Environmental Issues

Laura McKinnon is affiliated with the Biology Department at the University of Quebec at Rimouski, as well as the Center of Nordic Studies in Rimouski, Quebec, both in Canada.

This article served to explain a study conducted by scientists in Canada who wanted to better understand the purpose of long-distance migration by nesting birds. They experimented with artificial nests at different arctic latitudes to determine whether latitude had any effect on the rate of predation experienced by the nests. They determined that nest locations at higher latitudes experienced less predation, which may be a factor in why birds travel such long distances to nest.

The strongest part of this paper is how it ties the theory of evolution with the real-world concept of migration for nesting. Evolution is no longer digging up fossils to create a link between today and yesterday, but instead it has become a study of how modern phenomena (such as migration) are necessary to survival. Its weakness is that the results are not fully detailed, since the reader is only able to view graphs of nest survival robabilities and average failure rates, as opposed to actual survival and failure rates. Therefore, readers are not able to determine if any mathematical or statistical mistakes were made in the process of conducting this experiment, and must therefore rely on what the authors have to say instead of drawing conclusions for themselves.

This paper is an excellent display of evolution in a modern sense. It shows how evolution is important to all aspects of biology and ecology through its description of the migration phenomenon. The paper suffers from its lack of raw data from which extrapolations were made, leaving the readers nothing but to believe what the authors have suggested  probably a result of creating a paper short enough to be published in Science magazine.

This paper was used in class to introduce the concept of evolution in modern biology, evidenced in this study because migratory birds have evolved to fly long distances in order to protect their species and give their reproductive abilities the highest chance of success.

Water management and conservation is vital for our future as water is a scarce natural resource. As the Division of Water Resources of Sandy City says, we should use water judiciously to save for our tomorrow, to protect the environment and also to save money on water bills (Water Agency Resources, n.d.).

The Council of Sandy City has taken various initiatives to motivate its residents to conserve water and reduce its wastage. Some of these steps include encouraging water efficient landscaping, passing water ordinances, maintaining a website offering water conservation tips to the residents.

The Council of Sandy City passed two water ordinances in 2008 to promote efficient use of water in the city. These are Time of Day ordinance and Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance. Time of Day ordinance allows the use of sprinklers for the irrigation of landscapes only after 6 p.m. and before 10 a.m. Cooler time of the day is best for irrigation, since it prevents water loss due to evaporation and winds. However this ordinance does not restrict hand watering of plants. The second ordinance, Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance, was passed to make sure that every new landscape should be water efficient. This ordinance also applies to reconstructed landscapes but not to single family homes (Sandy City Water Ordinances, 2008).

Residents can take tips for efficient water consumption from Sandy City website. The website offers tips for saving water, both indoors and outdoors. Some of the most important guidelines published by Sandy City Department of Public Utilities include using low flow dishwashers, clothes washers, shower heads and toilets. This measure can save gallons of water used for daily chores. Other tips include preventing leakage of water in toilets and kitchen and bathroom faucets, not using running water for washing fruits and vegetables and defrosting. People can use low-water plants in the house and garden to cut irrigation of gardens. Get rid of weeds and use good quality soil that can hold water for long (Sandy City Water Conservation, n.d.)
 
Sandy City promotes the use of low water plants and demonstrates the same in its famous water efficient landscape, the Sego Lily Gardens. These gardens house numerous low water plants and different irrigation systems that save water. People can have a look at these plants and plant them in their homes to save water used for watering the plants (Sandy City Sego Lily Gardens  Water Wise Landscapes, 2009).

Water Supply is dipping day by day while demand in increasing exponentially. It is now time to act and save this precious gift of nature vital for our existence. Residents must cooperate with the government and help protect the environment.

It is estimated that up to 70 percent of the earths surface is covered by water (National Geographic, para 4). Nevertheless, only a small percentage of this water is fresh water with most of it being unreachable. The only usable percentage of water is less than one percent of the fresh water portion. Clean water is not accessible to a significant majority of the worlds population with about 17 percent of the global population lacking access to clean water. Despite the fact that the earths surface is covered with a lot of water, it is amazing to note that not as many people are able to access clean water. As such, it is important to look into how this resource is used, the activities threatening its sustainability and the measures that can be taken to preserve clean water.

Clean water is being used for primarily three purposes domestic use, industrial activities and agricultural activities (irrigation). As at 2000, 8 percent of the worlds fresh water went into domestic, 22 percent into industrial use whereas 70 percent went into agricultural use (New Internationalist, para 6). The great percentage of water going into agricultural activities is attributed to increasing irrigation schemes in the last 40 years.

Availability of clean water is under threat mainly due to human activities. Pollution for instance is posing a great threat considering that most human and animal wastes are being released into the clean water in the aquifers. There have been more than 100 million synthetic chemicals that find their way into our clean water sources in addition to the many naturally occurring toxins (New Internationalist, para 15). More land has been put under irrigation over the last 40 years and this has resulted to more water being channeled into these activities. In addition, water use has also increased with a rising world population and it is estimated that water scarcity will hit up to 1.8 billion people by 2025 (National Geographic, para 8). Water aquifers have been disturbed through underground mining activities which disturb the water table whereas deforestation has disturbed the hydrological cycle. In essence, despite the high percentage of water on the earth, human activities have been contributing to the threats facing others who are not able to have enough water. Therefore, despite the fact that human beings are using water to better their lives, they are the ones again threatening their own lives by misusing the available clean water.

Even with the small percentage of water available for human use, the water can be enough if used carefully. First it would be important to stop water pollution so as to increase the amount of clean water available. This can be done by putting up good structures for disposing human and industrial wastes. It is also wise for individuals to be made aware of the facts regarding importance, availability and threats to clean water. With such a background, individuals can be challenged to take personal responsibility of using water efficiently and preserving water towers. Individuals and governments should take the responsibility of planting more trees (especially tropical forests) and regulating mining activities.

Clean water is a world crisis. It should be considered that only less than one percent of freshwater is available for use while the other percentage is far from reach (New Internationalist, para 2). Even though there is enough clean water, its distribution is very uneven. There has been wasteful use of water with the average U.S. citizen using 450 liters per day in excess of the recommended per day (New Internationalist, para 11). Furthermore, clean water is hardly available to the rural and urban poor. Rural poor walk for many miles looking for the water whereas the urban poor have to pay excessively high for water as compared to well off citizens. Pakistan urban poor for instance pay 83 percent more per liter the price from a standard water connection.

The objective of the ISO Strategy Advisory Group (SAG) is to set a standard which encourages a widespread approach to EMS, increase an organizations capability to achieve and quantify up gradation in environmental performance and to make the progress of trade smooth and eradicate non-tariff trade barriers.

Before the ISO 140001 was established, organizations were maintaining their own environmental management systems establishing their own strategies and goals relating to environment. It was getting difficult to take the cost of building EMS both in monetary terms and time.

Therefore, a lot of organization chose to certify them with ISO 140001. Around 10,000 companies around the world are registered with ISO 140001 and it has started to become an international standard.

Weaknesses of ISO 140001
Environmental standards
The ISO 14001 does not give any specific criteria or standards that should be applied to protect the environment. It rather urges organizations to design and adopt measures that would protect the environment and would benefit the environment in a positive manner. This implies that it is upon organizations on an individual basis whether to adopt strict measures or not.

The approach of ISO 14001 towards environmental protection implied that there is no guarantee of significant impact on environment of such act and neither will there be any continuous improvement with such approach.

Awareness for all
The ISO standards require that all organizations should disclose their policies and standards regarding environment to the public as well as to other external parties. The awareness is necessary to ensure that the company is doing the right thing and so that public can create organizations image keeping in mind its environmental initiatives.

But this initiative has been criticized because public is not aware of any such information and apart from that it is also thought that this standard has been made just to publicize and market ISO, itself.

Mere symbol
ISO is making large profits due to the fact that the organizational managers, whatever level of hierarchal position they hold, will not get the chance to visit each manufacturing site they out source to and are then willing to agree to foreign third party qualifications in a foreign country as an evidence of a certain level of achievement. Hence, this leads to a thought that whether ISO 40001 has just become a mere symbol that too an expensive symbol which every organization wants to purchase to represent itself as one of the very environmentally aware organization. The standard that was once started off to trigger some environmental benefits is now mere label for the organization.

Transparency and Consistency
ISO has been criticized of for its inconsistent standards as well criticized for its transparency. Firms are required to publicly reveal their activities but it has been seen that firms are not to publicize accurate results. Hence, the transparency is hampered due to inaccurate results. Secondly, ISO has not applied its measures consistently in all organizations and this is probably because its framework is very broad which gives organizations to escape a lot of regulatory compliances imposed by ISO 140001.

It failed to remove the multiple standards that already existed in the market which it was aimed for. This has frustrated the management for example CEO of Birmingham Steel says that he wishes no one faces ISO 140001. Cynthia Martincic, 2007

Abiding by the regulation
ISO 40001 also focused on ensuring that the regulations and laws should be abided by the parties. But is has been unsuccessful in achieving this motive because there are no tangible incentives for the organizations in complying by the regulations therefore, they do not feel the need to comply by such rules. The organizations spend a lot of time in fulfilling the reporting and investigation requirements.

If something really needs to be done for the environment the efforts should then be directed towards activities that improve environment instead of making organization get stuck in such non value addition activities of heavy reporting.

Narrow focus
The ISO 40001 fails to emphasize on reducing the costs and saving the energy resources. The organizations are mostly seen to use excessive energy which in the most cases is rather a waste. In the time of energy shortage and hiking fuel prices it becomes very important to obligate the organizations to reduce the energy usage by using the energy saving equipments and avoid unnecessary usage but ISO 140001 does not have any regulations relating to such savings. Jack Rockstad, n.d

Drive
The organizations have nothing to drive them towards environmental conservation. The reason is that organizations have not been given any short term benefits by the ISO 140001 for which they would adopt such measures. The ISO 140001 has been unsuccessful in creating commitment. The ISO 40001 has failed to market the environmental activities and define its purpose.

Strengths of ISO 140001
The strengths of an ISO 14000 lie in both both short and long term goals. To increase long term advantages, a long term perspective should be adopted and supported by management. If the long term is exchanged for short term goals, long term advantages will be accomplished.

Trade within and across boundaries
The main purpose of ISO 14001 is to flourish trade by creating non tariff barriers for trade and to change the organizations legal compulsions. ISO has been successful in the way it marketed itself for trade purposes. It has been widely accepted initiative of ISO.

Quality Standards
ISO offers the organizations a management system which helps organizations maintain and make better the environmental objectives. The management system has been by keeping in mind that it should address the needs of a wide range of parties. This is the strength of the ISO since it creates uniform benchmarks and standards for all organizations. This helps increase the efficiency of the organizations measures to achieve organizations environmental objectives. Such standard helps maintain quality standards of environmental objectives and operations.

Opportunities from the Market
Several markets that are concerned with environment have now been open by the introduction of environmental standards. For example, European market which has always been very concerned about the environment.

Employee Motivation and Customer Drive
Employees have been motivated by high morals as they see their company engaging in environmental friendly activities. Such dedication of the organization towards environment makes them motivated to contribute to organizational goals which are directly proportional to environment improvement.

Cost reductions in Waste
Organizations have been wasting a lot of monetary resources by disposing of waste. By introducing the regulations to conserve the environment organizational cost of disposing waste has increased. Such an increase in cost has led to increase in prices due to which organizations began finding ways to counter these increasing costs.

In an effort to find ways to reduce the costs organizations have led to environmental benefits as well as increase in profits. E.g. 3M corp started, Pollution Prevention Pays program. This well known program led to a lot of successful creations such as use of water as adhesive tapes. The program started in 1975 and since then the company has been able to fetch profits of around 1 billion. Apart from making such profits it has also been able to improve its standing in environmental initiatives by reducing air emissions, indecomposable waste and water pollution elements. It has been recognized as second best Company for staying committed to environment. Such has been the contribution of ISO 140001.

For example, Ford certified all its facilities with ISO 140001 by 1999. The corporate philosophy of Ford is that environmental excellence is both the good business and corporate citizenship. Ford replaced all its cardboard boxes with plastic carriers which could be reduced. Likewise, Ford has been successful in recycling tons and tons of waste materials since it adopted IS) 140001.

Reduction in Environmental Liability
When an organization manages its environmental activities by managing its processes then its liability to the environment is reduced which it otherwise, it creates by deteriorating the environment.

For example, Tytex Incorporation is one of the first organizations to adopt ISO 140001 and since it has certified itself for the standard it has been able to decrease its usage of electricity by 26, gas consumption by 24 and water consumption by 21.

Employee contribution
The ISO 140001 is not a discipline that requires involvement of any single individual rather it requires involvement by entire organization i.e. every employee within this organization. Apart from benefitting the society it helps individuals realize their responsibilities towards the environment.

Opportunities from the Market
Several markets that are concerned with environment have now been open by the introduction of environmental standards. This includes European market which has always been very concerned about the environment.

Employee Motivation and Customer Drive
Employees have been motivated by high morals as they see their company engaging in environmental friendly activities. Such dedication of the organization towards environment makes them motivated to contribute to organization goals which are directly proportional to environment improvement. Acushnet Rubber which is in Bedford is a good example of this. The company molds rubbers and has around 1100 employees. Its CEO Jack Bailey says that it implemented ISO 140001 to get customer demand and reduce employee turnover.

Conclusion
In an epitome, when ISO 140001 was introduced the organizations certified themselves for varying reason that includes increased profitability, improved image and ability to perform corporate social responsibility. Since then the many large organizations have been pressurizing their suppliers to comply with environmental standards which has a multiplier effect. Governmental level organizations are getting more exposure to company information which will help making future decisions and strategies based on some objective information.
A lot of companies were and still are spending a lot of time in activities which are required by ISO 140001 but still they are not registered with ISO 140001. It is important that registration authorities market ISO 140001 and its benefits to ensure that all companies are complying by the standard. (Paul Honen, 2008)

The Green Party of Canada was originally established in 1983 at a conference in Carleton University in Ottawa. The party believes that all life around the world is connected with each other and human beings have the basic responsibility to protect, preserve and nurture the ecosystem. Since it is primarily a political party, the organization supports accountability, progressive social planning, and responsible governance.

Furthermore, the party strongly advocates green economics, takes pride on the camaraderie of its members as well as its democratic approach towards policy advancement.

The partys main website can be viewed at httpwww.greenparty.cawelcome wherein the accurate information is found especially the partys platforms and political achievements.

Environmental Values, Ethics and Code of Conduct
The Green Party of Canada shares the common values of all Green Parties around the world which are communicated in the Charter of the Global Greens. This charter is the expression of the common policies enacted and formulated by the Global Greens, an international network of Green political movements and parties. Specifically, the political partys guiding principles are outlined into six values
a.) the ecological wisdom which highlights that human beings are a part of this world thus we should respect all life forms
b.) non-violence which determines the groups commitment to avoid violence upon achieving their political ends
с.) social justice which provides that everyone should have an equal share of resources and opportunities
d.) sustainability which aims to maintain the balance in the ecosystem by using renewable energy and resources
e.) democracy wherein everyone can freely express their views and opinions and
f.) the respect for the ecosystem wherein people, as human beings, should be responsible for the balance of diversity.

Latest Activity and Its Impact towards the Environment
On their latest January 7, 2010 press release, the Green Party of Canada has urged the Canadian government to take action upon addressing climate change. Eventually, Canadian arctic flaw researchers have concluded in one of their studies that Arctic melting has increased and summer sea ice is feared to be gone in a few years. Green Party Advocate for Arctic and Northern Affairs John Streicker explained that Arctic primarily regulates and balances the temperature in the planet. As explained, if this phenomenon will continue, global warming will also increase rapidly affecting the entire world.

Elizabeth May, Green Partys incumbent leader, commented that it is not necessary to compromise the environments welfare for the sake of economic growth. She believed that with the proper investment, the Canadian government can generate jobs, simulate economic development and reduce climate change at the same time.

Latest Activity and Its Impact towards the Human Health
Continuous Arctic melting will lead to extreme high temperature that poses a great risk to peoples health. Extreme temperature can cause a spread of diseases like malaria and dengue fever. Moreover, it can cause heat exhaustion and respiratory problems due to the high exposure to ozone. In the Arctic region, inhabitants are also becoming worried since the melting of the Arctic ice is also poisoning their food. Seals and beluga whales, which are consumed by Arctic people, were found out to have a high mercury level that is determined unsafe.

The Green Party of Canada, through this February 7 press release, wanted the people, as well as the government of Canada, to be aware of the status quo. Through this, they also called for the support of the Canadians to be vigilant and for the administration to create drastic measures upon giving resolutions to the matter at hand.

Personal Reflection
Green Party of Canada has done a lot of things especially on the success of passing laws that will make Canada more inclined to greener policies. They are effective as pressure group especially in making the Canadian government more involved in taking part in conserving the environment. Moreover, they are recognize as a political party of the people of Canada, which makes them credible in conducting claims and educating people on the consequences of climate change and how it greatly affect human being and its health.

But, one should consider how this party is so firm to the point of idealistic. I do think that on some policies they should be able to compromise as to some are as not that easy to be provided by a solution. They are idealistic to the point of closing its mind and not be open to any solutions which are not necessarily bank on their principles. Open-mindedness is important to deal with issues of our environment considering how dynamic the subject is.

Questions
1. Considering the news about e-mail circulating saying that experts doesnt have facts on climate change, do you think climate change a hoax or fact
2. What will be the better source of energy considering that theres a claim that alternative nuclear energy is as dangerous and harmful as coal energy

The increasing demand for plant based fuels has displaced areas that were initially used to produce food for human consumption. Food prices go up, and agriculture expands into forested areas (Grunwald, 2008). Most biofuel crops are genetically engineered and need to be closely controlled in a monoculture plantation. They are also more suited to a tropical climate. Therefore this paper will focus on the effects of clearing rainforests to establish a monocrop biofuel plantation.

Ironically, clearing forests for biofuels emits more carbon than can be saved by using the biofuel. Dr. David Tilman (2008) explains that clearing the tropical peatland forests in Indonesia to plant palm trees would release so much greenhouse gasses that it would take 420-840 years to pay it back by using the palm oil. This is because the soil under a tropical peatland forest also contains a huge amount of biomass, and carbon will continue to be released long after clearing operations, until the next 120 years.

Releasing carbon into the atmosphere is the main reason for climate change and global warming. Greenhouse gasses (GHGs) prevent long wave radiation from leaving the earth, reflecting it back to the planet and heating it up. This causes severe climatic changes, such as the ENSO, triggering extreme droughts and floods.

Global warming triggers a chain reaction to planetary destruction. For example, one of the biggest carbon sinks in the planet is the ocean. When this is heated, it absorbs less carbon and actually releases more into the atmosphere. Higher temperatures can also cause higher respiration in plants, releasing more carbon than oxygen. Hotter temperatures disable the planet from absorbing carbon gasses and other GHGs, meaning more long wave radiation will be reflected back to earth, making the situation worse.

One immediately noticeable effect of land conversion is on temperature. Temperature is more stable in a forest than in an open field where it varies greatly from day to night. During the day, the forest provides shade that makes soil temperature generally cooler compared to an open area. At night, the trees shelter the ground from cooling winds, making the forest warmer than in an open field. When the forest is clearcut, the ground is exposed to the elements. Days become hotter and night becomes colder. This will have the most impact on hydrology.

The forest influences rainfall by acting as water pumps. The trees take up water from the ground and releases it into the atmosphere during transpiration. Since the area inside and immediately surrounding a forest is generally cooler, the water vapor released during transpiration condenses and precipitates more readily. Water is always present in the plant biomass, and consequently locked in a closed tropical ecosystem.

In contrast, water will evaporate and dissipate faster in an open field, necessitating irrigation. Even when planted to soya or corn, there are spaces between individual crops that are still exposed compared to the many layers of cover in a tropical rainforest. When it rains, or even during irrigation in an agricultural field, water accumulates in the soil more quickly and disappears just as fast.

Not only is a monoculture plantation more prone to extreme hydrologic events like drought or floods, it is also extremely prone to erosion. In a forest, trees and other vegetation intercept raindrops, making it fall more slowly. Whereas rain directly falling on open ground carries more force in dislodging sediments and carrying it away in surface runoff.

Erosion and leaching causes the nutrient-rich topsoil in a monocropped area to be easily depleted after several rotations. When fertilizers are added to maximize crop yield, excess nutrients are washed away in water bodies, causing algal bloom that reduces the amount of dissolved oxygen. This is called eutrophication and causes fish kills.

Many species thrive in a forest, controlling each others populations in various relationships. Different species depend on particular plants for food and habitat, occupying a particular niche. Since there is only one type of plant in a monoculture, only the few species who depend on it for food will dominate.

Without other species to control their population, organisms feeding on that crop will  reproduce to the point of infestation. Farmers will then resort to using pesticides to quickly save their investment, and this will have a negative impact on water quality.

Pesticides and their degradation products can cause cancers, mutations in the embryos, reproductive disorders, and other health concerns for humans and other non-target organisms. The half life of pesticides may range from 4 days to 6 months, as in the case of some persistent organic pesticides. These toxins are also carried in surface runoff to water bodies and may poison aquatic animals or bioaccumulate in fish and other life forms. The pollution may also seep underground, contaminating aquifers for drinking water.

Although biofuel crops can be planted in marginal areas, increasing demand puts pressure on good lands that can still be used for food crops. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (2008), in rural parts in Asia, the poor still uses marginal lands for subsistence agriculture and whether they will benefit or not from biofuels depend on the security of their rights to the land.

Even if biofuel crops can grow in poor conditions, they need adequate water and nutrients to have commercially acceptable yields. While there may be environmental benefits to planting biofuel crops in marginal areas, the demand for biofuels puts pressure on producing greater harvests that can only be achieved in fertile lands or by adding more inputs.

In summary, converting a tropical forest into a monoculture biofuel plantation will have immediate adverse effects on the ecosystems microclimate, hydrology, and biodiversity. Long term adverse effects include erosion, pollution and health problems, reduction of food for human consumption (hunger), pests and diseases, and the worsening of global climate change.

This calculation is to my mind not too accurate even though the correct answer may not alter the initial argument significantly. The amount of CO2 emitted by Drosophila is underestimated.

If the Drosophila produces 5 microlitres of CO2h, it would produce (5x10-6x24) L in one day.

Six months contains about 180 days so one Drosophila will produce (5x10-6x24) x 180 L in six months.

And since our assumption is that flying insects produce six times more than the non-flying in the same group, one Drosophila will produce (5x10-6x24) x 180 x 6 L.

Assuming there are 1020 Drosophila, then the combined CO2 production would be
(5x10-6x24 x 180 x 6 x 1020) L of CO2 per year, since they are only active for six months in a year.
This is 1.3x1021 L of CO2 which is not  1.09 x 1018 L of CO2.

The argument is logical. The initial statement of the contribution of land organisms to global CO2 emissions coupled with the various assumptions as touching the grouping of insects into groups based on their sizes and possible emission levels also confirm this. Also, it is only logical to work based on the smallest group (Drosophila). Since it belongs to the smallest group, there can be no overestimation rather what may occur is underestimation since in real life there are other organisms that will emit more due to their sizes when compared with Drosophila.

In the end, the greatest point in favor of the logical nature of this argument is its attempt to employ some of the smallest organisms in illustrating the immense contribution of smaller organisms, which are almost never brought into discussions of global CO2 emissions as against the emissions of man which are thought to be most significant but which some scientific facts now appear to most profoundly contradict.

This debate is primarily a clash between science and economics (Harding, G., 1998).  If the world in which we all live is about to be destroyed for any reason, and we all believed it, our common interest then would be to survive with minimal casualties. But as it is, many, including scientists would rather have us maintain the status quo. The primary objective in going to great lengths to prove that insects contribute more to the global CO2 emission than do human beings is to appeal to the whole of humanity for inactivity as its only nature taking its cause or what shall we do about insects before we now come to the much more significant bacteria.

Hieb (2003) believes that the contribution of man to the green house effect is 0.28, if water vapor is taken into account and about 5.53, if not. And concludes by making it very clear that there is nothing we can do that will be significant if reversing the change we are experiencing is the goal.

But do we blame the weather elements for the ageing of our clothes Would we not change clothes if it rained while we were out Of course we always would do something about these personal concerns. As it is today, different parts of the world are experiencing different sides of the change. While it is flooding here, it may be a drought there. Hence, we do not see the changes in exactly the same way.

And so, if I appealed to the hungry man in Kenya to avoid Chlorofluorocarbons if he wishes to continue to eat his beloved corn and made the same plea in Alaska, it is obvious that the difference in individual economic power would determine his response. Man has always ruled the world and so shall we ever be responsible for its state. More than any other thing else and what changes we can effect, let no one attempt to dim.