Even Lettuce? Seriously?

 I am a very environmentally aware person, which is no big surprise since I have a degree in it, and I have been teaching environmental science for 30 years now, but even I get surprised every day.  A recent article I read about the Yangtze River in China drying up led me down the rabbit hole on water issues with food.  This led me to learn that 70% of the U.S. lettuce supply comes from California, and another 20% comes from Arizona!  Lettuce is a cool weather crop the world over, why is it growing in the desert?  AND, lettuce  is basically crunchy water!  How can we be using precious dessert water on lettuce?  As a major consumer of salad, and romaine in particular, I was shocked and frustrated.  I am a part of this problem, and this is a big problem!  We are fueling the desertification, wild fires, food miles, high carbon emissions and on and on, for our crunchy greens fix, which we could so easily grow here!

Being a person of action, I set to researching and then to work!  I built myself a Kratky method hydroponic lettuce planter!  While this may look totally underwhelming, in 5 weeks or so, I should be enjoying super fresh, organic romaine from my back yard with zero food miles!  Hopefully.  We just have to make some changes in our systems if we are going to have any hope of modifying our carbon emissions and turning our temperature around.  As for me, lettuce begin to eat a more plant forward, planet healthy diet!

Mission Blue- Dr. Sylvia Earle and Her TED Prize Wish

CBGS loves TED.  On TED, we can explore every aspect of our inherent nerdiness  from science to the arts and everyone thinks it’s cool.  My personal hero is Dr. Sylvia Earle and in 2009 she won a TED prize. 

             “The TED Prize is awarded to an extraordinary individual with a creative and bold vision to spark global change. By leveraging the TED community’s resources and investing $1 million into a powerful idea, the TED Prize supports one wish to inspire the world”. 

You can view Dr. Earle’s talk about her prize and her TED wish at the link below. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/sylvia_earle_s_ted_prize_wish_to_protect_our_oceans

On November 25^th, we will be watching the culmination of Dr. Earle’s TED prize wish, manifest in the new documentary “Mission Blue” which you can now find on Netflix.  But don't watch it yet!  wait for the 25^th!

            I would like for you to watch Dr. Earle’s TED talk first and understand where she is coming from, and I want you to learn a bit about my hero as well. 

Dr. Sylvia Alice Earle, formally known as “Her Deepness”,  was born in 1935 in New Jersey (she is 79 for you non-mathematicians) and was raised as a regular middle class kid attending public school etc.  She attended Florida State University for her undergraduate degree, and received her Master’s and Doctorate from Duke University.  She has been a National Geographic Explorer in Residence, she was Time magazine’s first “Hero for the Planet” and former Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  More impressive though, is that she has her own LEGO figure and she was tapped as a Knight of the Golden Ark in the Netherlands.  I do not have enough space to outline all of her fame here.  The most amazing thing I feel about Dr. Earle, is that she is utterly fearless in the face of all scary things.  She holds a record for the deepest solo dive to 381m (1250ft) and has faced innumerable sharks, killer whales, bone crushing pressures, angry fisherman, and gavel wielding politicians all with indomitable style.  This tiny soft-spoken woman has changed the way we look at the ocean.   I invite you now to learn all that you can about her, to be inspired and to think about the idea that one regular person CAN make a difference when they abandon fear and follow their passion. 

I hope that you enjoy learning about Dr. Earle and her quest and if you do, pay her back by sharing this knowledge with others.   

King Tides and High Water

Coastal Flooding the New Normal

In ME II we have been studying the effects of storm surge flooding and have been graphing predicted and observed tides to see how hurricanes can flood our region.  Hurricanes are more acute phenomena that we really don't face too often.  The tide, however, is a relentless daily force that is a chronic stressor on coastal communities especially in our region with anomolously high sea level rise rates.  The current news is all about so-called "King Tides", which are the result of the superposition of multiple factors increasing water levels to extreme heights.  Read the article to see what scientists are concerned about for our future, it is becoming a critical issue in our region and one that will cost our communities millions (probably billions) to respond to eventually.

Cool Marine Science

Okeanos Explorer Current Mission

Check out the cool live video of the current Okeanos Explorer Mission!  Cool sea creatures!

Continental Drift History

Continental Drift was a great advance in geologic thinking of the dynamic nature of Earth.  It was also widely dismissed and its author, Alfred Wegener, died before he was vindicated as one of the fathers of modern geology.  Read the article linked below from NASA's Earth Obervatory to enhance your understanding of the history of this seminal idea in Earth geophysics.
Alfred Wegener and Continental Drift

Earth Day! America the Beautiful?

       In 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed that April 22nd be set aside as a day to celebrate the planet we rely on.  The first Earth Day was a massive movement of American citizens young and old who were fed up with dirty air, polluted water and generally trashed America.  The outpouring of enthusiasm for Earth Day and the public disgust with the sad state of the American environment resulted in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) being created shortly thereafter, by Republican President Richard Nixon.
      Today Earth Day is a global day of action and education  celebrated in 192 countries by 100's of millions of people that calls to awareness our dependence on our Earth, and our responsibilities as stewards of the environment.
      What will you do today for Earth Day?  Will you celebrate for one day, or will everyday be an Earth day in your life?  I am going to share Earth Day with the 3rd graders at Middlesex Elementary, where we are going to think about how kids affect the environment, what we can do smarter and better to be more sustainable.  Here are some of the ideas I am sharing today:
1.  DON'T LITTER- There is an epidemic of trash on our roadsides right now, go pick it up!!!  Don't put it there in the first place!
2.  REDUCE- Buy products with limited packaging, recyclable packaging, or best- no packaging.  Buy less in general, studies show it is not stuff that makes people happy, it is doing and being together.
3.  REUSE- Buy products that have multiple uses, tupperware instead of plastic bags, resusable grocery bags, a steel water bottle, a travel coffee mug- all of these things cut down on waste production!  Send unwanted clothes, toys, household items to a thrift store.
4.  RECYCLE- When you do use stuff, recycle it!  Newspapers, old school papers, soda cans/bottles, milk jugs, cardboard, and on and on.   Please recycle batteries appropriately!
5.  BUY GREEN PRODUCTS- My favorite green product are our rechargeable batteries!!!  You can literally use them for years!  This saves tons of money and the toxic chemicals that go into batteries don't end up in landfills.
6.  FIND GREEN OPTIONS- Our family buys green energy from the electric company for just a little extra each month.
7.  BE CONSERVATIVE- Turn off the lights!  Take short showers!  Always do a full load of laundry!
8.  START A COMPOST PILE-  This is so easy and reduces the number of trips to the dump.  Place veggie scraps, coffee grounds, stale bread, leaves, grass clippings in a compost pile for great soil.
9.  EAT LOCAL & SUSTAINABLE- Food is our greatest environmental threat because we all eat and we eat so much.  Buy local and support your farmers, when you can buy organic.  Eat low on the food chain- veggies and fruit keep you and the planet healthy.  Avoid foods from harmful, unsustainable sources like PALM OIL and farmed shrimp.
10.  CARE- The simple act of caring will make you a better citizen of Planet Earth.  When you care, you act, you think about your choices, their impacts and your responsibility as a steward of this Earth.

Oyster Immigration?

Crassostrea ariakensis

Please read.