Which is kind of cool.

-Kaylee Wheeler

More Than Mere Magic Mushrooms

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/more-mere-magic-mushrooms-154207424.html

I found this news article and video very exciting because, like they said, plastic and styrofoam don't biodegrade.  These mushroom discoveries can help us decrease plastic waste in landfills as well as limit the use of styrofoam for packaging.  I have always had an issue with styrofoam... I just never understood why they would use something that will never biodegrade, especially in such large amounts.
We use styrofoam for so many things such as plates, cups, 'to-go' boxes, packaging, etc.  It is being used everywhere, so this new mushroom styrofoam can help us become much more environmentally friendly.   I eat out semi-often, so would really appreciate it if restaurants and fast food places stopped using styrofoam.

I think it's great that we are using nature to help us find solutions.  We can work with nature, but we shouldn't abuse it like we have in so many other ways.  I am excited for the future and these new technologies, but I think overall our consumption needs to decrease.  Though we keep inventing new technologies that will take us out of a hole, the hole may someday get too deep.


http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/en//id/971

Here is another video that I found interesting.

SO COOL! http://inhabitat.com/bosco-verticale-in-milan-will-be-the-worlds-first-vertical-forest/

http://inhabitat.com/altaeros-energies-floating-wind-turbines-tap-into-strong-high-altitude-winds/


An interesting, progressive look for future wind harvesting techniques.  This will minimize the issue of relocating stored wind energy to population centers - ex) Nebraska's western winds being transmitted to Omaha/Lincoln/etc.

MORE! RELEVANT! BELOW!

http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/26/could-hot-air-balloons-replace-wind-turbines/

Steven Schubert
ENVR 249

How Much Water Do YOU Use?

While doing some background research for another class, I came across this graphic.

I like how for each portion of the day it shows you an alternate option that would help in saving water. I was surprised at how much water the hamburger and steak use; it almost makes you want to reconsider your eating habits.

If this image were shown to the public, how many of them would change their habits? Probably not a whole lot. They may attempt to change them for probably a week, but then they would revert back to their normal ways. Granted, the water cycle is always balanced but that doesn't mean that we can use as much water as we can to support our daily needs. People may also think that this image is just being used as a scare tactic in order to get them to change their habits. This brings up the question of what will it take for people to realize that we need to cut back on our water consumption? Will it be when we no longer have clean water to drink, when we need to ration water out?

Macedonia Plants 6 Million Trees in One Day

Getty

Of all the troubling statistics that hippies shout at us as we pretend to be on our phone to avoid signing their petitions, the ones about how much rain forest is cut or burned down each day are always some of the most troubling. In 2008, after two summers of wildfires laid waste to their forests, the citizens of Macedonia didn't need anyone to tell them their forests were in trouble. And so they decided to put all those trees back ... in one day. The simplistic plan must have been the laughingstock of the green movement. Everyone knows you have to get Bono to attend one of your parties before your nonprofit is taken seriously.

Getty
"Remember to budget the $300 per hour for the lady who points at the word 'strategy' all day."

Not realizing that they hadn't done any of that, on November 19, 2008, the citizens of Macedonia got together and planted a total of 6 million trees -- three trees for every human in the country. Thousands of people were bused around the country to planting sites. "Just as we take care of our homes, we should take care of our planet," said one of the citizens who took part in the planting, and then "I don't know what you're talking about" when asked which ad agency had come up with that slogan.

By the way, here's how big Macedonia is compared to a chunk of the United States:

IfItWereMyHome.com

The next year, when the fires took their toll again, Macedonians had another planting day, where they put down another 6 million trees. They did it again last year, when they put down 7 million. By November 2011, they had planted 44 million new trees (with only two days of planting a year).

Getty
Macedonia: Now buried beneath three layers of trees.

In addition to helping out their homeland, the organizers were hoping to send the world a message about how much you can do to fight global warming if you put just a little effort into it. You have to admit that a tiny country of 2 million people planting 6 million trees in a single day makes that point a lot better than some hippie shaming you with buzzwords.

Read more: The 8 Most Incredible Things Slapped Together in a Day | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_19802_the-8-most-incredible-things-slapped-together-in-day.html#ixzz1rdsHogLx
(copy-pasted by Daniel Wilson)

Amazing Perspective

First off let me say that i know the video i chose doesn't discuss environmental topics or how we can improve our planet in fact there is nothing said at all in the clip.  Instead its simply some amazing photography that highlights the beauty of our planet.  I feel videos like this can leave a huge impact on the people that watch it because simply put if we do not act responsibly when it come to the environment, we will lose such amazing sights.

To get the full effect of the video i do recommend you view it full screen and 1080p quality if possible, the tiny box that it shows on in the blog doesn't do the video justice.  I would love to hear what everyone else's impression of the video is and if you think i am going a bit overboard with the video.

Transparency

In our consumerist society, there is a distinct lack of information flow between the producers and the consumers. When we go to the store to buy things, there are usually several different choices with different prices and functions. These qualities are almost always printed on the label, next to the product, or somewhere else that is easy to find. As such, we are able to make relatively educated decisions about the products we are buying. But what if the environmental impacts of a product are important as well? I have not been able to find any products that have a reliable measure of environmental impacts that are readily available. Sure there are things like organic, and stuff like that, where there are federal regulations, and companies will often say that they are green, but because greenwashing is so prevalent, It is hard to know what to trust.
      I did find one site (we might have talked about it in this class a little) www.goodguide.com, which provides ratings of a range of products. They an overall rating, and then 3 ratings in different categories, health, environment, and social. If you so desire, they go very in-depth about the ratings and why they are that way.
     I believe that if these sort of ratings could be available right on the product, people would be able to take environmental impacts into account when buying things, and we can send a message to producers as to what types of products we want to buy, and so make a positive change in the world.

Environmental Hope

Global environmental issues can be extraordinarily daunting. We are constantly inundated by news about the latest oil spill, horrific natural disasters caused by changing global weather patterns, declining biodiversity and other environmental quality issues. It is easy to be consumed by the doom and gloom; however motivation is more easily found in the progress we, as a global society, are working toward to change the way we interact with the Earth. There have been several studies showing that positive reinforcement is much more psychologically motivating than negative campaigns. Psychological persuasion may have one of the largest impacts on how we can begin to change our behaviors to more ecologically sound ones. As pointed out by Dr. McKenzie-Mohr, a noted psychologist working to incorporate scientific knowledge on behavior change into the design and development of community programs, “psychology has a central role to play in this transition, for the cornerstone of sustainability is behavior change.” Hope is where our answers lie to creating a new, more stable and resilient world.  

This first article is about a man, who 30 years ago, as the age of 17, began to plant a forest in an area where it was not thought possible to do so. Today, this forest in India is almost 300 acres. This man is just one person who has helped to offer us a glimmer of hope.

Indian man plants forest single-handedly.

Energy is one of the main concerns of the global community. There is yet to be one solid solution, but as we learned from Joan Chan, resilience may require several concerted efforts in order to maintain sustainability. With all these efforts, there will clearly be waste though. Here is a great article about wind turbines and what to do with them when they finally do break down.

Re-purposing wind turbines for playgrounds.

Another energy related field to feel good about is solar technology. Here are two articles about learning from nature's evolution and how we can apply that towards energy technology. The first article is about taking inspiration from butterfly wings to capture solar energy, while the second article is about the efficiency of sunflowers ability to capture that energy.

 Butterflies inspire solar technology.

  

 Sunflowers inspires solar technology.

All of these articles have a common theme: hope. We as mankind are very adaptable and can overcome the environmental issues we are faced with by focusing on the positive solutions. Forget the negative stuff, its all just clutter anyway. 

 

Activist Art

How many members of our class consider themselves artists? What does art mean to most of the class? Magician Teller from the acclaimed Penn & Teller act defines art as "Whatever we do after the chores are done." Quite a broad definition, but if we consider this perspective, what does your daily art say about you? Do your daily actions outside of your normal obligations reflect consumerist passivity, or do they reflect an eco-centric activist perspective? What I'm trying to get everyone to consider is that the true motives behind your daily 'art' may be in dissonance with your values, and we should be mindful of our daily expressions and try to align them with a purpose that is meaningful to us.

On Monday, April 16 to Friday, April 20 ASUN student government is sponsoring the Focus Nebraska Sustainable Art Exhibition in the Rotunda Gallery. This is a good example of the type of art that has a meaningful, activist message towards important issues and I would urge everyone in this class to submit to and/or attend it. Here's a schedule of the Rotunda Gallery's exhibitions, http://unions.unl.edu/city/rotunda_gallery.php


I think its always very important to consider our own, and other people's motives for creating art. Is it spontaneous or directed? Does the artist within you dream of having your work hung up inside of an elitist gallery? Your ideas being traded for capital? Or do you see your art on the street, influencing the minds of the masses, standing out in a sea of monotonous advertising?

Sometimes its important to examine the medium that we work with to create our art. Do you prefer to spend your free time socializing? Perfecting the art of interaction and conversation? Do you spend your free time on the internet? Styling your interests and the art of information seeking? Exploring alternative mediums can be an effective tool in giving more meaning to your art. One innovative medium I found for getting a message out to the world is Moss-graffiti. Imagine seeing an environmental message on the wall of a building downtown made with actual living, growing life. Moss graffiti is relatively easy to make and I suggest you try it out! http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Moss-Graffiti

Whatever medium you work with, whether it be paint or moss or words or tones, be conscious of not only the message you are sending, but the motives underlying those messages, and whether or not they reflect your true mentality.