Category Archives: Human Society

CO2 Emissions Rise

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Continuing a blog topic from 2 posts ago, I wanted to zero in on the rise in CO2 emissions during my lifetime. I was born in 2002, where global CO2 emissions were 26.04 billion tonnes. Fast forward to our most recent data, with the 2021 global CO2 emissions were 36.4 billion tonnes. That’s a total change of 10.36 billion tonnes. The percent change of that data would roughly be a 40% (39.78%, to be exact) increase with a growth factor of 1.4.

While there has been some fluctuation in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, on average the increase in emissions has remained steady. It’s scary to think about, but the total change, percent change, and growth factor could all possibly be even larger if the pandemic hadn’t happened. It’s important to reduce our personal, every day CO2 emissions, and hopefully we’ll live to see a time where the CO2 emissions have a decay factor instead.

Sources:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/276629/global-co2-emissions/

Livestock and Sustainability

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As a society, we eat a lot of food but are only beginning to understand the bi-products of producing meat on such a large scale. Emissions related to the livestock industry are carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and ammonia (NH3). Livestock and the food industry are a big contributing factor to climate change and I think that there isn’t enough attention to how the industry is impacting the environment. Due to such a high demand for cattle, researchers believe that the increased cattle rearing will help produce 565 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2030.  The livestock industry is responsible for 68% of enterogenic nitrous oxide emissions,  64% of total ammonia emissions, and 35–40% of methane emissions worldwide. Methane is a 23-1 greater potential to warm the planet compared to carbon dioxide. I want to look into this topic more because I feel like this is a big issue and I am not very familiar with it.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6518108/#:~:text=Livestock%20emit%20almost%2064%25%20of,40%25%20of%20methane%20emissions%20worldwide.

Metal+Glass Recycling in the USA

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Using a similar set of statistics as some of my peers, I thought about the topic of sustainability, and so a question I asked myself is: what’s in my environment that I can potentially reuse. Two types of material I come to find I use often include: glass especially when I think of my phone, what I use to drink, windows etc. The second one I often use is metal whether that be my phone, my car, my speaker etc. From 1960-2018, the epa estimates that the total change in glass recycling amounted to approximately: 2,960,000 tons. In that same time stretch, total change in the amount of metal recycled amounted to 8,670,000 tons. The growth factor for glass was about 30.6 and for metal it was about 174.4. The Percentage Change for glass is then: 3060% and for metals it was 17440%. When calculating the rate of change for glass: 2.96 x 10^6/58= 51034.48 tons more of glass was recycled per year and for metals it was: 8.76 x 10^6/58= 151034.48 tons more of metal recycled per year. 

Glass recycling on the surface may sound like a good idea, but I decided to dig a little deeper into the materials recycling controversy surrounding its overall utility. According to various websites disputing the overall eco-friendliness of the material, glass is “endlessly” recyclable yet bottles/jars etc. require more energy to manufacture and then recycle and process into sand or reprocess into reusable glass than it takes to reuse plastic. However, plastics’ lifetime utility decreases after a few years whereas glass according to some websites is repeatedly reusable. According to one source, for 10% of broken down glass getting recycled (per year) total energy costs to break it down reduces by 3%. This controversy makes me reevaluate the short-term and long term impacts, in other words, the opportunity cost not just on the good itself, but the lifetime impact of the consumption of the good and its future ramifications on an interconnected issue like carbon emissions.

Works cited: 

https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/national-overview-facts-and-figures-materials#composting

https://earth.org/glass-bottles-environmental-impact/

https://www.britglass.org.uk/our-work/recycling

https://cen.acs.org/materials/inorganic-chemistry/glass-recycling-US-broken/97/i6

https://earth911.com/business-policy/how-many-times-recycled/

Water Waste in Agriculture

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The agriculture industry utilizes the largest portion of the water supply within that supply water is lost between poor irrigation, contamination, and poor management. Farmers and large agricultural plants have to establish water efficiency levels in order to reduce waste. Reduce, but not eliminate. Farms make up about 70% of all the water consumed globally and within that 70%, 30% is actually used and the other 40% is lost in waste. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the agriculutre industry (surplus) the usage of fertilizers, pesticides, and other pest replent techniques that are used on crops water becomes highly contaminated. This water can’t be reused without treatment and that is costly. The untreated waste water is then transported elsewhere but can still impose a threat to said environment. On the brighter side of things there are many ways in which farmers in the agriculture industry can reduce waste water. Such as efficient irrigation, capturing and storing water, crop rotations, and composting mulch.

Holy Cow that’s a lot of water

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For this blog I decided to pick a cow as my live stock of focus because my home in Western Massachusetts resides in an area where dairy farms are incredibly prominent. When thinking about livestock such as cows and cattle, one may often think about how much they can provide for us but not often do we think about what farmers need to provide for them, ie, water. A healthy, non milking cow drinks somewhere between 9-12 gallons a day, while a healthy lactating cow drinks roughly triple that in 30-40 gallons a day. Holy cow that is a lot of water. The average human with access to clean water drinks about 3.7 liters a day which is about just under one gallon.

When thinking about water waste, my mind tends to travel to some very simple yet day to day things. Such as long showers or leaving the water running while brushing your teeth but something that strikes me is what I found in regards to food waste. Water is needed to produce basically everything that we eat and drink, therefore if we waste less as humanity, we save more water by having to produce less. In the United Kingdom, roughly 7 million tonnes of food and drink are thrown away each year with nearly 3.5 million tonnes of that still being edible. That is almost 50% less production that would need to occur saving billions of gallons of water.

The main reason that bottled water is so popular is due to its convenience. You can take it wherever you go and it is sold often in large packages. People also tend to have a discomfort with tap water being good to drink more-so than they do with bottled water. If you say there are 2,000 students at Union College, I would estimate that there is somewhere around 250 water bottles used each day. I imagine roughly 12.5% of the community drinks and recycles  (hopefully) at least one bottle a day. This is based off of nearly 20% of Americans using a plastic bottle each day and Union students are far more environmentally cautious than the average American.

 

https://friendsoftheearth.uk/sustainable-living/13-best-ways-save-water

https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/2017/07/the-worlds-population-consumes-1-million-plastic-bottles-every-minute/

 

 

Water Usage and Utilization

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Water is a necessity for us humans along with planet Earth. Humans can go much longer without food as they can without water. It is interesting to think that a lot of the food that we consume could not possibly be produced without water. For example, think of crops that need water into order to grow. Or, all of the water that livestock drinks that we eventually consume such as pigs. This idea alone shows how important water is in its comparison to food consumption.

Consider the following, “There is the same amount of water on Earth as there was when the Earth was formed” (epa.gov). Furthermore, “Nearly 97% of the world’s water is salty or otherwise undrinkable. Another 2% is locked in ice caps and glaciers. That leaves just 1% for all of humanity’s needs — all its agricultural, residential, manufacturing, community, and personal needs” (epa.gov). This idea is really hard for me to wrap my head around. I think about how much water I myself personally use on the daily. Then, I think about how many humans are on this Earth and how much water is used for humanity’s needs by the whole planet. This alone proves how much water is on this Earth. I find this fact so interesting seeing how human production as well as global warming has affected our water usage. In my opinion, bottled water is so popular because of the convenience of it. Consider, reusable water bottles have to be constantly washed and sometimes they are a bit pricey. Bottled water is convenient as once you finish the water, you can just throw away or recycle the bottle. If I had to estimate the bottle water consumption on Union College’s campus, I would estimate that around 50% of Union’s students drink bottled water opposed to water from the tap. Furthermore, I would average that of the 50% of bottled water drinkers, they drink at least 2 bottles of water a day. Based on Union College’s enrollment being around 2,300 students, 65% of that is 1150, multiplying that by 2, my estimate is that Union College consumes around 2,300 bottles of water per day.

 

Work Cited: https://www3.epa.gov/safewater/kids/waterfactsoflife.html

Sheep Consumption of Water in the United States

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Sheep are are a staple of farms across the country not only for their relationship with humans as a food source, but also as a source of wool. Sheep are able to obtain most of their water needs from their food/forage consumption. However, they still are consuming water at a constant rate that is worth examining.Lambs weighing 5-10lbs consume roughly 0.1-0.3 gallons of water per head per day. Feeder lambs weighing in the range of 60-110lbs consume roughly 1 gallon to 1.5 gallons per head per day. Pregnant ewes weighing 175lbs and higher consume between 1-2gallons of water per head per day. Lactating ewes weighing 175lbs and higher consume between 2-3 gallons per head per day. Lastly, rams weighing 175lbs and higher consume between 1-2 gallons per head per day. Dirty or stale water on farms and livestock acreage can lead to a reduced consumption of water by sheep. Clean water is so important for the health of the livestock and the health of its meat for human consumption.

Obviously dirty or contaminated water is not ideal for animal drinking, but we can not expect every farm in the country to provide flawless and pristine water to its animals in a similar way that we cannot expect all cities to provide perfect drinking water to its inhabitants. Requirements for livestock water consumption is linked to size, productivity, diet and environmental conditions. Good water quality can lead to an increase of water intake while reduced water consumption can lead to dehydration- a problem which can be fatal to sheep and other livestock. Dirty water is a hotbed for diseases and bacteria and can spread rapidly if sheep drink from the same source.

Waterers can be disinfected using a dilute bleach solution following cleaning. A dilute bleach solution of 2 to 3 ounces for each 50 gallons of tank capacity of bleach containing 5.25% sodium hypochlorite applied weekly also will suppress algae growth. This disinfection is crucial to maintaining healthy drinking water supplies for sheep and other livestock.It is important to note that proper installation of the waterer or tank base will prevent fecal contamination of water. The base should be wide enough so animals are able to place their front legs on it easily while drinking, but not their hind legs. This will keep animals from defecating in the water which would lead to illnesses among sheep and other livestock. There are estimated to be 5.2 million sheep in the United States.

If we were to assume that it is an even 50/50 split between rams and ewes on farms, we can calculate a range of sheep water consumption in the United States per year. Male sheep, rams, can be estimated to be between 2,600,000 and 5,200,000 gallons of water annually. Ewe water consumption can be estimated to be between 2,600,000 gallons and 7,800,000 gallons.

Works Cited:
https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/publications/livestock/livestock-water-requirements
https://www.statista.com/statistics/194403/total-number-of-sheep-and-lambs-in-the-us-since-2001/
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sheep.asp

Goats, Sprinklers, Union College

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  • One example of livestock that uses water: Goats consume: 3 gallons/ 1 day x 365 days/1 year x .0038 tonnes/ 1 gallon= 4.161 tonnes/ year per goat
  • If a typical gardener uses a sprinkler gushing 12,240 gallons/ 1 monthly x .0038 tonnes/ 1 gallon x 1 year / 12 months= the Gardner will use 3.876 tonnes / year 
  • Water waste could be reduced by doing laundry more infrequently (each load requires about 12.5-19.6 gallons per load depending on the washer and according to prudentreviews.com), adding timers to sprinkler systems (where according to bigsprinkler.com it takes 27,000 gallons to irrigate 1 acre of land) and especially by eating less beef which according to denverwater.org requires 1,847 gallons of water to produce.
  • Bottled water is a matter of convenience and one of appealing marketing. Our susceptibility to innovative marketing techniques makes us prone to consuming water-on-the-go. To estimate the student consumption of bottled water, assuming no student is using the hydration stations and only acquiring water from bottled water the following “ideal” situation may arise:
  • There are 2050 students at Union, 47% women, 53% men
  • 3.7 L/day per man x 1 gallon/3.785 L x 365 days/year = 356.80317 gallons per year per man
  • 1086 men at Union
  • Approx. 387,488.243 gallons per year per Union men
  • 2.7 L/day per woman x 1 gallon/3.785 L x 365 days/year = 260.369881 gallons per year per woman
  • 964 women at Union
  • Approx. 250,996.565 gallons per year per Union women ideally
  • It takes one liter of oil to prod. one bottle of water, 

Take the Distance: 7,933 mi xWeight: 2916.247 tons x 161.8g of Co2/1 ton x 1 mi = 3743176249.57 g of Co2 it takes to ship in a 747 Boeing, with 2 passengers at roughly 197 lbs, with roughly 650,000 gallons of water to hydrate Union College.

Other works not already cited:

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92222327

Hot Dam! (Hydroelectricity)

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Hydroelectric power is an alternative method to fossil fuel-driven mechanisms. Take, for instance, the Hoover Dam, which generates ~4 billion kilowatt hours per year, and is one of the nation’s largest sources of hydroelectric power.

Hydroelectric power plants and dams usually draw the majority of their power from a reservoir of water, whose output is then controlled by a gate-like mechanism. Potential energy is gained as the water flows down hill, and in the case of the Hoover Dam, power is derived from two ‘wicket gates’ which then reach turbines that control the main power output for the Dam.

Hydroelectric power, be it through dams or other resources, is responsible for ~71 of renewable energy used worldwide, the biggest contributors being the United States, Brazil, India, Russia, and China.

Hydroelectricity is unique in its versatility and application, as well as its vast potentiality in power capacity and drive. It is a form of renewable energy that we should consider making more use of.

Resources:

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/hydroelectric-energy/

https://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/faqs/powerfaq.html

Wasted Water and What We Can Do

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Water is critical to all forms of life on our planet.  Without water, humans would not survive.  However, based on the statistics, it doesn’t seem that we place as much importance on water as we should.  In the US alone, a family can waste 180 gallons of water per week.  Even something as seemingly simple as letting the water faucet run for 5 minutes while washing dishes can waste 10 gallons of water.  As of 2015, each American was estimated to use an average of 82 gallons per day.  This wasted water has real affects on the United States, with 40 out of the 50 US states expecting some form of water shortage in the next decade, as was reported by a 2014 Government Accountability Report.  For something so vital to our very being, mankind sure doesn’t treat water that way.  The wasting of so much water annually can have serious ramifications on future generations’ water supply and we can even see some of these water supply issues faced today.

Water wastage not only harms ourselves and the environment but also harms people financially.  It is estimated that more than $380 could be saved annually solely by using WaterSense labelled fixtures and ENERGY STAR certified appliances.  Despite the negative statistics there are ways to manage and curtail the current wasting of water.  Apart from using certified appliances, doing certain small tasks such as turning off the faucet while brushing can have massive affects in the long run.  By turning off the tap while brushing, roughly 8 gallons of water per day could be saved.  Just simply turning off the water while brushing for 2 minutes could potentially save 2,920 gallons of water annually.

There is no one easy solution to stop the current situation of water wastage, but by being aware of the problem and actively looking for small ways to cut your own wasting of water, massive changes can be made slowly over time.

Works Cited:

https://www.epa.gov/watersense/statistics-and-facts#:~:text=Water%20Stats,gallons%20of%20water%20annually%20nationwide.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/06/06/189192870/when-you-waste-food-youre-wasting-tons-of-water-too