12 minute read
Uh-oh...where did the coho salmon go?
by Emily Simons
Southern resident killer whales, widely known as orcas, have historically been misunderstood. Killer whales get a bad rap. They're actually really intelligent, not to mention absolutely adorable. They like a salmon dinner even more than you do. People used to believe that orcas were harmful, and they were often killed in various ways. Some, for example, were used as target practice for the US Navy. After further research they were found to be a keystone species for the ecosystem in the Pacific Northwest.
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Similar to humans, orcas are very family oriented and stay with their mothers for life. According to Robert Davidson, an artist of the Haida people in British Columbia, "When you go underwater to visit the territory of the killer whales, it's no different from being on land, except that because you're in their world, you see them as humans."
Nowadays, with only 75 individuals left, they are on the endangered species list in both the United States and Canada. With the introduction of more boats and other types of marine transportation, it has become harder for the whales to find food through echolocation, their form of communication. Since they use sound waves in the water to communicate, the inclusion of other sounds, like boat motors, limits the distance and effectiveness of each call.
syndrome, which kills coho salmon within one-four hours.
Not only does the noise coming from other sources affect the population of southern resident killer whales but also the depletion of local salmon populations. Coho salmon are a big part of the southern resident killer whales’ diet and are essential to the food chain. With the depletion of coho and other types of salmon, it becomes harder for the whales to find food, causing the fracturing of pods, since they have to travel long distances in order to find food.
According to Dr. Edward Kolodziej from the University of Washington, fish coming in from the Pacific are found dead most likely due to urban runoff mortality
This means that in 20 years there is a very high possibility that the wild coho salmon will become extinct, inherently affecting the Pacific Northwest orca population.
After heavy rains, chemicals from heavily used roadways are flushed into the local waterways. When tires deteriorate, the rubber particles do not just disappear, but rather run into the Puget Sound and make the water toxic to sensitive species like salmon. This chemical is called hexamethoxymethylmelamine and builds up on the roads during dry seasons, but when it rains all of the buildup drains into the Puget Sound in high concentrations.
For many of the chemicals that we use in our daily lives, we have limited knowledge of what impacts they have on the environment or even on ourselves. For orcas, these chemicals have proven deadly.
Check out Inkwell’s travel blog and research on the southern resident killer whales at anniewrightinkwell.org/ category/travel.
Staying sustainable in the dorms by YoungSeo Jo
14 Annie Wright Schools are home to more than onehundred boarding students and faculty. As a community, the Annie Wright dormitory aims to promote sustainability but finds various roadblocks. When questioned about the possibility of incentivizing sustainability in the dorms, Jeff Barber, Director of Residential Life, highlighted the challenges faced by the faculty. “I have a philosophical struggle when interacting with a group of students where you are hoping to instill values,” he said. “Contests or privileges motivate people to do it in the moment, but ultimately, what we want is sustainability to become a lifelong practice, and that’s a harder thing to get at.” Despite challenges, communal living itself has the potential to be sustainable. According to Barber, the inherent sustainability comes from sharing a living space, leading to smaller geographical footprints. This potential at Annie Wright Schools, however, is being counteracted by the old system in the building. For example, the heating system is operated via fossil fuel, which is unsustainable but the only option with the nearly 100-yearold building. Barber expressed frustrations with students that leave the heater on and open the window when it gets too hot. “Using fossil fuel to heat water, heat rooms and having the windows wide open because it's too hot, it's not green,” he said. There were some ideas put forth to become more sustainable as a community. One of the proposed plans was meatless Mondays. According to Barber, this was met with backlash from the community members. “We have a way to go before we distinguish between the subtleties of meatless Mondays and the personal desire to eat meat,” he said. For many students the urgency of sustainability isn’t as significant as other factors in students' communal lives. Barber described a certain hierarchy of needs within the dorms to further stress this point. The first and the most essential need for communal living is for members to not impinge on each other. Second is to live a healthy life. This can be observed in the lights out rule in the dorms, which ensures that students have enough sleep. Third, when the last two needs have been achieved, there is a need for a higher quality of community life: in the dorms this may come in the form of having fun activities or having good quality food. Much lower in the hierarchy of needs is sustainability, being self sufficient and being conscious of the consequences the Compost is only available in the dining hall for dormers. Graphic by YoungSeo Jo.
dorms have on the external environment. “As you go up those scales, they get more subtle and difficult,” Barber said.
There are still basic things that dorm students can keep in mind to be more sustainable. Barber emphasized the mindset of REUSE, REDUCE, RECYCLE, particularly in reference to online shopping. According to Barber, most dormers get the things they need via online shopping while most of the things can be bought in the weekly run to shopping centers. Another way the dormers could promote sustainability is using reusable bottles.
When asked via a survey, the students also gave suggestions on how the dorms could become more sustainable. One student suggested easier access to the recycling bins by making recycling available to the second floor residence. As of now there is one bin in the basement and one in the communal student kitchen on the third floor. Another suggested that a compost bin become available to the students. As of now, composting is only accessible through the dining hall.
Many of the responses indicated that the school cannot do as much as the students themselves. “I don’t think the school can do anything, because the person would have to realize that they are not living sustainably, and that comes from consciousness, so really, the only thing the dorm could do is to inform people about the importance of sustainable living habits,” said one dorm student.
The debate over LNG
by Kaitlin Tan LNG plant fuels controversy in Tacoma
A local energy source that is considered a step forward but also a strain to sustainability is the Tacoma Puget Sound Energy (PSE) Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility. Building of the plant and use of LNG have stirred controversy among local stakeholders for more than five years.
LNG is a natural gas that is made up of a mixture of predominantly methane gas and ethane gas that has been cooled down to liquid form for easy transport. Compared to other fossil fuels like coal and oil, LNG is less polluting, as it releases half of the carbon emissions.
According to the Port of Tacoma’s website, “The facility will provide local transportation, including TOTE Maritime Alaska vessels, with a cleaner fuel alternative and will provide customers with dependable energy on cold days.”
Inkwell spoke to President of TOTE Maritime Alaska Vessels Grace Greene about converting her vessels to LNG and the benefits of the energy source. TOTE Maritime is an anchor tenant of PSE and has the world’s first LNG-powered Marlin class container ships. The company has recently completed phase 1 out of 4 of converting their vessels to LNG.
Protests against Puget Sound Energy's LNG facility have ensued in Pierce County since 2017. Photo by Grace Ritchie.
for our vessels,” she said. “The first one was to remain using diesel, which would mean letting more particulate matter… and sulfur dioxide into the air. The second one was to use exhaust scrubbers which would reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by 90% and other particulate matter
-Port of Tacoma
-Puyallup tribal council member Anna Bean
exhausts by 60-90%. The third one was to use LNG, which releases no sulfur dioxide emissions, reduces particulate matter by more than 90% and carbon emissions by 35%, and has virtually no impacts on the groundwater in Commencement Bay.” In response to the possibility of methane leaks as a result of the LNG plant, Greene said that it would be of minimal worry, as the gas would be conveyed to TOTE via a cryogenic pipeline between the plant and TOTE’s site that safely transports the LNG. She also stated that LNG is cooled to extremely low temperatures to compress the gas, so if there were a leak, the gas would dissipate into nothing if exposed to the air. “LNG is the most environmentally responsible energy source for our vessels,” she said.
Inkwell also spoke with Puyallup tribal council member Anna Bean about her concerns about the PSE LNG plant. The Puyallup tribe have long been in opposition of the LNG plant, having staged protests and rounded up supporters to write to Tacoma city council members to oppose the plant.
1 According to Bean, the tribe’s main concerns with the LNG plant include “the lack of consultation before the project began; the permitting processes and the work done outside permitting; the location of the plant, as it is right next to their waterways,...daycares, and homes; the possibility of a methane leak; and the extra strain that it poses on the Port of Tacoma as it is already polluted and poses great threat to the Bay and salmon population.”
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In 2014, PSE proposed building a liquified LNG facility in the Tacoma tideflats, which triggered an environmental review from the City of Tacoma otherwise known as the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) due to the fact that the project had the potential to cause significant environmental impacts.
In 2015, the final EIS was released in which the City of Tacoma commented on local environmental impacts but did not include safety or tribal treaty rights. In 2016, PSE began construction of the LNG plant despite not having all of their environmental permits secured, and in 2017, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency issued a notice of violation to PSE for their failure to obtain a notice of construction approval prior to construction.
Despite the advantages of using LNG, Bean said that there are misconceptions about the information conveyed about this form of energy. “[LNG] is cleaner, but by how much? Many are unaware of the fracking processes, and deep disturbance of the earth is not good for any of us,” she said.
Bean and her tribe have been active in the community peacefully protesting against the LNG plant and spreading information to all levels of government in Pierce County. While it has not highly impacted the PSE LNG plant construction, “[the tribe’s activism] has led to shedding light on proper consultation,” she said.
Bean said she hopes that Tacoma looks into using renewable energy sources like solar energy as an alternative to LNG, as LNG is a non-renewable energy source.
The LNG plant is scheduled to be finished in 2021.
The tipping point by Jade Cheatham
The environmental tipping point is the point at which human impact on the environment becomes so consequential that the effects of climate change are not reversible. The question, however, is how long we have to cut back on our environmental impacts, and whether we have we reached this point already.
There have been many theories thrown around about when this date is. Some say the next 10 or 20 years. It is possible that we have already reached a tipping point due to the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Because of the continuous debate, it is difficult to pinpoint our effect on the climate and when we need to begin changing our habits.
A United Nations climate study reported that greenhouse gas emissions have reached a record high, with roughly 40.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere in 2019.
The idea of a “Tipping Point” was first introduced about 15 yeas ago by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, who illustrated the idea that anthropogenic activities have the potential to push the Earth’s natural system past its equilibrium into a new one. This can be seen in collapses within some ecosystems, particularly the phenomenon of thawing ice in the Arctic and Antarctic. While these changes are significant, they may be fixable.
According to Professor of Environmental Science at Tacoma Community College Ralph Hitz, “We have emitted enough carbon to initiate a change in our climate that will last many centuries. It doesn’t mean it’s permanent.” Within the natural carbon cycle, the carbon release will eventually be absorbed naturally. However, the excess carbon release will perpetuate the climate system into destabilization.
The possibility that we have already passed a tipping point is also a viable idea. “Industrialization of the developing world accelerated the rate of carbon emissions,” said Hitz. “The second half of the twentieth century, where this rapid industrialization occurred, has inevitably put us down a path of no return, so we’ve already in a sense passed a tipping point, but we can also make it even worse.”
The release of carbon dioxide has continued to increase and will continue not only due to individual human impact but also by industrial impact as well. “The longer we emit excess carbon, the greater the change and longer it will last,” said Hitz.
