Environmental Health

WA Environmental Atlas

Category: Pollution (Page 1 of 2)

Diesel Fuel

March 10, 2016 /

Executive Summary

Diesel fuel is used among a variety of trucks and cars along with buses, trains, ships, farm and construction equipment. The chemical combustion that happens in this fuel sends off toxic fumes into the planet’s atmosphere called emissions. These emissions play a big part in Global Climate Change. Since the link has been discovered between diesel fuel and the emissions there has been significant efforts to reduce the unnecessary use and pollution being put off by diesel fuel. Efforts have been worldwide in the form of laws, regulations, and manufacturer design modification with new vehicle models.

Click HERE for full report.

Peak3  20160203_182252  20160203_175453_001

An awesome shot taken by a friend of mine, Harald Hohendorf.

An awesome shot taken by a friend of mine, Harald Hohendorf.

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The Dairy Dynamic: The Relationship between Climate Change and Dairy Farming

March 8, 2016 /

Executive Summary:

Climate Change is overtaking our planet faster than we can anticipate as major corporations, industries, as well as individual citizens contribute to our global pollution. Humans, despite their inability to realize the fact, are some of the heaviest polluting animals in the world due to our interests in certain commodities. A majority of humans are conditioned to enjoy using animal products, and this is becoming a problem as climate change develops because animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of emissions of greenhouse gasses not just in the United States, but the entire world. Over 50 billion animals are raised as livestock globally each year, each one emitting waste which must be regulated. A smaller division of animal agriculture, the dairy industry, is one of the key sectors in which there is both a potential for very large yet very regulated emissions. Through proper practice of caring for the livestock and being conservative with the storage and distribution of milk, manure, and biomass, we can begin to make steps in reducing our impact on global climate change.

link to The Dairy Dynamic

Photo Essay:

Combined Sewage Overflow

March 8, 2016 /

Executive Summary :

In Washington State sewer overflows deliver harmful pollutions to King County’s waterways. Some sewerage systems in Washington State are made to drain both surface water, and contaminated water from the sewage. Initially Combined sewerage system was used to transfer surface run-off and sewage waste water. Even though many new communities use separate sewerage systems which is two sets of pipes that are used in this system to separate rainfall from polluted water. Sewage overflowed into the waterways is polluting it with bacteria and waste. This is a threat to the overall health of the King County’s local waterways. This article will discuss effects of storm overflows on the environment, and inform what King County is doing to reduce Combined Sewage Overflow.

Click to view full report bellow:

Sewage Overflow

 

 

Seattle Urbanization

March 8, 2016 /

Executive Summary:

The population in Seattle is a little over 650,000 and is expected to grow 120,000 residents and 115,000 jobs by 2035(Seattle.gov, 2015). The urban component of Seattle, which has been drastically increasing, is planning to capitalize on growth. The policy goal is to manage Seattle in the next 20 years, focusing on protecting the natural environment, maintaining transportation, housing and open space, reducing urban sprawl and address global environmental challenges. Due to expansion, Seattle could run into serious problems with air pollution and greenhouse gases. This will affect ecosystems and changes in the environment drastically. Paying close attention to the fundamentals to reach the city’s goals and polices is important. The city’s aquatic and marine resources have seen a decrease over the past 150 years of urban growth. Lack of natural connection to the water is rising due to modification it’s requiring us to be resilience and innovated. These aquatic environments have amazing vitality and with proper maintenance these species potentially can become an even greater asset to Seattle. One of the City’s goals is to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other climate changing greenhouse gases in Seattle by 30 percent from 1990 to 2020, and become carbon neutral by 2050. The key component is to make the city a more delightful scenery as a major attraction. Facilities that offer natural and cultural attractions would only enhance and bring people from across the region. The beauty and diversity of the natural environment in and around our city is one of the characteristics that bring out Seattle from other cities around the world. This comprehensive plan for Seattle has long terms that depend on health and wealth the city will strive towards. We must all act as one and remember we are role models for each other.

Links

Urbanization in Seattle Report

Photo Essay

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Housing

Urbanization in Seattle

Road Transportation

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Public Transportation

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Parks and Open Space

Land Conversion in Orting

March 8, 2016 /

Executive Summary

The population in Orting is growing as people are attracted by the small town feel and beautiful scenery of the valley. Housing developments are being built to accommodate the increase in people, and the impervious surfaces that accompany them, combined with tree loss that destabilizes the hillside soil, are increasing the sediment and chemical runoff into the rivers. The increased levels of pollution harm the salmon populations. As the area that humans inhabit grows, forests are cut down and habitat is lost, pushing elk onto agricultural lands, and drawing cougars with them.

View full paper: land-conversion-in-orting

Where Have All the Bees Gone?

March 3, 2016 /

Executive Summary:

In October 2006, U.S. beekeeper David Hackenberg discovered that about 400 of his bees out of his 3,000 hives had completely disappeared. No bees were found dead inside or outside of their hives. They had simply disappeared. Now this was not due to some funny magic trick. But still the questions remained, where did the bees go and what caused them to leave? Once 2007 rolled around, more beekeepers were finding that the exact same situation was happening to them. This phenomena was soon called Colony Collapse Disorder. CCD occurred when no bees were found dead outside or inside the hive, there were not mites or parasite inside of the hive, and eventually the queen and her larva are abandoned.  CCD is mainly caused by the use of systemic pesticides that once in a bee’s system, are persistent and harmful. These pesticides cause bees to lose their navigational abilities causing them to not be able to find their way back to their hive. Some ways to help prevent CCD is to eliminate monoculture agriculture all together. People can buy organic produce at their local markets, or grow their food themselves. This is the only way to keep the bees from going completely extinct.

See full report here: 

EnvironmentalHealthProjectFinal

Photo Essay:

Honey from Lattin’s Country Cider Mill and Farm
Flowers at Ralph’s Thriftway
Local hives in Chehalis
Arranged at Ralph’s Thriftway
Spooners Strawberry Field, Olympia WA
Photo taken at Lattin’s Cider Mill
Vegetables from Ralph’s Thriftway
Fruit from Ralph’s Thriftway

 

Marine Debris in the North Pacific

February 29, 2016 /

Executive Summary:

While industrialism thrives and continues to grow and prosper, the marine debris problem is in full force, affecting every part of the globe. Additional debris ranging from cigarette butts to fishing equipment to street signs enter open waters every day, due both to human’s negligence and natural events. The Misawa Docks that travelled to U.S. territories across the Pacific taught us a lot about the universality of debris and pollution in the oceans all around the world. With the oceans riddled with garbage of all sizes, current marine debris relief efforts have been proven to be somewhat successful, but there continues to be a flow of pollutant being dumped into the oceans daily. Today’s efforts to combat the marine debris problem has not solved the issue, yet it has taught scientists a lot and it hints at future steps to maximize the efficiency of relief efforts.

Full Essay: marine debris final 

Photo Essay: 

 

 

Light Rail and Public Transportation in Washington State

February 29, 2016 /

Executive Summary

Cities in Washington like Seattle and Tacoma are spending increasing amounts of tax payer money on building light rail systems in order to get a greater number of people to ride public transportation. But is it working? The results are inconclusive thus far. Ridership is rising, but in year to year numbers that are still somewhat modest, causing skepticism among some. Those in favor suggest that it is a more environmentally friendly method, that it’s more convenient, and will eventually catch on with the masses. Opponents say it has not caught on enough to be worth the considerable investment, claiming improvements for buses get more bang for their buck than light rail. It has been a slow project to materialize initially but is now quickly expanding to more and more locations in and around Seattle and Tacoma. Good or bad, there is about to be more of it.

Full Report: Light_Rail_Washington_State_Report

Photo Essay

Hanford Nuclear Waste

February 29, 2016 /

Executive Summary:

Found in Richland Washington is the remnants of one of the largest nuclear weapon producing plants that has ever been built in the United States. Hanford nuclear facilities were used in the Manhattan project as well as in the Cold War to help combat threats of nuclear weapons from foreign countries. But since its decommissioning after the final days of the Cold War- Hanford has been a painstakingly slow and serious clean up process for the state of Washington. Not only has there been typical hurdles with handling such toxic waste, but the deterioration of the overall remaining facilities which hold high level nuclear waste has also been a terrifying and complicated issue. Due to the close proximity Hanford has with the Columbia river, there is only a matter of time before the water, as well as the wildlife is contaminated and jeopardized by the waste.

Full report found here

Clouds tripping Acid (Rain)

February 29, 2016 /

Executive Summary

The purpose of Acid Rain in Washington, should we fret? , is present an opinionated report  about acid rain in the areas of history, legislation and possible threats to Washington state. The forest of the Pacific Northwest is rich and diverse. Salmon and other key species play an important role in Washington’s diverse ecosystem.  Speaking of the subject, The Pacific Northwest ecosystem, the noun Acid Rain will never agree with the subject. (Some contribute the decline of Atlantic Salmon to acid rain) Acid rain is caused by the combustion of fossil fuels, a process which emits sulfur dioxides and nitrogen oxides into the earth’s atmosphere. These emissions once in the atmosphere react with water vapor and oxygen to form acid precipitation. Once acid rain precipitates, on an ecosystem it leaches valuable nutrients from the soil, in turn causing damage. The Acid Rain Program was created with the Clean Air Act of 1990 and it caps the emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by electrical generating units such as coal plants that produce electricity. The (ARP) has been successful in reducing acid rain emissions and has been a  general model for other pollution legislation. But fears ensue as the population continues to grow, this is because more people, requires the consumption of fossil fuels and other resources to increase. As you can imagine, if the consumption of resources increases, then pollution will also increase. We can do our part by remembering the small things such as cutting back on electricity consumption. If everyone remembers to cut back on electricity then that means fewer fossil fuels used.  If acid rain occurred in Washington it would pose significant hazards to plants and animals of the ecosystem. Acid rain has precipitated destruction to so many ecosystems across the globe. The growth of local and global populations are inflicting harm on the environment in the form of pollution that in turn causes problems such as acid rain or global warming. To prevent harm from pollution we must continue to abate pollutants and continually strive to be more efficient at doing so.  It is my hope that if we continue to effectively abate pollution then our rainy days will remain clean and fresh.

Link to full written report- Acid Rain Report

Link to photo essay-  Acid Rain Photo Essay

E.Ross

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E.Ross

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E.Ross

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E. Ross

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