lei pakalana(traditional) - university of kentuckyweb.as.uky.edu/biology/faculty/gleeson/bio...
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NASA
Lei Pakalana (traditional)
He awe mai au, lei pakalanaE ia one pua, lei pakalana
He awe mai au, lei poni moieE ia one pua, lei awapuhi
Haina i mai, ana kapuanaE ia one pua, lei pakalana (repeat)
Translation:You are indeed proud, my lei pakalanaThe soft fragrance waftingAs though sayingYou are the cherished one in this, my heartWho would not share my enthrallmentYou have already been told, you are the beautyLet the fragrance of my heavenly one, be toldFor the pakalana blossom, set in glory
BIO 102 Human Ecology
Aloha! Welcome to
Who am I?
- Scott Gleeson- Biology Department Faculty
- other courses include - BIO 152 – majors intro- BIO 575 – Plant Anatomy- BIO 609 – graduate ecology
- research – plant ecology
Who are you? - >250 of you (so far)- mostly freshman and sophomores- “Non-majors”! (what is that?)- at least 11 colleges
US,AS,AG,ED,SW,DS,BE,AH,CI,FA,EN- many more majors
What will the course be like?- details on website
Access through Blackboard- lecture format & text (Miller/Spoolman)- 3 in-class exams (Feb 16, Mar 30, May 6)- online quizzes on reading (weekly)- possible other stuff (e.g., extra credit)
Teaching philosophy- I work for you- You are adults (responsible)
The course has two main components
1. Lecture – focus onBiodiversity
Current events - BioNews
2. Textbook reading – human impacts
-creation story
And now, our first episode of
BIOLOGYIn The News!
Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Shatters All-time Record Low, Report Scientists.ScienceDaily (Sep. 21, 2007) — Scientists from the University of Colorado at Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center said today that the extent of Arctic sea ice appears to have reached its minimum for 2007 on Sept. 16, shattering all previous lows since satellite record-keeping began nearly 30 years ago.
Arctic sea ice generally reaches its minimum extent in September and its maximum extent in March. "The amount of ice loss this year absolutely stunned us because it didn't just beat all previous records, it completely shattered them," said CU-Boulder senior scientist Mark Serreze of NSIDC.
Scientists blame the declining Arctic sea ice on rising concentrations of greenhouse gases that have elevated temperatures from 2 degrees F to 7 degrees F across the arctic and strong natural variability in Arctic sea ice, said the researchers.
http://www.ucar.edu/news/releases/2007/seaice.shtml
Greenland Melt Accelerating, According To Climate Scientist
ScienceDaily (Dec. 12, 2007) — The 2007 melt extent on the Greenland ice sheet broke the 2005 summer melt record by 10 percent, making it the largest ever recorded there since satellite measurements began in 1979, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder climate scientist Konrad Steffen.
Greenland is about one-fourth the size of the United States, and about 80 percent of its surface area is covered by the massive ice sheet. Greenland hosts about one-twentieth of the world's ice-- the equivalent of about 21 feet of global sea rise. The current contribution of Greenland ice melt to global sea levels is about 0.5 millimeters annually.
Helicopter surveys indicate there has been an increase in cylindrical, vertical shafts in Greenland's ice known as moulins, which drain melt water from surface ponds down to bedrock, he said. "These melt-water drains seem to allow the ice sheet to respond more rapidly than expected to temperature spikes at the beginning of the annual warm season," Steffen said.
"The more lubrication there is under the ice, the faster that ice moves to the coast," said Steffen. "Those glaciers with floating ice 'tongues' also will increase in iceberg production."
Steffen maintains an extensive climate-monitoring network of 22 stations on the Greenland ice sheet known as the Greenland Climate Network, transmitting hourly data via satellites to CU-Boulder to study ice-sheet processes.
Air temperatures on the Greenland ice sheet have increased by about 7 degrees Fahrenheit since 1991, primarily a result of the build-up of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere, according to scientists.
This course will have lots of info like that
What we know matters
But also how we feel about itOur relationship with nature
My slogan:
“Living in Paradise, working on Utopia”
What’s your vision of Utopia?
And now, more
BIOLOGYIn The News!
Coal Ash Spill Revives Issue of Its HazardsBy SHAILA DEWANPublished: December 24, 2008
KINGSTON, Tenn. — What may be the nation’s largest spill of coal ash lay thick and largely untouched over hundreds of acres of land and waterways Wednesday after a dam broke this week, as officials and environmentalists argued over its potential toxicity.
Federal studies have long shown coal ash to contain significant quantities of heavy metals like arsenic, lead and selenium, which can cause cancer and neurological problems. But with no official word on the dangers of the sludge in Tennessee, displaced residents spent Christmas Eve worried about their health and their property, and wondering what to do.
The spill took place at the Kingston Fossil Plant, a Tennessee Valley Authority generating plantabout 40 miles west of Knoxville on the banks of the Emory River, which feeds into the Clinch River, and then the Tennessee River just downstream.
Friday, Jan. 09, 2009Toxic coal ash piling up in ponds in 32 states
By DINA CAPPIELLO - Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON -- Millions of tons of toxic coal ash is piling up in power plant ponds in 32 states, a situation the government has long recognized as a risk to human health and the environment but hasdone nothing about.
An Associated Press analysis of the most recent Energy Department data found that 156 coal-fired power plants store ash in surface ponds similar to one that ruptured last month in Tennessee. On Friday, a pond at a northeastern Alabama power plant spilled a different material.
Records indicate that states storing the most coal ash in ponds are Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama.
Tuesday, Jul. 14, 2009
Tenn. spill site isn't on EPA hazard list
By Duncan Mansfield - Associated Press KNOXVILLE — The Tennessee site of one of the nation's worst coal ash spills failed to make a federal list of ash storage ponds posing the highest potential threat to nearby residents — a list that was compiled in response to the massive Tennessee disaster.
Critics say the Kingston Fossil Plant's absence from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "high hazard" list underscores the need for greater federal oversight of coal ash and the weakness of a system that allows the Tennessee Valley Authority and other ash-site operators to rate their own storage sites.
"It's outrageous," said Steve Smith, director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "EPA as the regulator should not be allowing the utilities to regulate themselves on the safety of toxic coal. This is a fundamentally flawed approach to protecting human health and the environment." "The states give the sites their ratings. EPA does not rate the sites," EPA spokeswoman Tisha Petteway said. However in Tennessee, the self-regulating TVA assumes this authority.
TVA spokesman John Moulton said the "low" hazard rankings "were assigned by TVA personnel" some time ago, but they will be updated. "Clearly the accident at Kingston is a learning experience for TVA and the entire industry, and how to reduce risk is something that everyone in the industry is looking at," Moulton said.
When faced with a problem, first assign blame. Who’s fault is this?
1. first
Chemical linked to Parkinson's diseaseBy Sarah VosHERALD-LEADER.COM January 9, 2008
In the late 1970s, Eddie Abney cleaned grease from metal gauges at a Berea factory using a chemical solvent called trichloroethylene, or TCE. The chemical, which is still used today as an industrial degreaser, soaked through his cotton gloves and into his skin. It splattered on his clothes. He breathed in its vapors.At night, when he came home, he would tell his wife that the smell was killing him.It may have been.
Researchers at the University of Kentucky have linked industrial use of TCE to Parkinson's disease, which Abney has. It was Abney, 51, who pointed researchers to a possible connection, leading to a study that was published last month
The study found that three people who directly handled TCE at the factory where Abney worked developed Parkinson's disease. An additional 14, who breathed in its vapors, had early symptoms of Parkinson's. As part of the study, researchers gave rats TCE. All of them showed brain damage to the same cells as Parkinson's patients, damage done through the same cellular pathway, the mitochondria.
Video: http://w2.uky.edu/UKPR/videos/parkinsonsandtce.mov
"We're now focusing our attention on mitochondrial dysfunctions, looking at ways to intervene and promote recovery of mitochondrial functions," said Don Gash, the lead researcher.
TCE is a clear liquid, most often used to clean grease from metal. It is found in adhesives, paint removers, typewriter correction fluids and spot removers, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
TCE does not occur naturally but it is a common contaminant of water, air and soil near factories, military installations and hundreds of waste sites around the country, according to the National Academy of Sciences.
Link to movie
LAS VEGAS — The 15,000 fans packing the sold-out MGM Grand arena were enjoying the final concert of the season by Jimmy Buffett, a singer whose popularity and fortune grow greater even as he grows grayer. Buffett, who turned 62 on Christmas Day, long ago became an icon of certain baby boomers by offering the dream of throwing off their responsibilities for his tropical party vibe.
Thursday, Jan. 01, 2009The Mogul of MargaritavilleBy Nicholas K. Geranios - Associated Press
His recent License to Chill was the first No. 1 album of his career. In October, he was chosen by Vanity Fair as No. 97 on a list of the 100 most influential people. In the world. Buffett is rather rare among aging crooners in that his fan base is broad, and is not tied solely to a string of past hit songs. For most of his career, Buffett had only one Billboard Top 10 hit, Margaritaville, in 1977.
What he offers his fans is an accessible fantasy.
"Anyone of any age could imagine retiring to a tropical paradise and drinking margaritas," said Brian Hiatt, an associate editor for Rolling Stone who covers the concert industry ."There is something extra-musical about the whole thing."
Jimmy Buffett - Margaritaville
Nibblin' on sponge cake,watchin' the sun bake;All of those tourists covered with oil.Strummin' my six string on my front porch swing.Smell those shrimpThey're beginnin' to boil.
Wasted away again in Margaritaville,Searchin' for my lost shaker of salt.Some people claim that there's a woman to blame,But I know it's nobody's fault.
Don't know the reason,Stayed here all seasonWith nothing to show but this brand new tattoo.But it's a real beauty,A Mexican cutie, how it got hereI haven't a clue.
Wasted away again in Margaritaville,Searchin' for my lost shaker of salt.Some people claim that there's a woman to blame,Now I think, - hell it could be my fault.
I blew out my flip flop,Stepped on a pop top,Cut my heel, had to cruise on back home.But there's booze in the blender,And soon it will renderThat frozen concoction that helps me hang on.
Wasted away again in MargaritavilleSearchin' for my lost shaker of salt.Some people claim that there's a woman to blame,But I know, it's my own damn fault.Yes, and some people claim that there's a woman to blameAnd I know it's my own damn fault.
Great Designs: Pop TopsOnce a week I’ll try to give praise to a product or design that has made our lives easier without any side-effects. This week I’d like to thank the inventor of the pop top, Ermal Cleon Fraze. In 1959 he came up with the aluminum tab opener for cans. Before that cans were only accessible by knives, keys or by banging them on sharp rocks. Fraze’s first version used a lever that pierced a hole in the can but resulted in sharp, sometimes dangerous edges. Later he created the familiar pull-tab version, which had a ring attached at the rivet for pulling, and which would come off completely to be tossed aside.
Then later pop tops were made to cleverly push out a crimped hole in the top of the can. Think about that little hole on top of that can. It’s solid and never leaks, but if that pop top presses on it with the right force it pops through. Pretty
In the mid 90s that hole got bigger when Mountain Dew released it’s WIDE MOUTH CAN!!!! So that you could maximize the amount of DEW you could DO at once. Now today that wide mouth can is standard on all soda and beer
Also, soup cans have pull back tabs with the same kind of idea. The can-opener has virtually been eliminated.
So next time you crack that cold brewski, which I hope you are doing right now, think of the guy who gave you a beer you didn’t have to open with your keys; Ermal Cleon Fraze.
http://nickonomics.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/great-designs-pop-tops/
From: Nickonomics
Our activities affect our environment
Our environment can be thought of as Natural Capital
Natural Capital =Natural Resources +
Natural Services
How should we use this Natural Capital?
Fig 1-2
Thursday, Jan. 07, 2010
Georgetown couple winners of $128 million lottery ticket
By Shawntaye Hopkins - [email protected]
LOUISVILLE — There were many sleepless nights after Rob and Tuesday Anderson realized they'd won the largest Powerball jackpot in Kentucky history.
Rob Anderson said he drank a few beers to calm his nerves while the $128.6 million ticket, which he bought Christmas Eve at a Pro Travel Marathon in Georgetown, was kept in a safe.
"We've thrown up a couple of times," said Rob Anderson, 39
The couple had wanted to remain anonymous but figured the media probably would learn their identities, Rob Anderson said. The Andersons declined to say whether they will remain in Georgetown. Rob Anderson, wearing a blue shirt, said they bleed University of Kentucky blue. "We don't live flamboyant lifestyles," Rob Anderson said. "That's not us."
They have discussed taking a trip to Hawaii and buying a new car. Rob Anderson, who does not have a college degree, said they also have considered going back to school. He said he would consider majoring in finance. "We just want to stay grounded and don't forget where we came from," Tuesday Anderson said.
Suppose you just won $1 million dollars in the lottery? What would
you do with it?
1. Enter answer text...
Ok, so we get a bunch of useful stuff from the earth and it’s natural systems for “free”. Great! What’s the problem?
“Capital” implies a store of wealth that can generate “interest”
- you can live off the interest indefinitely, but if you start spending the capital, interest declines and capital can beexhausted.
Why use the term “natural capital”?
Textbook example: $1 million in lottery- 10% interest yields $100,000 per year indefinitely- spend $200,000 per year, broke in 7 years
Human impacts can degrade Natural Capital – why?
Fig 1-6
Fig 1-4
Population increase is a major part of increasing human impacts
What else?
The Tragedy of the Commons
Garrett Hardin (1915-2003)
The tragedy of the commons develops in this way. Picture a pasture open to all. It is to be expected that each herdsman will try to keep as many cattle as possible on the commons. Such an arrangement may work reasonably satisfactorily for centuries…. Finally, however, comes the day of reckoning…. At this point, the inherent logic of the commons remorselessly generates tragedy.
As a rational being, each herdsman seeks to maximize his gain… he asks “What is the utility to me of adding one more animal to the herd? The utility has one negative and one positive component…. Since the herdsman receives all the proceeds from the sale of the additional animal, the positive utility is nearly +1. The negative component is a function of the additional overgrazing created by one more animal. Since, however, the effects of overgrazing are shared by all…the negative utility [for the herdsman] is only a fraction of -1.
Adding together the component partial utilities, the rational herdsman concludes that the only sensible course for him to pursue is to add another animal to his herd. And another, and another…. But this is the conclusion reached by each and every rational herdsman sharing a commons.
Therein is the tragedy. Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit – in a world that is limited. Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.
- Garret Hardin 1968
Why don’t we manage our capital wisely?
Fig 1-8
Which of these causes are related to the Tragedy of the Commons?
How do we feel about these problems?
The Merry Minuet-- Sheldon Harnick @1958
They're rioting in AfricaThey're starving in SpainThere's hurricanes in FloridaAnd Texas needs rainthe Whole world is festering with unhappy soulsThe French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the PolesItalians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the DutchAnd I don't like Anybody very much.
But we can be tranquil and thankful and proudFor man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloudAnd we know for certain that some lucky daySomeone will set the spark off and we will all be blown away
They're rioting in AfricaThere's strife in IranWhat nature doesn't do to usWill be done by our fellow Man
Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell (1970)
They paved paradiseAnd put up a parking lotWith a pink hotel, a boutiqueAnd a swinging hot spot
Chorus:Don’t it always seem to goThat you don’t know what you’ve gotTill its goneThey paved paradiseAnd put up a parking lot
They took all the treesPut ‘em in a tree museumAnd they charged the peopleA dollar and a half just to see ‘em
Chorus
Hey farmer farmerPut away that DDT nowGive me spots on my applesBut leave me the birds and the beesPlease!
Chorus
Late last nightI heard the screen door slamAnd a big yellow taxiTook away my old man
Chorus
And now, more
BIOLOGYIn The News!
In the beginning, Christians believe, Godcreated the Earth. And on the sixth day, mankindwas created to be a caretaker of it.
It’s a charge some churches are now taking toheart.
From the beginning, “humanity should have donea better job of caring for creation,” said Lisa Davison,Professor of First (Old) Testament at LexingtonTheological Seminary. “We must change our behaviorand recognize the incredible gift we have been givenand treat it with the great respect creation deserves. Icommend any church or congregation that iscommitted to being better stewards of creation andthat is willing to make the changes in their behaviorthat will reflect this commitment.”
Inherit the EarthFaith communities step up their global stewardshipBy Margaret Buranen – special to the Herald LeaderJanuary 12, 2008
One such local faith community is the Unitarian Universalist Church in Lexington, where members have set a goal of reaching Green Sanctuary status, as certified by the national denominational headquarters. The Green Sanctuary Program (http://uuministryforearth.org) calls for churches to "build a connection between spiritual practice and environmental consciousness "
At Central Christian Church, the youth group recently teamed up with members of Twin Pines Christian and First Christian in Shelbyville to create a prayer gardennear the Catholic Action Center. The project, said Shane Isaac, resident minister at Central Christian, "fits well with our desire to learn more about our responsibility for creation as urban dwellers."
Southland Christian Church has focused efforts on recycling, placing bins in the office area and other buildings. In addition, the operations staff makes sure lights and heating and cooling are turned down or off when buildings are not in use. Regular lighting was replaced by energy efficient bulbs and energy management systems are used to control the climate in each building.Senior Minister Jon Weece has preached sermons about environmentalism.
Hendrika Pauley and son Logan Pauley participated in the Fourth
of July parade, drawing attention to environmental stewardship
Monday, Jan. 11, 2010
Pope denounces failure to forge new climate treaty
NICOLE WINFIELD - Associated Press Writer
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI denounced the failure of world leaders to agree to a new climate change treaty in Copenhagen last month, saying Monday that world peace depends on safeguarding God's creation.
"To cultivate peace, one must protect creation!" Benedict told the ambassadors. "The protection of creation is not principally a response to an aesthetic need, but much more to a moral need, inasmuch as nature expresses a plan of love and truth which is prior to us and which comes from God," he said.
To illustrate his point, the German-born pope recalled the experiences of eastern Europe under the "materialistic and atheistic regimes" of the former Soviet bloc. "The denial of God distorts the freedom of the human person, yet it also devastates creation."
"I trust that in the course of this year ... it will be possible to reach an agreement for effectively dealing with this question," Benedict said. Benedict has been dubbed the "green pope" for his increasingly vocal concern about protect the environment
Fig 1-10
It is generally agreed that the “solution” to these problems is to make our society
SUSTAINABLE
The textbook’s definition:
Sustainability: the ability of earth’s various systems to survive and adapt to environmental conditions indefinitely.
(including humans)
What can we do?
Many agree with Miller that
Environmentally Sustainable Societies: meet the basic needs of its people in a just and equitable
manner without degrading the natural capital that supplies theseresources.
http://www.ciria.org/complianceplus/sustainability.htm
Defining what ‘green’ means: New officer makes list of resolutions for first yearJanuary 13, 2010 by Katie Perkowski Kentucky Kernal
Porous pavement, more bike lanes and a new face for the Web site — all are in Shane Tedder’s plan for 2010.Tedder, UK’s recently appointed sustainability officer, has a list of plans in mind for the new year to make campus more environmentally-friendly.
One of the early challenges the committee faces is coming up with a working definition of what sustainability means at UK, Tedder said.“… (It) is hard to do because defining sustainability is really a moving target and a lot of people have defined it in different ways,” he said.
“Promoting sustainability goes way beyond an environmental agenda. It involves a triple bottom line, one that equally values ECONOMIC vitality, SOCIAL justice/equity, and ECOLOGICAL integrity. To pursue sustainability means taking care of people, prosperity, and the planet. Another way to think about sustainability is to compare it to responsible GLOBAL citizenship.”
Is there any human activity or discipline that is NOT relevant to this goal?
In this course, we will focus primarily on the upper circle, our planet and how it functions
Environmentally Sustainable Societies
Fig 1-1
END