Youth Blog

Sustainable Fairfax Youth Blog: SO, What is a Biodigester?

March 19, 2015 by Jennifer Hammond

As a senior in Drake High School’s environmental studies academy SEA-DISC, one of my many activities is an internship with the local non-profit organization Sustainable Fairfax. Recently I have been working with Sustainable Fairfax on their water program, conducting interviews with various experts on water use, waste water, and watersheds in Marin County and getting a great perspective on these issues. Along the way I also discovered a few other exciting projects that are leading the way to sustainability in Marin.

At the very end of the industrial yet tranquil Anderson Drive in San Rafael, California, something revolutionary is going on. Central Marin Sanitation Agency (CMSA), a regional public organization that manages waste water from San Rafael, Larkspur, San Anselmo, and surrounding areas, has undertaken a project that harmoniously combines waste management and energy production. Better yet – it’s a huge step towards sustainability for the county.

According to the Marin Sanitary Service, about 30% of material in the landfill is food waste. However, about seven years ago and working in tandem with Marin Sanitary Service, CMSA developed a plan that would significantly cut that number, as well as provide renewable energy for the county and reduce landfill emissions of methane, an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

The process of transforming vegetable peels and fruit rinds into clean energy is actually quite simple. Participating restaurants and markets separate their food waste, which is collected by Marin Sanitary Service and ground into small pieces. Mixed with collected fats, oils, and grease, the material is trucked down the road to the CMSA site and stored in large, sealed tanks called biodigesters. The hot, humid microclimate inside the digesters is perfect for fostering microbes, which eat up the mixture of food and oil wastes and release a low quality form of methane called biogas. After being purified, the biogas can be used to generate electricity. All that is left of the solid waste is a rich fertilizer, which can be used to augment soil for growing food.

The process is one big loop; grocery stores throw out their old produce, food waste is turned into energy and fertilizer, farms use fertilizer to grow food, and the cycle continues with no landfill involved. The initiative will be a vital part of achieving Marin County’s goal of reaching zero waste by 2020.

When I spoke with Jason Dow, General Manager of CMSA, about the future of biogas in Marin County, he was animated. “Currently we run about 18 hours a day on energy produced on-site. […] Within about three years we are looking to be completely energy independent, as well as exporting energy to the county.” Dow said.

By Paige Yeakle, Sustainable Fairfax Intern & member of SEA-DISC- Drake High School’s environmental academy

Reflections on GMOs 2.0, a Synthetic Biology Symposium

October 23, 2014 by Jennifer Hammond

This article, by Sustainable Fairfax Communications Intern Ruby Derovan, also appeared in the San Anselmo-Fairfax Patch.

My first assignment as a communications intern for Sustainable Fairfax was to attend and write about the synthetic biology symposium that took place on Thursday, October 9 at the Mill Valley Community Center. Community members and expert panelists gathered for a discussion about synthetic biology and its impacts on our food, farmers, community and health.

Moderator Claire Hope Cummings, renowned environmental lawyer and journalist, began the conference with a Rachel Carson quote:

“The rapidity of change and the speed with which new situations are created follow the impetuous and heedless pace of man rather than the deliberate pace of nature…The chemicals to which life is asked to make its adjustment are no longer merely the calcium and silica and copper and all the rest of the minerals washed out of the rocks and carried in rivers to the sea; they are the synthetic creations of man’s inventive mind, brewed in his laboratories, and having no counterparts in nature.”

And so it is with synthetic biology. Synthetic biology is the “next step beyond GMOs.” It is molecular biology in which genetic code is written by a computer, assembled into strands of artificial DNA, imprinted with genetic information and reproduced in a lab. Used initially by the energy industry as a platform for creating sustainable fuels (in a failed attempt to use bacteria to produce ethanol on a large scale), synthetic biology is now being embraced by the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. This is cause for ethical, environmental, and health concern.

Gopal Dayaneni: “The next frontier is all of the living world,” explained Dayaneni of the Ruckus Society and the Movement Generation Justice and Ecology Project. Since 1980, Dayaneni has been an activist, speaker, teacher and participant in justice-related projects. According to Dayaneni, synthetic biology essentially turns “all of life into property by shackling living systems to industrial platforms.” He explained that this is the age of the machine mindset, the machine metaphor, the idea that we are all parts of a machine—nature included.

Bioengineering, the engineering of life, is bio-manipulation for the purpose of creating commodities, he asserted. This eradicates lifeways for the purpose of control, and for the purpose of industry. The reduction of seed diversity, a ‘consequence’ of monocropping in industrial agriculture, is less of a consequence than it is a strategy, Dayaneni explained. It is the same with synthetic biology. It is the idea that we can control life, and harness it to the needs of our industries.

Mark Squire: Squire, an owner of Good Earth Natural Foods and chairman of the Non-GMO project, referred to synthetic biology as “a fix looking for a problem.” An industry that will be worth 10 billion dollars by 2016, synthetic biology is not regulated nor is it discussed by the press. Yet, it represents a dramatic turning point for humanity. In seeking to control the food industry, synthetic biology seeks to replace the food industry.

Squire gave the example of vetiver, a popular essential oil derived from vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides.) Vetiver grass is native to western and northern India. Half of the world’s supply of vetiver is grown in Haiti, employing 60,000 Haitians. It is a high-value crop that ensures the livelihood of many, many people. The production of artificial vetiver is a current synthetic biology experiment. Squire discussed the ethical and environmental implications of this project. Replacing vetiver with synthetic oil, he explained, would put thousands of farmers in Haiti—and across Asia—out of work. Unbelievably, the synthetic biology industry would not be required to label their product “artificially produced” because they claim that vetiver and synthetically engineered vetiver are chemically identical.

Ignacio Chapela: “This is the birthplace, but possibly also the grave, of what has been a mad ride.” Ignacio Chapela, a microbiologist and mycologist at UC Berkeley, proclaimed that “all we know is that we don’t know 98% of life.” He stressed his concern that the outcomes of synthetic biology are “products of trying something we really don’t know or really don’t control,” which he finds “seriously dangerous and seriously troubling.” The microbes ultimately have not done what the synthetic biology engineers wanted them to do. He spoke about his deep sense of humility as a microbiologist, and described the path that led him to the realization that any attempt to control and manipulate life simply does not work.

According to Chapela, genetically modified bacteria have been found in the six major rivers in China. Bacteria have the ability to horizontally transfer genes. Horizontal gene transfers have resulted in antibiotic resistant bacteria. The fact that these bacteria have been found in the major rivers of China is quite a wakeup call. GMOs are largely untested, and their consequences are unknown. The spread of these organisms in our water supply and across the globe could have consequences beyond our reckoning.

I was deeply affected by the clear message from these speakers. Nature cannot be rewritten. Nature cannot be re-invented and controlled. Nature should not be harnessed to the industrial model and made to do its bidding. The mindset of the synthetic biology industry is as if “we finally cracked the book of God and now we will be able to rewrite nature.” Dayaneni, Squire, and Chapela all spoke about this concept, concluding that this mindset simply does not work. It is important, each speaker told us, that we learn to speak the language of life. It is important that as these technologies become prevalent in our food system, the pharmaceutical industry, and our daily lives, that we acquire a vocabulary adequate for discussing them. It is important that we understand synthetic biology and all of its implications.

I thank GMO Free Marin and Moms Advocating Sustainability for organizing this event and the event sponsors including Sustainable Fairfax.

WATCH SYMPOSIUM ON TV: You can watch a recording of the symposium on Marin TV (Channel 26) on Tuesday, October 28 at 5:30pm or Sunday, November 2 at 11:00pm.

Light Pollution: Causes, Effects and Solutions

February 15, 2012 by Sustainable Fairfax

By Sophia Lahey

Sir Francis Drake High School

The main type of pollution people usually think of when they see the word “pollution” might be air pollution caused by cars and factories, or maybe big oil spills threatening the Gulf Coast. There’s another type of pollution that negatively effects the environment not quite as obvious as cars and factories belching smoke. If you live in an urban or suburban area all you have to do to see this type of pollution is go outside at night and look up at the sky. The glow you see blocking the stars is called light pollution.

The view on the left is the view most people had from home only 25 – 50 years ago… and the view on the right is what the majority of Americans now see from their backyard. These photos show approximately the same area of the sky; one was taken from a rural area and one was taken from outside a small city (Springfield, MA). Which scene do you find more appealing? Would you be pleased to learn that you as a taxpayer are likely paying money to produce some of the light pollution seen on the right?

Photo credit rocketroberts.com

What is Light Pollution?

Light pollution is the pollution caused by misplaced artificial light. It is a growing problem that threatens wildlife, humans, natural habitats, our energy use and the heritage of appreciation for our night sky. Leaving lights on in vacant buildings, outdoor lights pointing up to the sky and unshielded outdoor lights all contribute to light pollution or sky glow. There are 4 different components of light pollution:

Urban Sky-glow: Artificial lights that are pointed upwards or misplaced cause the sky to unnaturally “glow” blocking the view of stars.

Light trespass: light that lands in areas where it is not wanted or needed. Example: light from a neighbor’s house is also lighting up your back yard.

Glare: the bright uncomfortable light that comes off of poorly built lamps. This causes a decrease in visibility.

Clutter: a grouping of bright light (Example: New York City) contributing to sky-glow, trespass, and glare.

Urban sky glow and clutter obscure our ability to see the stars at night. For example, a person living in the middle of nowhere could see around 2,000 stars while someone who lives in the city would be lucky to see a few stars. Because the stars are blocked out by light pollution, astronomers find it hard to search the cosmos for new galaxies or planets. Astronomers around the world have been publicizing how light pollution negatively impacts astronomical observation. Because of this many believe light pollution only concerns scientists working in the field of astronomy, which could be why the topic is often overlooked when modern environmental threats are discussed. And no one bothers to question why there are fewer and fewer visible stars if they grew up viewing a night sky blocked by light pollution. In fact, 80% of the US population can’t see the Milky Way from their back yard.

Some people are very concerned about the ever increasing levels of light pollution as urban and suburban sprawl continue to grow. Not just astronomers, but also everyday people. Many believe that excessive artificial light at night separates us from our history and from our heritage of appreciating the night sky bringing us closer to nature. Feeling separate from nature can cause people to not care about it or understand it. And research shows light pollution can also harm our habitat and our health.

Light Pollution and Humans

Light pollution has consequences for human health. Night vision can be severely impacted. Glare on the eyes from excessive night lighting can cause disability glare. Disability glare is glare from roadway lighting that is so bright it causes us to avert our eyes. Older drivers are particularly vulnerable to disability glare. Disability glare reduces:

Ability to distinguish contrast
Color perception

The aging eye is also susceptible to eyestrain and loss of night vision.

The circadian rhythm is the 24-hour cycle that our bodies run on and what keeps us happy and healthy. Studies show that disruption of this cycle can lead to insomnia, depression, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Over exposure to artificial light causes your circadian rhythm to be thrown off, possibly leading up to these severe side effects over time.

Melatonin: a hormone called Melatonin is what maintains a natural sleeping rhythm. Artificial light affects this rhythm, decreasing the levels of melatonin in your body. Melatonin is only produced in the darkness. Even a little exposure to artificial light will disturb the melatonin production. If there is a light shining through your window, make sure to block it with something.

Light Pollution and Wildlife

Light pollution also negatively affects animals in a bigger way than most would think. The sky glow from towns and cities cause nocturnal wildlife around the world to experience a loss of their night ecosystem.

Mammals: Mammals lose a lot of their internal night systems due to over lit areas. Nocturnal animals such as raccoons, bats, and deer suffer greatly, causing a decrease in population, difficulties with finding food, exposure to predators, and an increase in mortality.

Amphibians: Light pollution causes amphibians to suffer by lowering population, decrease in body weight, and confusion between insects that protect nature rather than harming it. If an ecosystem is anywhere near an urban area with high amounts of light pollution, amphibians will suffer.

Insects: You have probably seen insects fly around your porch light. This is a striking example of how artificial light affects wildlife. Insects such as moths and flies suffer a decrease in population due to light pollution because it is easier for predators to hunt the insects. The decreased insect population impacts all the animals that feed on insects as their main food source.

Birds: If any animal species suffer from light pollution, birds definitely suffer the most. Over 100 million birds in the United States die from collisions with lighted buildings alone. The lighted buildings attract them. That’s not all; some migrating birds don’t reach their destination because the artificial lights interfere with their navigation and can throw them off course.

Reptiles: As you may know, sea turtles travel up on beach shores to bury their eggs in the sand. But what if the beach is near a bright urban area? Baby sea turtles rely on the moon to lead them to the sea. Artificial light can lead them to roads where cars can run them over or to someplace far off until they die from exhaustion. This explains one reason why sea turtles are decreasing in population.

Light Pollution, Energy Use and the Environment

The International Dark-Sky Association estimates we waste $2.2 billion annually in the United States on unnecessary and/or inefficient outdoor lighting, amounting to 22,000 gigawatts of energy producing 14.7 million tons of carbon waste! So not only does light pollution cost the U.S. $2.2 billion on wasted lights, it is a contributor to global warming. Lights are powered by fossil fuels. This means there’s carbon going into the atmosphere due to poor lighting. And lights that are kept on constantly at night to ensure “safety” not only contribute to global warming, they may not even be that helpful to keep you safe. Studies have shown that security lights have not been proven to decrease crime, and if the light is too bright, you might not even see the person trying to break into your home because of the glare.

Light pollution also enhances air pollution. In 2010, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration presented data indicating that human-caused sky-glow “reduces a naturally occurring nitrate radical that helps cleanse the atmosphere of exhaust and ozone.” This study showed city lights can alter the concentration of nitrate radicals, an important atmospheric oxidant. These alterations have potential consequences for pollution levels the following day. So, a night sky full of artificial light is also a filthier sky.

Solutions to Light Pollution

Many homeowners and city planners believe the theory that “more is better” when it comes to lighting our night environment. But the glare of excessive light can actually reduce visibility and well-planned lighting can save money, decrease crime and improve nighttime ambiance. As taxpayers our taxes fund municipal lighting for our streets and government buildings. Let your elected officials know you do not support lighting schemes that waste energy, contribute to global warming and destroy our night sky.

Your support for light pollution control initiatives at the city, state and federal level will also encourage the adoption of such ordinances across the country. To date, about 300 localities in the United States have adopted lighting control laws, primarily motivated by finances, but also by a conservation ethic, and to protect a natural resource (darkness) important to local interests such as tourism or observatories, and of course public safety.

Educating yourself regarding what does and does not constitute dark sky friendly lighting is a great first step toward implementing simple, common sense strategies for outdoor lighting. Set a good example in your own neighborhood! Changing the way people use artificial light is one simple way to solve light pollution. You only need light where you need it: ON THE GROUND. Your neighbors will appreciate your lighting choices if you consider light pollution when selecting fixtures – no more lights shining in their windows. So here are some suggestions on how to improve exterior home lighting:

To conclude, being dark sky friendly doesn’t mean no light. It means using the light that you need for a particular task in the most efficient manner.

Shield and lower the wattage of all outdoor lighting—both municipal and private.
Use only the light you need to get the job done.
Use timers, dimmers, and sensors. Shut off the lights when you can.
Work with your neighbors and local government to keep the light on the ground and the skies natural.
Use light emitting diodes (LED) technology with long wave length light in a red or yellow tint to minimize impact and save energy

References and Links

http://darksky.org/get-involved/

Light Pollution: Responses and Remedies, Bob Mizon, Copyright: Springer-Verlag London Limited 2002 (book)

Let there Be Night: Testimony on Behalf of the Dark, Edited by Paul Bogard, Copyright: University of Nevada press 2008 (book)

Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting, Edited by Catherine Rich and Travis Longcore, copyright: Island Press 2006 (book)

www.darksky.org, International Dark Sky Association

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/search?q=light+pollution National Geographic Magazine article on light pollution

http://www.nytimes.com/keyword/light-pollution New York Times article on light pollution