New Voices

This week we celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day. Our celebrations will be different for sure. No gatherings, no work parties to plant trees. But we can each truly celebrate the Earth even more this year than we may have before. As we are isolated from one another, we can become more aware and attuned to the Earth. Nature is at her most beautiful, active and alive right now. Celebrate that!

Many of us of a certain age can remember when there was no Earth Day. We can remember when our waterways were filthy and air not was fit to breathe at some times. We can celebrate the change. And we can celebrate that the next generations of leaders will have grown up having Earth Day and environmental awareness as part of their daily lives, part of their school curriculum.

The young adults that are part of the Goodwin Niering Center for the Environment are very much more aware and forward thinking than I may have been at their age. They are also experiencing the worst pandemic threat in a century. But they adjust, adapt and carry on with hope for the future.

We welcome their voices as they report on their projects from this last semester. These are the voices of the future. And I have hope. 

 Beth

This is Hope.  Photograph by Beth Sullivan.

Hello Avalonia eTrail readers!

My name is Amelia Packard. I’m a sophomore Physics major at Connecticut College working with Avalonia through the Goodwin-Niering Center(GNCE). Connecticut College’s GNCE is a group of students and faculty at the school who are all passionate about the environment and meet once or twice a week. From a large pool of sophomore applicants, only 12 are selected each year. Each student will complete a senior integrative project to try to answer questions that they pose about the world. As we all come from different backgrounds and majors, the topics range from beauty to chemical structures in the environment. But we all share something in common - a love for the outdoors.

I grew up on a family farm and was almost always outside. I played any game you could imagine with my friends in our 12-acre horse pasture and 20-stall stable. In high school I joined the Glastonbury Crew Team because I wanted to be out on the Connecticut River in a boat with my teammates. The first image (1) shows the farm where I grew up. Ours is the green horse pasture in the middle. The other two images (2 and 3) were taken in Cotton Hollow, a great place to hike in my hometown where I have been many times. Growing up outside has ingrained an interest in the environment in me.

Image 1

Image 2 Photograph by Mark Packard.

Image 3 Photograph by Mark Packard.

My interests seem to have a common theme as well. I love it when things move. I love being able to train a horse to move correctly. I like finding rhythm and pace when I work with horses. And in rowing, it’s all about making the boat move faster, improving your technique and strength to better move the boat.

When I hear about environmental issues, specifically global climate change, I wonder if future generations will be able to enjoy the outdoors the way I did. The constant fossil fuel consumption by the world’s population is raising the levels of what are known as greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. These gasses trap heat and raise the Earth’s average temperature. Because of this, climate change will greatly alter habitats around the world. I want to explore sources, especially ones that involve movement (kinetics), in order to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels. By doing this, we can mitigate the damage done by climate change on ecosystems. This is a very similar goal to what Avalonia is trying to achieve. We are both, in our own ways, preserving and protecting land for future enjoyment.

I have made connections from extracurricular interests to my academics. During high school AP Physics, I found that I am most interested in the laws of motion. Physics helped explain why the world around me works the way it does. Then I connected my interest in motion and my passion for the environment and I began to look into kinetic sources of energy such as wind, hydropower, tidal, and wave energy. So I asked myself, why aren’t other forms of kinetic renewables seen in the industry today? Was it communication about the issue? Were they not sustainable? It’s these kinds of questions I want to help answer during my lifetime.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), 11% of our energy in 2018 came from renewable sources. About 45% of that was from kinetic sources. According to Energy UK, in 2016 the UK obtained their energy mainly from coal (42%), nuclear (21%), and renewables (25%). The makeup of their renewable energy came from wind, wave, marine, hydro, biomass, and solar.

From this information, we can see that a lot of renewable energy comes from kinetic sources. Ocean energy (a combination of energy that comes from the ocean) is a relatively new type of energy that is being researched. In some parts of the world waves are large and constant, creating large amounts of energy to be harnessed. The ocean also has currents which can be harnessed as well (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management). In the fourth image, you can see how researchers have designed tools to help capture this energy. In general terms, in order to create electricity, you need to drive a generator or turbine(energy.gov). The designs in the fourth image (4) show how that is possible. This idea is very similar for all types of electricity generation.

I believe that exploring new energy sources will help protect land from climate impacts, and therefore preserve it. I find this fascinating, and I am looking forward to being able to help protect and preserve the land that we all know and love.

But right now, during our sophomore seminar, GNCE students are working on projects for Avalonia. I’m writing blogs and offering a new voice and point of view. My other classmates are working hard on their projects, even as they work from home due to COVID-19. As most colleges have, Connecticut College has sent the majority of students to work from home for the rest of the semester. We are all working to adapt our projects and continue moving forward during this crazy time. Tune in next time for an overview of what we are doing.

Image 4. Image by Alpaslaan Aydingakko from Research Gate.

References

Aydingakko, Alpaslan, et al. “Figure 6 Typical Types of the Wave Energy Converters (20) .” ResearchGate, 1 Aug. 2018, www.researchgate.net/figure/Typical-types-of-the-wave-energy-converters-20_fig3_309041849.

“How Are Ocean Waves Converted to Electricity?” Energy.gov, www.energy.gov/eere/articles/how-are-ocean-waves-converted-electricity.

“Renewable Energy on the Outer Continental Shelf.” Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, www.boem.gov/renewable-energy/renewable-energy-program-overview.

“U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis.” U.S. Energy Facts Explained - Consumption and Production - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), www.eia.gov/energyexplained/us-energy-facts/.

WebxSol. “Electricity Generation.” Energy UK Small, www.energy-uk.org.uk/our-work/generation/electricity-generation.html.

How are we doing this Earth Day?

By Beth Sullivan

At this most beautiful, bursting, growing time of year, everyone has thoughts of being good to “our Mother .” We are all in the spirit of planting trees, cleaning up roadsides, doing the things that need doing after a long winter. It is indeed joyous to be out now, enjoying the clean air, sparkling brooks, spring-green along woodland trails, and beaches refreshed and ready to go. It seems trite and worn out to remind everyone that “Earth Day should be Every Day,” yet the impacts of our actions over the rest of the 51 weeks a year are more important than the token things we do for a week in April.

All species of turtle are in decline, even our favorite the Painted.

Environmental Quality report published

The State of Connecticut Council on Environmental Quality has just come out with their report through the end of the year 2016. The full report can be found here.

It is an annual report, but it compiles and charts data for the past ten years to examine trends over time. That’s what makes it interesting. Connecticut has been making strides in many areas: we lead the charge in trying to plan for climate change as we have at-risk coastlines to care for; our air quality in general has improved, yet we still have too many bad air days in the heat of the summer; our waterways are growing cleaner because of (overall) less discharge of nitrogen into rivers and streams yet Long Island Sound is still in trouble. The report points to several reasons why things don’t seem to be improving as fast as they should be and they all seem to relate to heat.

Osprey are healthier with cleaner water and safer fish.

The big elephant in the room is the warming climate. While some continue to debate the truth and cause of global warming, there is no denying the scientific data that graphs out the rising trend in temperatures-each year warmer than the last. Our leaders, or some of them, grapple with trying to determine whether to concentrate on the cause or the effect. But as they talk and debate, things get worse.

While the air is cleaner, the trapped heat continues to create dangerous air days in the summer.

Heat is also related to another factor-impervious surfaces. As our populations grow, there are more homes and driveways, more roads, more parking areas, roof tops, and shopping malls. All of these do not absorb water, do not allow pollutants to run off, and do nothing to temper the heat tossed back into the atmosphere by all the dark surfaces. Even though our lawns may be better than blacktop, they are a major cause of overloads of nutrients running back into our waterways. But we know all that.

There just have to be frogs for future generations.

Avalonia's mission

It is the third element they identify that I found most interesting-the lack of enough investment in open space in our State. Even though we are doing better than some states, and there has been an effort to increase the amount of preserved farmland in Connecticut, we are not on track to meet goals set for preserved open space. As governments struggle with budgets, it seems the first and easiest thing to cut back on is the funding for the open spaces needed to create greenways and blueways to protect our precious habitats and wildlife. People see the immediate devastating effects of cuts to schools and services, but it is harder to grasp the long term effects of loss of our open spaces on the future of our next generations.

Pileated Woodpeckers need large unbroken forest areas to survive. Photograph by Dennis Main.

This is where Avalonia Land Conservancy, among many others, is desperately, actively trying to acquire, for preservation in perpetuity, some wonderful open spaces (updates will be coming). Not only will they be available for us to enjoy in the near term, but as we are enjoying them on one level, these spaces filter our water, clean our air, buffer heat return to atmosphere, support wildlife and in doing so contribute to our overall health and well-being as well as increase the property values where they are located.

Long Island Sound is threatened by rising temperatures as well as pollution. 

We can make a difference every day, not just on Earth Day, by supporting conservation efforts of Avalonia and other land conservancy organizations that are active in the places you love.

Photographs by Beth Sullivan, unless otherwise noted.