Monthly Archives: February 2014

Oil is Running Low, but is Fracking the Answer?

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A farmer views fracking drills near an almond orchard in Shafter (image: earthjustice.org)

Shafter, CA–They say some things never change. When it comes to this rural California community, they’re right—mostly. People still flock to the same burger joint, grow the same crops, and walk through the same orchards they have for decades. But something is different here today than thirty years ago. Breaks between the fields and orchards no longer just hold dirt fields, but new oil drills, massive flames burning off excess energy, and for some time last year, unlined pits being filled with toxic wastewater.

While Shafter residents are no strangers to oil drilling (it has been happening near here for decades), the new drills are part of a controversial technique—hydraulic fracturing– being used to extract more oil. Fracking, as it is often called, allows drillers to break through the previously inaccessible Monterey Shale, a rock formation estimated to hold 15 billion barrels of oil trapped beneath 1750 square miles of Southern and Central California. Many see a fracking-fueled economic boom, but potential consequences have some farmers and residents worried about their livelihoods. Continue reading Oil is Running Low, but is Fracking the Answer? →

You can substitute margarine for butter, but what can you substitute for water?

New Research
Image: www.sierranevadaalliance.org

As of January, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is 80% below average. Even following one of the driest years in California’s history, this number is still shockingly low. In an Olympic sized pool this would be like only having one of five lanes to swim in. While it is understandable for California to be concerned with the depletion of the Sierra Nevada, recent research suggests we should be equally concerned about what lies ahead for the Colorado River. Continue reading You can substitute margarine for butter, but what can you substitute for water? →

When Breathing Becomes a Health Hazard

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photo: breathproject.org

Dorchester, MA- An orange flag flies above the corner of Codman Square Health Center in North Dorchester, a neighborhood just south of Boston. This flag acts as a warning for a significant percentage of the community. What does it mean? That the air they are breathing is not safe.

The presence of an orange air quality flag in Dorchester is unusual given the progress that the U.S. has made in reducing air pollution since the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970. The Clean Air Act is viewed to be one of the most successful pieces of environmental legislation, with emissions dropping an average 72 percent amongst targeted air pollutants since its enactment. The subsequent reduction in air pollution has, in turn, led to a reduction in pollution-related deaths and illnesses such as respiratory and cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and asthma. The benefits of these improvements in public health services are estimated to reach almost $2 trillion by 2020, surpassing the costs of meeting clean air standards by more than 30-to-1. So with air quality steadily improving and negative health effects decreasing nationwide, why does the community of North Dorchester need to worry about the air that they breathe? Continue reading When Breathing Becomes a Health Hazard →

For bringing safe, clean water to Africa’s slums, market-based strategies are not the answer

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Policies such as privatization and small-scale private distribution have failed to increase access to clean water and sanitation in Africa’s slums. It’s time for African governments to start investing in public water infrastructure.

Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya, is infamous for its ‘flying toilets’ – plastic bags filled with human waste that are flung into the streets, occasionally hitting passersby. Without waste management and sanitation systems, human excrement and garbage accumulates in fetid ditches along roads, eventually seeping into water supplies. The consequences are dire: in Africa, more than 1.5 million children die of waterborne disease each year, in part due to poor waste management. Continue reading For bringing safe, clean water to Africa’s slums, market-based strategies are not the answer →

Are genetically modified crops good for sub-Saharan Africa?

New Research

Agricultural and international development experts are demanding that restrictions on genetically modified (GM) crops be loosened in sub-Saharan Africa. But how much will this actually raise income for farmers, and what do farmers themselves think about biotechnology?

USA RIVER, TANZANIA—Sebastian Mushi, or “Seba,” as he is known around here, owns an agricultural business in Usa River, Tanzania. In his bare-bones shopfront he stocks chemical fertilizers, pesticide sprays, and an assortment of maize and rice seeds. Perched comfortably on a bag of maize is Seba’s friend and rice farmer, Ramadan. While he waits for his phone to charge, Rama recounts how he took Seba’s advice to use a combination of hybrid seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides for his rice paddies and watched his farm’s productivity bloom this season. Pleased with the profitable results, Rama has shared his success story with many other farmers who have since followed suit. 

But for most other farmers in Tanzania, there is no such happy ending.  Continue reading Are genetically modified crops good for sub-Saharan Africa? →

Changing how we talk about “climate refugees”

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Photo credit: Maldives.com

MALDIVES – Using hand signals and whiteboards, President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives held a Cabinet meeting for the first time underwater.

Nasheed’s Cabinet presented the watery stunt just months before the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in 2009.  The Maldives, a collection of islands in the Indian Ocean less than 6 feet above sea level, are perched on the front line of climate change.  They are likely to be the first country to be entirely consumed as the sea rises due to continuing carbon emissions.  President Nasheed, at the underwater press conference, was asked what would happen if the summit fails.  “We are going to die,” he replied. Continue reading Changing how we talk about “climate refugees” →

ES399 – Environmental Synthesis and Communication

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Tax carbon? Label genetically modified crops? Ban endocrine disruptors? In this course, we will engage with such questions and related environmental sustainability issues as public writers. Students will choose one environmental issue, which will be the focus of their environmental “beat” during the semester. They will draw on an interdisciplinary toolset from environmental studies to analyze and communicate the scientific, economic, political, and ethical dimensions of pressing policy issues. Students will conduct independent research to produce weekly articles, such as op-eds, blog posts, press releases, book reviews, policy memos, and interviews with environmental professionals.