Good Ideas: A Belated Tribute to Earth Day and World Water Day

A lot of the time, the eye of the public isn’t focused on environmental issues; but for distinct and fleeting parts of the year, water and air and land are emphasized as things to take care of and pay attention to. World Water Day, which happened in March, and Earth Day, which took place this past Saturday, are good examples of this phenomenon: for a day (especially on Earth Day), people are interested in learning and volunteering and participating in the environmental activism scene to an extent that they aren’t interested in participating at any other time. It’s a positive thing, and a useful channel for information and the recruiting of new potential activists.

World Water Day is the 22nd of March, when spring showers are starting to show up in a lot of areas. The UN has run World Water Day since 1993 as a means of drawing attention to the importance of finding sustainable ways to handle our freshwater resources. Here’s a cool infographic the UN put together:

(From http://www.unwater.org)

On World Water Day, a forum with speeches and discussions occurred in the Netherlands, as well as a UN General Assembly meeting in New York. This year’s theme (there’s a different World Water theme every year) was International Water Cooperation.

We’ve all heard about Earth Day–and that’s great! On Earth day, whether you’re an environmental activist or a fifth-grader or a politician, you’re aware of the fact that we’re using precious resources and generally doing a lot of harm to the planet with our day-to-day activities. Earth Day takes place on April 22nd, and has been going since 1970. People often engage in volunteer activities and educational initiatives. Below, elementary school children learn about composting.

(From guilfor.k12.ct.us.com)

Here are some Pittsburgh volunteers picking up around the city on a rainy Earth Day a couple of years ago:

(From blogski.phcapgh.org)

This is the kind of good idea that’s all-encompassing, and it has a really positive effect: it’s about visibility, awareness, and constant reminders of the work we have to do.

Good Ideas: Art as Activism

Over the weekend, I visited Pittsburgh’s Mattress Factory museum, which is literally housed in a building that used to produce mattresses. It’s an installation art museum: artists are given a space to work with, usually one room (sometimes two or three connected rooms), and create what they want from it, so that when you walk around the Mattress Factory, you move in and out of different pieces of art. The exhibits vary from media displays to elaborate installations of sculptures, but there was one in particular that got me pretty excited.

It’s called Water Rules–Life. As you enter the room, you step on stones to cross an expanse of very shallow water which divides in two around a triangular platform, where a tiny spout represents the fountain at Pittsburgh’s Point. On one wall, water is projected flowing in silhouetted shapes of the brain and heart. On the other, a video about the Living Waters of Larimer, PA project plays. A disk-shaped piece of stone reflecting the topography of Pittsburgh is central to the platform, scattered with blue and green marbles where the rivers would be.

The artist is Betsy Damon. She’s a member of Keepers of the Waters, an organization that takes a multifaceted approach to water sustainability activism. Artists involved in water-related projects can take advantage of the Keepers of the Waters network, which also works to initiate community outreach and education in the interest of water conservation, striving to promote water-friendly design.

Betsy Damon’s crew aren’t the only people who have tackled water problems from an artistic point of view. Here are some other cool projects:

(From thecultureist.com)

Boxed Water is an initiative to decrease the use of plastic water bottles, which are a huge source of water pollution. The product put out by Boxed Water is literally water in a carton, put together in a very sustainable way and distributed likewise. It’s artistic, socially active, and commercial, all at the same time.

(From treehugger.com)

In this image, Zhang Hongtu takes old Chinese paintings of bodies of water and translates them into their modern images: these bodies of water are not as full or as healthy as they once were. It’s a striking and accurate statement on what has changed.

This next piece of art is my favorite:

(from greenmuze.com)

On World Water Day 2010, an Argentinian artist named Nicolas Garcia Uriburu cooperated with Greenpeace Argentina to do a project that involved motoring around the Riachualo River, a polluted river running through Buenos Aires, and effectively dyeing it green. It was intended as an alarm about water contamination and a push for awareness to the government’s lack of action to protect the nation’s water. The view from above is awesome:

(from greenmuze.com)

This is the sort of thing that proves that environmental activism has many faces; it isn’t just about carrying signs and writing letters, but about using your resources to target an organization or an issue, or your friends, or the public–there are a thousand approaches to these problems.

(Including blogs and twitter feeds! @water__down)

Cities and Sewers: Final Follow-Up

Here’s the combined sewage overflow issue, broken down to as bite-size a piece of information as it can be! This one’s in the form of a visual argument. Some of the pipe systems in our cities date back as far as the Civil War–one of the facts that surprises me every time I come across it–so I’ve got the backdrop as a color-warped, rusted pipe. Ominous. (And rightly so.)

In the News: The Colorado River

(From a nunews.net)

THE PROBLEM

Because of the drying and warming climate shifts in the Southwest United States, along with increased population and water usage, the Colorado River (above) is suffering. American Rivers recently released a list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers for 2013, and the Colorado River is the most vulnerable, having lost the most water. It flows through seven states, provides drinking water for more than 35 million people, and serves as an irrigation source for 15% of America’s agricultural producers.

But at this point, too many dams have been built on the river; it has been diverted too many times, it has been drawn from too much without heed for its sustainability as a water source, and the demand pulling at it is greater than the supply it can provide. When it reaches the sea, it does so only narrowly. This affects farmers, communities, and ecosystems; all are endangered as a result of the river’s endangered status. There’s an entire Save the Colorado River campaign dedicated to the cause of reversing this problem, and it’s supported by American Rivers, Clean Water Action, and Living Rivers. These aren’t the only river conservation efforts going on, though; the Most Endangered Rivers list is reasonably long, and each river is struggling to sustain its currents through activism and legislation. The Flint River (below) takes second place on the list. For today, though, and for the sake of simplicity, I’m focusing on the Colorado River’s plight, and the initiatives to improve it.

(From gallery.usgs.gov)

GOOD IDEAS

Some progress is being made here. In November of last year, the United States and Mexico (through which the Colorado River also flows) signed an agreement known as Minute 319 that promises cooperation in restoring the river’s health, primarily by adding new water to the Colorado River Basin–not in massive amounts, but in strategic places. Some water will be implemented to make “pulse flow” and some to make “base flow,” as explained by National Geographic. Beyond these steps, infrastructure and water conservation have to be assessed and revamped in areas that depend on the Colorado River. Funding has to be allocated to programs like WaterSmart, so that the organizations carrying out restoration efforts are secure and sustained.

To contribute to the cause, check out the American rivers petition, the Change the Course campaign, or the Save the Colorado River campaign.

Drilling, Mining, Water, and Money: Audio Installment

The relationship between environmental regulation and economic security is delicately perceived and frequently debated. I’ve addressed it in my white paper (see “Your Job for My River”), but here’s something entirely different and pretty personal: an interview with my uncle Steve, whose water supply has been affected by coal mining below his property. The coal company can be hard to deal with, and the consequences of its drilling have impacted Steve’s routine in a lot of ways. At the same time, they’ve provided him with compensation, and a lot of people in his area have benefitted financially from allowing the energy industry on or below their land. It’s crucial to seek clean energy sources, but it’s also really important to know these kinds of stories–so listen to this! I’ve provided a transcript below the audio track.

Drilling, Mining, Water, and Money TRANSCRIPT

Runoff: the Rundown

Here’s another issue very relevant to the urban environment, but applies almost everywhere: stormwater runoff. Runoff is one of the major causes of pollution in our streams and rivers. Chemicals from the city environment and from agricultural processes end up in water sources via runoff, and the water cycle gets interrupted by the man-made structures that blanket the earth.

(From commons.wikimedia.org)

THE PROBLEM

When it rains, the rainwater runs from rooftops to gutters to gardens–or, more commonly, onto the sidewalk, from which it’ll slip into the current sloshing against the curb, roll down the street, and eventually chase itself into the sewer system. We need sewers because we’ve effectively covered massive amounts of the earth with concrete, which water can’t soak through. So instead of allowing precipitation to absorb evenly into the ground, we redirect it forcefully into concentrated areas. Stormwater from sewers ends up in rivers and streams; this runoff carries litter, oil and gasoline from vehicles, pesticides from yards and gardens, waste from pets, and salt from the streets. In a survey of bodies of water, the EPA found that urban runoff is the largest source of water quality impairment in estuaries and the third-largest in lakes. Meanwhile, in rural areas, water soaking downhill from agricultural areas carries large amounts of fertilizer and pesticides into rivers. The EPA cites fertilizer-related chemicals as primary water pollutants, present excessively in 27% of streams and 40% of rivers. The pollutants from urban and agricultural runoff combine to raise levels of bacteria in water, disrupt local ecosystems by making vegetation unable to grow, and making some bodies of water less safe to swim in. What solutions can we look at that will minimize these negative effects?

(From roofmeadow.files.wordpress.com)

GOOD IDEAS

Every location is different, with varying needs and flexibilities towards change–but there are some workable and efficient ways to reduce runoff. Cities implement measures to address runoff’s repurcussions; they increase the frequency of street cleaning, clear debris from storm drains, and set up pet waste stations (Long Beach, New York has taken these actions). Meanwhile, there’s a set of solutions that are collectively referred to as green infrastructure, and they include: rain barrels, rooftop gardens, rain gardens, and the utilization of permeable pavement in construction. There are more techniques, but these are the most common. Rain barrels collect stormwater to be used elsewhere instead of running off. Rooftop gardens prevent runoff from rooftops, cool homes, and provide plants to churn up the CO2 in the air in exchange for oxygen. Rain gardens have a similar job, though they grow on the ground, helping absorb and disperse rainwater effectively into the earth, trapping pollutants. Permeable pavement allows water to soak into the ground from sidewalks, streets, or parking lots, instead of having to be channelled through the sewer system. These measures can and should be implemented publicly and privately: all municipalities and all landowners have the ability to lessen runoff’s ill effects.

Cities and Sewers: Visual Follow-up

Let’s back up for a minute. The issue of combined sewer overflow is one that I return to frequently, since it’s current and relevant, related inextricably with infrastructure, and a point of contention in Pittsburgh. To see a detailed post on the topic, scroll down; but for a quick sum-up, here’s a light infographic that explains the combined sewer situation.

Your Job for My River

Current politics often perceive the environment and the economy to be at odds with each other. The good news is, they don’t have to be.

For example, Rep. Bob Gibbs champions the small American business and vehemently fights environmental regulations of every kind; but there is evidence that companies can continue to thrive while complying with regulations. There are a lot of old jobs in the coal and gas industries, but there are going to be a lot of new jobs in the green energy industry that’s getting on its feet. We don’t have to trade economic strength for the health of our water and soil.

Here’s a white paper I put together that breaks down the issue:

Misunderstood Economics of the Earth

It’s aimed at this polarized political attitude that we have to have all or nothing of different important things–in reality, we should be looking at the gray areas, finding balances, initiating cooperation between the sides of these issues.

In the News: Frack This

On Monday, a combination of Oberlin and Pittsburgh students performed a protest in downtown Pittsburgh wearing wedding clothes.

Here’s why: the action was aimed at an organization called the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD). The CSSD is a team of fracking companies and environmental organizations that is trying to impose voluntary regulations on the oil- and gas-drilling companies’ fracking practices. These voluntary regulations probably won’t carry very much weight, so environmental activists are uncomfortable with the idea that they’ll serve to appease challengers to fracking. The problem is, although it’s a good idea for environmental organizations and the fracking industry to communicate with each other, fracking is not sustainable and should not be labeled in that way. It’s misleading to everyone the fracking companies are trying to ward off.

So yesterday during the lunch hour, downtown’s most bustling time, a crew of students performed a mock marriage between the environmental groups (the bride) and the fracking industry (the groom). The marriage took place at EQT Plaza (outside the building where CSSD is housed) and at Market Square. Here’s a wedding photo:

(Photo by Daniel Goering)

Read more here.

While we’re on the subject, fracking is a really big deal when it comes to water–and a whole lot of other environmental issues.

THE PROBLEM

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is an industrial process that extracts natural gas from deep layers of shale. It involves injecting mixtures of chemicals, sand, and water into wells at intense pressures, blasting the gas from the shale. The fracking process is destructive; it causes big problems for environmental ecosystems and human communities. Drinking water becomes contaminated and natural habitats are flattened to make way for more wells and drilling. Earthquakes have been linked to fracking. A lot of people are angry about these ill effects, and justifiably so–the NRDC and the NWF officially oppose the expansion of fracking, advocating tighter regulations. The EPA is investigating fracking’s consequences, since there are serious health concerns when it comes to bad drinking water. Student groups like the Oberlin team that arranged the marriage participate in civil disobedience to defend local communities being impacted by fracking. Citizens form coalitions within their cities and states (for example, New York) to campaign against the contamination of their land and water.

There are two main complications here: first, the oil and gas industry is a massive supplier of jobs to the nation. The tension between the economy and the environment is something I’ll explore later, but it’s a big factor in this struggle. Besides, America needs energy to power its countless cars and air conditioners, and this is a non-foreign source. EnergyFromShale.org claims that there are real benefits to fracking, but the environmental impact can’t be ignored. How do we resolve this?

A fracking site. (From frackfreesomerset.org)

GOOD IDEAS

If we were to suddenly switch to clean energy across the board, we wouldn’t have to worry anymore about the water or the air that’s being polluted by fracking; but that won’t happen overnight or (unfortunately) over a dozen years. While the energy industry is being pushed to find new resources, we have to work on improving current practices. For example: since 2005, the natural gas industry has enjoyed the Halliburton Loophole, which makes them exempt from provisions of the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Last month, a Pennsylvania democrat introduced legislation that could close up that loophole for our state. The NRDC emphasizes the need to raise drilling standards to decrease the incidence of leaks and accidents, and to make sensitive land areas and community properties off-limits to fracking. In the spring of 2012, the Obama administration introduced new regulations to reduce air pollution from fracking. These things are changing, slowly but surely, in large- and small-scale situations. We need to keep speaking pretty loudly–having weddings during downtown lunch hours, being conscious and persistent–to really implement this change in a permanent way.

Watering Down: How This Works

I’ve decided that now that I’ve put up a couple of information-heavy posts, I’m going to take a step back and talk about how this blog is going to function. My name is Claire, and I’m pursuing majors in Urban Studies and Environmental Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.

Here’s what I’m doing: thinking about issues related to water sustainability, researching individual facets of some issues, and posting clear, accessible explanations that combine causes and effects with problems and solutions (watering down the complexities that muddle these things up). There are a lot of public water-related concerns to address; meanwhile, lots of change is taking place. Political bodies are being forced to respond to the damage being done to the environment. These changes and responses are complicated, and often have conflict surrounding them on more than two sides. I’m trying to synthesize and fairly analyze the voices that affect each issue. So this is for you–environmental or political thinkers, casual Internet surfers, curious people–to check out and think about. I’m posting every week, and I’m going to build up a solid body of information. This is a force of awareness.

Thank you for reading!