March 10, 2016

I arrived in Hawaii on Friday night and was instantly impressed with the balmy weather. My host family said just wait until the morning when I could really see the beautiful state of Hawaii….

For my first day, I was surprised with a Zodiac ride out to a sandbar. I have never seen such blue water in my life. The ocean incorporates every shade of blue and green you can imagine, and then topped off with a blue sky, and mountains covered in foliage on 3 sides of me, I was pretty damn impressed. When we got out to the sandbar, the water was just below my knees, and we waded around just taking in the scene.

On Tuesday I met with an employee of Makai Ocean Engineering to learn about what is going on in the world of renewable energy. The facility(pictured below) is situated on a pier over crystal blue water looking out into the Pacific. We sat outside to have a picnic lunch and I learned that its actually not a great time to be in the renewable energy business! With gas prices going down, so is the interest in sustainable energy. We did talk about their two biggest projects going on on the Big island: OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion) and SWAC (Sea Water Air Conditioning). They pump cold water from deep in the ocean and cycle it with the warm water on top to generate electricity. This works because the difference in temperatures can drive a turbine that produces power. OTEC is actually only 3% efficient meaning that they lose 97% of energy in the process. However, it can be done in such large scale and with little impact on anything, that it is still effective in generating the amount of energy they want.

Aside from exploring Oahu, I have been building an outrigger canoe paddle. Outrigger canoes were used by the first settlers who found most of the Pacific Islands and are still very popular for canoe racing.

The paddle on top is what I am working on. Below are others in the process.

There have also been many new foods that I have been tasting along the way. Today we stopped at a local market and tried papaya, guava, dragon eye, apple banana, white mountain apple, egg fruit, and rambutan. The apple banana and rambutan were my favorites, so if you ever get the chance to try them, I strongly recommend! And of course, there was an ice cold coconut to drink! We also tried garlic shrimp, a must-have in Hawaii, and now I understand why.

On the left are the rambutan which have a similar consistency to a peeled grape; jelly like, and on the right is me with my coconut.

Last and most definitely least of my trip so far was our trip to Waimea Falls. It was much more of a built up touristy attraction than anticipated, and although the fall was pretty and the walk through the botanical garden to get to it was nice, it was extremely anticlimactic.

I am on the hunt for authentic Hawaii, and with 3 weeks to enjoy it, I hope to do more than just see what most tourists see. Check back soon to see what else is happening in Hawaii!

-Maddie

Hello everyone!

March is a confusing month in Iceland, just between winter and spring, resulting in storms that are a mixture of rain and snow. However, my first night in Iceland was rather cold and the skies were clear, which was a perfect opportunity to go searching for the Northern Lights. So, in a packed car with Dagny and her friends, I saw the Northern Lights atop a mountain. Any light pollution makes the lights undetectable, but in the pitch blackness of the mountain, I was able to see the faint green wisps dancing in the air. Listening to Icelandic music, I stared at the sky in awe. These phenomenal lights are so common to natives, that Dagny and her friends were caught off guard at my sheer amazement. Unfortunately, neither my Fuji-film nor my iPhone6 were able to capture the lights, but I do not need a picture to remember that night.

The next day,  I went to see an inactive volcano pictured below. 

The water pooling at the bottom of the volcano had become frozen, a rather rare occurrence. On our dredge down to the the frozen crater, we met a couple from Harrisburg, PA. Immediately after I said “Hello,” the man responded by saying, “You must be from Philadelphia.” I was utterly confused that I had such a detectible Philly accent, I eventually realized that I was wearing a Phillies hat…

Afterwards, we were back on the road to complete part of the “Golden Circle,” a tourist route in the southern part of Iceland. The first part was to see the active geyser, Strokkur. To my surprise and Dagny’s, the area was packed with tourists. Dagny said at this time three years ago, barely anyone knew about this hidden secret. Behind fishing, tourism is the most important part of Iceland’s economy. It has become very clear to natives that more tourists visit the country every year.

The land was filled with natural hot springs and geysers. The sulfur in the air smelled of boiled egg. Some of the geysers, like the one shown below, are so hot that they are literally boiling. 

Strokkur explodes about every ten minutes. The highest the water reaches is approximately 30 meters.

To continue the “Golden Circle,” we drove to see the most powerful waterfall in Europe,  Gullfoss. In the summer, Gullfoss can notoriously be found with a rainbow above it. However, the winter view of Gullfoss was not shy of any beauty. 

Here is Dagny and I (in my Phillies hat) in front of Gullfoss Falls.

On the drive home, we stopped randomly to see some of the horses that can be found throughout the fields of Iceland. When we pulled up to the gate, the horses literally stared right at us. Then two of the horses proceeded to walk right up to the gate and let us pet them. I almost laughed when I saw the horses because the animals are so short, they resemble more of a donkey. Dagny is about 6’2″ and you can clearly see the height difference between the two.

Icelandic horses also have fur in the winter that is soft and fuzzy to the touch. Eventually, the horses shed this fur when the weather becomes warmer. Sometimes their undercoats are a completely different color from their fur. Quite an interesting animal…

Tomorrow I will be blogging about my day spent at the Stora Mynd Conference in Reykjavik!

-Sammie

What’s up WT! It’s Molly this time, I’ve been journaling but haven’t written too much in the blog yet….. but here it goes!

I had a quick start to the day, had to get myself together by 10am to get across the bridge and into Richmond for the San Fran Estuary Institute (SFEI). This was the first time Lily and I split up, so I’m pretty proud to say I didn’t get lost or die. At SFEI, I met Micha Salomon, who works on their Resilient Landscapes Project. Before I could ask too many questions, we were rushed into a conference room to hear a guest speaker from PSE Healthy Energy talk about fracking in California. The talk was about the public heath risks of oil extraction. In California, hydraulic fracking only makes up 20% of the oil extraction, the other 80% is mostly a method called Enhanced Oil Recovery Water Flooding. Water flooding doesn’t drill as deep as fracking drills, but the CO2 intensity ratings are much higher nonetheless. Water flooding is used for heavier oil and tar. It starts by drilling until oil is reached (but not as far down as a source rock), and then steam is injected to heat the tar and make it more viscous so that it can be extracted. This process is more CO2 intensive because of the large amounts of steam being created. It was interesting to learn about types of oil extraction that are considered more dangerous than fracking. There have also been ZERO studies so far (besides the one we were learning about) in California on the public health outcomes of oil extraction facilities. This study was relatively inconclusive because of the lack of information given by oil companies about the chemicals being released (not surprising:/). Since the scientists were unable to gather information about them chemicals being released, they focused on creating an index of the communities within two miles of the facilities. In LA especially, there are large populations within even 100meteres of these plants, including five daycare facilities, which are supposed to have special zoning regulations about proximity to dangerous substances. Besides looking at potential effects of these chemicals on the surrounding communities, Seth from PSE also looked at outcomes of water recycling. Again, without identification of these chemicals, it would be impossible to draw any conclusions on how the water is affected. However, Seth pointed out that the water irrigating those Cutie Clementines could very well be contaminated thanks to weak water recycling regulations in California.

After the conference, I got a tour of the facilities and an overview of their current projects at SFEI. Micha showed me how they use infrared data on GIS maps to identify wetlands and assess their health. The Resilient Landscape project uses the data they collect alongside historical maps and sounding data to draw conclusions about the evolution of streams and wetlands in the San Francisco area. These conclusions help inform conservation and re-vitalization projects on the natural patterns of the area, which are becoming harder and harder to predict as climate change disturbs natural environmental patterns. He also talked me through their efforts to restore salt ponds to natural landscapes. The salt ponds (below) have been left from the massive salt industry influx in the early 1900’s. They would dam areas, wait for them to evaporate, and then harvest leftover salt from the bottom for processing. These abandoned salt ponds have such high salinity levels that restoring them to natural marshland has been difficult. The dams have to be broken in a way that slowly introduces more water with balanced levels of sediment so that the salinity doesn’t increase to levels unsustainable for the surrounding ecosystems. After my time at SFEI was up, I walked back to the train and returned home to Lily!

http://www.sfei.org

Yesterday I met with Phillip Rapport and Doug Peterson at the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. I was interested in visiting the building because, just as our science center is, the Transamerica Pyramid is LEED certified (Platinum level).

(Transamerica Pyramid)

I was particularly struck by all of the involved aspects to a LEED certified building. San Francisco has been in a drought for the past four years, (though it has been raining for most of the time we have been here) which has sparked buildings to use drought resistant materials. For example, porous pavements, to help regulate storm water and levels, which deters pollutants from flowing into the bay. In the building, instead of just having a trash can, they separate it into three different parts: compost, recycling and trash. Although this seems like a miniscule effort, these practices have helped to deter 92% of the building’s waste from landfills.

Sustainability in a holistic view includes the health of not only the environment, but the built environment and the people living in it. The Orrick building monitors air quality and is mindful of “off-gas”, which refers to any chemicals that new products put into the air. This improves air quality for employees of all levels, and reduces exposure to harmful chemicals. Companies in the buildings are not allowed to supply plastic water bottles, but have refillable water stations to encourage workers to bring water bottles. They encourage workers to not drive to work by having a bike room and showers for those who choose to bike to work, as well as transportation maps to encourage other workers to use public transits.

The buildings have also implemented Variable Frequency Drive, which ensures that the minimal amount of energy is used to cool the building. We saw the meter that shows how much energy it uses, and since it was a cooler day, it was only using 40% energy. It’s like a dimmer. Instead of having the lights on at 100%, one can dim the lights to what they need, and therefore save energy. This was found in both the LEED certified buildings we visited, the Transamerica Pyramid and the Orrick Building.

(The Variable Frequency Drive)

From being a tourist here, to scheduling meetings about sustainability, I have found that the San Francisco city set up and lifestyle is centered around sustainability. Stores no longer bag items in plastic bags, and encourage customers to bring their own bags, or they are charged 10 cents for a paper bag. For every trash can, there is always a recycling and composting option. Uber and Lift are also very popular and user friendly. I think there is no better way to learn about sustainability, than actually live and experience the lifestyle firsthand in San Francisco!

(Orrick Building)

This is my third day on the job at IONX. While there I have been assigned to analyze data off of a server that houses information from sensors at their test locations. I am not posting everyday because day to day there are not huge changes in my progress, but here is an update from what I have done.

Day 1 was a kind of learning step for what I will be doing. I learned about what I exactly I will be working with and how I might accomplish my tasks. Day 2 was more about diving into the code of how to analyze data and automatize data analysis using small pieces of computer code called queries. These queries are only a few lines long and do not do much when being executed. Day 3 was about starting to develop an actual program that could be used to gather all relevant data into a useful format so that another program, called Tableau, can turn the data into data maps and statistical data sheets.

The primary computer languages that I am currently using to build this application are C# and LINQ. Today I was involved in a few meetings to develop the logic behind the program and the beginning code behind the program. Here I have a small section of the main logic of the project that will be used to gather all of the data needed. Alongside Trevor this project should be completed by the end of this week. 

Do wash your hands between caring for each bird because many of Tri-State’s patients are infected with contagious diseases such as Giardia or Finch Eye. Don’t put food in a Red-Tail Hawk’s cage without using tongs since they are food aggressive and will fly at you to take the food directly out of your hand. Do reuse food if the bird doesn’t eat all of it overnight because at a non-profit organization saving food=saving valuable money. Don’t forget to hangup the hoses when not in use as the water in them may freeze and make them difficult to use the next the day.

These are just a few of the many important do’s and don’ts I have learned in my first four days volunteering at Tri-State. However, each day I am asking fewer and fewer questions and I seem to be falling into a daily routine. I arrive at 8 in the morning, get briefed on the birds in house at the volunteer meeting, work outside and take care of the birds for however long that takes, and then do any tasks the supervisor of the day needs done until 3, which is when the PM bird feeding begins. In a normal day, I probably care for about five birds or so by myself and then work with other volunteers to take care of the cages containing more than one bird. Currently, there are around 30 birds in house including three Bald Eagles and eight Red-Tailed Hawks. Below is a picture of a Red-Tailed Hawk.

Watching birds like these hawks soar in the flight cages to build-up muscle strength in their wings again has been incredible so far. The chance to not only get up close and personal with these birds, but to actually assist in their recovery by putting medicine in their food and such, has been one I won’t forget. Although cutting open a dead mouse’s stomach and filling it with medicine isn’t most peoples idea of fun or interesting, there is something serene for me in this “gross” action. I find peace in the fact that my volunteer work is helping to save the birds at Tri-States lives, and I am eagerly looking forward to continuing my work throughout the next week and a half.