Ecoleaders' Newsletter - APR24

ECOLEADERS’ NEWSLETTER

Photo by Matthew Cavanaugh

NEWS OF THE MONTH

GLOBAL NEWS

Read to learn about worldwide climate news! This month, we feature news on the accelerating rise in sea levels and the 4th global coral bleaching

What is Earth day? How did it start? Why is it so important? What are the goals climate activists are looking to achieve?

REFLECTIVE PAINT

HISTORY OF EARTHDAY

Learn about Greece’s white painted buildings, and how their chemical makeup may be one of the solutions to combat climate change.

Elephants make amazing contributions to their ecosystems, though their population’s declining. Learn about the causes, and the cruelty behind the elephant tourism industry.

SOLAR ECLIPSE TRIP

ELEPHANT ENDANGERMENT

The solar eclipse just happened!! What is it? What causes it? How does it affect animal behavior and organisms in nature?

Learn about Giffin Moore and Jimmy Bechter’s leaf composting project for their Environmental Studies class, and how it could be implemented into the NMH farm!

GLOBAL NEWS

by Kelvin Cheung

SCAN THE QR CODES TO LEARN MORE!

NASA REPORT SHOWED ACCELERATING RISE IN THE GLOBAL AVERAGE SEA

NASA recently released an analysis showing the global average sea level has risen a total of 9.4 centimeters since 1993 and the rate of the increase is accelerating. It increased to 0.18 centimeters per year in 1993 and to 0.42 centimeters currently. The rate of change will keep increasing. Extrapolation shows that we are getting an extra 20 centimeters increase by 2050, doubling the amount of change in the next 30 years. The analysis is done on a longterm sea level dataset that contains more than 30 years of satellite observations. Although the seasonal effect, the El Niño effect did cause a jump in ocean level from 2022 to 2023, the accelerating trend is present over decades.

LEVEL

THE 4TH GLOBAL CORAL BLEACHING EVENT IS HAPPENING NOW

Coral reefs are important because they house a huge biodiversity in our ecosystem and protect our coastline but offer a buffer to storms, floods, and waves. Nevertheless, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared on 4/15 that a “4th global coral bleaching event” is happening currently due to extreme ocean heat The mass bleaching in coral reefs is across the globe because bleaching has been documented for the last 14 months in all major ocean basins. As the world's ocean temperature continues to rise, coral bleaching will happen more frequently and at a much more severe intensity Coral reefs will eventually die if bleaching events happen regularly and severely

Photo by NOAA Teacher at Sea Program

Photo by Andrew Ibarra

THE HISTORY OF EARTH DAY

WHAT IS EARTH DAY?

It is an annual celebration of the environmental movement’s accomplishments. This day aims to raise awareness regarding climate change and the growing need to protect Earth’s natural resources. Earth day falls on April 22nd since it’s between colleges' spring break and final exams.

EARTH DAY ACHIEVEMENTS

by Amy Vongvasin

HOW DID IT BEGIN?

Inspired by the 60s’ environmental activism, the first Earth Day was created by senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970. It was a national celebration, educating 20 million attendees on environmental conservation. Twenty years later, Denis Hayes organized a global Earth Day. It brought together activists from all over the globe, more than 140 countries and 200 million people participated in raising awareness and taking action. The Earth Day Network, formed when this event began, emphasized their belief that ‘all people, regardless of race, gender, income, or geography, have a moral right to a healthy, sustainable environment.’

1970 Earth Day led to the enactment of many environmental laws: the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts, as well as the establishment of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) 2000 with a focus on clean energy, hundreds of millions of people and five thousand environmental groups from 184 countries came together and celebrated Earth Day.

2016 Paris Climate Agreement, an international treaty on climate change, was signed by 196 countries on Earth Day (it’s now 195 since the U.S. withdrew)

CORE ISSUES THE EARTH DAY NETWORK FOCUSES ON

Climate change: raising awareness about climate change, human impacts, and methods in which individuals can mitigate it

Conservation and Biology: preserving Earth’s biodiversity

Education: improving climate literacy among students

Energy: supporting initiatives that develop renewable energy

Food and Agriculture: highlighting destructive farming practices and advocating for organic, local, and sustainable alternatives

Recycling, Reusing, and Reducing Waste: promoting practices which minimizes waste

Advocacy: encourage the public to engage with elected officials to promote environmental issues

Photo by Leo Patrizi

Photo from The New York Times

REFLECTIVE PAINT

by Payton Bonang

Greece’s aesthetically pleasing, white buildings could be a crucial step in decreasing global warming. Why? If you’ve ever walked in a city on a hot day, where the concrete and asphalt are burning, you probably were feeling the results of the urban heat island effect. This is where cities with minimal trees and tightly packed, concrete skyscrapers absorb sunlight and trap heat within the cities. This causes more people to install and use air conditioners, which emit carbon dioxide and contribute to global warming So, a vicious cycle of heat is created But going back to Greece, it turns out that the white buildings have more of a purpose than looking aesthetically pleasing.

How? White paint can reflect sunlight and limit the need for air conditioners. Purdue University engineers have formulated a paint that is 98.1% reflective and “the paint can keep surfaces 19 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than their ambient surroundings at night. It can also cool surfaces 8 degrees Fahrenheit below their surroundings under strong sunlight during noon hours ” The effectiveness of this paint would allow for a 40% decrease in the use of air conditioning while maintaining the same internal temperature This is really important because by 2050 it is predicted that there will globally be over 5 billion air conditioner installations.

Explain a bit more, please. The paint’s reflectivity comes from using various particle sizes of barium sulfate, which is a chemical compound that is also found in photography paper. Purdue University student Joseph Peoples explained that “a high concentration of particles that are also different sizes gives the paint the broadest spectral scattering, which contributes to the highest reflectance ” So, this paint will not only prevent a surface from heating up, but will even cool it down In order to offset the impacts being felt by current carbon emissions, over one hundred billion gallons of this white paint would need to be painted on about 2% of the earth’s landmass, which is roughly the size of the United States. This isn’t to say we should paint the whole of the US white. It would actually be more effective to paint many smaller sections throughout the globe. This could help to alleviate climate change effects being felt by underdeveloped nations and it is a more economically feasible solution It also can be used along with other methods, such as larger reconstruction projects that are being performed to make cities more environmentally friendly.

This seems too good to be true. Well…it may be. Mining for barium, not to mention so much of it, could cause harm to surrounding communities. If it were to get into water supplies, humans who ingest large quantities of the compound can experience paralysis and changes in their heart rhythm. However, barite, which is a mineral composed of barium sulfate, is mined for use in oil drilling. To be more specific, up to 95% of the barium that’s mined globally is used for the process of drilling for oil and gas. So the question really is, will the benefits from the use of the paint outweigh any harm it causes? I believe that this is a climate change mitigation method that should continue to be used with careful attention to the effects caused by mining.

Photo by David C Tomlinson

ELEPHANT POPULATION AT RISK

IN AFRICA AND ASIA

by Amy Vongvasin

Not only are elephants the biggest land animals in the world, but they are also ecosystem engineers!!! They can create habitats in dense forests by simply walking and making empty pathways. Additionally, one rainy day filling up elephant footprints with water can form a whole micro-ecosystem, providing a home for tadpoles and other small organisms. These gentle giants are simply magnificent. However, in the past decades, African elephant populations have plummeted by a staggering 98%, while Asian elephant populations have declined by 50%. These numbers are still decreasing, and wild elephants are considered endangered. Many factors contribute to this population decline:

HABITAT LOSS

The expanding human population in Africa is encroaching on elephant habitats, turning rangelands into farmlands. As a result, the hungry herds often raid farmers' crops. This, combined with farm animal overgrazing, leads to conflicts and casualties for both human and elephant communities. Furthermore, habitat fragmentation due to infrastructure development also divides rangelands and isolates elephant herds. This limits breeding opportunities, harming genetic diversity, and makes it harder for them to access food and water throughout the year.

IVORY POACHING

More than twenty thousand African elephants are slaughtered yearly for their ivory tusks. These kills are, of course, illegal as many governments have initiated concerted actions to prevent these wildlife hunts. Many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and China have since banned any ivory trading. However, a handful of tusk smugglings still persist within illegal networks, often alongside drugs and other illicit products. The demand for ivory remains highest in East Asia, where it is associated with luxury and status symbols. Thus, elephants are still being hunted today.

Photo by CNN

Photo by Save the Elephants

“A FEW MOMENTS OF FUN ON AN ELEPHANT’S BACK FOR A TOURIST CAN MEAN A LIFETIME OF ABUSE FOR THE ELEPHANT”

Elephant tourism includes elephant rides, shows, bathing, and feeding. It generally takes place in South and Southeast Asia. However, many tourists don’t realize the cruelty behind these performances. These businesses illegally trap wild baby elephants from their herd and take them away where they’re forced to behave unnaturally. These elephants constantly go through inhumanely harsh training, are restrained in tight ropes, and are subjected to beating, starvation, isolation, and psychological abuse. They are forced to carry people through lousy streets, do circus tricks, paint, and are kept in constant pain so they will obey.

As a Thai person, I’m ashamed to admit that prior to my discovery of the cruelty behind the scenes, I have witnessed Elephant shows and ridden an elephant before. Tragically, Elephant tourism is a legal, prominent, and glorified industry in Thailand, as it is in many other Asian countries.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP?

As we live in the Western world, there is not a lot of hands-on opportunities available to help. However, it’s good to keep in mind that if you ever get the chance to visit South/Southeast Asia, make sure to stay away from any form of ivory trading or poaching, elephant-back safaris, and any circuses that exhibit elephants (or other animals). Spread the word, and keep appreciating these wonderful creatures from afar.

HERE ARE TWO NON-PROFIT WEBSITES AIMING TO CONSERVE ELEPHANTS.

CONSIDER CHECKING THEM OUT OR DONATING TO FUND THEIR EFFORTS!!!!

Photo by Sergi Reboredo

Photo by David Rama Terrazas Morales

"This is crazy" "Omg, it's completely dark right now, look at the ring!!" “this moment is so worth it"

A few weeks ago, three buses left NMH at 9:00 am to chase after the totality path of the solar eclipse; the last one was in 2017, and the next one will be in 2044. Before we witnessed the superb scenery, NASA asked civilians to record abnormal behaviors from animals and pets because, in totality, when the sky becomes completely dark, organisms that carry out their daily routine based on sunlight and temperature would receive a false signal to modify their behaviors. Typically, animals and plants will exhibit nighttime behaviors because of the gradual weakening of sunlight. This article will briefly discuss how totality affects some animals and plants' behaviors based on the studies conducted during previous totalities.

During a total solar eclipse in 1991, a group of researchers decided to observe how the event affected colonial orb-weaving spiders, a type of spider that typically builds their web during the daytime and takes them down when it is dusk. On July 11, 1991, in Mexico, the spiders were doing their daily routine at the beginning of the day: constructing webs. No abnormal behaviors were observed during the eclipse. Nevertheless, as totality began and the sky darkened, colonies of orb-weaving spiders started taking down the web they built, a nighttime behavior for them. Their actions were just like those they would do at dusk every day. After the totality and the sky brightened, spiders who took their web down started rebuilding the webs as if it were the start of a new day. Orb-weaving spiders' change in behaviors was a response to the sudden totality because those spiders who changed their behaviors during totality did not alter when the researchers shined at them with strong artificial light. In other words, the colonial orbweaving spiders changed their routine based on the presence of sunlight; some indicators had not yet been found during that study.

A solar eclipse also affects the plants' photosynthesis level. Sunlight is an essential input for plants to carry out photosynthesis, a biological process that provides food to sustain those who possess this ability. As sunlight gradually reduced throughout the eclipse and completely darkened during totality, photosynthesis in plants reduced. In 2017 totality, it was observed that big sagebrush, an aromatic shrub that grows in arid and semi-arid conditions, dropped its rate of photosynthesis to near-dark levels. Sagebrush was not the only one. Oxalises, a flowering plant that folds its leaves at night, exhibited abnormal behavior during the same eclipse.

Initially, they folded their leaves to decrease sunlight exposure so that they could retain water during the hot day. Nevertheless, experiencing a decrease in sunlight and temperature as the eclipse began, oxalises opened their leaves. The unfolding process was a response to increase sunlight exposure. They kept their leaves open even during totality instead of closing them as they did for nighttime. After the totality passed, oxalises closed their leaves again like before the eclipse.

Totality and solar eclipse affect animals and the ecosystem more than just being in darkness for a few minutes. The temperature drop and weakened light can cause plants and animals to exhibit nighttime behaviors. From our human perspective, we enjoy the rare scenery and appreciate the beauty of nature. However, animals, plants, and other organisms are more sensitive to sudden changes and can easily get confused about what is happening.

COMPOSTING FOR NMH FARM

by Payton Bonang

Composting has been on the rise for the past few decades and now it has arrived on the Northfield Mount Hermon campus. In a project for their Environmental Studies course, Griffin Moore ‘25 and Jimmy Bechter ‘26 delved into how composting can be implemented not only on the NMH farm, but with contributions from the campus as a whole. But before going into that, let’s back up and learn more about composting itself.

Composting is the controlled decomposition of organic matter and compost is the “soil amendment” that is the product of this aerobic decomposition of organic matter. It is greatly beneficial for soil quality as it adds nutrients that could otherwise be lacking in the soil. Nitrogen is a nutrient plants heavily depend on for their growth and is one of the nutrients that is commonly low in agricultural soils. The NMH farm found its soil is low in nitrogen after performing soil testing to see the soil’s nutrient levels. This is where Jimmy and Griffin’s project comes in to save the day. They realized NMH could collect the leaves and grass clippings from across campus in the fall to make compost to use at the farm in the spring. With the assistance of the Plant and Property team, leaves and grass clippings will be collected and mixed with some of the food scraps that are collected in the dining hall. That will then be covered in a black tarp in order to warm the compost and allow for efficient aerobic decomposition. This will then be added into the farm’s soil in the spring to fix its nitrogen struggles.

So, the next time you admire the leaves falling on this beautiful campus, remember that those could be the very leaves contributing to the salad bar’s cucumbers, spinach, carrots, and more!

Picture by Amy Vongvasin

WHAT’S UP WITH THE ECOLEADERS?

NMH BOOK EXCHANGE: SECONDHAND STORIES!

With approval from the English department, the ecoleaders teamed up with the librarians to organize the first-ever NMH book exchange event!! Throughout the final month of school, students have the opportunity to contribute their previously read summer books and acquire gently used copies of their upcoming summer reads at no cost.

This initiative not only reduces paper waste and saves money, but it will also foster stronger community connections as annotations from upperclassmen are passed down to underclassmen. Students will get to read through reflections formerly written and reply with their own, before passing them on next year. The books will be picked up from drop-off locations (library, Alumni Hall, and Crossley Lounge) and organized on the library shelves awaiting pick-ups.

EARTH DAY PICTURES!!!

by Jasper Neff

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