Climate Change, Metal and Waterways

High in the Rocky Mountains, just west of the Continental Divide, metal concentrations in the Upper Snake River have been climbing over the last 30 years. And strong evidence referring to climate change proves to be the cause of such changes in metal concentrations, particularly rising temperatures. Although rising metal concentrations are occurring, they do not pose a direct threat to water for drinking or agriculture. However, although they do not pose a threat to humans, these rising metal concentrations pose a concern for the whole alpine ecosystem. For example, at Deer Creek and the Upper Snake River the water is sometimes milky with aluminum precipitate that blankets the riverbed and smothers life underneath. This is referred to as white death. Rising stream temperatures and changing hydrology also make it very difficult for local flora and fauna to grow properly. http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/climate-change-metal-and-waterways/?ref=earth

Forest Fire Research Questions the Wisdom of Prescribed Burns

In 2003, a forested mountainside was charred in a wildfire and Richard Hutto, a university ornithologist, recorded a black-backed woodpecker drumming on a tree of the nearly destroyed forest. But, was it really destroyed? Not according to Hutto who states that "this forest may have been burned, but that doesn't mean its dead. Theres a lot going on". This woodpecker signals life back to the forest and it also serves as a clue toward resolving debates over how much, or whether or not, to try to prevent large forest fires all together. Some scientists believe that the thinning of forests brings an ecological advantage to the planet but, some claim that this only diminishes ecological processes and biodiversity. So what do they do to prevent these fires? They thin the forests by cutting down a variety of trees, ranging in size, and use prescribed fire to burn the forest. Using this process, scientists hope to reconstruct forests suffering damages from large wildfires. Except, others claim that this process is only causing ecological damage. Research and history combined shows that the ecology of a forest depends on fires of varying degrees of severity, including those catastrophic fires we are trying to prevent. These blazes actually are responsible for stimulating biodiversity. This is where the woodpecker comes back into play. This type of bird almost lives exclusively in severely burned forests. It thrives on the fire-chaser beetle and the jewel beetle and relies on the charred trees to stay hidden from their predators while they peck away. Both species (the woodpecker and the beetle) lay eggs in the scorched trees whose defenses have been wiped out by fire, causing biodiversity. Tracking the presence of such a species can help indicate whether there are enough severe fires to stimulate their ecosystems, which are responsible for keeping their numbers up and healthy. Dr. William Baker, a fire and landscape ecologist at the University of Wyoming, contends the idea that land of limited fires that are being employed to control bigger fires were not as common in nature as it has been thought. So, he went about and employed an unorthodox method to reconstruct fire history. He examined thousands if handwritten records up until the nineteenth century. The surveyors who created these records used an ax to mark trees at precise locations and took note of the surrounding vegetation. In the end, he found that low-intensity fires that occurred naturally were not as widespread as other research holds and he concluded that big fires are inevitable, and that it is best for ecosystems to put up with such fires. Many others who have explored this famous question have arrived at a very similar conclusion; "disturbances are very important; they are huge" because of the biodiversity they cause.   

Plasma Gasification Raises Hopes of Clean Energy From Garbage

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/science/plasma-gasification-raises-hopes-of-clean-energy-from-garbage.html?_r=1&ref=science David Robau, an environmental scientist for the Air Force, is touring the country promoting a system that may sound too good to be true. This system devours municipal, or local, garbage, recycles metals, blasts toxic contaminants and produces electricity and usable byproducts, all with drastic reductions in emissions. Being an environmental scientist for the Air Force, he began developing this plan in order to dispose of garbage with neither the harmful byproducts of conventional incineration nor the environmental impact of transporting and burying waste. This is now known as plasma arc gasification. This can break chemical bonds and destroy medical waste, asbestos and hydrocarbons, some of which could be hazardous. However, such a system will discourage recycling and the development of renewable products, and will in fact result in toxic substances like dioxins. However, Mr. Robau maintains that the process is earth-friendly. “This is not incineration,” he said. “This is gasification, so it’s a lot cleaner, a lot better for the environment.” This system has been tested and hard at work for a while now, and at the end, around 100 percent of all the metals on the base are being recycled. And due to the lack of dioxin, which is what people thought would come out of this system; this system would be a benefit over traditional incinerators and other types of gasifies, in which lower temperatures and incomplete burning result in toxic compounds.