Science and Art: Understanding our Relationship with the Environment

     This past week the Center for Environment and Society proudly sponsored two lectures. The first was given by John Beardsley of Dumbarton Oaks and titled, “Art in the Environment: Sketches from the Field.” On the following night, the very day of it’s inception 40 years ago, Tom Horton discussed the Clean Water Act with a lecture titled, “40 Years of the Clean Water Act Through the Lens of the Chesapeake Bay.” The succession of these two lectures beautifully reflects the mission of the Center for Environment and Society. First, Beardlsey discussed the tension expressed by 19th century nature artists who represented the conflict between viewing the landscape with an artists’ eye as opposed to a developers. Beardsley went on to describe the 20th century movement he describes as the second era of nature art. Now we see a movement toward manipulating the environment to make powerful statements about beauty, purpose, and our relationship with the natural world.

Lightning Field, New Mexico by Walter DeMaria

     Beardsley ended his talk with a discussion of the benefits of a union between artistic and ecological pursuits. It is common practice to use art as a meditative or therapeutic exercise. Beardsley suggested that this practice could be applied to the broader relationship between all human beings and the natural world. In many ways Horton echoed this message the following evening with his call for a broader approach to conservation.
     Horton summarized many of the successes and the setbacks that have been a part of the history of the Clean Water Act. With population levels rising in the Chesapeake Bay region the amount of nutrient runoff and waste is increasing at enormous levels despite our best efforts. Horton mentioned the change from a wild oyster harvest to a system in which oysters are farmed as an example of one way that life in the Chesapeake Bay has changed. By encouraging interdisciplinary approaches, thorough scientific analysis, and community-based efforts, Horton believes that we will be able to keep improving the state of the Bay.
     Both Beardsley and Horton reminded their audiences that only by working together from many different perspectives do we have a chance of making real progress and saving the land that sustains us.

Foreman's Branch of the Chester River

Kent County booth at the annual MACo convention

Earlier this month, I traveled to Ocean City for the second time this summer, this time to represent Kent County's Office of Tourism and Economic Development at the annual Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) convention.  I was fortunate enough to be accompanied by Mrs. Cunningham, of connect.the.dots. fame, who's design eye gave zest to our booth (see pic below).

After setting up our booth on Wednesday afternoon, we were feted at a cocktail reception at Fagers Island restaurant that was hosted by Funk & Bolton law offices, a wonderful social gathering that allowed for lots of networking.  I then spent all day Thursday manning our booth, meeting vendors, talking with employees and representatives from other counties, and generally spreading the word about all the good works that have been going on recently in Kent County.  There was a steady flow of visitors through the exhibit hall for most of the day.  It still amazes me the number of "giveaways" that the exhibitors provide and the convention-goers gobble up...bags and bags of them.  Thursday evening found us at the Sunset Grille in West OC dining on mahi mahi, tuna, crab imperial, and countless other goodies, all thanks to our hosts from Standard Solar.

On Friday, Mrs C and I kept up the message spreading at our booth for the better part of the day, handing out brochures along with free note pads and lemon meringue-flavored salt water taffy.  It seemed there were more families visiting the exhibit hall during this session, probably in concert with family vacation time at the beach.  The day was shorter than the previous, but still we had decent attendance in the hall.  Commissioners stopped by, and we also had a chance to converse briefly with U.S. Senator Ben Cardin who admitted that he was aware of all the cool projects going on in the county.

Our thanks to Bernadette Van Pelt and Michelle Wood of the County's Office of Tourism and Economic Development for putting together all of the display materials for us to transport down to the convention.  Also, special thanks to the Town Creek Foundation for supporting our work to help Maryland's municipalities increase use of renewable energy systems, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and move toward a healthy and sustainable future for the Chesapeake Bay region.

Briggs Cunningham mans the Kent County booth at the 2012 Maryland Association of Counties convention in Ocean City in August.

Briggs Cunningham is Climate Action Coordinator at the Center for Environment & Society, and can be contacted here.

Searching for Rangia

Our summer began with periodic excursions up and down the mighty Chester River looking for “soft” sediment that we hope to use for characterizing the chemistry of the bottom of Chester River. Why, you might ask? Well, many of the “chemicals of environmental concern”(COEC) are hydrophobic -which literally means afraid of water- but more appropriately reflects the sticky-particle bound nature of many of these contaminants. They don’t like to be dissolved in water, but like to bind to the surfaces of particles and, ultimately, the sediment. Our interest in COECs is directed towards a better understanding of how these chemicals are introduced into the aquatic environment, how they affect resident organisms, and where they may ultimately end up. Anyway, this communiqué is not about COECs but is more about the benthos – the critters that we found in or on the sediment during our summer of mucking about in boats. Overall, we found very little living in the sediments we collected - or more appropriately, very little macro (large, non-microscopic) organisms. For those macro benthic organisms we did find we noted where, when, and what we found; either an occasional oyster, some mussels, and most often – when there was anything – the mighty Rangia.
 This is blog is about the brackish clam,Rangia cuneata (Fig.1); what their role may be in the Chester River ecosystem and whether they might be a good indicator of contaminant exposure and bio-accumulation (accumulation of chemicals in the tissues of the organism) in the Chester.

Fig. 1. Rangia collected from the Chester River about 2 miles south of Chestertown

The Rangia clam, according to information provided by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE)1, is a brackish (low salinity) clam that is often found in waters with salinities between 5-15 parts per thousand (fresh water is 0 ppt, ocean water at the mouth of the Chesapeake is ~32 ppt). They often live in highly turbid waters (water that contains a lot of suspended particles, muddy), often preferring soft substrates; usually a sand/mud mixture with vegetation detritus. They are subtidal suspensivores (they filter material out of the water column for food) and are also considered saprophytic, that is they also derive nourishment from dead or decaying organic matter (much like bacteria or fungi). The species found in the Chesapeake are Rangia cuneata and, to this date, the Chesapeake is the northern most reach of their distribution. Apparently, they weren’t always a part of the Chesapeake ecosystem. In fact (according to MDE), the first known sighting of R. cuneata was in 1960 in the Potomac River and are now found in the brackish tributaries and creeks of the upper Chesapeake Bay. Does the timing of their occurrence correspond to increases turbidity in the Chesapeake? Definitely an interesting question…. As a food source for humans, they are considered non-desirable, often because they have an earthy, muddy taste. Investigators from NOAA2 report a very active fishery for Rangia along the east coast of Mexico where they are used as a supplement to local shellfish and fish cuisine, often because they present a less desirable pallet when served alone. In Figure 2, we show where we have found Rangia this summer. The sites where we collected sediment are indicated by black triangles and where we found Rangia clams are shown by the red circles. One hope is that these organisms can help filter and clean the highly turbid waters of the Chester or the even the lower salinity realms of the Bay . Some investigators3 show that Rangia is a good indicator of a system under significant stress; that they represent a situation where other organisms struggle to survive and the ecosystem is in poor health. Rangia are also being investigated as a potential contaminant cleaner-upper for the impact of the BP oil release in the Gulf of Mexico4 Figure 2. Surface sediment grabs sites (black triangles) from the Chester River, summer 2012. The red dots overlay stations where we found Rangia clams.

Fig. 2.

Surface sediment grabs sites (black triangles) from the Chester River, summer 2012. The red dots overlay stations where we found Rangia clams

One of our interests at the Center for the Environment and Society is whether Rangia can serve as biological indicator for contaminant exposure in the Chester River ecosystem. Do contaminants like lead, copper, arsenic and other COEC accumulate in Chester River resident organisms? Is Rangia a potential pathway for the transfer COEC to “higher” organisms that reside in the Chester River ecosystem (e.g., white perch, osprey, humans,etc) where COEC may become further concentrated as they move up the food chain? We don’t know, but we will be measuring the content of some of the COEC in their soft tissues using the relatively new high tech inductively-coupled Mass Spectrometer at Washington College. Stay tuned!

Samuel Hartman, a summer Hodson Fellow, looks to find the optimal site for our next sediment grab

 Christian Krahforst is the Mellon Post Doctoral Fellow of Biogeochemistry for the Center for Environment & Society at Washington College.

1.  http://www.mde.state.md.us/programs/Marylander/CitizensInfoCenterHome/Documents/www.mde.state.md.us/assets/document/Rangia.pdf

2.  http://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/mfr663/mfr6632.pdf

3. http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2002/of02-206/env-issues/hypoxia.html

4.  http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2011/03/lowly_rangia_clam_as_oil-sucki.html

Solar Power Lights Up Kent County

   There was a ribbon cutting ceremony in Worton yesterday to celebrate the dawn of a new era in Kent County.

From the left, Kent County Commissioner William Short, President of Standard Solar Scott Wiater, Vice President of Washington Gas Energy Services Sanjiv Mahan, President of Kent County Commissioners Ron Fithian, Superintendent of Kent County Schools Dr. Barbara Wheeler, House Delegate Jay Jacobs, and President of Kent County Board of Education Brian Kirby.  Behind them is the 1.26 megawatt solar power system.

 You see, the County Government and the Board of Education have done something unique in the state: they have collaborated on a renewable energy project.  Along with partners Standard Solar and Washington Gas Energy Services, the county and the board of ed have installed a 1.25 megawatt solar power system on eight acres between the Kent County Community Center and the Kent County High School.  The system will provide 1,600 megawatt hours of clean energy per year to the high school, the elementary school, the community center, the radio tower facility, and the department of public works.

There are 5,380 panels in this solar power system located between the Kent County Community Center and the Kent County High School.

All of this will be accomplished under the the new net metering law in Maryland that allows for municipalities, non-profits, and agricultural concerns to aggregate their meters when offsetting the power provided to them by a single source of renewable energy, such as solar.  Rather than having to install a solar power system at each facility, the aggregate metering program allowed for a single installation at one site which provided an overall project savings in equipment and efficiencies of more than $500,000.  This project will help the county government and the board of ed reduce electricity costs by roughly $65,000 the first year, and by more than $2 million during the course of the next 20 years or so.  In addition, the system will offset the county's carbon footprint equivalent to removing 215 passenger vehicles per year from the roads, or more than 2,500 barrels of oil consumed, or the burning of six rail cars worth of coal.

And, last but not least, the system will fit into the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curriculum at the public schools.  A real-time monitor has been installed at the high school that allows students to watch the system in operation.  The project will provide teachers with a variety of tools, across multiple disciplines, for teaching students about clean renewable energy.

Here is Rob Busler, of Standard Solar, giving an introductory lesson on solar power to a group of Kent County students.

Check out the article about the project at the Chestertown Spy.

Briggs Cunningham is Climate Action Coordinator at the Center for Environment & Society, and can be reached here.

CES at the Maryland Municipal League's annual convention

Greetings from Ocean City, Maryland!

   I have just attended the annual convention of the Maryland Municipal League at the Convention Center here in Ocean City.  There were rain storms yesterday that felt like monsoons and left the streets with at least six inches of standing water.  Once inside the convention center, however, all was dry and comfortable.  There were many municipalities from around the state represented here, as well as a whole host of commercial enterprises all looking for ways to connect to the municipalities' purchasing managers.  You can't believe the amount of freebies; folks were walking about with large, reusable bags filled with stuff.
   I was attending the annual convention as a representative of Chestertown's Green Team, giving out lots of information about the efforts made by Chestertown's government and citizens of the town to move toward a more sustainable future (see the newsletter below).  I was also handing out copies of a Community Greening Toolkit, which gives examples of the kinds of projects undertaken in Chestertown, and offers resources for other municipalities to begin their own green projects without having to reinvent the wheel, as it were.  Click on the link for more information.

   If you have any greening tips you would like posted to the Chestertown Goes Green web site, send me an email and I'll see what can be done.

Briggs Cunningham is the Climate Action Coordinator at the Center for Environment & Society, and can be contacted here.

Go Green on 213

April 21, 2011

Come celebrate Earth Day on campus by showing the creative side of recycling! Put those cans from the weekend to good use or get a jump-start on building a boat for cardboard boat race. Find a team and build whatever you want out of recyclable materials. The teams with the best structures or sculptures will win. Judging takes place from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM on Thursday, April 21st, on the Hodson Commons outside the main entrance to the Dining Hall.

The rules for the "Go Green on 213" recycling sculpture contest are as follows:

1. Teams are not required to be present for the judging; however it is their responsibility to get the sculpture to and from the event.
2. Teams should have their names and name of the sculpture/structure presented with their entry.
3. Water soluble glues and paints only are allowed (no hot glue).
4. The sculptures must be set up by 11:30 AM on the day of the judging. It is the team's responsibility to plan accordingly.
5. Recyclable materials will not be given to the participants. It is the team's responsibility to collect their own materials for their structure.
6. Teams may win more than one category.

The JUDGES (Andrew Antonio, JoAnn Fairchild, Dr. Karl Kehm, and Ricky Sears) will award prizes in the following categories:

* Best cardboard structure
* Best can structure
* Best bottle structure
* People’s choice
* Most creative
* "OMG" (overall most green!) – it is reusable, helpful to others, and environmentally friendly.

PRIZES include I-tunes gift cards, a free pizza, coupons to Java George, and coupons to the Farmers Market on campus that day.

Dining Services is hosting a Farmers Market on the Commons starting at 11:00 AM. Vendors include Redman Farms, Eve’s Cheese and St. Brigid’s Farm among other local producers. According to Donna Dhue Wilkins, the College’s food service director, “organic beef tips and fresh salad greens will surely highlight the lunch menu that day.”
For information on the RECYCLING SCULPTURE CONTEST contact Elle O'Brien at eobrien3@washcoll.edu or (410) 778-7295. “You can build any structure or create sculpture made out of recycled cans, bottles, or cardboard,” she says. O’Brien, who is an intern with the College's Center for Environment & Society, says the contest winners will be invited to display their structures at the Mutt Strut & Earth Day Festival in downtown Chestertown on Saturday, April 23, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Video: Sustainability at Washington College

CES Intern Amanda Anastasia '13 has produced a video about sustainability at Washington College. Check it out!