Swept up by the wind..

Looking outside my window I see a classic winter, windy, London scene. Trees are bare, branches swaying, misty low clouds and raindrops on my window. What I don't expect to see is an orange Supermarket bag attached on to one of the branches. With squirrels and birds frequently seen bouncing on these branches I'm concerned about what happens to all these cute little furry animals when they mistake it for food. Maybe because its orange they won't be tricked.. but what if it was white.. or black? They don't know any better....

So why do people just leave rubbish on the floor? Why don't they close their bin bags properly? Should stray plastic bags (or any rubbish for that matter) really be able to just be lifted into the air and straight into the mouth of an innocent creature? 

LETS CLEAN IT UP PEOPLE!

Oh Beijing, where art though?

Figure 1: Beijing; A city where "the air tastes like coal dust and car fumes" (BBC, 2013).

It is well known that Beijing is one of the most polluted places on the planet. There has been a long term association with people wearing paper face masks to protect themselves from the air-borne pollutants which are becoming more common than Oxygen itself. Even with all its well known tourist attractions (forbidden city and the Great Wall of China are only 2 of hundreds), people are losing inclanation to travel to this ancient city because of the health concerns. 

With a population of 19.6 million in 2010, it is one of the most densely populated cities in the world! No wonder its pollution levels are reaching "hazardous levels" (BBC, 2013) With 19 million people requiring heating in the winter and cooling in the summer, cars or public transport to get to work and food in manufactured packaging, of course pollutant emissions are dramatically high. The problem is that it is now affecting the health of millions of people

Research by Sun et al, 2006, has shown the the majority of air-borne pollution in Beijing is sourced from coal and traffic. However, it also presents the issue of how Beijing is found downwind of the majority of Asian dust sources. This dust is a major contributor to the low visibility (seen in Figure 1) and can have lethal impacts on human lives. Therefore, it is unfortunate that even if all emissions were eliminated, Beijing would still suffer the consequences from nearby dust sources. 

Telling kids to stay inside for their health is no way for them to grow up. Being able to play outside in open air is a part of childhood. Great efforts have been made however to make sure children (and adults) have somewhere to play sports and run around (The Guardian, 2014). Big bubbles of clean air are being constructed in schools which enable children to play all sports they would normally play outside.

Nevertheless, encouraging developments have been made in lowering emissions, to achieve a more inhabitable atmosphere. Smog levels have been recorded to have slightly dropped in 2014 (Yahoo, 2015). To achieve this the government had to take drastic measures, including shutting down factories, and restricting coal use. These could have impacted the economy of the city quite dramatically, so it is admirable that the government took such a big risk for the health of it's citizens.
The revelation that pollution has decreased in Beijing after these measures were implemented could make a huge difference from now on. It is solid, encouraging, proof, that mitigations strategies  are effective. 

So I can't go outside?

"Its like living in a giant smokers lounge"

See what my next blog will be about.

Should you become a vegetarian?

You know when you were a child and you realised that eating the tasty meat you were eating actually came from animals, and you questioned whether to stop eating meat all together? But then of course you were told that meat provided important benefits (especially protein) which were crucial to you growing up, so you found a way to be okay with it. Well now there is another reason why your diet should exclude delicious meaty goodness. Surprisingly enough it has to do with our climate!

As mentioned in the previous blog, methane has natural and anthropogenic sources. However in one specific case a source can be called both natural and anthropogenic, and that is of the excretion of methane during digestion of cattle species. Therefore whereas digestion by cattle is a natural occurrence which will occur even without the help of mankind, the demand for meat by humans has meant that there has been a dramatic growth in cattle to sustain the demand. Thus, the amount of methane being given off by these animals is copious.

To meat the demand of our ever growing, meat craving population, an increasing number of cattle are needed every year. Figure 1 below, shows us that whilst population has more than doubled, meat supply (in response to demand) has quadrupled in almost 50 years. So the meat being consumed has increased not only in total but also per person.

Figure 1

It is known that cattle will lose about 6% of their energy from food intake by emitting methane.Mc Ginn, 2004 examined the outputs of methane from 'beef' cattle when fed various diet supplements.  They discovered that sunflower oil decreased methane emissions by 22% ! This is a very interesting discovery, as it shows that there are simple ways of mitigating emissions, in a  relatively cost effective way. This is important because in the future cattle will definitely increase to meet demand, and consequently emissions will increase. Therefore if methane emissions of all cattle could decrease by 22% we could reach lower pollution levels than present. 

Forget CO2, what about Methane?

Methane is a greenhouse gas. Therefore, it contributes to the current global issue of global warming. Whilst Carbon Dioxide(CO2) is the primary greenhouse gas which receives the most attention and mitigation policies, Methane(CH4), receives much less attention. Its concentration is only a small fraction of that of CO2 but it has a Global Warming Potential of about 25 times that of CO2 (IPCC, 2007). This therefore makes it a crucial element of the atmosphere which has the potential to strongly impact todays and future climate. Figure 1 shows that even though Methane exists in much lesser quantities, it has followed a similar patter to CO2 in the way which it has expanded over the past 2000 years.

Figure 1

Methane is naturally and anthropogenically sourced. Natural sources include that of methanogenesis which is the process undergone by microorganisms to produce energy. Anthropogenic sources of methane include industrial processes and landfills. Natural and anthropogenic sources of methane are displayed in Figure 2 below. Methane is released in copious amounts under anaerobic conditions. An example of this is when permafrost melts and the carbon matter reaches temperatures where it can decompose and thus produce large amounts of methane (Blog).

Figure 2: Methane Cycle

Methane has a life cycle of approximately 8 years (Fiore et al, 2002). After which it will normally react with Oxygen to form Carbon Dioxide, which is the primary greenhouse gas causing concern for global warming. Thus, it can be concluded that even if all anthropogenic sources of CO2 were eliminated (or mitigated) a large proportion of methane would be converted into CO2.

Paleological records show that in the past methane levels have not altered greatly, but have followed natural variations. However, in the past 100 years, methane levels have diverged from their natural patterns and began an accelerated increase. Today, methane concentrations on a global average are almost triple that of pre-industrial levels (Figure 1). 

The importance of mitigating methane emissions are well highlighted in Johnson & Johnson, 1995. They state that the attractive quality of methane for mitigating as opposed to CO2 is that it has a very short atmospheric life time (8 years), therefore reducing emissions in the present or future will have a much speedier impact. Nevertheless, I believe CO2 will always be of most concern to everyone as it is currently found at such massive concentrations.

Dont wash your face!!

Amount of microbeads found in each of these facial cleansers

Micro plastics (less than 10mm in diameter) are derived either directly from the virgin pellets used to manufacture plastic goods or indirectly by the photo-degradation of larger plastic products over time.

The problem with micro plastics is that because they are so small and therefore invisible to the naked eye, they not only pass through filtering systems very easily, and therefore can be found in our drinking water but can also contaminate lakes. 

Microplastics (microbeads) are now commonly found in facial cleansers as a substitute to natural exfoliates (which are more expensive) 

How do microplastics cause damage?

UV degradation of macroplastics makes them prone to absorbing hydrophobic materials such as PCBs which have detrimental effects to the human nervous system. The same degradation can lead to additives which are used to increase the durability of plastics to then leach out.

The very small size of the microplastics means that larger animals don't face problems by ingesting them, as they will pass straight through the digestive system. However, planktonic organisms however can not survive for long after ingestion of microplastics or exposure to the toxins which leach out of the plastics (Cole et al, 2009). Additionally, if the plastics don't cause immediate damage to the organism, but when directed up the food chain (Zitko & Hanlon, 1991) can cause greater impairment. 

Small animals will consume very high quantities of microplastics, because they aren't visible and are easily transferable all across the oceans by currents. Therefore, even though a single micro plastic may not cause damage, large quantities will accumulate and agglomerate which can then cause suffocation, starvation or block digestive tracts (Fendall & Sewell, 2009).

Conclusion? Look out for what is in your facial cleansers before buying them. 

It's all Rubbish!!

Plastic is used for everything. It is produced at such large quantities (and in my opinion often unnecessary) that plastic debris is now reaching ‘relatively’ untouched areas of the planet such as North Pacific, South Pacific and Antarctica (Gregory, 2009). The properties of plastic which make it so popular, such as it being colourful, light and durable  are the same properties which make them have devastating impacts on the environment, as they are easily mistaken for food and therefore are often mistakenly fed to baby birds by their mothers and buoyant, so they are accidentally ingested by shallow-diving birds. Furthermore, their durability means that they disintegrate very slowly.

Figure 1: Location of North Pacific Garbage Patch

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is created by the movement of ocean currents(from the rotation of the Earth) around the North Pacific Gyre. It transports debris from the the West coast of the US and Japan around into the centre of the pacific where it all accumulates to create what is named the "Garbage patch". The debris gets trapped in the less moving centre of the gyre whereas the exterior is constantly moving cyclically which drags further debris into the centre. Other than the soup of debris which floats on the surface, it has been discovered that 70% of marine debris actually sinks to the bottom of the ocean (National Geographic).

Damage to animals can be caused in multiple ways: 

1. Ingestion 

Figure 2: Entangled Seal

• Can block digestive tracts
• cause starvation
• damage stomach lining

2. Entanglement

• cause animals to drown
• cause deforment
• become wounded
• turtles are most commonly entangled
• impaired hunting abilities 

Facts:

• The majority of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch contains 6 times more plastic than plankton
• Every bit of plastic ever made still exists, because it resists biodegradation (According to Captain Moore, who discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 1997)
• Prior to the 1950s fisheries used rope which is made of natural fibres and therefore disintegrated fairly quickly. Since then however these have been replaced by synthetic materials which are far more buoyant (and therefore pose a threat to shallow-diving birds (Ryan,2008)) and more durable and hence can remain in the oceans for far longer (Gregory,2004).
• Ghost fishing has been identified as a detrimental issue in a lot of primary fishing areas across the world, where abandoned fishing nets continue to catch fish  which are then lost. Al-Masroori, 2004 estimated a loss of $145 per trap within 3 months of abandonment 
• The extent of the plastic landfill look a like is now twice the size of Texas. 
• Entanglement and Ingestion has been found to have increased by 40% in the past decade (Thompson, 2013)
• Nurdles are pea sized plastic pieces used for the manufacturing of plastic products  
• The size of plastic ingested is relative to bird size (Cole, 2011, Ryan,1987) 
• Seals and sea lions are known to be attracted to packing loops, and therefore become entangled, which causes strangulation (Boren et al, 2006)). See the poor seal in Figure 2.
• More than 99% of plastic found ingested by Albatrosses in the Hawaiian islands has been identified to be manufactured from Japan (Fry et al, 1987). 
• Plastic is the most dominant form of debris in the Black sea (47%) (Lechner, 2014), driven by river currents from the many sources of the Danube river in various countries. Figure 3 shows the various types of plastics found, from very small to much larger. 

Figure 3: Types of plastics found in the river Danube

Error in assumptions

Amounts of total macro plastics has recently been shown to decrease. This has been from the concentration of plastics in samples collected from the ocean and also the number of birds (Ryan 2008). Micro plastics (virgin pellets used for the composition of plastic products)

However, the method used, only included data from dead birds. Therefore there is a bias in the results in that only birds that have ingested very large quantities of these plastics and therefore faced life threatening difficulties will have died and therefore been able to be dissected.

What to do?

Several mechanisms have been thought out about how to clean up the problem of marine debris pollution. With a special focus on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch because of its size and concentration (e.g. Boyan Slat). Charles Moore the discoverer of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has stated that "the cost for cleaning up the patch would be enough to bankrupt any nation"(National Geographic). Issues relating to how to differentiate between very small pieces of plastic and small fish.