Letters to our leaders

The assignment:

Write a letter about environmental issues you are concerned about to someone you think has the power to make changes.

Excerpts from the letters of 4th and 5th graders below (with permission to reprint):
(most asked for return responses)

Dear President Bush,

"I think that cutting trees down from the forests, jungles, rainforests and woods is taking homes from animals. Why do people spill chemicals in our water if animals and people drink water? I think that since you're the President, you should start thinking more about the environment and animals."

"Polluting the water and air would be just the same as killing animals and us. So please ask people to stop cutting down trees and polluting."

"Why are gas prices high? Can't we find something more efficient that won't pollute the environment as much... my dad has to drive a lot. Put some money into finding a good resource that can help the environment."

"Global warming will make the ice caps melt making Florida sink into the sea....P.S. I didn't make up this science"

"Please lower the gas price. Some families cannot afford the gas price. Some people take the bus because the gas price is high. Why can't you spend money to solve this problem. In class we made solar ovens that did not use any fossil fuel."

"We need to stop polluting because the air is making it where we have a shorter life span. Instead of using non-renewable resources why can't we use renewable ones? We need you to do something."

"The pollution needs to stop. The pollution is killing animals, the earth, and people. Stop the people from littering and polluting the earth. Stop people from raising gas prices. Please make more renewable resources available and efficient to use."

"Global warming is real and serious and we have no time not to care about our future."

"Our State is polluted in different cities. It is horrible. So I am asking you to help."

"We should use less electricity because we burn fossil fuel to get electricity. Burning fossil fuels release carbon dioxide into the air which causes global warming. I don't want my environment to be in danger, so please consider some of my solutions."

"I am writing because I am asking you to not make toxic foods, drinks and other things... Can you not cut down trees (where animals live)?"

"There is a problem and it is called Global warming. If the ice caps of Greenland melt Florida and Washington D.C. will be flooded. If the ice caps of Antarctica melt sea level will rise seventy meters and flood some of the tropics. Most of the population lives in the tropis"

"I am worried that we will run out of gas, we do not have that much oil saved."

"I think you should convince more people to use the renewable energy of wind so coal supply will not be limited when I am at least 40 years old (at the moment I am 11). If you get more businesses convinced to use the renewable energy wind, the environment will be cleaned up... YOU can get more people to change sources of energy if you tried."

"Please help because we like the Earth and we don't like flooding."

"Why isn't recycling mandatory?"

"Why are the gas prices going up? Do we not have enough for the future, well do we sir? Because this is keeping families from going on vacations and keeping up with their rent and bills sir"

Dear Oprah,

"I am very concerned about the air pollution in the city where I live, Columbus, Ohio. I heard on the news that Ohio was one of the most polluted states in the United States, I was very surprised"

"I think you should do a show about helping the environment. Like how people should start using renewable resources and nontoxic cleaning supplies and stuff like that. If people knew about renewable resources, maybe there wouldn't be Global Warming."

"Can you get some people that can help save the environment? The Earth is totally polluted. Oprah, please help our community before the pollution becomes unbearable. PLEASE HELP US!"

planning ahead...kilimanjaro

(photo from http://kilimanjaro.malinikaushik.com/)

Last week I wrote up research plans for Tanzania & Mount Kilimanjaro... (tackling an issue related to human health). I won't give away the details, but I will say this, have a vision. Keep in communication with those you admire/aspire. (in academia- your advisor, your committee).

Also, I planned some details of this study more than a year ago when I was first invited on the trip...but now the ideas have fermented for awhile. Putting it on paper makes me feel like I have one foot on Tanzanian soil, the other soon to join...

I will see the snows of Kilimanjaro, before they melt into legend.

brought to you by... anonymous 5th graders and celebrities

Elm-3 its biodegradable and cleans your countertops!

Earth Day... small steps and giant leaps

For Earth Day the fifth graders concocted biodegradable cleaning products (from ingredients such as vinegar, water, baking soda, salt). They tested different mixtures to find the most effective combinations. Now, the kids diligently make labels for their greener cleaners from their recycled homework. Soon they will 'sell' their products to their classmates by creating television ads. Media may be a big part of the solution to the woes of our planet, at least in generating recognition. (Look at the success of An Inconvenient Truth)

Small steps to reduce our energy use are no longer enough to stop the growing concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Writers at Grist (www.grist.org) point out some of the failures toddling along toward sustainability, sure people may be willing to switch light bulbs or water their lawns at night, but will most volunteer to do anything more drastic? Most electricity consumers wouldn't want a surcharge on their energy bill if they exceeded a mandated energy use standard. (USA-TODAY)

Economist, Andy Keeler of OSU's John Glenn School of Public Affairs spoke on campus this month about the Science and Policy of Greenhouse Gases. Keeler predicts the US will have a Cap and Trade System (in whatever administration is next). Cap and Trade limits GHG emission with permits or allowances consistent with the cap. This createw a price for carbon dioxide emissions and "makes the market tell the truth."

Other potential policy solutions include taxing all things associated with carbon dioxide production (including the production and transportation of goods along with the fuel itself) & or mandating the use of certain products such as fluorescent bulbs, or vehicles that meet high fuel efficiency guidelines ... the problem with this is that new technology may be even more efficient, but unexplored with stricter product regulation.

Whatever the mechanism it's time for some big leaps to go with our small steps. Small steps should not be halted. (The look on any fifth graders face holding their own earth friendly cleaner revels this!!!) Small steps, particularly from children, build awareness. We are the solution.

why do we have water on earth? easy...

Every good experiment starts with a question...

4th and 5th graders brainstormed thinking of science questions they are interested in: "Why is the sky blue? What makes food rot? How fast do plants grow without water?"

An intense, quiet girl raised her hand and asked,

"Why do we have water on earth?"

WOW!!! This is advanced thinking- I was momentarily stunned...

A simple explanation for the bright girl...volcanoes, (she nodded as I drew gas from volcanoes creating a hazy atmosphere that would rain down things including water---we've already done experiments on the water cycle)Her next question? Why is there not water on other planets? (We talked about how Mars looked like it had volcanoes, but the atmosphere was closer to the sun, and may have burned off....and more about planets without volcanoes...)

We'll be making a pond muck battery (hopefully some will work- but if not, that's a good lesson too) I think we'll feed one with iron filings, one with molasses, one with both, I'm guessing the students hypothesize these will produce more electricity than just pond muck. (From me they know that some pollution is cleaned up by decomposers that eat sugar and that when iron spills in the ocean it sometimes feeds small organisms) Need to find a place to keep the stinky goop...as it popping the lid will only produce twice as much foul gas in the hot summer stickiness that is coming into our classroom.

UPDATE
The battery was a smashing success! Worked best with a voltmeter that could detect the faint current- amazing hope for the future of bio-energy sources. !!!!

Not 'blinded and numb'

Al Gore's testimony to Congress (3/21/-07):

Future generations will either ask

"Didn't they see the evidence?"
"Were they too blinded and numb by ...daily life"
Did they it was perfectly alright to keep dumping 70 million tons every single day of global warming pollution into this earth's atmosphere?"

OR

"How did they find the uncommon moral courage to rise above the politics?"

NSF GK-12, supporting science starts early

As a National Science Foundation Graduate K-12 Fellow, I admire the teachers and principals who share their classrooms with me, letting me burrow deeply into Columbus Public Schools, working jointly to develop hands-on science activities. In the classroom, one resource is not scarce: a child's passion for exploration. Confident nine-year olds use the word ‘hypothesize’ with a glimmer, eager to test their predictions. They are thrilled with the unexpected and the incredible ah-has of discovery.

The National Science Foundation GK-12 conference was last weekend (March 9-11) in Washington DC, bringing together teachers, graduate students and university professors invested in shaping the future of science and technology. My ears transfixed on Dr. Bill Hammock's smooth radio voice as he called for a future full of people comfortable with science. He reissued past NSF director Dr. Neal call for 'civic scientists' to foster the connection between scientists and the public. In the classroom, we must teach kids to use science as part of their decision-making, not to be weary or afraid of it.

The joy I feel exploring glaciers, investigating clues in their chemistry and hydrology, this is the joy of a fifth grader who has built their own thermometer or a fourth grader that pours water on a dirt mound recording its erosion. Confidence and excitement in K-12 science classrooms will lead to a future filled with support for science and technology leaders.

Socially Responsible Investing- Not just for small corporations

At home, we've been financial planning... how do you want to retire? It seems so far away now, money filtered away and stored in a vault to grow into the dreams of our old legs...what glacier will we live near?

But, we can't in good faith invest in just any IRA. There are socially responsible investments (SRIs). There are funds created from companies striving toward sustainable energy--- and these companies are thriving, with returns equal to, or surpassing traditional IRAs.

That is where our money will go.

In the meantime, big corporations are catching on (led by California- the 5th largest global GDP):

"Mercury News -WASHINGTON - The growing consensus to take national action against climate change received a major boost Monday when 10 leading U.S. corporations - including General Electric, Alcoa, DuPont and Pacific Gas & Electric - launched a coalition with four environmental groups to push for mandatory federal emissions controls.

The corporate leaders, spurred in part by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's unilateral proposal to cut greenhouse-gas emissions in California, pledged to work for specific targets and timetables to reduce current levels of carbon dioxide and airborne pollutants by 60 to 80 percent over the next 43 years.

"Action is not only justified, it's critical - greenhouse-gas emissions are rising at an unprecedented rate," said Peter Darbee, CEO of San Francisco-based PG&E, which provides energy to 5 percent of the U.S. market."

The 10 companies include:

Alcoa, BP America, Caterpillar, Duke Energy, DuPont, Florida Power & Light, General Electric (a founding member), Lehman Brothers, Pacific Gas & Electric, and PNM Resources.

Our future is lead by us, our science, our policy, and our investments

Living in warm times

The lowered jet-stream this last week has us huddled under blankets this week... But we are living in warm times, Niagra hasn't frozen solid in nearly a century (pictured below, courtesy of Dr. Scott Bair). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest report and we have much to prepare for...
"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global mean sea level," (Temperatures will rise an average of 2-12 F by 2100)--- with a response of up to 1/2 meter of sea level rise....

The prestigious atmospheric scientist Susan Solomon said, "There can be no question that the increase in greenhouse gases are dominated by human activities."

"The point here is to highlight what will happen if we don't do something and what will happen if we do something," IPCC co-author Jonathan Overpeck at University of Arizona said. "I can tell if you will decide not to do something the impacts will be much larger than if we do something."

These are just a small sampling of comments... Dr. Lonnie Thompson (Tropical Ice Core Climate Expert) has pointed out that the recent IPCC report has largely ignored the "gorillas" (melt from Greenland and Antarctica)... so the IPCC report is perhaps too optimistic.

Remember the accelerating rate of population growth and energy use... and take a deep and frustrated breath over how little our government invests in Energy (there is some growth in Hydrogen Fuel research, but the overall energy budget is flat--- and remember the Hydrogen fuel cell still requires energy to operate) I am writing to any policy makers that will read it and hoping that California prospers beyond its wildest dreams with their new energy saving policies and continues with more drastic measures that inspire the world to follow suit... Thanks also to the companies that are investing in a sustainable future- ck out. We can make some money by making our world better. I'm putting my dollars here.

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/progressiveinvestor/

Pictures from the North Klawatti Trip (from Erin Pettit)

Here are some pics taken by Erin from last summer. I think of ice often in our recent cold spell. Dream and remember the reflected warmth of summer snows.

Optimism or nebulism

Again, I am in the lab, sinking into the swivel chair in flourescent light optimism. My standards are all faring well today creating nice linear calibration curves---to accurately determine what is in my glacier samples... all is well so far (knock on plastic) in spite of the fact that the glass sample chamber was pink with other people's high concentration samples yesterday. Pink is the color of evil and iron oxidation. Anthony boiled the pink away in nitric acid, and my blanks are clean to the ppt. That's a few drops in the ocean. I'm also writing a paper. Its not taking long. Writing is the easy part... its the ICPMS that is the hard part. The instrument has so many special parts... the contamination of cones, the plugging of nebulizers, the settling of sediment...the paper is not taking long at all... I finished most of it last week...

To more adventures in science in the new year!

2000- Juneau Icefield Research Program

It's the summer after I started my Master's program at OSU. Ben (who I later stumbled upon in Antarctica at 2 in the morning in the McMurdo cafeteria as his disrespectful roommate entertained too much company) and I led a few students down the Gilkey Trench to explore supraglacial melt ponds in the compression zone below the ice falls. We spent all day descending the nunatak adjacent to the ice falls. Exhausted... physically and mentally. We trudged to camp at the medial moraine a kilometer away, the pace quickens with dreams of dinner. I'm ready to be a hero, carrying with me some much sought after mac and cheese. By the time we reach camp, we are drooling... but prematurely. A grizzly bear looms a few kilometers away. And it's plodding our way. Four of us jump on a boulder to match the bear in size, hoping to divert its course. TO no avail!!! We are feeble compared to this trucklike animal. We are nervous.

We radio our above glacier campmates, they advise us to leave fast. We grab some fuel to "light and throw "at the bear--- or if we escape, to use for dinner...

Suddenly the bear is within 100 meters of us. We don't cramponing until 1 a.m., carefully navigating over watery streams... insightful revelations from the undergraduate with us...fear lays it all out....

That night, we rest on the firm and spiky ground of the nunatek to our west. Precariously steep, we set rocks underneath---they'll be no plummeting in the middle of the night. I'm thanking my cheap immitation thermarest that can be blown up in 3 segments... to huge pillows. I sleep like cotton. Before my eyes sand, we witness a spectacular aurora, dining on the finest mac and cheese. Ben and I had a laugh imagining throwing a fire bomb at the grizzly. Its funny from our perch.

The picture is from the next morning.