Environmental Communication Spring 2021

  By Olivia Wogan My final project centered around an issue I became first aware of while researching a long-term interest of mine, coral reefs. I, like many others, have been allured by coral reef ecosystems for many years and thereby have gained extensive knowledge about their multifaceted values and services. However, as I pursued attaining more information regarding this topic I came to the realization that a prominent gap exists within the knowledge present to the public eye. This omission occurs in the presentation of the services coral reefs provide and furthermore, the personal incentive coral restoration holds. Considering that intensified natural hazards such as hurricanes, tsunamis, etc., are consequential impacts involved in global climate change communities along the coast become increasingly more vulnerable to their detrimental implications. This causes mitigation strategies to become ever more important as these people face the threats of losses on a daily basis. Alt...

                    Defeating Deforestation    Could your weekly shopping trip to the store be contributing to massive deforestation throughout the world? The answer may be yes! Each year 66 million tons of palm oil are harvested and sold on a global scale. Commonly used in vegetable oil, biofuel, and even your shampoo “Oil palm plantations currently cover more than 27 million hectares of the Earth’s surface” (“ Palm Oil – Everyday Products”). Palm oil has been a main ingredient in the creation of biofuels and, since 2009, have been required to be mixed with vehicle fuel. Emitting high levels of both carbon dioxide and methane gas, these biofuels are impacting our climate three times as much as before. Sadly, if our planet’s climate change crisis was not enough, the deforestation in pursuit of palm oil has led to massive habitat destruction. When the forests have been cleared and a new plantation is created, they can ...

It is no secret that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on all of our lives. People across the world have had to make serious lifestyle changes, including wearing protective face masks. However, while we have adjusted to this life of wearing face masks, our planet has not. Many of us are aware that our lockdowns have actually helped wildlife thrive again in certain areas, but what about all the new mask litter? Since the beginning of this pandemic, disposable mask pollution has quickly become a large, yet often ignored environmental issue. While many disposable face masks may look like they are made of paper, they are actually made of plastic microfibers. When these masks are not properly disposed of, they can end up in the environment and break down into microplastics over time. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines microplastics as tiny pieces of plastic smaller than five millimeters in length (NOAA, 2016). Being that this is such a recent issue, there...

  Protect Sea Turtles : TEDs for Trawl Nets Nicolas de Gramont 3/19/2021 Sea Turtles! Why do we love them? Why are they important? https://www.seeturtles.org/why-are-sea-turtles-important https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/sea-turtle Almost all species of Sea turtles are endangered...What is fishing bycatch, and how does it affect Sea Turtles? Why are trawl nets so dangerous? https://www.seeturtles.org/fisheries-bycatch Solution!...What are TEDs (Turtle Excluder Devices)?     https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/southeast/bycatch/fishing-gear-turtle-excluder-devices   How do TEDs work? https://youtu.be/jyhumLE7B40 What are current regulations for TED usage on trawl nets?   https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/southeast/bycatch/turtle-excluder-device-regulations Current regulations are not enough to protect sea turtles! We can do better, and we have to do better.  I wrote a letter to NOAA, asking them to pursue TED research so we can eventually require TEDs...

 By: Katie Durante, Tegan Williams, Claire Luhman For our project we decided to choose the topic of invasive species since Florida has over 500 invasive species and has a nice and habitable climate. Invasive species are introduced organisms that negatively alter their new environment. Most of these invasive species compete with naive species but some can have even more of an impact. One example that we talked about was invasive goldfish who sometimes forage for food and in the process increase turbidity in the water which can make the area no longer habitable for other species. Usually the invasive species grow quickly and are able to breed and populate an area since their new environment lacks the natural predator that their original habitat had. One example we explored were Burmese pythons in the Everglades had no natural predator and were free to decimate native species population numbers and have even been known to eat alligators if large enough. Invasive species can wreak havo...

       Fisheries are one of the most productive aspects of our society’s economy. We rely on fisheries for not only our food but also our income. However, destructive fishing practices plague the industry, leading to issues in sustainability. From excessive bycatch to destruction of the ocean floor, the fishing industry needs to start changing for the better. It is estimated that about 17-22% of what is caught by all fisheries is bycatch. That approximates to 2 billion pounds per year (Oceana, 2014). The fact is, these practices are not “necessary” and bycatch is not “inevitable.” We can, and should, do better.        For my project, I chose to create an Instagram page called “Fishing for a Future” ( https://www.instagram.com/fishingforafuture/ ). My goal was to educate people on these issues and make the information on these topics more “digestible.” The reports on unsustainable fishing and bycatch (like the bycatch reports put out by NOAA) a...