Water Conflict and Climate Change

One of the many longterm effects of climate change is the change in precipitation levels througout the globe. As the climate warms the IPCC has predicted the precipitation patterns will increase in areas of high rainfall and there will be a decrease in precipitation in areas that currently receive minimal rainfall. As the population increases and water scarcity is becoming a problem because of pollution and poor management the effects of global warming are going to become even more impactfull. Currently there are water conflicts throughout the global the worst occuring in developing nations like India and Africa. These are predicted to get worse and others are expected to develop as rain patterns continue to become more scarce in the areas that need them most. There is also concern with 1.5 million people under water stress, where their daily water needs cannot be met, and that number to be increasing with the effects of global warming. This is of great concern for the developing South especially because the developed nations of the global North are responsible for the effects of global warming and will be continuing to worsen the problem as the South directly suffers. Civil wars are expected to increase and violent conflict is expected to further hinder the development of the global South. Here is several articles that discusses this issue and c some of the current major water conflicts that are occuring today in relation to Sudan and Darfur and the Indian Ganges River.
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/natres/water/2007/0316thirstier.htm
http://www.netwas.org/newsletter/articles/2005/09/2
http://internationalwaterlaw.org/articles/general/Rahaman-Ganges-Asteriskos.pdf

DDT is an important chemical to look at in its global use today for pesticide eradication in the war against Malaria. Here is an exerpt from an ethics paper on its use in Malaria control.

The history of DDT is extremely complex and politically connected. The chemical was developed in 1939 by Paul Muller who received the Nobel Prize for its invention as an insecticide.[1] It was used in World War II to combat typhus and malaria and was hailed as a miracle cure to diseases that previously had no such relief. In the United States the use of DDT as an agricultural pesticide was prevalent throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In Rachel Carson’s revolutionary book Silent Spring the indiscriminate overuse in all methods of agriculture is described: “Yet only a year after expressing satisfaction with the state of affairs (gypsy moth), its (New England) Plant Pest Control division embarked on a program calling for blanket spraying of several million acres a year.”[2] The book brought to light many environmental and health concerns that surrounded what was at the time considered “so universally used that in most minds the product takes on the harmless aspect of familiar.”[3]

Much of the science that Carson raised in her book was not common knowledge when it was published. Further investigation was prompted, and she is attributed in part to helping spark the Green Revolution in the United States during the 1960’s and 1970’s. DDT is a persistent organic pollutant that does not readily break down in the environment, so many of its environmental impacts are not noticed immediately. Before DDT is incorporated into fatty tissue it is metabolized and a new inactive form known as DDE is created.[4] This is what can be measured in fat tissue in humans, and the ranges vary greatly. Today the average North American has a concentration of 3 parts per million (ppm), while workers in insecticide plants in the 1960s had concentrations up to 648 ppm.[5]^,[6]

DDT is dangerous because of its ability to bio-magnify. It is fat soluble and does not readily get released as waste. As one animal absorbs it, for example a fish through its gills, it stays there until another animal eats it that then absorbs all of it. The larger fish then absorbs all of the DDE in every little fish it eats which is then passed on up the food chain becoming more and more concentrated in the fat of each animal. For birds this is important because once a certain concentration is reached the DDE inhibits calcium absorption, and the eggshells are then too thin to support the parent birds. In the United States the decline of the Bald Eagle population was highly correlated to DDE concentrations. For every 16 micro grams of DDE in the birds there was a fifteen percent shell thinning associated.[7]

The harm from bio-magnification is important not only where the chemical is sprayed but also globally because DDT has the ability to travel in the atmosphere. Because the chemical has a low volatility level a small percentage of it evaporates and then travels to as far as the artic where it is cold enough to condense.[8] Here the chemical can be bio-magnified in the food chain and reach humans and animals on the other side of the planet from where the chemical was sprayed. With the integration of DDE in organisms the effects are often long term and difficult to study. The most important aspect of the chemical impact is its overall harm to biodiversity. There is no way to know what organism it will harm or how, but regardless there are problems that arrive from the indiscriminate killing of organisms.

The human health risks of DDT are also complex. DDE and DDT are hormone-disrupting chemicals that can lead to immunological, developmental, and reproductive problems. There have been many studies done on humans trying to directly correlate prolonged DDT exposure to acute problems but like all carcinogens it is hard to create direct correlations to prolonged exposure because of the lack of study controls. In Tzaneen, Limpopo Province, South Africa a study was done that showed a direct correlation between DDT exposure and decreased semen count.[9] In New York City breast cancer was strongly associated with DDE concentrations.[10] Although the direct mechanisms to causing cancer and other problems are not specifically known it is accepted that long term exposure to DDT is harmful to human health.

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[1] Baird, Colin., Cann, Michael. 2005. Environmental Chemistry Third Edition. W. H. Freeman and Company, New York, NY. 435.

[2]Carson, Rachel. 1962. Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, NY. 20.

[3] Carson, 20.

[4] Baird C, 450.

[5] Baird C, 445.

[6] Carson, 22.

[7] Wiemeyer, Stanley N., Bunck, Christine M., Stafford, Charles J. 1993. “Environmental contaminants in bald eagle eggs 1980–84—and further interpretations of relationships to productivity and shell thickness.” Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. Vol. 24(2): 316 February. 316.

[8] Baird C, 414.

[9] Dalvis, Mohamed., Myers, Jonathan., Thompson, Mary Lou., Robins, Thomas., Dyerd, Silke., Riebow, John., Molekwa, Josef., Jeebhay, Mohamed., Millar, Robert., Krugerg, Phillip. 2004. “The long-term effects of DDT exposure on semen, fertility, and sexual function of malaria vector-control workers in Limpopo Province, South Africa.” Environmental Research Vol. 96(1):1-8 September.

[10] Wolff, Mary., Toniolo, Paolo., Lee, Eric., Rivera, Marilyn., Dubin, Neil. 1993. “Blood Levels of Organochlorine Residues and Risk of Breast Cancer.” Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Vol. 85(8): 648-652, April.

Chlordane awareness

Ever wonder what kind of chemicals are lurking around in the water and soil of your local streams and bays? Did you ever wonder how the the streams become so contiminated? The answer can most likely be found right outside on your lawns and gardens. Pesticide use is one of many contributors to soil contamination in many water streams. More specifically, chlordane is among the many chemicals that can be found at high concentrations in different parts of Tecolote Canyon. Tecolote Canyon is a nature park in San Diego, CA that is surrounded by houses, a golf-course and the University of San Diego. Chlordane is a pesticide that is highly toxic. It was prevalent throughout the 1980’s to kill off pests, ants and insects until it was banned from commercial use in 1988. Although, it has been banned for almost twenty years concentrations of chlordane can still be found in some places near home lawns and gardens. Chlordane sticks strongly to soil particles at the surface thus; it can stay in the soil for over 20 years and breaks down very slowly. Chlordane concentrations are highly variable in soil and sediments. In an effort to find more information about what parts of the soil sediments contain Chlordane, samples from varies locations were taken from Tecolote Canyon. The soil samples were then tested for chlordane using the ELISA method. The ELISA method of measuring chlordane samples provides a technique for using a uv-vis spectrophotometer to measure the absence of the chlordane in each sample. From this method, we were able to construct a calibration curve that provided values to use in an equation that ultimately provided a final concentration value in ppb for each solution. We found that chlordane was present in every sample taken from Tecolote Canyon. The samples had concentration values ranging from 5-1900 ppb. This is higher than expected considering that the half life of chlordane varies between 37 to 3500 days and the commercial use of chlordane as a pesticide has been illegal since 1988. The highest of these samples was from the northern region of the canyon below the community center and below the golf course. From the data, we found a correlation between chlordane and soil moisture. Thus, we can conclude that chlordane is present in higher conentrations in moist soil vs. dry soil. The correlation between soil moisture and chlordane also suggests that there is still chlordane coming into the canyon from runoff areas like the golf course and residential areas above the canyon. In conclusion, this should bring some awareness that we should always be aware of the chemicals we use so that we can save our environment and utimately save our selves.

Chlordane Still Present In Tecolote Canyon After Thirty Years Of Its Restricted Use

Tecolote Canyon is a Nature Park located on the northern side of the University of San Diego campus, it extends quite a ways up north past mesa college and it exists between homes, colleges, and golf courses. Back in the 1950's, a pesticide commonly known as Chlordane was used to fumigate fire ants, pests, and other small insects that were infesting the area. It took about thirty years after its extensive use for scientists to realize that this pesticide was more harmful than originally thought. Not only was it toxic to the environment and animals in contact with it, but it's persistence in the soil and sediment was high. This means that even after thirty years of its restricted use, Chlordane concentrations could still be present in high amounts in the soil.

Our goal for this project was to access the locations and concentrations of Chlordane throughout the canyon and to speculate as to where the possible sources for contamination were coming from (or still are coming from). Our class was split up among various parts of the length of the canyon and soil samples were taken from numerous locations near a creek that runs through the park. At each sampling site, coordinates were taken from a GPS system that allowed us to later plug these sites into Google Earth to get a better perspective of where each sample was coming from.


From Google Earth, were were able to pin-point each concentration value for Chlordane with its respective location within the sampling area. This was a very helpful method because from the aerial view, we were able to locate possible drainage sources that might contribute to a specific concentration at a site. The samples were taken into the lab and treated with a Chlordane Kit called ELISA that was able to help us measure absorbency values from each sample. From the absorbency values compared to a standard set of absorbency values for the chemical Chlordane, the concentration for each site was able to be calculated.

Most of the calculations led to fairly low concentrations respectively, however there were a few sites that huge concentrations in comparison to the other sites. One of these sites was located at the major drainage site of the golf course, which in fact made the most sense to us. Sadly, golf courses use many chemicals to treat their grasses without paying much attention to the environment surrounding them. The other high level that was found was located near the highway where a confluence of water was located. All surrounding drainage pathways led to this one small location where the water was just stagnated. Also, when discussing this site with the local park rangers, they had mentioned that the location for that was was where a large condo-complex had been built across the street within the past twenty years and they definitely would have been using lots of pesticides to create the garden area and pest control.

Our results were higher than we would have thought, but it really hits home to know that these chemicals really do exist many years after their use. On out part, only measurements about the soil were taken into consideration, but the immense wildlife in the area definitely plays a big role into the contamination as well. It is important to think about the long term effects when using toxic chemicals and how exactly the product is getting disposed of before using them. Lastly, I would just like to point out that our tests were only run for one pesticide that was banned in the 1980's, yet still today pesticides are being used worldwide to a greater extent and it is our responsibility to make sure that we are monitoring their detrimental effects and using them minimally.

Dogs Pose threat to water

Do you have a Dog? If you do. Do you clean up after dog? After reading this article about how water gets contaminated from dog watse I thought it would great to let every know how important it is to clean up after your pets. Everyone knows that dogs can be dirty but it took science studies to determine how dirty and nasty they can be. Dog watse can generate disease-causing bacteria that can make people sick. Studies done in the last few years put dogs third or fourth on the list of contributors to bacteria in contaminated waters. Researchers have found that at some beaches, dogs help raise bacteria levels so high that visitors must stay out of the water. Several studies have found that roughly 40% of Americans don't pick up their dogs' feces (women are more likely to do so than men). That is a lot watse!.The environmental impact of dog waste went unrecognized for decades. Then scientists developed lab techniques to determine the origin of fecal bacteria contaminating water. One method is a variant of DNA fingerprinting. Another method looks at the antibiotic resistance of microbes from different species. This is a great article and I encourage everyone that has pets to read this. Among the most contaminated spots found were Stevenson Creek in Clearwater, Fla. , the four Mile Run in Arlington and Fairfax counties, Va, and Boise River in Boise.

Constructed Wetlands

The section of the book on the processing of wastewater via an artificial marsh intrigued me to do some more research. There are two types of constructed wetlands: the subsurface - flow wetland and the surface - flow wetland. The subsurface - flow wetland transports sewage sludge through the sand to the roots of the marsh plants, while the sewage sludge in the surface - flow wetland travels above the soil. Also, there are many wetlands here in San Diego County, some of which are 'constructed' and not natural. However, the population in San Diego County is too large to have the wetlands serve as biological treatments for wastewater and sewage, which is why they were created mostly to serve as a refuge for migrating birds and to compensate lost estuarine habitat. Here is a list of the wetlands in San Diego County if anyone is interested.

a Greener Apple...?

Apple has long been praised for generating products with a sleek, clean, modern design...so why doesn’t its company follow suit with respect towards its generation of "iwaste." On May 2, 2007, a bit more recent than the Clinton era ;), Steve Jobs vowed to clean up Apple' act. Apple's website now boasts it Green Apple logo and a list of improvements that will be taking place with respect to lessen its impact. These reductions include the complete phase out of lead in their computers as well as other toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, arsenic, mercury, and hexavalent chromium. The E-waste from large computer and cell phone manufacturers is gigantic. In areas of countries like China and India, computer parts and wastes are dumped in open fills where their breakdown can be slow and release these heavy metal components into the soil and ground water which can have noxious effects on the surrounding populations. Apples has also stated that by the end of 2008, they will end the use of PVC and and BFR's (Brominated Fire Retardants)--both which upon incineration can release bromine and chlorine compounds into the air. The Apple site and well as Greenpeace have picked up on this initiative by Jobs and have great full coverage. Please Visit http://www.apple.com/hotnews/agreenerapple/ or http://www.greenpeace.org/apple/ for more information.

Water related Stresses of East and South Africa.

Eastern and Southern Africa (especially the Horn) have been recently been under great pressure from contamination in the welled drinking water. In these arid regions, water is obviously an extremely precious finite resource, which must be managed properly, or else great numbers of people will face imminent death. Africa's wells have recently been experiencing contamination by the microbe Vibrio cholera, a bacterium that causes Cholera. They symptoms of Cholera are dehydration, headache, stomach cramping and severe diarrhea. If a person goes untreated with various batteries of antibiotics, this bacterial infection can run havoc on your digestive system and cause death. UNICEF, a leader in humanitarian aid and Global health has identified Cholera contaminated water as an epidemic that must be fought. Stagnate conditions of water holes, combined with the equatorial heat, can turn these water sources into incubators for this microbe. UNICEF provided over 10 million dollars in recent years to work with officials in populated areas to help enact filtration methods to clean water sources, but much work is still needed. To Read more visit :http://www.unicef.org/har07/index_37421.htm

Perchlorates & Hypothyroidism

Elevated levels of perchlorates in drinking water has been suggested to cause hypothyroidism by directly stopping the thyroid's ability to absorb iodine from the bloodstream, which regulates hormones in the body. I happen to have had hypothyroidism for 7 years and after reading this article began to wonder if I had been exposed to high levels of perchlorates in drinking water or during fetal development. (I know that sounds crazy, but when you randomly are diagnosed you look for answers.) It turns out the states that I have lived in and my mother lived in during my fetal development all are affected areas that do indeed have high levels of perchlorates in drinking water. If you want to find out more about perchlorates visit this website, which has a TOX GUIDE.

Bottled water vs tap water

Ever wonder whats in water? it may seem simple enough. I mean water is water right? does it matter where it comes from? or does it matter what type of bottle you pick up at the grocery store? and even better question is, is bottled water better than tap? these are very important questions that everyone should ask themselves when consuming water. In 2004, 24 gallons of bottled water was consumed by Americans, making it second only to carbonated soft drinks in popularity. Furthermore, the consumption of bottled water is growing every year. This year, Americans will spend around $9.8 billion on bottled water, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation. According to the BMC, the cost for bottled water exceeds the price of gasoline, depending on the brand, it costs 250 to 10,000 times more than tap water. According to this article that I read in the NY Times, tap water is much more monitored than bottled water therefore should be better.They stated that reseachers found more contamination in the bottled waters vs tap. Thus, bottle waters do not necessarily mean better water.If this is the case why do more people drink bottled waters? The article, does a good job at answering this question of why bottled water has become popularized? I think that it comes down to what each of us prefer. I personally like to drink bottled waters just because they are easier to use and I think that they taste better. What do you prefer? If you prefer bottled waters too and are interested in finding out about the water you drink I found a site that does a good job at describing how the water is obtained for each of the leading brands of bottled water. The site provides a quality assurance that most water is of good quality. but who knows...

San Diego Landfills

After reading chapter 12, I was interested in finding more information on where all our trash goes and how it effects us. I found the site containing info about landfills here in San Diego County. I thought it was a good site because it talks about the current, future, and closed landfills. More importantly, it outlines the exposures from the closed landfill Poway. While investigating the extent of low concentration solvent (PCE and TCE) contamination in ground water within the closed landfill boundary, very low levels of benzene and solvents were found.Benzene is the compound causing much concern because at low levels benzene can be carcinogenic. There has been no actual confirmation of exposure to benzene and other chemicals. The exposure was said to be more harmful long term but that wont be known until more samples and studies are done. I found it interesting that there was not more information known about the sources of Benzene. So, for those of you who might live near a landfill this site provides a lot of information on how to stay informed and safe from exposure.

Portland Watershed Restoration

The Portland Watershed and Willamette River is one of the polluted areas highlighted in our text. This are is part of the Port of Portland that was heavily polluted in the 1970's and 1980's. I have been hearing warnings of pollution and contamination in the river my entire life growing up near the city. It is nice to see that there is action being taken now to clean up this contamination in a manner that does not merely place a band aid on the wound. The government action that is being taken in Portland in response to this large contamination is a great model for other cities to follow.

City of Portland Adopts and Funds Watershed Management Plan

By Bob Sallinger

Warbler June 2006

On March 8, 2006 the Portland City Council adopted an innovative Watershed Management Plan that holds within it the potential to set the City on a course towards ecological sustainability. In Late March the Mayor presented a preliminary budget that underscores the City’s commitment to on-the-ground implementation of this plan. At a time when comprehensive environmental planning all to often falls victim to short-term political considerations, back-door compromises, and inconsistent follow-through, the City of Portland has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to restoring a landscape that nourishes both humans and wildlife and which preserves a legacy of green for generations to come.

In his Report to the Park Board, Portland Oregon, 1903, John Charles Olmsted wrote “Marked economy may also be effected by laying out parks, while land is cheap, so as to embrace streams that carry at times more water than can be taken care of by drain pipes. Thus, brooks or little rivers which would otherwise be put in large underground conduits at enormous public expense, may be attractive parkways.” More than a century later, the City of Portland has taken these prescient words to heart. The Portland Watershed Management Plan presents a vision in which stormwater is treated as an urban amenity rather than obstacle to progress. By simply recognizing that rain is best addressed where it falls rather than by piping it to someplace else, the City has committed itself to a new way of thinking with profound implications for the ecology, economy and livability of our urban landscape.

The Management Plan sets four watershed health goals for the City: improvement of hydrology, water quality, physical habitat and biodiversity. Based upon nearly a half a decade of work and a small mountain of scientific data, the plan ultimately does two things. First it models the entire urban landscape to determine how best to accomplish these four objectives in any specific location. The City now has a scientifically credible process for determining how to spend limited funds to best accomplish its environmental goals. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the Plan commits the city to considering and incorporating where possible watershed protection and restoration principles at the planning stage for all city projects. The Plan recognizes that the least expensive and most effective way to restore the landscape is to do things right in the first place rather than retrofitting after environmental regulations such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act have been violated. This plan breaks down oft-criticized bureaucratic silos and makes environmental protection the purview of all city agencies.

The plan envisions an urban landscape in which problems such as flooding, water pollution, urban heat island effects, and lost of species diversity are addressed by reintegrating nature into the landscape. This includes not only traditional strategies such as the protection of parks and natural areas, but also a proliferation of street trees, ecoroofs, vegetative swales, rain gardens, vegetated curb extensions and the like.

The watershed approach makes economic sense. Commissioner Sam Adams, speaking before the Bureau of Environmental Services Citizens Budget Advisory Committee, noted that if we had implemented these types of projects thirty years ago, the city might very well not be spending $1.4 billion dollars today to address the combined sewer overflows (CSOs) that have turned our urban waterways into cesspools. If we fail to implement these types of projects now, the “big pipes’ that we are installing today will become obsolete within a few generations saddling our children and grandchildren with an even greater liability. The Portland city council signaled its recognition of this fact by not only holding the Portland Watershed Services Program Budget stable during 2006 but also creating a $500,000 Watershed Investment Fund to promote increased project implementation during the next year.

This plan is already more than simply aspirations on a page. Years of pilot projects have demonstrated that these projects make economic and ecological sense and simultaneously improve the livability of our City. To learn about projects already completed to date go to www.cleanrivers.org and view the 2005 Portland Watershed Annual Report. What the adoption and funding by city Council have done is ensure that these types of efforts will become the norm rather than the exception. Kudos to the BES Watershed Services Program, all the participating bureaus, the Portland City Council and myriad citizens who helped see this plan through to adoption.

http://www.audubonportland.org/conservation_advocacy/urbanconservation/watershedplan

Taking Care of our Environment

I know that our discussion on carbon footprints is done, but I could not help but blog about a New York who is trying to leave no environmentally dangerous impacts in his everyday life. He began his experiment earlier this year with his wife and young child in the heart of New York City and blogs a few times a week about his actions and conflicts that arise. Reading his blogs is interesting because it relates back to class and has a reality T.V. vibe. So if you are captivated by reality T.V. ( I think we really all are:) check this out!

Agent Green and the US war on Drugs

Since 2000 under the Clinton administration, the US department of Agriculture was working with Colombian government officials in order to institute and implement a plan of blanket spraying 1000's of acres of rainforest in order to kill Coca (cocaine producing) plants. The main chemical being used was glyphosate, more commonly known as "roundup", which was blanketed over high yield areas in the dense Colombian rainforest. Although these areas are said to be uninhabited, it was common knowledge that not only indigenous tribes lived in these areas but also small villages existed which housed the various growers (by the way those kids are standing next to a coke plant). Because of the potential to inadvertently harm innocent people, and much to the tone of Silent Spring, the Colombian government worked to identify a natural fungus that is harmless to people but is a natural herbicide and killer of the coca plant. The fungus, Fusarium oxysporum, is being tested by the US for use and apparently is quite indiscriminate in its damage killing all types of plants. Despite its low specificity, Agent Green's use is being lobbied in both Colombia and the United States and is probably going to be used. To Read More Visit :http://www.americas.org/item_294

DDT is not linked with Breast Cancer

Every year 1 out of 8 women get breast cancer. Although, the number of cases of women being diagnosed with breast cancer has decreased since the 1980's, breast cancer continues to be the second leading cause of cancer death in women, exceeded only by lung cancer. Since the 1990's there has been much controversy concerning whether or not Breast cancer was linked to the use of DDT. There have been many studies done early in the 1990's that suggest it was but more recently I found some new articles that conclude that DDT is not linked with breast cancer. I found this very interesting because I wasn't aware of these new studies. In an effort to increase awareness of Breast cancer I thought that this information was important. More importantly, the decreases in deaths of breast cancer are the result of earlier detection and improved treatment. Breast cancer affects every one in one way or another. So I encourage everyone to do breast self exams. Here is a link about how to do one if you already dont know..

World's Dirtiest Citites

Forbes recently published a list of the dirtiest cities in the world and the U.S. Interestingly, the dirtiest cities in the world were mostly due to heavy metal pollution, especially lead, and were concentrated in the former Soviet Bloc. The dirtiest cities in the U.S. are right in our backyard: California! For more information and some pictures of the polluted cities visit: FORBES.

Methylmercury Toxicity

Did you know the EPA has been warning pregnant women about fish consumption? Or that methyl mercury accumulates in your hair -- giving analysts a simple way to get a sample to test? A Chemical & Engineering News article summarizing mercury toxicity was published in early 2004: go to http://pubs.acs.org/email/cen/html/033007161508.html to read more. One last factoid: the Dartmouth College professor who died after exposure to a drop of methylmercury had no symptoms for 5 months after the exposure.

MInimata Disease

I was disappointed in the lack of material presented about the mercury poisoning in Minamata, Japan during the 1950s. The authors of the textbook even claim, "the poisonings at Minamata must surely rank as one of the major environmental disasters of modern times", but don't quantify the disaster. According to Japan's Ministry of the Environment, "2,265 individuals in Minamata and the surrounding area have been inflicted with mercury poisoning from the discharge of industrial waste water and 10,000 individuals are being compensated for their exposure and loses". Not to mention, the Japanese government and the Chisso corporation responsible for the mercury industrial waste have paid billions of yen to dredge the sediment containing the mercury and also to develop education programs about mercury poisoning. The picture really shows the horrible crippling that the body undergoes when exposed to toxic levels of methylmercury.

Oh no, no mo Rice!

I was struck in Chapter 8 when I read that there was an increased incidence of pulmonary adenocarcinoma (lung cancer) in Chinese women due to prolonged exposure to cooking-oil fumes. There have been numerous documented stories and research which has affirmed the presence and contribution of Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH's) to this phenomenon. This really hit home for me not only because of my love on chinese food and general concern for those who prepare it, but also my love of cooking. Have I been over exposing myself to high levels of PAH's in cooking oils and products all in search of that one delightful recipe? According to published work, the answer is yes. Although the names of the brands of synthetic oil were not revealed in these studies, the respirable cooking oil particulate is quite dangerous and prevalent. Ways to prevent high exposure are to take such cautionary measures such as working in well ventalated areas and to always cook with the blowfan on. Also whenever possbi;e try to avoid high oil temperatures because this serves to increase the amount of oil PM. For more, read this; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8161241&dopt=Abstract.

Plant Buddies

Rachel Carson mentioned a case study in Holland, in which city workers planted marigolds in rose beds to successfully diminish nematode destruction. As a young girl, I remember visiting my grandparents' vast garden, which was surrounded by marigolds. Until just a few minutes ago, I had no idea that they planted them there for the safety of their flowers and vegetables. Marigolds, like many herbs, have strong odors that keep rabbits away and also aphids, little bugs that feed on vegetation. Not to mention, they do the job of an herbicide without the danger of using chemicals and introducing foreign species into an area. In an article from Flower & Garden Magazine, many other 'plant buddies' are mentioned and I think that you should take a quick glance.

San Diego's Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Footprint Group #1

The mayor of San Diego county set a goal to reduce the GHG emissions by 7% below the recorded levels in 1990 by the year 2012. Unfortunately, the emissions increased from 32.10 billion kg in 1990 to 39.7 billion kg in 2005. In order to get to the anticipated goal GHG emission need to be reduced by 30% or 12.40 billion kg. These numbers listed above are from the class being separated into various groups to collect data about CO2 emissions from various state, county, and city agencies. The amounts of CO2 collected were converted into kilograms and analyzed. Then the class was split into two groups with each having a different area of focus. The focus of group #1 were CO2 emissions from transportation which included fuel, mileage, and fleet based emissions.

The highest CO2 fuel based emissions came from car fuels including gasoline and diesel. In contrast the lowest fuel based emissions came from aviation and jet fuels. In order for the 12.40 billion kg reduction to happen, it was split into six two billion kg wedges. Solutions for reducing the wedges were created and are as follows:

1. Reduce the driving week by encouraging people to drive only six days per week instead of seven.
2. Encourage the automotive manufacturers to increase or have government mandated miles per gallon ratings to improve the miles per gallon a vehicle gets.
3. Replace natural gas with renewable energy such as solar or wind power.
4. Encourage people to join a carpool.
5. Give incentives for people to own hybrid vehicles by giving tax cuts to encourage people to replace their old cars with hybrid models.
6. Give incentives and more protection on the road to encourage people to buy and drive motorcycles instead of cars.

According to an article from the Union Tribune, the goal of reducing GHG emissions to 7% below the 1990 levels maybe impossible. Two solutions mentioned would require more than half of the vehicles be removed from the road or eliminating all residential and industrial energy use in the city. Of course these solutions are unrealistic but unless something drastic is done to reduce the GHG emissions, the emissions will continue to increase with the growing population of San Diego. From studies, the reasons for the increase in emissions from 1990 to 2004 were due to an increase in computer rooms that must remain cool, energy use from residential homes, and vehicles on the roads. Many of the people are optimistic because city residents might not be willing to make significant changes to their daily lives to lower the GHG emission. In order for emission reduction to happen education of the public has to happen to make people aware of the severity of global warming and the city needs to make incentives for people to want to change their daily lives to better the environment.

Artificial Trees: A Good Solution?

Jumping back into our Monday discussion about greenhouse gases, I mentioned a website I had found that talked about artificial trees. I actually went back and found the website that was talking about these "trees" and the article did sound convincing to me. Although the name trees might be deceiving, these devices look more like windmills than actual trees. Apparently, these "trees" individually can remove 90,000 tons of CO2 per year, which is equivalent to emissions of CO2 by15,000 cars. That sounds pretty amazing to me, considering the largest contributor to CO2 emissions are cars themselves. I do want to mention that these "trees" aren't perfect, they do take energy to collect the CO2, but it would create a renewable source of CO2 for synthetic gasoline.

San Diego's Greenhouse Gas Footprint Group #2

Have you ever considered how your city and even you could reduce carbon dioxide emissions? In San Diego, Mayor Sanders has advocated reducing carbon dioxide emissions in San Diego County to 15 % below 1990 levels by 2012. After some investigation, it was found that San Diego County’s Greenhouse Gas Footprint, the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere via various sources, for 1990 was 3.16 E10 kg of carbon dioxide and 3.87 E10 kg in 2005. Since San Diego has managed to increase their emissions in the last 15 years, the reduction needed to reach 1990 levels is 30 %. Taking into account electricity, natural gas, and industrial emissions reports from the SDG&E it was concluded that the problem needed to be solved with 6 solution wedges, each representing a 2 billion kg decrease in carbon dioxide emissions. The 6 solution wedges included the following:

Widespread electrical conservation included turning off computers when not in use and unplugging appliances in the home while not in use. Many suggestions were included in the transportation wedge including biking, walking, raising gas prices, and adding incentives for carpools. Also purchasing cleaner 4 stroke marine engines would limit carbon dioxide emissions from transportation vehicles. Environmentally economical zoning and building purposes high density housing and living close to work as options for lowing carbon dioxide emissions. Two other suggestions focused on increasing laws and knowledge about carbon dioxide emissions. For example, people in San Diego should purchase locally grown food instead of allowing massive transport from far away places. Not to mention, they should recycle and conserve and educate others to do so.

In an article entitled, “Alter climate? Change Ways”, authors sadly claim that Mayor Sanders’ goal will not be reached because people are unable to change their lifestyles to accommodate carbon dioxide emission reductions unless national laws were in place. However, I believe that if we educate the citizens, which the city claims to be attempting, that anything is possible. Not to mention, national laws take many years to establish and enforce, but each individual doing some of the suggestions above could be done tomorrow without significant sacrifices except maybe high density housing. Therefore, I suggest that we continue to educate individuals about global warming and give suggestions that people can do themselves for relatively cheap to help in decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.

Trace chemicals and reproductive health

Yesterday's Chemical & Engineering News has a great article about how environmental contaminants are causing infertility, declining sperm counts, miscarriages, and birth defects. This serves as a great introduction into our class topic! Give it a read and please comment.

Red Cross Symbol on Pesticide Products

Browsing through many different pesticide websites, I stumbled across one created by the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP). Their top story of the day reveled that the EPA gave manufacturer's of pesticides permission to place the Red Cross symbol on their products, in an exchange that the Red Cross receives part of the pesticide profit. The NCAMP group was furious with this decision, claiming that the EPA "violated the federal pesticide law and will mislead consumers into thinking that pesticides are not harmful". After viewing the Red Cross symbol applied to a Clorox container, I realized why some might be upset. It really does create a sense of false advertising. The cross is relatively large compared to the sentence describing the fundraiser aspect. People who cannot read, but recognize the Red Cross symbol as 'safe' might potentially be put in harms way. Especially, young children. Also, I believe that we should not have to resort to false advertising tactics that potentially could harm others in an attempt to make money for a agency dedicated to helping others! However, I also realize that this article was directly written by NCAMP and might be heavily influenced and filled with ideas that support their view.

Be Good to the Planet or Be Good to Yourself?

This week Time Magazine wrote a fabulous article on how the whole "Organic Craze" might not be the best thing for our environment. I may admit, I am one of those who eats organic foods as much as possible so as not to pollute my body and also to avoid all the complications that may arise when the pesticides reach the environment and water supplies. Never once did I think that my obsession with buying organic fruits and vegetables might actually not be the wisest decision.

It couldn't have been better timing for a greenhouse gas article to close up chapter 6 while also incorporating chapter 7 on pesticides. Since organic produce isn't always local, most likely it had to be flown in from across the country or even equator, thus contributing to the addition of greenhouse gases to our atmosphere. Pretty much the act balances itself out. The articles main focus was to buy local. Even if the produce isn't organic, it hasn't been boxed up an shipped all around the world, just so someone can have an organic pineapple.

Time reporter Gussow's famous statistic is that "Shipping a strawberry from California to New York requires 435 calories of fossil fuel but provides the eater with only 5 calories of nutrition."

It makes you wonder if that strawberry is really worth it.

Biomagnification of DDT

After reading about and discussing DDT in class the effects DDT had on eggshells of birds, I did some research and found this link which gives information about different insecticides. If you scroll down to the biomagnification section, within a table is a list of bird species and the amount their eggshell thickness was reduced because of DDT and DDE. I was surprised to see the amount of reduction that occurred in just these select species. I tried to find data about the reduction in eggshell thickness for the pelican and bald eagle but was not successful on finding recent or reliable sources. But, I was able to find a scientific article from 1999 printed in the International Journal of Epidemiology that studied the effects and trends of DDT in human breast milk for five decades from areas around the world. The trends show a steady decrease from the 1950s to the 1990s with the mean DDT levels being significantly decreased over the years. Latin America countries had the highest DDT concentrations in the breast milk which I think could be due to lack of regulation and extended use after other countries banned its use. It would be interesting to see if these trends still hold true in 2007 or if there has been a greater increase in DDT accumulation.

A number of the chemicals that make our modern daily lives possible also heavily influence the environment in which we live. When some of these chemicals are released into the atmosphere as vapors, they can interact with complex natural cycles to have unforeseen consequences. One of these interactions leads us to a group commonly called the greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases (GHG’s) are gases either natural or anthropogenic in source that have the ability to absorb and re-emit light of the infrared wavelength. The interesting part is that this infrared light would normally escape into space were it not for the absorption events of the GHG’s. If enough of this thermal energy is captured and re-emitted back down to the planets surface a rise in global temperatures will result. The phenomenon that these gases produce is called global warming. This effect is akin to how the glass panes of a greenhouse allow light of visible wavelength pass through but trap the infrared light inside, thereby eventually raising the temperature of the greenhouse.
We attempted to measure the global warming potential (GWP, a relative measure of how effective a particular gas is at trapping infrared light, with carbon dioxide having a GWP of 1) of several laboratory solvents and gases, including CH4, CHCl3, CCl4, CH2CL2, CO2, and a halon mixture. Analyzing trends across these different gases would hopefully allow us estimate the impact of these gases on global warming at the rates they are currently being released as well as to make predictions as to the GWP’s of related gases.
(Fig1: Static Dilution Setup, Seen from the side)


(Fig2: Flowing Dilution Close-up)




In order to accomplish this, we took dilutions of these gases and measured them using Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Whenever a gas must first have been vaporized from a liquid, a static dilution system was used to allow us to obtain quantitative dilution. We used a much more simple flowing dilution system whenever a gaseous source was available for us to make our dilutions from. The absorbancies were then collected and measured using a salt crystal FTIR collection cell. At this point the treatment of the data became highly mathematical. The wavelengths and intensities at which each molecule would absorb infrared radiation were entered into an equation that would give us out the GWP of that particular gas.
When we compared the GWP’s that we experimentally derived to “standard” values that have been tabulated already, we found that our results were vastly (about 10x-20x) lower that the published values. A quick glance at fig. 3 shows this. If we had gotten experimentally reasonable data, the bar graphs for each particular gas would match or at least be reasonably close. One likely culprit was the dubious security of air locks on the FTIR cells. If these locks were in fact leaky, then we were measuring gas concentrations that were significantly lower than what we were expecting to measure. Placing the larger concentration into the equations instead of the correct but unknown smaller concentration caused by the leaky cell would have given us this deviation. Other possible causes were incorrect use/calibration of the FTIR specs or human mistakes that took place in the dilutions.



Even though most of our data points were less than accurate, we were still able to make connections between some of the chemicals we use on a daily basis in the lab and the global warming effects we see increasingly each year. At the very least we were able to see that in fact, yes, greenhouse gases do absorb thermal radiation as well as the fact fact that some gases are more efficient in this action than others. Since these gases only represent a very small portion (excluding methane) of the GHG’s, we in fact only studied a small portion of the global warming effect. More research is needed into the entire field is needed not so much to discover more of the chemistry involved but more so into effective education techniques, for each day an individual does not fully understand his or her impact on the environment, the closer we get to changing our planet in a way we can’t fix.

Greenhouse warming potentials

Did you know that 40% of the worlds CO2 pollution comes from power plants? And another 20% comes from the use of cars? Who knew that using our lights in our homes could cause us so much harm. It is unfortunate that the use of electricity and vehicles have become very important in our everyday lives because they are the two biggest contributers to Global warming. Global warming is the warming of the earth’s climate and is estimated to cause severe climate changes in the coming decades. There are many gases that contribute to global warming, but some of the most important include: water vapor, methane, and nitrous oxide, and CO2. Today, we know the causes of Global warming but not much more is known about its future impact because we have yet to see any damages. Furthermore, the only thing that can be done is to predict what may happen and figure out how to stop it. In this lab, several common green house gases were tested to calculate their global warming potentials (GWP). Calculations of GWP are a great way to predict the impact a certain green house gas will have on the green house effect. The gases tested were CH4, CCl4 CH2Cl2, CHCl3, and Freon TF. They were diluted and measured by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR ) machine. That information was then put into a spreadsheet that calculated the GWP’s for the gases.
the results are as follows
Gases Experimental Actual
Methane, Group1 1.349 23
Methane, Group2 2.798 23
Chloroform 0.0459 5
Freon TF 1.589 1
CH2Cl2 0.590232 9
CCl4 3.770566 1400
Carbon Dioxide 1
From the data collected it is obvious that the gases yielded very low values for the GWP of the gases. Despite that, the values did reflect the general trend of actual GWP values relative to each other with the highest being CCl4 having a value of 3.8 followed by methane with an average of 2.1 and chloroform being the least at 0.05. The halon mixture did not follow the GWP trend but had the lowest percent error.
In conclusion, we may not have found all the answers to global warming but from this lab we were able to predict what gases are contributing more to the greenhouse effect.

Hydrogen Fuel Concept Cars

Obviously on of the biggest hindrances in Hydrogen being incorporated into passenger vehicles is in its storage. Whether a metal hydride is used or pure liquid hydrogen, every phase presents its own problems. This is why large car manufactures such as GM, and individual brands like BMW have been working on safe, compact storage designs for the hydrogen energy. The concept cars they have drawn up either contain a tank for the hydrogen fuel within the car, or it is fully integrated into the chassis of the car. It is important to realize that when solving problems such as future fuels that although the chemistry of the process is extremely important, that the practical engineering and integration of the ideas cane be just as difficult to tackle. For more, read this issue of Popular Mechanics at http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/1266796.html.

Solar Energy in La Mesa

After reading chapter six of our textbook, I recalled hearing in the news that La Mesa, California (in San Diego County) recently began employing solar energy at a water treatment plant. The solar energy harvested from the solar panel's will constitute 20% of the plant's power needs and reduce carbon dioxide emissions "equal to 219 cars traveling 12, 500 miles annually". Currently, "San Diego produces 18 megawatts of renewable energy a year using solar energy, methane gas and water". According to the news, Mayor Sanders plans to have more businesses in San Diego begin to use renewable energy in an effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and greenhouse gases. To follow up on these quotes and read about the installation costs, which is highly expensive, visit MercuryNews.

Global Warming??

After seeing the graph on page 169 of our text which shows the dramatic temperature increace since the industrial revolution that has grown steeper since the 70's, I cant imagine that anyone truly beleives global warming is not happening. Many people just dont care about the environment or think a little warmer weather would be nice. However these people are ignorant to the horrific effects of globel warming that have been happening over the past decades, as well as being unaware of the positive feed back loop where warmer weather produces more greenhouse gases and like the graphs this happens at an exponential rate. However, just saying the temperature is increasing gives skeptics to much to work with. So to aid the class in proving to people everywhere that global warming is happening and is bad I have two links. The first link shows two different NASA studies about the shrinking of the ice caps, and the second link discusses the decline of the frogs.

Thermohaline Circulation Shutdown!?!?

In our reading for Wednesday, the authors mention that " the most dramatic- although unlikely- effect of global warming would be a change in the circulation patterns of water in the Atlantic Ocean" (224). The change in circulation these authors are referring to would be a slowing of the Gulf Stream, resulting in a decrease of warm water transport to northern latitudes. Obviously, they seem to think- as did the majority of the scientific community by 2006- that this is very unlikely. However, in the spring of 2004 NOAA reported satellite data that supported the opposite as did two other studies in 2005, which found warm water circulation to northern latitudes to be 30% of 1992 fluxes. Interestingly, I could not find any explanations by the scientific community (2006 and later) that explained the 2004-2005 cooling results and explain why they were not a trend that could be extended into the future. Therefore, I am not sure what to believe!

The Global Warming Debate.

As I was excited to finally start reading the chapter on global warming in our book, I began to think about the movie, An Inconvenient Truth (with Al Gore). I only watched the first half of the movie, and to be honest nothing he was saying was new to me. I could be biased on my opinion about the movie since I did not see how it ended, but I was a little bit disappointed. Yes Al Gore spit out a bunch of scary statistics, but I didn't think he really influenced people on how to change their act. Since, technically we cannot prove that global warming is caused by humans, what is our point in fighting it? Are we trying to make sure everyone knows the issue and how humans possibly are in danger? or rather are we trying to make a conscious effort to stop any affect we might have on the situation.

Personally, my standpoint on the whole global warming debate is that, the general public already knows that global warming, is essentially just that. I think that the focus of the media and the government should be focused on educating the general public on exactly how, as an individual, one can help the situation out. For example, in the movie Al Gore kept giving horrifying statistics and facts, but didn't really offer a way to connect a reaction that I think would be important to our main goal--to reduce greenhouse emissions. Whether or not the facts are exactly true or whether the predictions made by scientists are fully supported, there is the chemistry behind all of our daily processes that does go to show that their worries stem from something.

While I was looking online to find some of the opposing views to the Global Warming hype, I stumbled across this article written by Capitalism Magazine about how the public is forced into accepting the views that the scientists and media has due to the fact that no one will allow a public disclaimer about how the global warming hype might not be as important as we originally thought. It is very interesting to hear other sides to the story, especially from someone who is not a scientist and only a journalist, but those people are out there.

Carbon Dioxide Bubbles in Ice Cores

Chapter 4 mentions constructing past carbon dioxide profiles from the air trapped in ice cores, which I thought needed more explanation. Ice forms as new snow accumulates on top of old snow increasing the pressure. The increased pressure forms the crystalline lattice, which consists of open air spaces where carbon dioxide can be trapped during the time period of formation. With the aid of dating techniques, scientists can date each ice deposition and determine the amount of carbon dioxide present at that time period. The graph above shows how the amount of carbon dioxide and aerosols in the atmosphere was correlated to temperature (higher carbon dioxide concentrations equals higher temperatures) for the Vostok Ice Core in Greenland. For more information on ice cores and their use as paleoclimate proxies visit this page.

car emissions lab
What do you do while driving? It may be more harmful than you think. Transportation devices as a whole still contribute almost half of the nitrogen oxides (NOx) introduced into the atmosphere today. Nitrogen oxides contribute to acid rain, the greenhouse effect, deterioration of the ozone layer and smog. The catalytic converter present in most modern cars changes nitrogen oxides back into nitrogen and oxygen using unburned gasoline. One downfall to these catalytic converters is that they only work on warm/hot engines. This means that, once a car is started, until the time the engine is “warm”, the tailpipe is essentially, emitting high levels of pollutants to the environment.
In this lab, vehicle exhaust is tested for both nitrogen oxides and particulates when the car is cool and when the car is warmed up. Since NO2 absorbs visible light, standard calibration curves for NO2 and nitrogen absorbing solutions were made. Also, using a SMPS system, that measures particulates in the air, particulate output and NOx output were assessed for seven different vehicles.
The results are as follows. From our results of hot vs. cold starts, we were expecting to find higher concentrations of NO2 on “cold starts” for each car, and lower concentrations for “hot engines”. It is interesting to note that the cars do not all exhibit the same behavior over time (the cool exhaust contains less NOx, or vice versa). While on day two of collecting data from cars, 3 of the 4 cars tested did follow our predictions (the 4th car however was the extremely old corolla, most likely not having a catalytic converter), almost the entire opposite trend happened on the first day of car sampling. Therefore according to our data, no exact conclusion could be drawn regarding the catalytic converter assumption that lower emissions of NO2 would result from a warm engine. In order of highest to lowest cold start NOx emissions the cars are as follows: Jetta, Corolla, Civic, Villager, Saab, Alero, and Echo. As for the hot, the cars rank Corolla, Saab, Villager, Alero, Civic, Echo, and Jetta. The Villager, Jetta and Civic produce much lower concentrations once they have warmed up, while the Corolla almost appears to have a malfunctioning catalytic converter.
The data from the SMPS was also analyzed and graphed, showing total particle numbers and particle volumes.
All the cars except the Jetta and Civic have greatly reduced particulate emissions once they are warm.
In conclusion, it seems that the production of nitrogen oxides in vehicle emissions is very unpredictable. However, once cars are warm they tend to greatly reduce their particulate emissions.

indoor air pollution

I just wanted to add to Lauren's blog "are we really concious of the air we breath?". After reading her blog I realized that most of us are not. I know I wasn't . After reading chapter 2 I became more concerned with indoor air pollution mainly because I grew up using a wood stove. I'm not sure if any of you guys have ever used one but I never realized how much it was polluting the air. In fact, until now I used to enjoy the smell of wood burning. I am currently concerned with how having a fire stove can affect our health short term and long term. If you’re indoor air quality concerns you too. Here is a guide that lets you know how to reduce indoor air pollution.

Vehicle Emissions Experiment 2-12-07/2-14-07

When a cars engine runs it reacts N₂ and O₂ during combustion under high heat creating NO as a by product. NO is a harmful chemical to be released into the air because it can undergo further chemical reactions leading to NO₂. Together, NO and NO₂ are referred to as NO_x. These chemicals are important because they are involved in numerous photochemical reactions that lead to the creation of low altitude ozone O₃, which is a primary component of smog. NO_x can also react to create acid rain. According to the EPA (2003), vehicles contributed to 55 % of the total man made source of NO_X emissions (http://www.epa.gov/air/urbanair/nox/index.html). We all drive cars, so each of us has a level of responsibility in creation of smog and acid rain; it is important to us to understand just how much Nox is being released by our cars.

Particulate matter is also created by the engines mechanical processes and released in emissions. Particulates also contribute to smog and therefore contribute to health problems correlated with this phenomenon. Some studies have even correlated increased levels of smog to death rate (Baird and Cann, 2005). The sizes of particles are important because the small, man made particles are inhaled directly into lungs; our bodies are not adapted to processing or filtering them or otherwise protecting us. Larger particles can be trapped by our bodies, and are less harmful to the environment because they do not stay in the air as long before settling out. The size and the amount of particulate matter that is released by our vehicles was also a focus of the study.

In order to investigate these two common pollutants from car emissions we conducted an experiment to identify the concentration of NO_x and the size and concentration of particulate matter in seven different car models. The cars that were tested ranged in age from 1979 to 2001 and included small models such as a Corolla and Jetta. The NO_x was tested by collecting air samples directly from the tail pipe of the running cars. Air samples were mixed with an NO absorbing solution that then reacted to give us a measurable amount of color. A UV vis-spectrophotometer was used to measure this difference in color. By creating a set of standard solutions with known concentrations that were measured by the UV vis- spectrophotometer a calibration curve was calculated. The concentration of the NO_x in the car emissions could then be visually compared to the standard solutions and a concentration was calculated in units of parts per million (ppm). This tells us how many particles of NO_x there are in relation to all the particles in the air. The particulate matter was measured separately using a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizing (SMPS) device. This device calculates the concentration and size of particulate matter using several pieces of machinery and a computer.

Figure 1 illustrates NO_x concentration data from four of the cars that were tested. We observed that total NO_x generally starts out at a relatively high range, and decreases for most cars after warm-up. This trend likely results from the fact that all cars that we tested use catalytic converters designed to reduce emissions, which do not begin to work until the cars are warm. Newer cars were built under emission regulations that have become increasingly more stringent. This is supported by the data that showed overall NO_x was the highest in older vehicles and the lowest in newer vehicles.

The data from Scanning Mobility Particle Sizing (SMPS) system of the 2001 Jetta and the 1979 Corolla (Figure 2) show the amount of particles at the range of sizes from 0-1000 nm in diameter. The important thing to notice is that for the Corolla the majority of particles are released before the car has warmed up and before the catalytic converter starts to work. For the Jetta the opposite is true, the majority of the particles are released after the car has warmed up. The sizes of the particles are slightly smaller also in the Jetta than the 100 nm particles released during the cold start of the Corolla. The regulation of large particulate matter in the newer Jetta might be allowing for the smaller particles to be released and go less noticed.

All of the data helps us to make observations about the composition of car emissions and connect it directly to creation of air pollution. As the world continues to modernize man made pollutants are becoming more noticeable and problematic. Specifically, increased vehicle emissions of NO_X and particulates are polluting most moderately sized cities. Understanding how cars release these harmful pollutants increases our awareness of the issue and hopefully will help us to create future solutions

Are We Really Conscious of the Air We Breath?

As I was finishing up reading the last part of chapter 2 in our book, I was starting to think about each single breath I was taking. I have always known that air is composed of many particles, but never did I realize that they were infact solid particles and for that matte, particles that could possibly harm my health. Of course small, random exposure to these particles could for the most part mean no harm, but wouldn't it be nice to know what you are breathing in. As I was walking past the construction site this morning, across form the IPJ, they were sanding something that was producing a giant white cloud of particulates. After reading chapter 2, I was honestly nervous to breath in as I walked by. Not that the construction workers hvae much of a choice in their job tasks, but it made me think to a much broader picture. How much are we really conscious of as we live our day to day lives? Is it possible that if the public was more aware on specific hazards to their health, they might change their lifestyles for the better?

As I was reading my weekly Time Magazine, this week had an article on "Greenhoouse Airlines" and how 1.6% of greenhouse gases is due inpart to airplanes. It was interesting because it also mentioned that although this was a small percentage, the carbon released was at higher altitudes than ground level and thus had a greater warming effect. Apparently, long flights are equivelent to months of driving SUV's. That's somehting that I am sure not many people have thought about. The article also mentioned how the Prince of Wales made a public effort to cut back on his flights last year. It just makes me wonder how many more people might cut back on their flights if they were made conscious of the decisions they make.

Time Magazine, "Greenhouse Airlines" by Brian Walsh; February 12, 2007
www.time.com

Pint-sized car engine

Well I just finished my group's discussion section, so I am really feeling emissions data and ways to increase the efficiency of an internal combustion engine. And then, all of a sudden, as I am just going along mindin my own business...an article about what some MIT geniuses are doing currently. No...It couldn’t be, I mean what? A pint-sized engine....nawwww. YESSSSSS! So it turns out that for several years "MIT researchers have been developing a half-sized gasoline engine that performs like its full-sized cousin but offers fuel efficiency approaching that of today's hybrid engine system--at a far lower cost. The key? Carefully controlled injection of ethanol, an increasingly common biofuel, directly into the engine's cylinders when there's a hill to be climbed or a car to be passed."
I mean if that doesn’t sound interesting then maybe some of the stats will blow your mind. Like that this new engine will go 30% farther on a gallon of fuel than a typical gas engine. And, if all cars had this engine today, we would be using 30 billion gallons of gasoline..yea GASOLINE, NOT OIL. Also, the emissions would be much cleaner due to the ethanol supplementation. That’s huge!

Read up on this at the following website: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2006/engine.html

Cheers!
-Alex Dru

Free Lectures Relating to Topics from Class!

The San Diego History Museum has a lecture series entitled, "Global Climate Change: Perspectives and Solutions", which are free to the public! The three remaining lectures are about clean energy, air pollution and human health, and global warming. Here is a link to find out the dates, presenters, and more information about their lecture topics: SDNHM