Mining- Environment Degradation & Sustainable Blog

The Mount Polly mine spill disaster is a large story in the Alaskan news as tons of contaminated water spilled from one of the mines water holding areas. This water containes many environmentaly damaging chemicals in it that can damage the vegetation and devastate the wild life. Due to to danger the mining company has put its best foot forwards in  restoring the land and making sure that the water doesn't affect any other areas. This contaminated water of course was created by enviromentaly damaging mining processes that require chemicals to get out the ore. With this new spill a lot of concers are being put towards the political, social, and economic problems that are being created by this disaster.

  (Picture of the mine before the disaster)

The Mount Polly mine is an open pit mine that is primarily used for mining copper and gold from the Earth. The minerals that are for the most part mined are low grade ore which is pretty much metal "dust" that is hidden and scatterd in the rock. The materials that are mined in the mine are pretty important to our society and to a extent our daily lifes. The copper that is mined from this mine and mine alike it are used in a lot of the technologies because of its generally easy move my of electricity, you can find it in places as simple as phones, game stations, electricity wires in houses, to the cars that we drive. Gold on the other hand is valued pretty high in our society as a luxury item, and is generally used in jewelry and items as such. To our society these materials are very important to how our technology works to the finest riches that we find ourselves wanting to buy.

(Example picture of gold brick along with gold ore and copper wires)

The mining of these two materials in this mine are pretty dirty processes, that can cause environmental problems. In a open pit mine the rock/Earth is dug out and piled further and further up out of the mine and is processed through a system that separates the rubble crime the ore. After the two are seperated the ore can go through two different process to get the metal out of the rock. In the case of this mine it uses the chemical way of extracting the metal from the rock. This chemical extraction process involves the use of sulfuric acid and other very strong dangerous chemicals that can't easily be gotten rid of. These extraction and processing methods can cause some pretty serious environmental problems such as insane water stress, land loss, killings of animals, and the loss of precocious wild land. These types of environmental degradation can cause the killings of thousands of fish and serious health issues for local wild life and humans, damage to the waters acidity levels, and the destruction of needed wild forest lands. The mining techniques used by mining companies can cause serious problems to the enviroment and its local animal population.

(Picture of local water in the area that is contaminated)

 

The enviromental impact of the spill was a disaster on the local area and the people living there, but due to the disaster the company responsible for the spill had taken action in trying to fix the problem. In a recent interview a company spokesperson said (British Columbia,Spokesperson) " Our first priority was, and continues to be, the health and safety of our employees and neighbors. We are grateful no loss of life or injury, or personal property damage occurred due to this event. We are deeply concerned and are working to mitigate immediate effect and understand the cause of the breach." The company also has a plan for the spills damage and proceeds as fallows, provide water management structures to improve the quality of water flowing, reduce potential for re-mobization of tails nigs and sediments that were deposited or exposed by the TSF breach, and to minimize and control flows from the TSF and re-direct these flows to Springer pit. In the state of Alaska their are multiple federal environmental laws and state laws that go with the situation. The first is The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), which pretty much details

a cleanup process of hazardous substances that must be cleaned up. Secondly there is also the DEC solid waste regulations, that govern the storage and disposal of solid wastes. Because of the recent shut down on the mine because of the spill it will have a negative effect on the market since no product is being produced, and not to mention there will be a lot of political debates on wether the mine should remain because of the spill. This spill has also effected a lot of the local people around the are and might cause an uproar of people wondering why there was a breach.

      (Photo of the mine after the spill)

This mine has had a large effect on the local area as it has poisoned the water and caused some major effects on the local environment. It is however a good sight to see that the company does hve a plan for fixing the spill and reducing its impact further on the area. Open pit mining.is a ugly thing for the enviroment and the eye as it can cause some bad problems if not treated carfully. Even though the metals that are mined in places like these are importnt there must be a safer way to mine them that woont effect the area in such a bad way. The Mount Polley Spill is a big problem for the local enviroment and the animals that live near the problem.

(Picture of the river exiting out into a lake)

Links/Sources:

Biodiversity Hotspots: Mediterranean Basin

                                       Biodiversity Hotspots: Mediterranean Basin

The one word that most people don't know is biodiversity and even is they have heard the word most people don't know what it means. Biodiversity means the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. For this post I has chosen the Mediterranean basin. The reason for this area being considered a biodiversity hotspot is due to the regions high level of  species confined to one region and with over 12,000 species found nowhere else in the world. The Mediterranean Basin resides in the Mediterranean region and is part of over 16 different countries, examples being Greece, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and Libya. The Mediterranean basin also cover around 5,000 islands scattered around the Mediterranean Sea and of mainland includes the Micronesian Islands. The Mediterranean Basin is a amazing area covering lots of countries and plenty of islands.

The Mediterranean Basin holds many ecological services and economic services. The Mediterranean Basin hold a large richness of forest and species confined to one region. This large variety of trees has been very important for the large variety of species and a large piece of their economy. The area holds about 290 indigenous tree species with around 201 endemic tree species. In this Hotspot out of 22,500 species of plants approximately 11,700 of those species are found nowhere else in the world. As of a result of the areas large amounts of plants and variety of animal species the area has              accumulated a large amount of tourism                    (Picture of the Mediterranean Basin with the highlighted countries it covers)

 from it, which is a big economic income for the area. The Mediterranean area has a large species biodiversity and due to large amounts of tourism it is declining. Due to this rise in species diversity loss the genetic biodiversity of the mediterranean basin has decreased a lot. This loss of genetic and species biodiversity has both affected both the plant population and animal population.

The Mediterranean Basin was once covered in evergreen oak forests, deciduous and  conifer forests but due to 8,000 years of human settlement and habitat modification it has greatly changed the characteristics of the region. This region used to be a lush area filled with different forests and vegetation but due to the large human involvement the area has been changed a lot. Today most of the widespread vegetation type is hard leafed sclerophyllous shrublands called Marquis or atorral. The Mediterranean Basin has faced intense human development over thousands of years which is significantly longer that most biodiversity hotspots. The greatest impact of human development over the years has been the deforestation and burning of the land for farming and agricultural uses. This as a result has greatly decreased the land on which a lot of the species live there. From the loss of vegetation of the Mediterranean this degradation of the region it has been called a biodiversity hotspot.

The Mediterranean Basin has a number of political and economic problems over the years that have caused the degradation of the region. Over the years the Mediterranean has had a number of financial crises where unemployment was at a high causing a lot of people to turn toward the environment for money. The Region has also faced a large amount of political deadlocks which caused some of the unemployment in the region. Another problem that the region has faced is the large migration of people into other countries which has caused a large amount of unemployment and the need for space which in turn affects the environment by creating space for the new people and the new resources needed for the people. The Mediterranean Basin Has dealt With alot of economic and political problems over the years which has caused the degradation of the the environment and biodiversity of 

the region, and due to the recent fall off a lot of European economies it greatly affected the economic structure of a lot of the region.

There are now roughly 300 million people living in the Mediterranean basin and because of this a lot of room is needed for these people which puts a big damper on the species biodiversity of the species there. There a a large amount of endangered species in the Mediterranean that are endangered ranging from over 90 species because of environmental                                         (The population growth of the Mediterranean basin in the 1950's)

stress that is put upon the region. There are a wide variety of endangered species varying from marine animals to land mammals and plants. some examples of these species would be the Supramonte cave

 salamander to the Morris Squill plant ,all of which have faced dangers that are now causing them to become endangered.

                                                                          (Picture of the Supramonte cave salamander) Link

                                                   

                                                                                    (Picture of the Morris squill plant) Link



 Below is a picture of a food web of the Mediterranean Chaparral Biome. The Mediterranean Basin is a large area filled with hundreds of individual food webs since the area  covers over several countries. In the picture below we can see a mountainous region with wild goats and pumas.

                                                        (Food web of an area in Greece, which is the the Mediterranean Basin)        

In the Mediterranean Basin conservation is no old new idea with the Greeks and Romans both setting apart land to be protected. But even with these efforts only 4.3 of the Mediterranean is set aside for protection. One major idea for protecting these areas is to expand the areas to help protect the species in the area, but the one fear to this plan is that the area will not be big enough to support a lot of the endangered species that need protecting. The one conservation method that has seen some success is the plan in which that land is aloud to used for it's resources but in a sustainable manner of getting them. There has been other plans set in place for the conservation of the marine animals in where new ideas are being thought up to protect marine species and a 25 year plan to reduce land pollution.

(Chart of protected Area)

(Amount of species and endemism) 

                                                                      (Species/area ratios per 100 km2 of hotspots)

(Congruence between plants and vertebrates)

(Leading Hotspots in terms of endemics)

(The eight hottest hotspots in terms of five factors)

Over my research for this subject i have learned many things about the Mediterranean basin and its many problems and species. The one thing that really sparked my interest was the long past of conservation and how even the ancient Greeks and Romans had set up areas to protect. I really thought it was interesting that there are amazing plans already set in place for the conservation of the area but what really bothered me was that only 4.3 of the area was protected. One suggestion that i have for the protection of the area would be the expansion of the protection areas already set in place and the setting in place of new protection areas. I really enjoyed doing this subject and hope to learn more about the biodiversity hotspots of the world.

Links:

• http://buteraapes.wikispaces.com/file/view/Biodiversity%20hotspots%20for%20conservation%20priorities.pdf/533909268/Biodiversity%20hotspots%20for%20conservation%20priorities.pdf
• http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/150647/
• http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0011842
• http://www.researchgate.net/publication/236260288_Conservation_genetics_of_an_endemic_from_the_Mediterranean_Basin_high_genetic_differentiation_but_no_genetic_diversity_loss_from_the_last_populations_of_the_Sicilian_Grape_Hyacinth_Leopoldia_gussonei
• http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/the_mediterranean_a_biodiversity_hotspot_under_threat.pdf
• http://one-europe.info/the-challenges-of-europe-and-the-mediterranean
• http://www.arkive.org/explore/species?q=endangered&theme=mediterranean-basin
• http://www.arkive.org/eco-regions/mediterranean-basin/
• http://paigemoses.blogspot.com/ (Food Web Picture)
• http://www.arkive.org/north-west-italian-cave-salamander/speleomantes-strinatii/image-G107388.html
• http://www.arkive.org/morris-squill/scilla-morrisii/

                                                                                            

Learning About Food Webs and Energy Pyramids Summary

Jackson Cline

Mr.Butera

AP Environmental P.6

Oct. 4 2014

Food Webs and Energy Pyramids

From the Food Webs and Energy Pyramids experiment I learned many things about food chains and food webs. A food chain is chain of animals/plants in a order from the system in which energy is moved along from animal to animal by eating each other. Examples of this in nature would be grass being eaten by a deer, where then that deer would be eaten by a wolf, and when that wolf dies decomposers will decompose that wolf .Food webs however are are a net of  animals and what-eats-what in a ecological community in a large net (example in picture below). A food web in other words is a large net of different food chains connecting what eats what.

My group was given a forest biome to view and explore. The biome that we were given surprisingly had a well rounded biodiversity, varying from rodents to birds to some interesting larger carnivores. In the food bet that we put together there was a lot of connections going from animal to animal and in the end all being connected to the decomposers. The most interesting part of it was the connection of the animals and how one animal in a biome could affect sonny others. In the end we are all intertwined in a large net of animals and what we do effects others and ourselves.

                                             (food chains and food net example below)

I also learned about the different trophic levels and how they all transfer energy to one another. In definition a trophic level is the types of food that organisms eats and how those organisms depend on each other. These different levels are the producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiaries, and decomposers. Producers are organisms that get energy from solar rays and example of this would be grass. A primary consumer is a organism that receives its energy from eating producers and will only get 10% of the producers energy, an example of a primary consumer would be a deer. Secondary consumer on the other hand get there energy from eating a primary consumer a fox would be a good example of a secondary consumer. A tertiary organism on the upper hand gets its energy from devouring both primary and secondary consumers, eagles are an amazing example of a tertiary. Lastly decomposers are small organisms that decompose dead animals and plants, it is debated however on where they belong on the energy pyramid examples of this are found in funguses and others alike.

Citations:

Frey Scientific. Environmental Issues and Solutions Module Curriculum Guide. Nashua, New Hampshire: Frey Scientific, 2013. Print

Ecological Footprint Summary

Jackson Cline

Mr.Butera

AP Environmental P.6

Sept. 8 2014

Ecological Footprint Summary

From the web activity I learned more about ecological footprint. The definition of a Ecological footprints is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. In all essence we all have a effect and demand on the environment and its resources. Eventually we will hit a thing called the tipping point and that's when our world won't be able to support us anymore. As of currently we as a world need about 2.5 earths to support us.

As countries we all make our own Ecological footprint, The United States itself is well over our biocapacity. Biocapacity in definition is the biological capacity of an ecosystem dependent on its production of resources and materials. All graph are also measured in Global Hectares per capita which is the report of both the biocapacity of the earth and the demand on the biocapacity in measurement of per person.
Here is a picture of the American Footprint:

Compared to the U.S, Japan isn't doing so well themselves with them being well over their biocapacity considering their on a small island. Although they're have a smaller Ecological footprint than the U.S's their biocapacity is a lot smaller than the U.S.
Here is a picture of Japan's Footprint:

Both the U.S and Japan are of course developed countries but what might the Footprint of a developing country look like? For an example we'll use Bolivia and find out their Footprint. Unlike the U.S and Japan Bolivia's Ecological Footprint is much less than the two. An Ecological Footprint is also dependent on the government's economy and how much the country produces. As can be seen in the graph their biocapacity is falling at a pretty fast rate, but why? Although their Footprint is pretty small their population takes a great role in the falling rate of their biocapacity, because of their massive population they need more resources so they use up their own resources.


Here is a graph of Bolivia's Footprint:

Comparing the three countries together you can get an idea that even though developed countries don't have a very large population they still require a lot of materials to live the lifestyles they live, and that even though developing countries don't produce that much, they require a lot of resources because of their population.

Links to sources:
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/glossary/
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http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/trends/united_states_of_america/
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http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/trends/japan/
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http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/trends/bolivia/
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http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/