Comments for ENST 495

Comment on Looking at the Natural History of Santa Cruz Island by Genivieve McCormick

Genivieve McCormick — Sat, 05 May 2012 13:06:13 +0000

Dan brings up a very good point about how there’s only so much hands on learning that can be done before an area starts to be negatively affected. However, I think that one of the things that works in favor of Santa Cruz Island is that there it has very limited access. Being that there are no permanent settlements and few boats travelling to and from the island each week, it makes it easier for conservation efforts to keep up with the affects of what little human interaction there is with the island’s many natural habitats. Plus, the high costs associated with the travel to and from the island keep the number of visitors relatively low, and typically those willing to front the travel costs to get to the island are those who tend to care more about the environment and are less inclined to hinder preservation efforts. On the other hand, there does seem to exist a catch-22 between wanting to increase awareness and education of island ecology and conservation and wanting to keep anthropogenic pressures to a minimum on the island.

Comment on Climate change and the hydrological cycle by Genivieve McCormick

Genivieve McCormick — Sat, 05 May 2012 11:43:17 +0000

This post really puts it into perspective the kinds of climate change-related pressures LA will face in the future in terms of reduced water availability. Being that LA is not self-sufficient in providing water to its citizens and that it has pretty much tapped all the nearby water resources (and even contaminated some beyond use), it greatly increases the need for improved methods of conservation. For example, in the future, we will have a greater need for improved technologies to recapture water. There are several rivers in the Greater Los Angeles area that empty into the ocean, and if those waters were somehow able to be recaptured and stored, it would serve as a way to increase the overall water supply without having to deal with the political backlash of attempting tap into yet another state’s water supply, or diverting any more water from Northern California. Improved water recapture methods would also eliminate the possibility of another Mono/Owens lake scenario from arising, as you not be stripping a water-dependent environment of its natural water supply. It may also be necessary in the future to increase efforts to clean up contaminated groundwater sources by either designating proper capture zones and pumping water into the ground to flush out the pollutants or by pumping water out of the ground and into treatment facilities. I was recently fortunate enough to tour the Burbank Operable Unit plant and learned that this is one of the places in the region where groundwater is treated to remove volatile organic contaminants such as trichloroethylene (TCE) and tetrachloroethylene (PCE) before it is put into the distribution system. It was very interesting to see the different treatment technologies that are currently being implemented, and the BOU is unique in that it the system is completely closed circuit, meaning that all of the water is recycled and all pollutants are collected into holding tanks and then properly disposed of. In other words, no pollutants are released into the environment, and the site manager was very adamant about stressing that they employ the best available technologies and try to be as “green” as they can. Hopefully in the future, this form of treatment will become more popular among other treatment facilities as our demand for water increases.

Comment on A new vision for the LA River by Genivieve McCormick

Genivieve McCormick — Sat, 05 May 2012 10:54:23 +0000

To go along with what Sherwood mentioned, I think a lot of consideration needs to be given to the potential future impacts of climate change on the LA River, especially when planning for long term restoration. The IPCC has predicted that the with an already measurable increase in atmospheric water vapor, the magnitude of storm systems will continue increase. This could be potentially harmful to LA area if it were to increase the occurrence of flooding of the river. This also means that the river will see more of both extremes: heavy bouts of rainfall as well as periods of extended drought. I think this should be takin into consideration when planning flood control mitigation measures over the next few centuries. With the river running right through so many densely populated areas, it puts a lot of people at risk and the city could face billions of dollars of flood damages in the future. Yet at the same time, widening the channel could lead to an even shallower base flow during dry periods and may even dry up in areas, which would do nothing to improve the quality of the river. It is not something with an easy answer, and it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few decades as these restoration plans come into fruition.

Comment on Saving the Santa Cruz Island Fox by Mabel Nevarez

Mabel Nevarez — Sat, 05 May 2012 07:13:58 +0000

This blog post brought up the interesting issue of whether it’s ethical to get rid of one animal that is endangered to save another. Such is th case with the golden eagle and the Santa Cruz Island fox. The golden eagle is protected by Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Santa Cruz Island fox is native to Santa Cruz ISland. Both animals are endangered, so why is Conley choosing the life of one organism over the other a decision to make in this matter.

Comment on Catalina Island Field Trip- January 27-28, 2012 by Mabel Nevarez

Mabel Nevarez — Sat, 05 May 2012 07:03:51 +0000

I found the trip to Catalina Island an interesting trip because it displays so much diverse flora and fauna. However, it also shows how the introduction of non native species and human development have impacted the ecosystem. This is shown by the effect the canine distemper virus has had on the Catalina Island foxes, which was transmitted by domestic dogs and raccoons that were introduced by humans to the native foxes.

Comment on Heat Waves and the Growing Threat Posed by Extreme Heat Events by Mabel Nevarez

Mabel Nevarez — Sat, 05 May 2012 06:59:33 +0000

This blog post brings up an important issue regarding the effect that the growing change in climate has on human lives. In particular the amount of diseases that can occur as a result of a direct correlation with climate change such as a high rate of skin cancer, in addition to other dilemmas such as hunger. Also this post brings to light the fact that human health will be in even more risk because a choice between saving drinking water or controlling the amount snow melt in order to prevent flooding. This especially important in a state like California in which is arid and has a huge demand for water. Will there be enough water to supply the citizens of Southern California?

Comment on Endemic Species as a part of the Natural History of Santa Catalina Island by Genivieve McCormick

Genivieve McCormick — Sat, 05 May 2012 06:49:24 +0000

With Catalina facing to many anthropogenic pressures and over a million coming and going each year it makes one question the extent to which efforts are being made to control the spread of invasive species, especially with the level of difficulty associated with the physical removal. After speaking with one of the interns that worked on trail construction and invasive plant removals (Miller Zou), I learned that it is extremely labor intensive to go out and dig up areas of invasives like the fennel, which has been highly successful in establishing a healthy population since it’s introduction. It is highly adaptive and one of the first species to propagate after fires, which further hinders removal efforts. It begs the question whether or not the removal efforts will be sufficient to ever fully eliminate the invasives. Is it really worth it to put all of that time and energy into the removal of a species if the rate of recovery is close to or even supersedes the rate of removal? With such a high rate of interaction that Catalina has with the mainland visa vis the plethora of people always coming and going as well as natural factors (like the movements of birds between the islands and the mainland), it seems that Catalina will never be free of invasives and that over the course of the next few hundred years it will begin to make us question the importance of preserving Catalina’s “natural state” as that line will become more and more blurred over time.

Comment on Oil-Free Sweden by Jeffrey Nakshioya

Jeffrey Nakshioya — Sat, 05 May 2012 06:45:00 +0000

The question that gets me is, if Sweden is able to do this, why haven’t more countries followed suit? Though the targets that Sweden aims for are high (and some might argue they may not even reach those goals) the progress they have made so far is undeniable. And it doesn’t seem to be killing them economically. According to the IMF Sweden is ranked #13 in the world in regards to GDP per capita (the US is #6 in comparison.
According to the 2012 Environmental Performance Index include, the countries ranked one through nine include Switzerland, Latvia, Norway, Luxembourg, Costa Rica, France, Austria, Italy, and the UK and Sweden (tied). Most of these countries are well-developed countries, fair evidence that environmental regard does not come at the complete sacrifice of a healthy economy. This suggests that perhaps other nation’s disinterest in environmental engagement is not so much one of economic incapability but perhaps other reservations.
On concept we’ve touched discussed at length in an IR class I’m taking (Politics of a Global Environment) discusses is that the culture of a nation very much affects how it is able to engage globally with environmental issues. Many countries operate much more a on a spirit of cooperation, for example members of the EU. The US on the other hand has the reputation of acting very unilaterally, often only cooperating on environmental issues when it is in its own best interest or at the very least is less likely to put it at a competitive disadvantage to other nations. Hopefully as the international spirit on environmental cooperation grows, we can expect countries like Sweden to be able to inspire other nations to more readily follow suit.

Comment on Fire in the South Coast Bioregion by Mabel Nevarez

Mabel Nevarez — Sat, 05 May 2012 06:42:36 +0000

I found is post very interesting because I am a native of Southern California and the subject of wildfires in the coastal bioregion. I noticed that most of the wildfires occur in the chaparrals, in which the climates are very dry, which makes fuel for wildfires to occur. Also I noticed that you made a point regarding the human involvement in the creation and prevention of wildfires. This is interesting because it brings up the question of whether how far we as humans should get involved in preventing fires in Southern California? This is especially important because as much as we wish to protect the chaparral ecosystem we also need to take into account that organisms need the temperature of the fire in order to develop.

Comment on Looking at the Natural History of Santa Cruz Island by Jeffrey Nakshioya

Jeffrey Nakshioya — Sat, 05 May 2012 05:53:59 +0000

I really did appreciate this trip, and I do agree with you guys about the effectiveness of the “hands-on” experience. I personally really enjoyed seeing the differences in plant life between this island and Catalina and the diversity of microclimates. It is interesting how ecosystems with such similarities can have such distinctions as well. The elevation of Santa Cruz was something we were personally able to experience. Throughout the hike we were not only very conscious of the changing elevation, but we had to take notice of its effect on the distribution of plant life as we scoured the area for specimens for our plant press.
One of the guys made a funny comment about how excited some of the girls were about seeing all of the Coreopsis on Santa Cruz as compared to only seeing a few in the nursery on Catalina island. I do have to say though, taking the time to notice those things really helped the concept stick.
By visiting both islands the important of conservation and mitigating human impact was very strongly impressed on me. It’s so strange to think that such a beautiful locations can be threatened by so many things that humans do. Everything from the organisms we accidentally bring with us to the trails that we build can have a dramatic impact on such delicate ecosystems. Perhaps if more people were able to experience this island ecosystem themselves they would better understand how the actions of human development can affect so many of the natural wonders of this world.