DiHydrogen MonOxide

       This week in class we discussed the prevalence of water. The importance of it to our civilization and the issues that concern it. The conversation was positive with everybody agreeing that their is an issue that has to be addressed. Water is being consumed at a rate faster then it can be replenished. To make matters worst as we remove water from the environment to sustain our needs we are destroying ecosystems and negatively changing the land. The best we can do is try to reduce water use, fix leaks, and reuse grey water. I found it crazy how the US has a population a third of China’s but uses nearly twice as much water. Water is being consumed at an alarming rate but even then it isn’t being distributed equally. While we have droughts here in the United States for a couple months a year we still have water available on a more limited supply. While in developing countries people are dehydrated due to ample supply of water year long. Water is the elixir of life, without it life would have never formed here on Earth. We as humans, and as caretakers, need to better manage one of our most valuable resources.

       I am really loving these Google Alerts. The way I set them up I receive news articles on Green Architecture and Engineering. So I am receiving so much great information on sustainable ideas and concepts happening all over the world. I just love the look and feel of a modern contemporary green structure raising from the ashes.

See Tree Seen From Above Ground

      This week I read about this great idea I received through my alerts. A Dutch architecture firm came up with the idea of the sea tree. It is a self standing structure built on the ocean that would encompass its own ecosystem. This structure would floors that would raise above the water like a skyscraper, but completely open, and also below the water. Creating a home to birds and aquatic animals alike.

See Tree Seen From Below The Waters Surface

        Each level of the structure could provide a home to a different species or species depending how high they would fly or the depths it could swim at. Above the water the structure would be covered in vegetation. While below water it could sustain aquatic plants and possibly a coral reef system. Hopefully the ecosystem could reach a point where it would be sustainable with little to no human interactions needed.

Both Views With Distribution Of Life

           The structure could be built on existing oil rings. Recycling abandoned rigs into something more innovative. Much larger structures would be built using many of the techniques learned from the oil companies about building a structure on water. I think is a great and innovative idea. Its green which every company is striving for but also useful. It would provide a home to hundreds of species, possibly humans one day, as well as removing a eye sore from the horizon.

The End of a River is the Beginning of a New

    The video describes how Lake Mead is drying up. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States. It was created when the Hoover Dam was built across the Colorado River. It supplies water to the majority of the population in southwestern corner of the United States. In the past couple of years it has been drying up after then expected. More water is being consumed then can be naturally replenished. In the video you can see clips where you can see past water level markings on the rock face. Those water marks are fresh with only a couple years in between.
    The stories is set in a distant future. A possible future where Lake Mead has dried out. Causing the Colorado River to be covered with a 100 dams. To try to get as much water possible to the consumers and producers in the surrounding area. The ending to the story was a very nice surprise. It seems our explores found a paradise in a dead land by following a river to its end. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acHhD67I9yw
http://www.patagonia.com/us/patagonia.go?assetid=62630

Our Need For Water

      In our lives we take simply things for granted; being able to go to the store and buying anything you’d like, being able to communicate with anybody anytime, having a roof over our heads, and being able to have a nice cup of cold water. To people in the United States water is a necessary and easy resource to come by. Walk to any facet and 99.99% of the time you shall receive a nice consistent flow of clean drinking water. People hardly ever stop to think about where this resource is coming from and how it manages to get to your home. Even during severe drought, when it is scarce, water is still easily obtainable.
    Water is a resource. It is considered to be a renewable resource. Water is provided to you, it is used, returns to the “system”, somewhere in between it returns to the water cycle, before making it back into your home. Water is renewable but even it has its limitations. The amount of water on the Earth now is the same as when the dinosaurs where around. Over millions of years the quantity of this resource has hardly changed. Earth is considered to be the blue marble with 70% of its area covered in area. Of that seventy percent, 1% is freshwater. The human race has a ever growing population of 7 billion that has to manage with a limited supply of water. Our need for water is only going to keep increasing along with population, production, manufacturing, and energy rate. A great strain is being put on our limited supply.
    Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project, addresses the issues concerned with our water supply in her publication, Water Adapting to a New Normal. Postel states that our water problems are actually much more worrisome than our current energy situation. Currently there is water shortage around the world, no matter
what your kitchen faucet says. With such a large population water is needed to grow and be healthy, for production, for energy, for agriculture, and for consumption.1 As the need for water increases and the supplies remain the same we approach a shortage of water. Water shortages around the world are leading to, ”leading to economic disruption, food crises, social tensions, and even war.”
    Water is our most valuable resource. More valuable then oil, coal, lumber, etc. Mrs.Sandra states that the three main points for the importance of water. It is necessary for life to exist. Without water we would dehydrate and not be able to produce goods. Unlike oil, water has no substitute. If global warming is a reality we shall experience its impacts of climate change most directly through water.
    Postel then goes on to make a compelling case on the subject of water. By stating all of the shortages and droughts happening across the world. Water resources are being used faster then they can be replenished.  Governments are trying to respond to these server shortages. Billions of dollars are used to help move water to our civilizations and even with that it is not enough. Construction projects to try to harness water cost millions, if not more, while damaging the ecosystem around at the same time. Causing more harm then good. While a dam and reservoir might fix the current ailment it does little to improve the situation to come.
    The publication then goes on to list what cities and countries are doing to help improve the situation. New York city is investing $1.5 billion to restore and protect their watershed.2 Which shall cost them an additional $300 million a year. China has built the Three Gorges Dam. The single largest Earth moving project in existence. To help control the water supply of the Yangtze river and provide hydroelectricity. While Latin American countries are imposing fees to help reduce water use. Chicago is leading the race of green roofs with over 200. Green roofs help absorb and control storm water.
    The topic then shifts from energy and polices to agriculture. The single largest user of our fresh water supply. If all anyone ate was grain, fruits, and vegetables water use in agriculture would significantly drop. To get 500 calories from beef it take twenty times the amount it would for 500 calories of rice. Grain has to be grown, harvested, and produced into feed. Animals then go on to eat large amounts of feed until they are large and ready for butchering. Some might say this is outrages but for us its just a way of life.
    I really enjoyed reading the publication by Mrs. Sandra Postel. While it was lengthy it provided a great quantity and quality of information. She provided a history lesson on what has been done in the past and then takes us on a tour on what is currently going on with projects and polices around the world. While taking the environmental stand on the subject I don’t believe she can be considered bias and I or an extremist. She was just stating the facts as they are. People might ignore the current issues we are having with our water supply but Mrs. Postel is not shy about the subject. She conveys the information in an easy to read and follow manner.
    I agree with the message Sandra Postel is trying to get across. Water is a valuable resource that is being diminished. Proper step need to be taken to try to conserve water, mostly through politics. The problem is politics takes to long or they don’t react until an event has happened. It comes down to money. The project needed to help conserve water cause hundreds of millions of dollars but these cost are nothing compared to what it will cost us to fix the problem in the future. If the shortage of water isn’t addressed now or in the near future it is only going to get worst.
    Majoring in Civil Engineering one of the concentrations is hydrodynamics. Which deals with the movement of water and the construction of structures that can help in the process. I know from a recent presentation I went to recently that many cities across the nation are trying to reuse grey water. Grey water is the water we use to wash our hands, cook, do laundry, etc. For the majority the water is clean and returned to lakes and streams. Cities are trying to implement plans where instead of getting rid of the grey water they recycle it back into their facilities. Grey water is being used for irrigation, fountains, bathroom facilities, and other water supply that don’t require drinking water.  Durham just spent 100 million dollars on a project that would help them deal with and reuses their supply of grey water. 100 million might seem excessive but the city actually saved money. It would have cost them upwards of 500 million to try to get a more viable water supply to the city. Most cities could love to implement these kinds of strategies, it is just the money thats holding them back. The small city of Chapel Hill is also implementing a program to recycle grey water. 3 They plan to incorporate it campus wise. Programs like these are small steps to trying to fix the water storage problem. They are helping reduce the need of water. We know we have a problem and we know what steps we have to fix it but it is going to take a lot of initiative politically to be able to reduce our need on water.


1. Postel, Sandra. "Water Adapting to a New Normal." The Post Carbon Reader Series: Water. Post Carbon Institute, 2010. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. <http://www.postcarbon.org/Reader/PCReader-Postel-Water.pdf>.
2. Postel, Sandra. "Water Adapting to a New Normal." The Post Carbon Reader Series: Water. Post Carbon Institute, 2010. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. <http://www.postcarbon.org/Reader/PCReader-Postel-Water.pdf>.
3. "Future/Potential Projects." School of Government. UNC. Web. 27 Jan. 2012. <http://www.sog.unc.edu/node/1049>.

Internship

    It was 8:00 am. During my entire summer I could not remember being up this early- let along dressed. So there I was dressed sharply, wearing my ironed button up with a matching tie, long black slacks, and polished leather shoes. Holding a pen in one hand and folder in another. It was just the beginning of an interesting two week period.
    When I had first sighed up for a summer internship, my junior year, I didn’t expect to hear back. Was I glad I was wrong when I heard back. I was going to take part in a Civil Engineering oriented internship at Charlotte Douglas International airport.1 The 25th largest airport in the United States. For two weeks I was going to be able to work along side Civil Engineers. There I was going to determine if Civil Engineers was the career path I wanted to truly follow. This opportunity just didn’t provide me the insight of what Civil Engineers do, it help me determine that it was what I wanted to do.
    There I was again on Tuesday. Waiting in the main lobby of their new office building. Dressed as sharply as the day before, only two differences: I was wearing much sharper tie and my right, primary, arm was in a sling. The previous day I had met Kelly, construction manager; Rachel, civil engineer; John, project manager. They were going to be the ones watching over me for the upcoming two weeks and showing me the ropes. That first day I had gotten introduced to everyone in the office, explored the office, set in on a couple meetings, and got informed on what the heck I was going to be doing for my internship. I left “work” at 3 pm and shortly afterwards I was playing soccer with a couple friends at the park in 75 degree weather with Carolina blue skies and not a single cloud in sight. For that day I was stuck being goalie. All it took was a well placed kick and an amazing one handed save to send me to the emergency room with a broken wrist. The people in the office sure did a good laugh out of that one the next day.
    Over the next two weeks I was able experience a day in the life of a civil engineer. Charlotte Douglas was going through a complete facelift. Its main terminal was being renovated, parking garages where being built, 2 new longer runways were being contracted, while all around bridges and roads where being built. The airport had every concentration of Civil Engineer on hand and I got to work along side a different one every day.
    I had the opportunity to work along side geotechnical, materials, and water resource engineers. From watching them work in the office to out in the field around the airport. There were two fields that I found most appealing, which were structural and environmental engineers. Structural engineers work with the structures of buildings. They run calculations on the tension, compression, and stress that building components experience. To establish a weight and safety standard for the building. An old saying goes, “Whats the difference between a structural and software engineer? When you walk into a building you don’t worry about it crumble and crashing on you, while you’re lucky if you can check your email on a computer.” The reason this appealed to me so much is that I have a desire to build and construct structures. This would also explain my love for LEGOS. Structural engineers work the majority in the office while occasionally going on site visits. I would like a good mix of both, being able to work comfortably in an office or out on the field. Environmental engineering would allow be to do this. Environmental engineers work to make sure the construction process is safe for the environment and that the site is sustainable. I had such a great time working along side these two specialties. They really sparked an interest in me. The internship help me understand what Civil Engineers do better and confirmed that is was what I wanted to do with my life.

1. "US Airways Defying US Trends with Healthy Growth at Its Main Charlotte Hub | Anna.aero." Airline, Airport and Aviation Route News & Analysis | Anna.aero. PPS Publications Ltd, 2008. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://www.anna.aero/2008/09/05/us-airways-defying-us-trends-with-healthy-growth-at-its-main-charlotte-hub/>.

Victus

This is what I do
Chemicals end up in you
I am a farmer

Sustainability

This week I looked into sustainability. I read up on the definition of sustainability: conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources. As well as read up on what Wikipedia had to say on the topic. Coming into this I already had an idea of what sustainability was. After taking AP Earth Environmental in high school and ES 200 Climate Change and Sustainability the fall of my freshman year. The great thing about research is no matter how much you already know about a certain subject there is always so much more out there to learn and take in. I really enjoyed the Wikipedia article, with all of its links. I was able to get a better understanding on the history of sustainability and what direction it is heading.
    Majoring in Civil Engineering, once I get out there in the real world I will be designing and doing calculations for structures such as homes, buildings, bridges, roads, and dams. If its being built there's a good chance that I might be working with it.  Sustainability is an element I would love to implement into these projects. It is also the direction we are heading in; with over 60% of buildings being constructed achieving a LEED certification. In high school, for my senior exit, I wrote a research paper on green buildings incorporating LEED. Green buildings are buildings that use sustainable practices through out its construction process and continue to be sustainable throughout its lifetime. A green building is sustainable. LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a program  run by the US Green Building Commission. It provides incentives for builders to construct green buildings. As well as provide a certificate, ranging from: Certified, Silver, Gold, to Platinum, based on how sustainable a building is. As in high school, for my Civil Engineering and Architecture class I designed a home using green strategies, from the floor electrical plan up to a 3D rendering of the home. I was able to make my home green thanks to the materials I used, incorporating natural lighting using a considerable amount of windows, and an open floor for better circulation of air. To some extent you could say that  sustainability is a part of who I am and what I do.
    I played around with Google alerts for the first time. It’s an app that allows Google to sends me emails with webpages attached that relate to a subject of my choosing. I created three alerts that included Green Buildings, Green Architecture, and Sustainability. I received throughout the week 30 links to news articles that where based around these three topics. I had the opportunity to read up on green roofs, green skyscrapers in Chicago, how universities are incorporating green ideas, and many other articles. Instead of having to look for these article across the infinite realm of the internet, I had them delivered right to my GMail account. So far I only have it set up to receive only news articles but in the upcoming weeks I would like to add on discussion boards, videos, and other blogs. I’ll just have to make sure to be careful and not get overwhelm by all the reading  I’m going to be doing.

This Land is My Land

     It is estimated that our population shall reach 10 billion by 2050 if current trends continue. How is our future generation going to be able to feed these additional people when close to a billion people go by starving every day. As our population keeps expanding at an exponential rate it puts more pressure on the resources and lands we depend on so crucially. You have to ask yourself, “Are we demanding too much?”
    Land is a valuable commodity. There is only a limited amount available. As a civilization we have to compare the opportunity cost of what to do with the land available. We need to preserve nature and try to leave as much land as possible untouched, what little of it remains. With our growing population we have to dedicate more land towards agriculture to feed our sprawling society. Of course we need land to live on, but with our ever growing population it is hard to give every man 40 acres and a mule. It is hard enough to find 40 acres that aren’t already owned, protected, or left barren to  begin with. We our population growing so fast and land becoming so limited we have tough choices to make.
    Now imagine an Earth 1000 years in the future. The human population has been drastically reduced to a fifth its current size. Where our descendants live in food producing, energy generating, waste managing independent like city state. Cut off from nature, to allow it to run its course. Where everything you could ever need would be available and provided in the bubble you call home. No longer would we have to depend on the surrounding land. Instead of growing outwards we could star looking and building towards the heavens above. Why have so many acres dedicated to farm land when you could have Vertical Farms inclosed in skyscrapers. Where people wouldn’t have to go a day without a meal. This is what Roderick Nash imagines in island civilization: A vision for human occupancy of Earth In The Fourth Millennium.

Despommier, Dickson. "The Rise Of The Vertical Farm." The Vertical Farm Project - Agriculture for the 21st Century and Beyond. 19 June 2011. Web. 15 Jan. 2012. <http://www.verticalfarm.com/>.

"Global Hunger - Bread for the World: Have Faith. End Hunger." Bread for the World: Have Faith. End Hunger. Web. 15 Jan. 2012. <http://www.bread.org/hunger/global/>.

Man the Destroyer

     Mankind has come far in the past 10,000 years. From our humble beginnings as hunter and gatherers to our ever growing magnificent cities and civilization. From fending off all of natures dangers to  being called the “destroyer of worlds.”  We have accomplished this with the combination of unprecedented technology  advancements and our undesirable need to want to grow, expand, and conquer.
    With this growth we are approaching a point where we require and want more then what the Earth has to offer. Humans are causing homeless, when we take unclaimed land for ourselves to call home. Humans are causing starvation, when we take more then what the oceans can replenish to feed our growing population. On this Earth there are over 1.5 million species with an average of 10,000 new species being discovered every year. In contrast an estimated 20,000 species go extinct every year, this is genocide. If humans continue of this current path its only of matter of time before Homo sapiens brings about the destruction of there own species.
    The future is uncertain but there are many ideas of what might become of us. In the publication, Island civilization: a vision for human occupancy of EARTH In the Fourth Millennium, Roderick Frazier Nash  touches upon four different scenarios in the year 3000.  A wasteland scenario pictures an Earth (after possible nuclear war and years of neglect) trashed, poisoned, and slowly dying. His second scenario, the garden scenario, humans control everything. There is no more wilderness or biodiversity, if something exist it’s because we need it for our own survival. Where man has conquered the wilderness.  As for a future where humans go back to their roots of hunting and gathering, leaving all technology behind is the future primitive scenario. Then there is Island Civilization.
    Nash goes into great detail about Island Civilization. A world where the population would drop to 1.5 billion; all living in around 500 self sustaining city-state like habitats scattered across the Earth. This would be possible thanks to technological advancement and the imagination of engineers. The rest of the Earth would be left to alone. There would be minimal interaction between humans and nature. Animals could roam free without have to interact with man made object such as roads, fences, poles, building, or guns. Forest would prop up again with out the fear a human axe. The Earth would go back to its natural roots letting evolution and natural selection take its course, as it should be.
    Nash’s vision might be called a Utopia.  A world without wars or conflicts with a managed population in a controlled environment. The most favorable scenarios out of the four. The only issue is getting there. Even with a thousand years,getting our population cut down to a  ⅕ of its current size would be quite the challenge. Countries would have to adopt polices similar to China’s  One-Child policy. Every generation one child would replace his two parents, leading to a negative population growth. With this would come other challenges: tensions would raise between nation, economies would crash, and cities would be left abandoned. All that would be left behind would crumble. Nature with time would take back the abandon cities, roads, buildings, dams and transformed them into pastures, fields, forest, and flowing rivers. While mankind would go out on its own to reach its ultimate goal of Island Civilization. But for man to start anew, it has to leave everything be hide and first destroy itself.