Ohio's Burning River

"An open septic tank with junk floating on top"

 

 

 

In Better Health 40 Years Later!

 

40 Years ago a spark flew from a train crossing a low bridge over the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. This spark ignited oil soaked debris in the water and causes the river to burn which then started the environmental movement. Now, 40 years later, the river is finally alive with fish and wildlife. At this same time other rivers in industrial cities in the United States were also prone to catching fire for this same reason. After the fire they started keeping track of fish in the early 1980s and parts of the river were so polluted that virtually nothing could survive. This event eventually lead to the Clean Water Act and now, 40 years later, the river has been declared as "reborn". The fact that an area to heavily devastated by pollution could be rehabilitated and made into a safe environment gives me hope for the rest of our planet.

 

 

 

Nowadays people seem to have this notion that just because they are only one person they cannot really do anything to make a difference. However, in instances such as this we see what individuals can do. Yes, it may have taken 40 years but it was a great success nonetheless! It takes every individual in a city, country and the world to take it upon themselves to save this planet. Sustainability starts on a personal level. Most people think that there isn't much that one person can do in one day to change the world, but it takes small, consistent steps to make something happen and the sooner we realize this the better.

 

 

 

Saving Bats from Wind-Farm Deaths

 

"Those swirling blades have been known to kill migratory bats"

 

My first thought when I heard this sentence was "bats migrate?" I guess you learn something new everyday! Yes this may have just been common sense but I willingly admit that I had no clue bats migrated. That being said, when the topic of wind turbines comes up the usual problems that people discuss are the effects that they have on migratory birds, bats are not issues that immediately come to mind but this does absolutely make sense. One turbine can kill several dozen bats in a year and when you take into consideration the sheer number of turbines throughout the entire United States this number can add up and effect the overall population of some of these species. Towards the end of the podcast someone brings up the idea of echolocation. In the very beginning of this discussion I had this same thought. I remember when I was young, doing a presentation on Flying Foxes, and learning that the saying "blind as a bat" really just means that bats use sonar to be their sight. I am just curious as to how bats run into these large structures if they should technically be able to sense them using echolocation.

 

I think that the simple solution that they came up with, to slow the blades down when the wind is low, could potentially help the situation. However, I think that it is hard to accurately guess when the bats will be migrating and therefore difficult to control the speed of the turbines effectively. They say that because bats are small animals that they will not fly when it is "too windy" but again, I think that is a difficult thing to judge.

 

The last thing in this podcast that fully surprised me was that they can die without actually hitting the turbine! The low pressure area near the tip of each blade can cause a vortex which causes the air in their lungs to expand rapidly and can cause fatal damage! Mind. Blown.