Kent State University at Stark celebrated the earth and brought awareness to the environment during its 11th annual Earth Day event Sunday.

This story was originally published by The Independent. The original article is available here.

JACKSON TWP. Kent State University at Stark’s annual Earth Day celebration is another way the regional campus shows its dedication the environment.

Brielle Loughney, marketing assistant at Kent Stark and event coordinator, said families and community members were able to visit more than 60 exhibits to participate in activities and learn more about earth friendliness.

Two dozen of the exhibits were new to the event this year, she said, including an Akron Zoo animal presentation, Stark County Beekeeper’s Association and Ernie’s Bike Shop.

Rain held off Sunday afternoon and the sun peeked out from behind clouds to make for a chilly but dry outdoor event. Hundreds gathered at Kent Stark for the university’s 11th annual event celebrating Earth Day, which was last Monday.

The university considers the event an educational opportunity for the community to keep the environment in the front of their minds, said Melissa Griffy Seeton, public relations and media communications coordinator at Kent Stark.

Earth Day fun

The family-friendly event had something for everyone including a nature walk around the pond and wetlands research area, planting herbs and digging for fossils in a sandpit.

Eleven-year-old Kallie Newell and her two sisters — Rubie, 3, and Irie, 5, — dug through the sand looking for tiny dinosaurs and other mock fossils. Their mother, Britny Newell, said it was their first time attending the event.

“Besides the coldness, it’s really fun,” Kallie Newell said.

Six golden retrievers greeted visitors as they wandered through the parking lot and the pathway leading to the pond.

Maria Lemmon, a retired Ohio Highway Patrol trooper and KSU alumna, brought her “golden girls” to bring smiles to those who attended the event. Children and their families were able to pet the dogs and take photos.

“The joy that I see them bring people is worth it,” Lemmon said.

Many booths addressed how residents can keep the earth clean including the Ohio Ocean Foundation.

Though the state isn’t next to the ocean, Ohioans still have an impact on ocean life because it is connected through streams and rivers, said Megan Soehnlen, a Walsh University student and intern with the Ohio Ocean Foundation.

Soehnlen stood next to the “bag monster” made of 500 plastic shopping bags as she explained how plastic bags negatively impact the earth.

Refraining from littering and picking up garbage you see outside are two ways someone can positively impact the earth and the ocean, Soehnlen said.

Some local grocery stores, such as Giant Eagle, have bins to collect plastic bags, she added. Bringing reusable bags on shopping trips can be another way to cut down on water pollution.

“We’re pretty far away from the ocean, so we may not think it effects the ocean, but it does,” Soehnlen said.

Environmentally friendly

New to the event this year, the Akron Zoo held an animal presentation where education specialist Clare Fekete talked about climate change, habitat loss, poaching and other environmental subjects.

During the 45-minute presentation, she showed attendees a box turtle, an opossum and a porcupine as she talked about each animal’s instincts and habitat.

The university, which is recognized as a Tree Campus USA by The Arbor Day Foundation, has a strong focus of being environmentally friendly, Seeton said.

Environmental studies was the regional campus’ 20th bachelor’s degree, which was added in 2017.

A greenhouse was recently constructed on campus, and students will be likely begin utilizing it in the fall, Seeton said. A community garden also grows vegetables for the Flashes Food Pantry.

“We recognize how important it is to procure our students to have knowledge of environmental issues and integrate those concepts once they reach the workplace,” Seeton said.

Amanda Cox, an environmental studies major, helped kids plant an herb in a small pot of soil as part of the Sustainable Nourishment @ Kent Stark booth. The student group had soil, compost and seeds for the kids to plant their own herb.

Children were able to choose which herb they wanted to plant including lavender, basil and cilantro.

“I’ve always been passionate about being outside and the outdoors,” Cox said. “We wanted to stir enthusiasm (in the kids) for growing their own food.”

Diane Haidet watched as her 5-year-old granddaughter, Jordyn Young, made a toad house out of a blue plastic cup and foam stickers. Haidet has been bringing her granddaughter to the annual Earth Day celebration for at least four years.

Each year there’s new activities and more for her to learn as she gets older, she said.

“It’s a nice day out, and (Kent Stark) does such a great job,” Haidet said. “She enjoys doing all the hands-on activities, and she learns a lot.”

The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation is proud to have supported the establishment of the five hydroponic gardens in Massillon City Schools. This story was originally published by the Canton Repository. The original article is available here.

Indoor hydroponic gardens, funded through a grant, have been installed in each of the district’s buildings.

MASSILLON The excitement in Karen Kortis’ kindergarten class builds as the class tortoise is taken from his enclosure and placed on the floor.

Students gather around to give their reptile friend a bite to eat.

What’s for lunch? Romaine lettuce grown by the students in their classroom at Whittier Elementary School.

Across the Massillon City Schools’ buildings, students are planting, growing and learning about vegetables.

The district received five hydroponic gardens for each of the district’s schools through a grant from the Herbert W. Hoover Foundation.

The grant provided $22,250 worth of supplies, including the indoor gardens, growing supplies such as seeds and soil for three years, training and educational lessons.

The district learned about the gardens through Katie Phibbs, co-owners of Lettuce Do Good, an indoor gardening and STEM education company that brings hydroponics into schools.

Blair said Phibbs approached other Stark County schools.

“I thought it was so cool,” she said. “The pictures were amazing. Gardening is not something that a lot of kids get a chance to experience anymore.”

Blair knew the indoor gardens would be a great learning tool for students.

“They get to learn the science behind it, harvest it and actually eat it,” Blair said. ”

The gardens have even widened students’ — and teachers’ — palates.

Growing a learning experience

At Franklin Elementary School, English as a second language teacher Sheri Dockery and her students have harvested butter lettuce, summer radishes, tomatoes, chives and kale. They also are growing basil and oregano.

They tried their hand at Cubanelle peppers, at the request of Principal Mike Medure, but didn’t have much luck with those.

Her students, many of whom have lived in the United States for only a short time, have embraced the chance to plant and grow the veggies.

With Dockery’s help, the students have planted seeds and maintain the hydroponic system, a method of growing plants without soil by using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent.

Hydroponics allow plants to grow up to 50 percent faster then they do in soil.

The gardens, which are housed on metal shelving units have grow lights. The students measure the nutrients in the water and replenish the water supply.

Having the garden in her room has helped students that are learning English.

“A lot of kids are visual or tactile,” Dockery said. “The whole process has been great. They are learning about gardening and the growing process while also using a lot of new vocabulary.”

Also, many of her students don’t understand some of the food items available in the United States and this is introducing them to things they may not be familiar with.

The students are less shy now that they have some knowledge, Dockery said. It gives them the ability to be able to talk to fellow classmates about something they know about.

First-grader Luis Quixan Imul said he likes to look at the different seeds while his friend Jose Lopez Gomez was excited about growing tomatoes.

The first-graders have gone beyond the indoor garden and created their own, growing lettuce in a sandwich bag — a spout house — taped to a classroom window. They placed a seed in a wet paper towel and have been tracking the progress of the seed and journaling about it.

Dockery said the students will eventually be able to take the lettuce home and plant it.

Her third-grade students are creating an eco-system.

The class has harvested their crop a few times and shared it with friends and teachers.

Dockery and her students plan to make salsa with the tomatoes and chives and sauce with the tomatoes, oregano, basil and chives.

Lettuce learn

Students in Kortis’s classroom have different opinions about what is the best part of the indoor garden.

Five-year-old Summer Marcurella said her favorite thing was planting the seeds, but her classmate Vasile Popa, 6, said eating the lettuce has been the best part.

“It’s very exciting for the kids,” Kortis said.

Learning about the life cycle of plants is part of the kindergarten curriculum, the garden enhances the lesson, she said.

Besides growing lettuce for their tortoise, the class also is growing basil, radishes, kale and chard.

When it is time to harvest all of the veggies, during a Foodie Fun Friday in Kortis’ classroom, the kindergartners will get to eat their hard work in a salad.

The garden at Washington High School is maintained by the pharmacy students, Blair said. They are learning about healthy eating and growing herbs that can be used in the medical field and homeopathic living.

The garden at the intermediate and junior high school is in the science classroom, she said.

“It’s just so cool and each teacher has had the choice of what they want to plant,” Blair added.

She hopes to continue the program beyond the three-year grant funding and possibly add new components to it down the road.

Dr. Larry Brand, a Professor in the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami, and Dr. David Davis, a Research Assistant Professor at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, are cited in this article from Fox 13 News.  Dr. Brand and Dr. Davis are considered to be two of the leading experts on BMAA and the Herbert W. Hoover Foundation is proud to have supported their research.

Originally published by Fox 13 News.  Original article available here

Blooms of cyanobacteria, also known as toxic blue-green algae, strike lakes, rivers, canals, and ponds across Florida.

The state has polluted the water with fertilizer and leaking septic tanks, which feed these blooms that turn the water green and produce some of the most powerful natural poisons on earth.

Scientists have warned exposure to the toxins can cause liver damage, and possibly brain damage. They are finding correlations to neurodegenerative disease in marine life and people. While they cannot yet say those toxins directly cause neurodegenerative disease, they say the correlations are a cause for concern and merit additional research.

For example, the cyanobacteria emit BMAA, which is toxic to the brain and scientists now link to diseases like Alzheimer’s and ALS.

“What happens is, the BMAA causes the proteins in your brain neurons to get all tangled up, and you see the slow accumulation of tangled up proteins in your neurons until they get completely clogged and the neurons die,” said University of Miami Marine Science Professor Dr. Larry Brand. “So you just slowly develop these diseases over the timescale of 10-20 years”

Dr. Brand tested fish, crabs, and shellfish in South Florida and discovered high concentrations of BMAA in the aquatic food web. His colleagues at the University of Miami had already found it at significant levels in Floridians who had ALS and Alzheimer’s disease.

Additionally, University of Miami Professor Dr. David Davis found BMAA in the brains of dolphins found floating or beached.

Then Dr. David Davis started testing dolphins that have been turning up dead. Davis’ team tested seven dolphins found floating or beached in Florida and seven others found to our north.

Of the 14 tested dolphins, 13 “had high concentrations of BMAA in ‘their’ brains.” The one that didn’t was struck and injured by a boat.

The dolphin brains containing BMAA also showed neurodegenerative changes consistent with Alzheimer’s.

“We wanted to see if these dolphins stranded may possibly have the toxin in their system. It’s very very startling to see that amount of BMAA in dolphins. It’s roughly 1.5 times the amount we see in individuals with advanced dementia,” said Dr. Davis. “What we found in the dolphin brains are pathological hallmarks of dementia. Having both the presence of BMAA and neuropathological changes like we see with the dolphins is troubling.”

The green slime produced by cyanobacteria leaves behind a dried crust, which new research revealed sends BMAA drifting into the air.

Dr. Mike Parsons at Florida Gulf Coast University confirmed BMAA was airborne in Cape Coral through air tests. His team followed up by testing other areas. The preliminary results showed the presence of BMAA in every spot they tested, and they found it in higher concentrations the closer they got to toxic blooms in the water.

“When the cyanobacteria dries, it will almost be like a crust. I haven’t done this but it would be the equivalent of like grinding it up in your fingers and it turns into a powder, and then the winds pick up that powder,” said Dr. Parsons. “You can see it in the seawalls just this green dust. The worst case scenario would be a significant amount of Microcystin and BMAA would be getting into the air and onto the smallest filters of our air samplers.”

Parsons is expanding his research – in the present and the past. For example, 11 years ago a cluster of neurodegenerative disease cropped up near Kennedy Space Center. Engineers who were fighting ALS wondered if exposure to rocket fuel may have caused it. But new information is leading scientists to go back and look at something else.  

“Were all these engineers avid sportsmen?” asked Dr. Parsons. “Were these people in the water a lot?”

Years before the rocket engineers got sick, manmade pollution fed blooms of cyanobacteria in waters around the Space Coast.

“The scary part is if the levels get elevated to a point where that exposure would overcome our natural defenses… there is justified concern by the public that the science is a little behind. We need to come up with some answers quickly,” said Parsons.

Today, Parson’s team found airborne BMAA in every spot they tested. And they found it in higher concentrations the closer they got to polluted water.

While scientists have found correlations between BMAA and neurodegenerative disease, they stress they have not established a clear cause and effect. They don’t yet know how much exposure may pose a threat to public health.

Governor DeSantis picked Dr. Parsons to serve on a new state task force to recommend changes in policy and strategy.

Analysis of National Park Service data shows possible employment impact in every region

Originally published by Pew on December 6, 2018. Original article available here.

A Pew-commissioned analysis by the Cadmus Group, a consulting company, found that addressing the National Park Service’s $11.6 billion maintenance backlog would create or support nearly 110,000 infrastructure-related jobs. This number, based on fiscal year 2017 NPS data, is a reminder of the powerful economic impact of national parks.  

California has the most to gain, with the potential for more than 17,000 jobs. Rural states also stand to benefit, with a possible 6,600 jobs in Wyoming. And Virginia, which has a mix of urban and rustic settings, could benefit from 9,600 jobs.   

If NPS’ deferred maintenance was fully funded, communities could see construction workers repairing roads and trails, preservation experts restoring deteriorating historic sites, and engineers overhauling outdated sewer, water, and electrical systems that can threaten safety and the environment. 

The analysis, “Restoring Parks, Creating Jobs: How Infrastructure Restoration in the National Park System Can Create or Support Jobs,” contains a state-by-state breakdown finding that: 

• States with higher unemployment rates could gain the most.
• The job benefit is about equally split between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas.

This interactive map shows where potential jobs could be located as well as park visitation and visitor spending, based on fiscal 2017 NPS data. Although the maintenance backlog rose from $11.3 billion in fiscal 2016 to $11.6 billion in fiscal 2017, the job figure declined by 671 jobs, from 110,169 to 109,498. This was due to an uptick in inflation and a potential increase in the cost per job. To access a Pew-commissioned analysis and jobs interactive based on NPS fiscal 2016 data, click on this link.

Values for the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands are not shown on this map. 

Notes:

Delaware and the Northern Mariana Islands do not include any National Park System units that collect visitor spending data.

All $ figures are in millions

Source: 

Cadmus Group analysis of National Park Service data from fiscal 2017; National Park Service, “2017 National Park Visitor Spending Effects” (2018), https://www.nps.gov/nature/customcf/NPS_Data_Visualization/docs/NPS_2017_Visitor_Spending_Effects.pdf.

For more information on this analysis, please see the methodology or view the Cadmus Group’s report, “Restoring Parks, Creating Jobs: How Infrastructure Restoration in the National Park System Can Create or Support Jobs” (2018), https://cadmusgroup.com/papers-reports/restoring-parks-creating-jobs/.

Dr. Michael Beck’s research demonstrates coral reefs provide the United States with more than $1.8 billion in flood protection benefits annually. The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation proudly supports Dr. Beck’s expansion of this research on mangroves in south Florida.

BY MICHAEL W. BECK, MAY 15, 2019, for The Miami Herald

The 2019 Atlantic hurricane season is almost upon us; the last two hurricane seasons were devastating to Florida. The race is on to recover and build resilience ahead of the next storms. And we need to invest in one of Florida’s most valuable and underrated defenses — its reefs.

Most people have no idea how valuable coral reefs are for coastal defense. Now we do. Reefs act as submerged breakwaters, they “break” waves and dissipate their energy offshore.

Working together, the U.S. Geological Survey, The Nature Conservancy and the University of California Santa Cruz, have shown just how valuable reefs are using state-of-the-art flood-risk tools. Across the United States, reefs provide more than $1.8 billion in flood-protection benefits every year. In Florida alone, reefs provide more than $675 million in flood-protection benefits to people, property and jobs every year.

These look like general, ‘back of the envelope’ numbers. They are not. They are based on what are now the best flood-risk maps available for these coastlines. They predict flood risk at 10 meters by 10 meters, that is about one-hundredth the area of city block. So we can show not only that Florida receives benefits, we can identify specifically who may get those benefits. And we can sum those benefits up by municipality; in a 50-year storm (between a Category 4 and 5 hurricane) the coral reefs off of Miami-Fort. Lauderdale would provide more than $1.6 billion in flood protection benefits.

The bad news is that we are rapidly losing these benefits in Florida and elsewhere (and often around the densely populated areas where we need them the most). Many have predicted the end of reefs. We are not quite so pessimistic — at least not yet. 

The good news is that there is evidence that reefs can recover and even adapt, particularly if we identify the resources to manage and restore them.

The better news is that by rigorously valuing these benefits we can help mobilize the public and private investments that we need for this kind of reef management. Indeed there are a number of innovative pathways for action that can completely change the scale of support for reef conservation and restoration.

First, disaster recovery funding must support the recovery of national natural defenses. The United States already has appropriated more than $100 billion to recover from hurricanes Harvey, Maria and Irma; more of those funds should go to rebuilding reefs and other natural defenses. And it appears that it may: FEMA, for the first time, is assessing damages to reefs as flood-mitigation structures. 

Second, the insurance industry can support incentives for habitat conservation and restoration. They are starting to do just that by ensuring that habitats are included in industry risk models and with the first-ever trust to fund an insurance policy for coral reefs in Mexico.

Third, we must recognize and prioritize reefs as natural defenses as they are relevant to national security. Protecting and restoring reefs is relevant to state, territory and national budgets (e.g., FEMA). In Florida, reefs provide the state hundreds of millions in flood-protection services every year, and that is in addition to their many other income benefits such tourism. We should be paying the reefs back similarly to keep those benefits.

The Nature Conservancy and partners in federal, state and local governments, academia, and the private sector are working to protect and restore Florida’s coral reefs — from Martin County to Key West and the Dry Tortugas — based on sound science. The new Respect Our Reef campaign encourages protection of the reefs by the fishermen and divers who know and love them best. 

And it is not just coral reefs in the United States; marshes, mangroves and oyster reefs all provide cost-effective benefits for flood reduction. And coral reefs provide benefits to people in more than 60 nations.

If we can get reef protection and restoration right in Florida, we can offer lessons learned to help protect people across the country and around the world.

Michael W. Beck is a research professor at the University of California Santa Cruz and was lead marine scientist at The Nature Conservancy.

Read the original article at: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article230442474.html#storylink=cpy

Photo by Getty Images.