A wonderful video animation and public service announcement from the Monterey Bay Aquarium about climate change, our changing ocean, and some quick things you can do about it.

A new report from scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution confirms what many have suspected, an enormous oil plume in the water column “that is at least 22 miles long and more than 3,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico”.

A satellite image of oil visible on the surface in late June (the oil appears as silvery ribbons). Leading researchers and scientists now believe a significant amount of oil remains below the surface in enormous plumes.

]]> http://projectgroundswell.com/2010/08/19/scientists-confirm-there-is-more-than-meets-the-eye/feed/ 0 http://projectgroundswell.com/2010/08/18/a-systems-view-of-pollution-from-the-russian-fires/ http://projectgroundswell.com/2010/08/18/a-systems-view-of-pollution-from-the-russian-fires/#comments Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:10:16 +0000 Scott MacKenzie http://projectgroundswell.com/?p=1924 This short animated video from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech offers a powerful view of how carbon monoxide pollution spreads throughout the atmosphere.]]>

Sometimes our perspectives, well, lack perspective. This short animated video from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech offers a powerful view of how carbon monoxide pollution spreads throughout the atmosphere. The satellite readings that produced these videos were taken over a period of three weeks, from mid-July to early August. The Russian fires have led many in the country to rethink their stance on climate change.

Embedded video from: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology

If you have been feeling like this summer has been hotter-than-the-dickens, then you are right. July was the second hottest on record, and 2010 is on path to become the hottest year on record.

Second hottest July on record, and the warmest year to date EVER.

"Oh the places you'll go..."

I met a man in Buenos Aires a number of years ago who shared with me a bicycle tale of epic proportions. Alec, as the English gentleman was called, had been a young man during England’s post World War II reconstruction, and as soon as he was able, had joined the service. Once enlisted, Alec met another young soldier who he soon discovered shared his affinity for bicycles, and the men became fast friends. They talked at great lengths of all the wondrous places and rides that awaited them, through France, Italy, all around the Mediterranean and then through the Middle East. They made grand plans to see the world on their bicycles.

Unfortunately, both men completed their service at different times, and in the time before Alec’s was finished, his mate had been swept along by a domestic life. Their epic ride was delayed and uncertain. As the years went by they kept in touch, always discussing what was possible… and bicycles… but over time their correspondences grew thinner, their bodies older, their lives more complicated.

And then many years later, Alec found himself on business travel to the small town north of London where he knew his friend to last reside. He planned to pay him a visit.

Upon reaching the house Alec was greeted by his friend’s wife, and the news that he had passed away barely a year prior. The moment stung. It was not only the loss of a dear friend, but of a quest unfulfilled.

His sympathies imparted upon his friend’s widow, Alec left an even older man unto himself, and one still short a great quest. Life had moved quickly. That walk alone back to his motel he was somber. His eyes stayed affixed to the short space ahead of his steps. Until he stopped.

There was Alec’s bicycle, with travel saddle bags and repair kit to boot, on display in a bicycle shop he had missed on his way there, ready for him. He walked in and bought it.

Once back in London, he quit his job, tied up loose ends, called his children to share his plans with them, and set off for the north of France, where his ride was to begin. He was in his mid sixties.

Alec and his bicycle made it through France and Italy, and the rest of southern Europe and the Slavic countries. He kept riding down around through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, until Egypt, where he broke his ride to rest his legs and fill in as deck hand on a boat that worked the Nile. The journey would continue, with Alec eventually making his way to India, and then Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

When Alec and I met he had since biked through over 100 countries on every continent save Antarctica. All along his way he was able to find abiding people to direct him to what he needed, if not offer him to share both food and home with them.

“I stayed off the highways best I could, you see,” he said with wisdom. “And I found that the ride offered me more that way.”

Bike Traveler

“Most people were interested, and since I was on my bike, I just kept pedaling if they were loony. Never really needed to be afraid for much. Besides keeping an eye on the bike.” Many times people offered him a space to camp so they could share in his travels. A man on his bicycle was no unnatural thing, but indeed an enviable way to see the world.

“Truth is America was where I felt least welcomed, and most unsafe. There were many parts where my riding seemed more to annoy than please. Everyone moves too bloody fast in oversized vehicles, distracted and fat. Not everywhere, course, but many parts.”

It has been a number of years since Alec rode through the US, so I am sure he would be happy to know that things are improving.

At least in terms of how many of us, including the US Secretary of Transportation, regard riding one’s bike as a legitimate and indeed honorable way to travel.

Ride your bike, it’s good for you. It’s good for the planet.

Moray Eel (photo: Ian MacKenzie)

We all want to visit beautiful places, but it is easy to overlook just how many other people do as well. Giving our money to businesses and organizations that account for the impacts of our visits when offering us their services is not only a good way to help mitigate our impact, it supports those who are working to ensure that the experience is one that endures into the future. Due to the fact that so many of us flock to where land meets sea for our retreats, it is especially important to account for responsible ocean stewardship in selecting an ecotourism outfitter in these locations. I have a recommendation for you.

As I mentioned previously, I was fortunate enough to visit the big island of Hawaii not long ago. In addition to being the site of the Iron Man world championship, Kona, Hawaii, is also renowned for its diving, and we are a family of divers. The volcanic island’s beautiful reefs and vibrant marine ecosystems support a great diversity of life that delights the senses. Some of the experiences I’ve had beneath the surface of the sea there are quite simply without comparison. But for all their magnificence, and in spite of the ocean’s sheer scale and size, these underwater ecosystems are more fragile than people realize.

Squid Close-Up (photo: Scott MacKenzie)

Having been diving in Kona several times now, with each trip I have gained more and more respect for the outfitter that we arrange our dives through. Jack’s Diving Locker has been leading diving expeditions in Kona for almost thirty years, and if their practices and appreciation for the value of the places they bring divers to visit were shared across the industry and beyond, it is a good bet that divers would benefit from the beauty of these underwater treasures for generations more to come. They are a great example of eco-tourism and green business in practice, and also just a class outfit in what can be a dangerous hobby.

So what does responsible stewardship look like? There are a number of ways in which Jack’s has embedded these values into their core business mission. One example would be taking proactive measures to protect the reefs and coral that offer habitat for underwater life and an attraction for visiting divers. With a growing number of visitors and dive outfits, inevitably more boats are dropping anchor, and that is highly destructive to the coral, which is highly sensitive to “touch from above.”

To counter this trend, Jack’s Diving owners, Jeff and Teri Leicher, spearheaded a mooring buoy project for the State of Hawaii and continue working to establish new mooring buoy sites, as well as to keep existing buoys maintained. By using mooring buoys, dive boats are prevented from dropping anchor down to the reef. An added benefit is that these buoys can only support a specific number of boats in any given area, and as a result, the number of people visiting (and potentially impacting) the underwater ecosystem can be controlled and managed. If you didn’t ask, you may not have even known such measures were in place, or what it took to put them there.

Don't forget to breathe... (photo: Scott MacKenzie)

Another example would be the way in which conservation and protection of underwater species and habitat plays a part in the diving experience with Jack’s. My last dive before departing was a night dive with Manta Rays. This has become a huge tourist attraction in the area in recent years, and Jack’s has gone to considerable lengths to put the best interest of the Manta Rays at the forefront. Some of their members have helped found the Manta Pacific Research Foundation, and work tirelessly to expand conservation efforts for Manta Rays, and other vulnerable species, in the Hawaiian Islands and beyond.

Before descending, our dive masters took the time to adequately prepare us for the experience, and not just the diving, but also the care and reverence that was expected from us in appreciating these extraordinary creatures. Their thoroughness added that much more to the experience. My caution and respect only heightened my sense of awe, and left me with something I will never forget.

There are lots and lots of eco-tourism options sprouting up all over the place. Some merely offer a “branded” experience, and some are the real deal, like Jack’s Diving Locker. If you dive, and make it to Kona, check them out, trust me it is worth it, you will feel good about where your money goes. And when I say the “real deal”, I mean you might just leave a bit humbled.

The Kona Coffee Bean

If you are anything like me, most mornings can be neatly split into two categories: before, and after, coffee. College put me on this path and graduate school cemented its course: I am an AM caffeine junkie (aside: if I drink it after noon, I am up all night).

I’ll admit that it is not the most sustainable habit – coffee requires a significant amount of energy to produce and ship, and of course there are significant water, chemical, and land impacts (such as deforestation) associated with it – but damn, it tastes so good. Not that I ignore these inconvenient truths. More than the next man, I’ve done my best to balance the impacts of my habit: I’ve bought organic coffee; I’ve bought fair trade. But do they taste as good? Are they even organic?

While I have enjoyed the taste of coffee over the years and have even advanced my own preparation rituals and techniques (I make a mean cappuccino and latté – ask any former roommate), I’ve never been what one might consider a “purist.” To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what being a coffee purist even entailed. That is until I paid a visit to the Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation in Kona, Hawaii.

I love coffee

Last week I toured Mountain Thunder, sampled their exquisite brew, and made some purchases. I now know what the best coffee in the world tastes like, and can proudly say that it is indeed organic. Good luck finding it locally produced though, unless of course you live in a coffee-producing region. But even then chances are the very best stuff is shipped out for export and is not kept for local consumption, as is the case in much of Africa, Central America and Southeast Asia, where locals are usually left with the lower quality grade beans. Which is a shame in my opinion. Not in Kona though, and not at Mountain Thunder, they keep the best stuff for the locals. As well they should.

TOP: hand picked coffee bean, right from the tree; MIDDLE: top of the line, high quality "green" coffee bean (before roasting); BOTTOM: lower quality "green" coffee beans, what is found in most Kona "blends"

The Mountain Thunder Coffee Plantation is one of the premiere coffee producers in Kona. Which in turn makes it one of the world’s best, as Kona is an area known for its exquisite coffee beans – a unique blend of climate, farming, meticulous care and precision production techniques. Just like the only real champagne comes from Champagne, France, (the rest is merely sparkling wine), only coffee grown in the small stretch along the western shore of the big island of Hawaii is actually Kona Coffee. Most Kona coffee sold in the market is a blend, with roughly 10% of the beans coming from Kona, and often the lower grade beans. Only in Hawaii are coffee producers actually required to report how much of their blend is actually Kona coffee. Not that you can’t taste the difference, but I thought you could use the heads up.

So what makes it organic? Okay, so it is not all organic, but at least Mountain Thunder has phased out the use of pesticides to control weed growth for its premiere crop. Instead of synthetic fertilizers they use a combination of pig, donkey, and goose manure and composted remains of the coffee bean that are stripped away in the production process.

Not that they wouldn’t scale up. Organic farming is hard work, and the considerable paperwork and testing that is required to certify products as organic makes it all but cost prohibitive for a lot of farmers. Funny how pumping pesticides and synthetic fertilizers into your crops requires less “hoop jumping” than employing natural farming techniques and producing an organic product. I suppose we just pay for that elsewhere, like with rising cancer rates and health care costs, or with the global warming pollution attributed to the production of synthetic chemicals, or…

An organic farmer after a long, hard day

So why is it worth bucking up and buying the best from the best, the most local and organic coffee you can find? Take this little back of the envelope calculation into consideration: as an estimate, each cup of coffee you drink is equivalent to roughly 59 grams of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. If you drink 2 cups of coffee a day every day of the year, that is roughly 43 kilograms (1000 grams = 1 kilogram) of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere just because you are trying to wake up (or stay awake). And that is not even scratching the surface of the water used. Organic coffee and environmentally responsible coffee plantations cut these impacts down. Or you could give it up, but I’m not there yet.

So although you may not be “paying” for it, coffee is a luxury good. Have some culture, have some class, buy the good stuff.

Denuded hillsides in rural Haiti (Photo: Scott MacKenzie)

The long road to recovery is under way in Haiti, but it will be an arduous and difficult journey. Beyond the devastation wrought by the earthquake, the country will have to continue to deal with many of the ills that plagued it prior. It is well known by now that Haiti had (and continues to have) the highest poverty levels in the western hemisphere. The nation severely lacks even the most basic infrastructure and services from health care, waste management, to property rights and land tenure. These troubles have been compounded over the last two and a half months.

Almost immediately following the earthquake, indeed within 48 hours, a team from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) began an assessment process to identify key areas of environmental vulnerability. These issues range from chemical spills to erosion and flooding vulnerability, and are crucial elements in re-stabilizing the country. Since the earthquake essentially knocked out UNEP’s main counterpart in the country, the Ministry of Environment, the responsibilities for addressing acute, response, and early recovery issues will in large part rest on the capabilities and offerings of the international community.

On January 21, UNEP released its first assessment of the environmental health, safety, and vulnerability of the areas affected by the earthquake (you can view UNEP’s Rapid Environmental Assessment by clicking here). These assessments provide the initial blueprint for aid agencies attempting to prioritize their fund-raising and donor activities to match the needs. Often with environmental interventions, they are embedded into broader “cluster” areas such as shelter, water and sanitation, agriculture, and so forth. Thus far, this would also appear to be the strategy in Haiti (to learn more about UNEP’s activities in Haiti, visit here).

There are a number of horrific priorities, including the decay of bodies and the accumulation of debris and hazardous wastes, both from the damage wrought by the earthquake and the response effort. Looking toward the long-term stabilization of the country, the displacement of people away from Port-au-Prince back toward rural areas will be an important focus area. This shift is unsettling due to the already heavily degraded and over-taxed condition of Haiti’s natural resource base, and its people’s dependence on charcoal (watch a video on the Haiti Regeneration Initiative).

Charcoal Production (Photo: Scott MacKenzie)

Prior to the earthquake, Haiti’s tree cover had been reduced to roughly 2% due to countless years of felling trees without also regenerating the areas from which they had been extracted. These trees are used for everything from creating charcoal fuel, to building materials, to simply clearing a space for agriculture. Over time, Haiti’s topsoil has been significantly reduced through erosion and seasonal rains that essentially wash the denuded landscape out to sea. Without the trees, the stability and resilience of the soil is degraded, crop yields drop, and poverty escalates. Considering that the majority of the people of Haiti are essentially living on sustenance, stemming the tide of deforestation has been incredibly difficult.

The devastation wrought by this tragic earthquake presents few areas for optimism, but it does present opportunities to tackle some of the more systemic issues that Haiti has faced for decades upon decades. Moving away from charcoal production and consumption is one of those crucial areas. As people continue to stream into rural areas and subsequently search for fuel options, they will undoubtedly fall back upon charcoal to meet their needs. The international community and donors responding to the country’s overwhelming cries for assistance should mobilize as rapidly as possible to meet these basic needs with alternatives that don’t strip the land of a future that is already being washed to sea each time it rains.

For more information on charcoal alternatives, watch this video from TED with Amy Smith.

A video from the Earth Institute discussing ecological restoration efforts in Haiti, and how the work has adjusted to new realities on the ground as a result of the January 12, 2010 earthquake.

A Future for Haiti: Science and Solutions for a Beleaguered Nation from Earth Institute on Vimeo.

Project Groundswell is proud to announce the launch of the 100 Beds for Haiti Campaign. 

Tomorrow will mark the two-month anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti that killed hundreds of thousands of people – leaving far more injured and homeless. In the wake of the tragedy, we have been working with a group of friends and colleagues to help establish a project that addresses both the immediate needs of Haitians as well as the long-term recovery of the nation itself.

100 Beds for Haiti is partnering with the largest and best hospital in Haiti, Hôpital Sacré Coeur (HSC), to raise the financial and material resources to get 100 hospital beds where they are desperately needed.  Currently, HSC has 73 inpatient beds with over 300 patients to treat, with more patients arriving each day. Additional beds are crucial to the recovery of the population and the expanding needs of the hospital. As emergency relief efforts and global consciousness of the disaster dwindle, we must work hard to keep the vast needs of Haiti’s long-term recovery and sustainable development on people’s minds.

Today, we are asking all of you to join this campaign and to support the recovery of Haiti by improving the health of Haitians at Hôpital Sacré Coeur, and we are inviting you to join us.

Please take a moment and visit the 100 Beds for Haiti website to learn more about the effort, who is involved and who we’re working with. Join the campaign by donating today, following it on twitter, becoming a friend on facebook, and reading about the fundraising and advocacy events and activities on the 100 Beds for Haiti blog. Join the list-serve and share your input and insights on how to make the campaign’s goals materialize.

Moving forward, the campaign would appreciate your feedback, ideas, and support. One of the biggest goals with this campaign is to foster continued awareness and attention to Haiti’s recovery efforts, and ideas and partners are needed to make this happen.

Please 

join us to support long-term health solutions that meet immediate needs, helping Haiti heal, one bed at a time! Help bring 100 Beds to Haiti!