Tag: Environment

How do you shut down a river?

Posted on by nancysteele

It boggles the mind to think that the Colorado River has been shut down for rafting. Can you imagine if water delivery was shutdown?

Imagine if the tap was turned off to California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona.  We aren’t there yet, but the situation inched a bit closer in August when the Bureau of Reclamation announced they would be reducing releases from Lake Powell to Lake Mead to historically low levels. Take a look at the astonishing photos on the Weather.Com website, especially photos 14 and 15 in the slide show series, if you want to understand the magnitude of the situation.

We had a severe drought last in 2002; back then researchers were starting to understand that the West has seen mega-droughts before. If you believe that history can illuminate the present, you might want to read Craig Child’s book, House of Rain, as he takes us on a journey through pre-history on the Colorado plateau to explore some possible answers to the fate of the people who lived here before us and how long-term droughts changed their lives forever. It’s a sobering story.

Looking for some good news about climate change?

Posted on by nancysteele

In a month of some truly depressing news about the environment and climate change, a bright spot appeared. But first, here are two illustrations of the trouble we are in.

In early April, we read that the Arctic may be completely free of summer-time sea ice within a decade, as this graphic cleverly illustrates:

Arctic Sea Ice

The reason for the Artic Sea Ice Death Spiral is apparent when you look at the continuing upwards march of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, as reported in early May by Andrew Revkin.

Keeling Curve, Mauna Loa

Truly depressing news, eh? Is anybody listening? Are we all doomed? It’s time for some good news, something that gives a little bit of hope.

Apparently, young people don’t drive as much, anymore; the bloom is off American’s love affair with cars and this can only be a good thing. Researchers believe this is a stable, long-term reduction in miles driven that started in 2005, before the beginning of the Great Recession.  People age 16 – 34 have reduced average miles driven by 23% from the 2005 peak.  Even higher income young people are driving less, evidence that this is a behavioral choice unrelated to the cost of gas.

We can only hope for more good news as the world changes.

The Los Angeles River in one word

Posted on by nancysteele

We asked people to describe “The LA River Today” in one word. Here’s what they said:

When we asked people to complete the sentence “I want the LA River to be–” with one word, we heard some inspiring wishes.

What two words would YOU use to describe the Los Angeles River?

A new way of thinking about sustainability

Posted on by nancysteele

The journal Nature published a commentary on March 21 that argues for a new way of thinking about sustainability, with the traditional three pillars of economy, environment, and society instead conceptualized as a nested set, as in the illustration below.

Sustainable Development Goals

“As the global population increases towards nine billion people sustainable development should be seen as an economy serving society within Earth’s life support system, not as three pillars,” says co-author Dr. Priya Shyamsundar from the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics, Nepal.

Is the three pillars of sustainability model outdated and no longer serving us? We  find ourselves often struggling to fully integrate our own thinking – humans are categorizers, a trait that has served us well throughout history up until recent times. But now it is obvious that even our conception of sustainability has been flawed and does not reflect reality.

This new way of thinking about sustainability comes in the wake of last week’s UN meeting on the definition of sustainable development goals. The researchers believe that “ending poverty and safeguarding Earth’s life support system must be the twin priorities for the Sustainable Development Goals.”

We find ourselves still struggling to convince people that the economy and environment are not in conflict and that the economy should be designed for human well-being. Perhaps with this new concept, thinking will begin to shift.

“Ultimately, the choice of goals is a political decision. But science can inform what combination of goals can achieve a sustainable future. And science can identify measurable targets and indicators,” said Dr Stafford Smith.

At the Council for Watershed Health, we believe that identifying and tracking measurable goals is vital to achieving that sustainable future. These new Sustainable Development Goals and the conceptual model should be adopted to advance “The Future We Want.”

What’s in that stream?

Posted on by nancysteele

A few Sundays ago I was approached by a young girl who wanted to do a science fair project. She thought maybe she could test the water in the creak near her house. She was going to look at the water under a microscope and compare what she saw to tap water. I suggested a few refinements, including expanding her testing beyond critters in the water to some water chemistry, like temperature and pH, and observing the biological and physical environment of the creek.

IMG_5136
Jenks Lake Road West stream

In that moment, I saw a future creek monitor. I imagined this energetic girl, who had already had success raising money to purchase and preserve 8 acres of wildlands near her house, as the leader of a cadre of young volunteers, keeping track of the health of the forest and streams above her neighborhood.

Forest stream
San Bernardino Forest stream

I imagined her in a life of volunteerism. I volunteered as a young girl, too, doing good, taking care of my world. And maybe that is why I am an optimist and lifelong volunteer who works to make things better. Volunteering reverses the feelings of helplessness and hopelessness that plague us as we grow from youth to adulthood. It gives people a sense that they make their own communities. Volunteers are no longer passive receivers of the “government” but citizens. In this way, we make our communities whole. In this way, we keep our governments honest. In this way, we chose our future.

How to create a clean water alley, Part I

Posted on by nancysteele

The Elmer Paseo is all but complete – we still have some finishing touches to add so it won’t be officially open until the new year. For all of you stormwater geeks, following is a photo essay showing how to create a clean water alley.

The Infiltration Trench and the Bio-swale. These two main features needed to be constructed simultaneously and included some challenging logistics. Down the center of the Paseo, the construction crew excavated a 4 foot deep trench which exposed the sandy native soil that is ideal for infiltrating water. Next they had to apply a layer of clean sand to help maintain consistent infiltration the entire length of the trench.

To protect the adjacent properties from water migrating toward their properties, workers installed an impervious liner along both sides of the existing wall, creating a funnel of sorts to direct water toward the open bottom trench.

Next, workers backfilled the 4’ deep trench  with rough angular gravel, which creates voids or gaps between the rocks which allow water to collect and flow through the gravel to the bottom of the trench where it will infiltrate to the native soil. Smooth rocks will ‘lock’ together, preventing the formation of voids and gaps for water to collect.

To be continued