Matt Ackroyd

Final Paper

ENG308J

Environment Ethics: A Personal Review

Environmental ethics is something that I describe as a person’s views on what is important in all aspects of the environment. These include, but aren’t limited to, the relationship between humans and Earth’s non-human world, development of a personal view and understanding of nature, and what is to be done to help the environment or if anything has to be done at all. In my 22 years of living, I am still in the process of perfecting my personal ethics on the environment. I have a lot of strong views and a lot of views that are quite new, and I am trying to expand them to something that makes more sense and can be practiced in the real world. This class, as well as other experiences, which mainly occurred in the past couple years, has helped me develop these ethics and is contributing to my personal growth. The environment is probably the most important thing in this world, so it is very important to have some standing on it.

My environmental ethic today is quite complicated. This is because I don’t know exactly where I stand as a whole when it comes to the subject. In the past, mostly before I entered college, I really hadn’t thought about it. I remember doing a little research on global warming in high school, but didn’t go very deeply into it and it didn’t impact me as some environmental issues do now. My basic views now are to try and do anything possible to not have an effect, or leave a footprint, on the environment. I was never really taught to have environmental ethics from the start. The basics that we instilled in me when I was young that have to do with doing your part in helping the environment were not to litter and to recycle. Those are big ways to help the environment, but are nothing compared to what needs to be done now by our generation to save this planet. Then as I grew older, I learned more and picked up on a few things that are environmentally friendly that I try to do in my everyday life. These are mostly little things like using less electricity by turning off lights, keeping the heat low during cold months, unplugging chargers, walking or riding a bike instead of driving everywhere, not using water bottles to create less waste, recycling anything possible, and thinking about what I eat and where it comes from. My views on things like nature and wildness, sustainability, and environmental protection continue to grow stronger as I’m still learning.

I’ve always had a great appreciation for nature and wildlife. I believe everything has a purpose. When I say everything I mean EVERYTHING, from trees to bugs to animals. They all must be respected and considered something of worth. Their purpose to be on this planet is not only to simply supply our human needs, but to have their own needs and instincts to go about their own lives, and to supply the needs of other beings. We are all interdependent of each other. And by ‘we’ I mean every living thing on this planet. Trees, for example, provide our most basic need-oxygen. They also provide homes and shelter for a lot of other species, provide strength in soils, ultimately making it better and more fertile, as well as providing other useful things for humans like shade. However, humans are increasingly cutting down forests for needs like wood for timber and paper. One could argue that this is one of the main reasons for trees, to supply our needs but I disagree. From what I know about ancient Native American views on nature, I think my views follow in a shadow of that. We should only take from the Earth what we really need and should return what we take as much as possible.

The film A Forest Returns, identifies this problem of deforestation in the Southeastern Ohio area just a few decades ago. According to the film, the land in this area was almost completely barren and had extreme problems of erosion due to the lack of vegetation. So the national government implemented a plan to “reforest” the area by buying massive acreage from farmers to just simply plant trees. The farmers and previous land owners were told to leave the land as it is and let it be. The project also helped the local economy by providing jobs for young people. The area is now well populated with plants and trees and Ohio has its only National Forest, The Wayne National Forest. I very much like this idea of reforestation and I think it’s necessary, especially in South America where deforestation is occurring the most rapidly. It’s estimated that by 2100, the rainforests will be completely gone (Mitchell). In response to that, there are many reforestation projects that are mostly ran by volunteers. But in my opinion, that is not enough. Re-planting trees isn’t the only way to stop them from disappearing. Something must be done about them being cut down by the acre. This would require a major change in the logging industry around the world, which sounds impossible, but I think can be done with much effort and time from people that care. So this means that this group of caring people must grow in order to have an influence on these huge companies.

Example of deforestation of a rainforest

The other film that we watched in class is Food, Inc., which undoubtedly had a huge impact on me. It doesn’t seem like our eating habits have anything to do with the environment but it does. It affects the land and animals that we use to produce our food, and it also affects our general health as humans. I had never really thought about how we got our food, and honestly didn’t see it as being run by huge multi-million dollar companies that are mass producing meat and vegetables in unnatural ways. I was baffled by the fact that one burger can have a thousand different cows in it (Food, Inc.). I knew about the huge cattle farms or CAFOs, but wasn’t aware of the details. These CAFOs are disgusting. There are millions of cows standing in their own feces and being fed food, mainly corn, in which they are not genetically made to eat. There is no grass, so all the dry dust and feces is blowing around everywhere, getting in their eyes and food. The manure is caked on their hides and eventually could end up in the meat. Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, discusses some of the practices in these CAFOs. He explains how this corn-fed beef is not as healthy for us as grain beef would be and how there are studies that suggest that it has some influence in causing heart disease. But the corn is cheap and causes the cows to get fatter quicker, so why not use it? This is the attitudes of these companies. They will find ways to make the cows become accustomed to corn. Since the corn is not really good for the cows and can actually cause them to get sick and die, they feed them massive amounts of antibiotics. But like any living thing, bacteria can evolve and overcome these medicines, which can lead to more evolution of E. coli (Pollan). Food, Inc. gave me the impression that these huge companies just don’t care, as long as they are making money, which is completely unethical in my opinion, and something needs to be done.

After seeing Food, Inc. and realizing that our food is being produced seemingly without any concern of the health and well-being of the people that eat it, I’ve decided to change my eating habits. Since the fast food industry is the number one consumer of beef in the world, I’m not going to eat at the places anymore. I used to eat fast food all the time, so that shows what kind of an impact the film had on me. I also now see the importance in eating and buying locally grown food. This helps the environment in a few ways. Since it is coming from the local area, less shipping is required, resulting in less fuel emissions. Also, chances are that this food is organically grown, which means that the growers are not using the practices that the big corporations use, like using growth hormones or feeding cattle or chickens food that isn’t good for them. Organically grown food is healthier because it doesn’t contain all the chemicals that are in other food to keep them preserved or make them taste a certain way. So I think if people could see the importance of organically grown food and the health benefits from it, then we could change the way the large companies are producing a majority of our food.

Another issue that is extremely important to the environment is how we get our sources of energy. As far as extracting oil is concerned, we definitely need to find alternative ways to get our fuel. Self-sustaining automobiles have come a long way in using energy that is created from braking to power the cars instead of using fuel. I see a bright future for this sort of power production. There is a commercial on TV for Honda that talks about the idea of using that same energy production to make self-sustaining amusement parks. This could be an incredible breakthrough because it combines sustainability with the human desire for leisure activities and entertainment. And if this source of power is used in theme parks, imagine what else it can be used for. One of my professors, Dr. Tiao Chang, told our class that there is energy in our knees that is produced by walking and exercising, and can be harnessed to power small things like an iPod. Can you imagine producing electricity from your own body?

Hydropower is another alternative energy source that could be used more in the future if we find sustainable ways of capturing that sort of energy instead of building more dams. It is a clean energy source and does not harm the environment or require any other natural resource to create it. The only problem with it is finding good, environmentally friendly way to harness that energy. As of right now the only way to is build a dam or some sort of physical barrier to hold the water back and “catch” it as it falls, which is then converted to electricity. There are, however, hydro plants located at natural waterfalls, like at the famous Niagara Falls, but do require big structures on the river to produce and store the energy. These are just a couple of the many other examples of possible solutions to the energy problem that I think need to be expanded upon. There is energy everywhere out there; we just need to find ways of harnessing it in sustainable ways.

This paper only discusses the most important aspects of my personal environmental ethic. As mentioned before, my ethic is somewhat incomplete and has much room for expansion. Learning about environmental issues is just the first step. And I think that is what I am mostly doing now. So my next goal is to find ways of acting on my views. Action is what will make change, and I think a lot of change is needed to live a sustainable life on this planet. If we keep living our lives like we have done in the past and are doing now, then the planet, will, in my opinion, perish.

Works Cited

A Forest Returns. Dir. Jean Andrews. Perf. Ora Anderson. Documentary. 2005.

Food, Inc. Dir. Robert Kenner. Documentary. 2008.

Pollan, Michael. An Omnivore’s Dilemma. Text. 2006.

Mitchell, Deborah. Turn Deforestation into Reforestation. Volunteer Guide. Web.

Assignment 5 draft (so far)

Matt Ackroyd

ENG308J

Assignment #5

Dams: Good or Bad?

In the past 50 to 60 years, dams have been popping up everywhere. There are many reasons for installing a dam on a river. It may be a large hydroelectric dam that’s 600 feet high or just a small, 10 foot earth fill dam to hold back some extra water. But for every dam come a lot of different effects and impacts on the environment and the economy. Some of these effects are very beneficial, like hydroelectric power generation, but there are also the negative impacts on the river’s flow and wildlife as well as the effects on the surrounding environment. And it is the job of the engineers to account for all these effects and impacts before starting such a project. But for the already existing dams, what is to be done about those that aren’t very beneficial and have many negative impacts? This is an up and coming concern for engineers as many dams’ life spans are continuing to come closer to an end. So are dams good or bad? Do their benefits for humans outweigh their negative effects on the land its natural way of life?

Well as mentioned before, dams have many reasons to be built and have many uses. The main reason for dams is their ability to create and store a very large fresh water supply (ICOLD). Damming a river, no matter what the size, creates a larger, constant supply of water that can be used for irrigation for farming, drinking water for people in cities nearby, improved in-land navigation, and the recreational uses of a large lake-like body of water. Almost all of the dams in the Western United States are built and used for these reasons. This area of the country is fairly dry but is also very flat and useful for agriculture. And the water for these activities has to come from somewhere. It’s estimated that by the year 2025, 67% of water used for agriculture will come from means of some sort of irrigation (Boutraa). So to help aid in the irrigation, reservoirs are creating by building a dam. Dams also aid in another problem of nature, flooding.

Flooding is the major national disaster in the world, taking about 200 lives a year in the U.S. (http://floodsafety.org/national/life/statistics.htm). One way to prevent a flooding disaster from occurring in areas where it is common, a dam can be erected to help hold some of the excess runoff water back that produced during a heavy rain, resulting in lower water levels of main rivers and streams. In 1941, the U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) built the Blackwater Dam in Webster, New Hampshire. It is part of a series of five flood control dams that were constructed in response to a flooding disaster in the Merrimack River Basin (http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/recreati/bwd/bwdfc.htm). It protects a large, populated area spanning from three cities in New Hampshire to three cities of Massachusetts and is estimated by the USACE to have prevented over $15 million in flood damages since its construction. And it only cost $1.32 to build. As for the effects the dam has on the flow of the river, it flows naturally through the dam and only when a flood is evident does the Corps close the flood gates to hold back the water (http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/recreati/bwd/bwdfc.htm). The reservoir has also created a diverse habitat for various types of animals, including the bald eagle and a couple species of trout. Unfortunately this particular dam doesn’t contribute to another important advantage a dam could have, which is the production of hydro electricity.

Figure 1: The Blackwater Dam in Webster, New Hampshire

The reason hydroelectric power is important is because it’s considered a clean energy resource because it essentially is produced by the simple falling of water due to gravity, which has no negative impact on the environment. The United States’ many hydroelectric dams produce a massive amount of electricity. The well known, 736.4 foot height Hoover Dam in Nevada produced a net average annual power generation of 4.2 billion kilowatt-hours between 1999 and 2008. This is in combination with the Bureau of Reclamation’s 57 other dams, which combine to produce an estimated 42 billion kilowatt-hours a year (http://www.usbr.gov/power/edu/pamphlet.pdf). A kilowatt-hour is the amount of energy used that is equivalent to 1000 watts in one hour. To put it in perspective, 42 billion kilowatt hours can power a city of 14 million people for a year. This type of power generation is reproducible and can be accessed anytime with the push of a couple buttons on a control panel. This is very advantageous in the event of some kind of major power loss, where a large quantity of electricity is needed quickly. And according to the Bureau of Reclamation, hydroelectric power plants are generally inexpensive to maintain, last for a long while compared to other types of power plants, and do not require of any other type of natural resource to keep this electricity production flowing. Engineers are searching for more ways to access and use hydroelectric power, especially in states like Ohio, who got about 87% percent of their power from coal in 2002, just because coal is so abundant in the area, compared to Washington, who got 90% of their electricity from hydropower (http://www.usbr.gov/power/edu/pamphlet.pdf). Low head dams, which are small dams with a water drop of less than 65 feet, are a considerable option because they produce a large amount of power compared to their size and costs to build. But one of the reasons dams, big and small, aren’t being built everywhere possible is there major effects on the natural environments.

*Adding negative effects and discussion of the option of dam removal, and a conclusion*

Major and Sustainability Essay

Matt Ackroyd

ENG 308J

Major and Sustainability Essay

Environmental Sustainability in the Eyes of Civil Engineers

Civil Engineering as a field is best described, in the most basic form, by the American Society of Civil Engineers organization as “the design and maintenance of public works such as roads, bridges, water and energy systems as well as public facilities like ports, railways, and airports.” To go into greater detail, today’s engineers deal with the careful and complicated planning, design, construction, and maintenance of most infrastructures of the world. These infrastructures include transportation systems, basic water systems such as waste water/ fresh water treatment, dams, flooding control, and irrigation systems, environmental systems including pollution control and things of that nature, and all kinds of structures. All of these private and public works have a direct effect on the environment and careful considerations are made in the planning and design in accordance to certain laws and codes. Every field of engineering deals with working with, and sometimes altering the environment is some way or another. And it has become a main concern for engineers to create more sustainable ways of going about their practices. They are constantly trying to come up with newer and more efficient techniques of working with the environment as opposed to against it. This can be a very challenging task considering the main goal of engineers is to build an environment that is better and efficient for human lives, without so much considering the environmental impacts. Though sustainability has always been something engineers try to consider, it has become more evident in the 21^st century that it needs to be emphasized more in the designing and maintaining of projects.

An example of one of the systems that engineers create and manage that has a large effect on our natural environment is our water systems. Almost all of our rivers and streams are affected by dams. There are 6,375 dams in the United States alone, which is about 13% of the world dam population ( www.dams.org/global/namerica.htm ). Building a dam on a river has many long and short term effects on the natural water systems and the surrounding environments. This practice of “damming” in the world has fragmented the river systems drastically, impacting various wildlife and vegetation ecosystems and the natural flow of the rivers. Every river has its own flood plain and natural flooding pattern that have its own benefits to the ecosystem, and building a dam greatly impacts and changes this. A flood plain is an area surrounding a river or body of water that is at a low elevation and usually very flat and is where the water can and will overflow onto during a flood. But this is also one of the goals of the engineer in building a dam, to control the river and its flow of water for reasons such as irrigation and flood control. And part of their job is to look at both sides; the positive benefits and the negative effects the dam would have on the area. If the benefits outweigh the effects, then the dam is built. And this is where they have to factor in sustainability.

Flooding is the most common hazard in the United States and can occur on a small scale, affecting only a town or two, or extremely large scale, affecting entire river basins and multiple states (http://www.fema.gov/hazard/flood/index.shtm). It causes major damage to life and property, plus the burden of very expensive water damage repairs. Many American cities and towns are built along and beside rivers to maximize their potential in trading and transporting goods. The floodplain land also provides flat, fertile soil for farming and such. And chances are that the city or town is located in the flood plain of the river. This presents the downside of living in a city next to a river, the flooding of that river into the city. So it is in our human nature to modify the system so that it works better for us. This is where the engineer steps in and considers ways to control the floods. If no other options are sustainable then flood control dams are built. They are often built along upstream tributaries of a larger river so that they will temporarily trap the excess water and runoff produced by a heavy rain. Then the water is slowly released through the dam instead of all of it rushing down to the one area. This greatly reduces the amount of water that would travel through the main river course, resulting in less flooding, which saves property, crops, and potentially human life. But that is only one of the many situations where engineers consider building a dam.

Almost all of the dams in the western United States are primarily used for irrigation purposes to provide the much needed water to the massive farming and the large populations in these flat, but dry regions of the country. Without a dam, the only accessible water source is ground water and there is only so much that can be accessed. Once that’s gone, it’s gone forever. So the solution seems obvious to an engineer. Build a dam to hold back the accessible water that can be used for whatever the need happens to be. Other benefits also come into play when building a dam that help the sustainability argument, the main one being that they are used in producing hydroelectric power.

Figure 1: American Dam Uses.

Source: National Inventory of Dams, 2005.

Hydroelectric power is considered clean power, meaning it has no negative impact on the environment, and it is renewable. It is produced by the energy of the falling water, which is converted to electricity. The U.S. is one of largest generators of hydroelectric power, in which dams provide 8-12% of the nation’s power needs (http://www.fema.gov/hazard/damfailure/benefits.shtm ). It is estimated by the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation, that their 58 hydroelectric power plants, i.e. dams, produce an average of about 42 billion kilowatt-hours per year (http://www.usbr.gov/power/edu/pamphlet.pdf ). This is enough electricity to provide about 14 million citizens with residential power. Hydroelectric power plants are also generally inexpensive to maintain and do not need any other natural resources to make the electricity. More importantly, they have the extremely useful ability to produce electricity whenever it is needed, like during a power outage. The future holds a lot of potential for the use and production of hydroelectric power, but issues, such as the environmental impacts, are holding it back. And every method and reason for damming has an impact on a river’s environment and its ecosystem, both upstream and downstream.

This is why engineers also have to factor in the many effects the dam would have on the river. There would be a major impact on the river’s surrounding environment, including the land and the people living along the river, along with the wildlife in and around it. Sometimes many people have to be displaced from an area in order to have a reservoir that consumes an entire valley. Worldwide, 40 to 80 million people have been displaced due to dam building (http://www.civilengineergroup.com/negative-impacts-hydroelectric-dams.html ). Many animals’ habitats and ways of life are altered as well. In the Loire Valley in France, for example, salmon were very abundant and about 100,000 migrated up the river before a dam was built, and in 1997 only 389 were counted traveling upriver (Marks, 2007). Also, in Maine, when the Edwards Dam was taken down in 1999 on the Kennebec River, biologists observed the return of many species of animals that originally resided there, such as the striped bass, Atlantic salmon, and the bald eagle (Marks, 2007). But it is important to point out that taking down a dam does not simply return the ecosystem back to normal. It is a very complicated process that involves many other factors that engineers would have to consider before knocking one down, such as all the sediment built up behind that dam that would be released into the river. The figure is a picture of a large hydroelectric dam showing the general large scale impact it has on the area.

Figure 2: Large hydroelectric dam

So in this particular engineering example, damming, it is the engineer’s job to weigh the benefits of building a dam against the negative effects it has on the environment of the area. They have to come up with sustainable arguments that support the project. Such arguments include if the dam is going to help the area’s environment more than hurt it and if it is worth the cost and effort put forth to complete the complicated project. And as mentioned earlier, if the benefits outweigh the negative effects, then the dam is built.

In all areas of engineering, engineers are called in to assess a situation, make a plan with a design considering all the possible factors of the project, and usually building something, in this case, a dam, to make the situation better for us humans. It is part of their job to do this as sustainably as possible, with careful considerations to things like environment impacts a certain project would have. And it has become one of their main goals to do this more effectively; to have less of an impact on the environment while making the environment better for the people.

Sust. and Civil Eng. Argurement Paper (Not 100% done)

Environmental Sustainability in the Eyes of Civil Engineers

Civil Engineering as a field is best described in the most basic form by the American Society of Civil Engineers organization as “the design and maintenance of public works such as roads, bridges, water and energy systems as well as public facilities like ports, railways, and airports.” To go into greater detail, today’s engineers deal with the careful and complicated planning, design, construction, and maintenance of most infrastructures of today’s world. These infrastructures include transportation systems; basic water systems such as waste water/ fresh water treatment, dams, flooding control, and irrigation systems; environmental systems including pollution control and things of that nature; and all kinds of structures. All of these private and public works have a direct effect on the environment and careful considerations are made in the planning and design in accordance to certain laws and codes. Every field of engineering deals with working with, and sometimes altering the environment is some way or another. And it has become a main concern for engineers to create more sustainable ways of going about their practices. They are constantly trying to come up with newer and more efficient techniques of working with the environment as opposed to against it. This can be a very challenging task considering the main goal of engineers is to make an environment that is better and efficient for human lives. Sustainability has always been something engineers try to consider but it has become more evident in the 21^st century that it needs to be included in the main goals of a project.

An example of one of the systems that engineers create and manage that has a large effect on our natural environment is our water systems. Almost all of our rivers and streams are affected by dams. There are 6,375 dams in the United States alone, which is about 13% of the world dam population (www.dams.org). Building a dam on a river has many long and short term effects on the natural water systems and the surrounding environments. The system of dams in the world has fragmented the river systems drastically, impacting various wildlife and vegetation ecosystems and the natural flow of the rivers. Every river has its own flood plain and natural flooding patterns, which have their own benefits to the ecosystem, and building a dam greatly impacts and changes this. But this is also one of the goals of the engineers building a dam, to control the river and its flow of valuable water for reasons such as irrigation and flood control. And part of their job is to look at both sides; the positive benefits and the negative effects the dam would have on the area. If the benefits outweigh the effects, then the dam is built. And this is where they have to factor in sustainability.

Flooding is the most common hazard in the United States and can occur on a small scale, affecting only a town or two, or extremely large scale, affecting entire river basins and multiple states (http://www.fema.gov/hazard/flood/index.shtm). It causes major damage to life and property, plus water damage is very expensive to repair. Many American cities and towns are built along and beside rivers to maximize their potential in trading and transporting goods. The downside of having a city next to a large river is the flooding of that river into the city. And chances are that the city and probably other towns are located in the natural flood plain. So it is in our human nature to modify the system so that it works better for us. Flood control dams are built for these reasons. They are often built along upstream tributaries of a larger river so that they will temporarily trap excess rain and runoff produced by a heavy rain. Then the water is slowly released through the dam. This greatly reduces the amount of water that would travel through the main river course, resulting in less flooding in that particular river basin. Engineers also take other routes in flood prevention. Many channels that run through large cities are modified to get water through the area as fast as possible without the consequences of a flood. Such modifications include straightening the channel, adding concrete barriers, or just simply rerouting it to flow out of the populated area. Both of these methods have an effect of the natural flow and the ecosystem of the river, both upstream and downstream.

Almost all of the dams in the western United States are primarily used for irrigation purposes to provide the much needed water to the massive farming and the large populations in these flat, but dry regions of the country. Without a dam, the only accessible water source is ground water and there is only so much that can be accessed. Once that’s gone, it’s gone forever. So the solution seems obvious to an engineer, who is a problem solver. Build a dam to hold back the accessible water that can be used for whatever the need happens to be. Dams also have other benefits which help for the sustainability argument, mainly being that they are used to produce hydroelectric power. Hydroelectric power is considered clean power, meaning it has no negative impact on the environment, and it is renewable. The U.S. is the largest generator of hydroelectric power, in which dams provide 8-12% of the nation’s power needs (fema.gov).

Figure 1: American Dam Uses.

Source: National Inventory of Dams, 2005.

Engineers have to factor in the many negative effects of dam building also. There would be a major impact on the river’s surrounding environment, including the land and the people living along the river, along with the wildlife in and around it. Sometimes many people have to be displaced from an area in order to have a reservoir. Many animal’s habitats and ways of life are altered as well. In the Loire Valley in France, for example, salmon were very abundant and about 100,000 migrated up the river, and in 1997 only 389 were counted traveling upriver (Marks, 2007). Also, in Maine, when the Edwards Dam was taken down in 1999 on the Kennebec River, biologists observed the return of many species of animals that originally resided there, such as the striped bass, Atlantic salmon, and the bald eagle (Marks, 2007). But it is important to point out that taking down a dam does not simply return the ecosystem back to normal. It is a very complicated process that involves many other factors such as all the sediment built up behind that dam that would be released into the river. The removal of dams is becoming more common than the building of them these days and will probably follow that trend in the near future.

So in this particular engineering example, it is the engineer’s job to weigh the benefits of building a dam against the negative effects if has on the environment of the area. They have to come up with sustainable arguments that support the project. Such arguments include if the dam is going to help the area’s environment more than hurt it and if it is worth the cost and effort put forth to complete the complicated project. And as mentioned earlier, if the benefits outweigh the negative effects, then the dam is built.

*Not completely finished. I want to add another paragraph or so about things engineers are doing now to become more sustainable, and then a conclusion.*