Video Explanation
The video starts with one drop of water falling off a leaf.
“We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.”
Jacques Cousteau
one small act
can have far reaching impact
MANY can change the world
for worse
for better
We see scenes that are definitely worse:
- Congested and grimy cities & highways
- Clear-cut forests & air pollution
The careless advancement of our civilization has led to:
endangered (species)
- For example, the humpback whale is 1 of 8 whales on the Endangered Species List: Humpback whales have the longest migration of any known mammal, sometimes over 5,000 miles! A population that feeds in the Antarctic Peninsula may breed off Columbia, just north of the equator. Primarily due to whaling, their numbers are thought to be only 30–35% of their original population: http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/humpback.htm
Next we see landfill & trash from our disposable way of life.
To put it in perspective….
If Earth were one year old…
Humans arrived on December 31st
The Industrial Revolution started one second before midnight
- Embedded in this image is the Geologic Time Scale
In the few “minutes” humans are on planet Earth, we cause tremendous harm…
but humans now change Earth’s surface faster than natural processes
- Images you see:
- The Shrinking of the Aral Sea
- The Aral Sea is in Central Asia, between Kazakhstan in the north and Uzbekistan in the south.
- As quoted from the site: “The Aral Sea is actually not a sea at all. It is an immense lake, a body of fresh water, although that particular description of its contents might now be more a figure of speech than practical fact.
- “In the last 30 years, more than 60 percent of the lake has disappeared. The sequence of images above, acquired by Landsat satellites, shows the dramatic changes to the Aral Sea between 1973 and 2000
- “…Environmental experts agree that the current situation cannot be sustained. Yet, driven by poverty and their dependence upon exports, officials in the region have failed to take any preventive action and the Aral continues to shrink.”
- The Escondida Mine, Chile
- As quoted from the site: “The Escondida mine, opened in 1990 at 10,000 feet in northern Chile’s Atacama desert, currently produces more copper than any other mine in the world, with 1.5 million tons in 2007, worth more than $10 billion and representing nearly a tenth of world copper production. More than 6,000 people work at the mine.
- Yuba River Goldfields, California
- As quoted from the site: “The Yuba Goldfields are a strange culmination of years of pressure-jet mining for gold upstream in the Sierra Nevada, dredging the tailings out of the river, and mining the tailings for gold and then later for gravel. The result is an odd landscape of reddish-brown and gray hills of gravel with water-filled ravines in between.”
- “Shortly after gold was discovered in the Sierra Nevada in 1848, panning gave way to highly destructive hydraulic mining, which involves blasting sediment away with high-powered jets of water. Gold was extracted from the gravel, which was then dumped and carried downstream by rivers into the Sacramento Valley. The Yuba River ended up with 685 million cubic feet of the mine waste, which raised the level of the river, overflowed the banks and buried farms.”
- “Dredging of the Yuba began in 1893, and soon after, mining companies began to sift and resift through the debris to extract ever-smaller bits of gold. By 1970, all economically feasible gold removal had been completed, and mining of the gravel for concrete began. Today, ownership of the land is disputed among mining companies, private owners and the government.”
- Oil Spill – Its beauty is deceptive!
- The Shrinking of the Aral Sea
The following words are superimposed over the images described above and denote some of the worst violators of our environment.
mining
erosion
abandoned dams
deforestation
agricultural drainage
urban sprawl
flood plain encroachment
climate change
pollution
The second half of the video focuses on what we can do to restore our environment.
it’s time
let’s reverse the trend
reverse the damage
embrace sustainability
Sus·tain'a·bil'i·ty:
using or harvesting resources without depleting or permanently damaging them
sus·tain'a·ble de·vel'op·ment:
meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs
we can restore Earth…site by site, project by project
See images of sustainable agriculture & renewable energy, including tree farms, solar panels & wind turbines.
we can change our ways…site by site, project by project
See images of bicycling, environmental engineers and earth scientists meeting.
- Sites: Mill Creek, Cincinnati, Ohio
- Bioengineering Group was requested by the City of Cincinnati, Office of Environmental Management to identify a cost-effective, environmentally-sensitive bank stabilization plan for a portion of Mill Creek to halt erosion threatening to uncover waste materials contained in the Center Hill Landfill. Read More…
- Sites: Herrick Hollow, Richardson Hill Road Landfill SFS, EPA Region 2 Superfund Site. Sidney Center, New York
- Bioengineering Group was retained by Amphenol Corporation to develop design measures to restore Herrick Hollow Creek at the Richardson Hill Road Landfill Superfund Site. Herrick Hollow Creek eventually discharges via Trout Creek to the West Branch of the Delaware River and the Cannonsville Reservoir operated by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP).
we can build responsibly…site by site, project by project
- Sites: MIT Stata Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge hired Frank O. Gehry & Associates to design a new complex dedicated to offices, research institutes, and laboratories for computer, information, and intelligence sciences and to serve as an interdisciplinary incubator for new ideas. When watershed and stormwater management requirements presented major hurdles to approval of the project, Bioengineering Group was hired to supplement the original consulting team and serve as sustainable design consultant and urban stormwater specialist for evaluation and design of the overall stormwater management and water reuse systems.
- Sites: New Orleans Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Surge Barrier Video, New Orleans, Louisiana:
Watch the full video.
- Bioengineering Group was contracted by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Hurricane Protection Office to perform program and construction management services required to complete the largest civil works design-build project ever undertaken by the USACE to improve Greater New Orleans.
because sustainability matters…site by site, project by project
rethink the way we build
every project presents an opportunity to transact sustainability
share the message
learn more. be inspired. www.bioengineering.com
CREDITS
A Joint Collaboration:
Music “Revolve” | hisboyelroy | ccmixter.org
Satellite Imagery | NASA | NASA’s Earth Observatory
New Orleans Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Surge Barrier Video | US Army Corps of Engineers
"Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has."
Margaret Mead
