Today in History – February 3, 1958 -  Rachael Carson publishes the Silent Spring. Rachel Carson, a writer, scientist and ecologist, worked seventeen years for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, where she learned about the problems of pesticides on the environment. She is best known for her book called Silent Spring, which is often credited with shifting public consciousness about the environment and providing the foundation for today’s environmental movement. Carson faced much hostility from chemical companies due to her criticism of the over use of pesticides and the lack of scientific and public oversight.

The Engineering Pathway has a number of resources on Rachel Carson and environmental ethics. I am particularly impressed with the ethics module hosted by the National Academy of Engineering titled Rachel Carson – Silent Springs. For more educational resources, see our agricultural engineering education, environmental engineering education and chemical engineering education community pages. The Engineering Pathway also hosts Engineering Education communities in all ABET-accredited disciplines.

Carson was an engaging writer and some of her observations were hypotheses that did not stand the test of time after more thorough scientific analyses were conducted, making her the object of criticism even today. Yet one must understand that she was writing at a time that full scientific scrutiny was not available and it was “early days” of public disclosure of the effects of pesticides and other commonly used chemicals. I find John Tierney’s editorial in the New York Times, for example, to be unmindful of this context. He makes a good point that pesticides have had positive effects as well, such as greatly increasing yield of agricultural products and reducing the spread of diseases spread by insects; I agree, there are always tradeoffs in the implementation of any technology.

On the other hand, I find myself questioning Teirney’s own scientific integrity (no educational credentials in science that I know of) and have found his criticisms to often be out of context and misleading. I have been at the wrong end of his criticism for a report I co-authored with the National Academies titled: Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering. I suppose it helps sell newspapers, but for someone claiming the scientific high ground, he really seems to miss the point and loves to blow up controversial subjects in misleading ways. The Presidents of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Science and The Institute of Medicine immediately wrote an excellent response to Tierney’s criticism. Interested readers might also be interested in the editorial by two of the report’s co-authors as well, Jo Handelsman and Robert Birgeneau. I can only imagine the attacks Carson must have lived through a half decade ago, with most of the chemical industry using their vast resources to discredit her and the environmental movement she inspired. Fortunately, these same companies have come to recognize the importance of the environmental impact and sustainability of their products, not to mention, the market sensitivities.

Today in History – January 1, 1853 – The world’s first practical steam-powered fire engine made its debut.

In the spring of 1852, Abel Shawk, Alexander Bonner Latta, and Miles Greenwood began construction on the first practical steam-powered fire engine. While other fire engines had existed, theirs was significantly faster, being able to pump water in a mere ten minutes. Once finished they presented their engine to Cincinnati Fire Department on January 1st, 1853 (their own city). This engine was nicked name ‘Uncle Joe Ross’ and with the success of this and other steam powered fire engines, the City of Cincinnati went on to create the first professional fire department in the United States.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on fire-engines, fire-fighting and steam. For related educational resources, visit the Mechanical Engineering Education disciplinary community.

Today in history – December 11th, 1997 – the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework on Climate Change was signed.

In 1992 the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted and was a major force in addressing the problem of global warming. As greenhouse gas levels rose around the world it became clear that countries had to be committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. This commitment came in the form of the Kyoto Protocol. Name after the city it was signed in, Kyoto, Japan, the now has over 174 parties that have ratified the protocol. Of these 36 are have committed to reduce their greenhouse gas levels by at least 5% of the 1990 baseline. These targets must be reached within a five year time frame between 2008 and 2012. One notable exception, is United States even though it is a member of the UNFCCC. On February 16th, 2005 the protocol entered into force and will expire in 2012.

The Kyoto Protocol affects almost all the major sectors of the economy and is considered to be the most far-reaching agreement on environment and sustainable development ever adopted. Since its inception many governments have adopted new policies to meet their protocol commitments. And in the future the protocol will act as a framework for any international agreement on climate change. Some doubt the connection between greenhouse gasses and climate change. But, the Fourth Assessment Report on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, launched this year may have put an end to those doubts.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on global warming. For related educational resources, visit the Environmental Engineering Education, disciplinary community. You may also want to visit our December 4th blog on the coining of the word “smog” and the “killer fog” of London.

Also on this date in 1844, Dr. Horace Wells was the first to receive dental use of nitrous oxide. See related educational resources on anaesthetics or visit the Biomedical Engineering Education, disciplinary community.

Today in History – December 4th, 1952 – Killer fog begins in London England and the word “smog” is coined. A dense fog mixed with sooty black coal smoke killed over 12,000 Londoners in four days, remaining one of the deadliest environmental tragedies in recent history. As many of the initial deaths were elderly or ill people, the medical staff who treated patients at the time did not realize the cause and extent of the impact. It was the shortage of coffins and high sales of flowers were the first indications that many people were being killed. The effect of carbon emissions on the the environment remains today and is the major contributor to global warming.

During the period of Friday 5th to Tuesday 9th December 1952 a thick, dense mixture of smoke and fog settled over London, for which the term “smog” was coined. Today this event is seen as one of the most significant pollution episodes in history, since it led directly to new ways of thinking about man’s impact on the environment and raised public awareness of the relationship between air quality and health. The huge number of deaths (initially reported as 4000, nowadays considered to be closer to 12,000) and other casualties (an estimated 100,000 people were affected by respiratory illnesses) directly attributed to the smog demonstrated its lethal potential and gave impetus to the modern environmental movement and the rethinking of air pollution and the need to control it.

In the years following the Great Smog, new laws were implemented in the UK, the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968, and the City of London (Various Powers) Act 1954, to greatly restrict air pollution and improve air quality. This led to the closures of the coal-fired power stations at Battersea and other places within London and the moving of power plants to central locations in England away from the cities. These acts, and others like them across the developed world, have helped to improve air quality, but now a modern variation of the London Smog, known as photochemical smog, blights our cities, and, whereas the Great Smog was stationary and sat for several days over a windless London, this new fog travels with the wind and, hence, can affect populations well away from the cities themselves.

The London Smog was made up of black soot and tar particles and sulfur dioxide emitted mainly by the coal-fired power stations dotted around and within London. Mixed with the smoke from domestic chimneys, vehicle exhausts (particularly those from the diesel engines of the London Buses that had just replaced the more environmentally friendly trams!) and combining with the fog caused by an anticyclone settling over London, a thick “pea soup” smog (the presence of the tarry particles of soot gave the smog its yellow-back colour which led to its nickname of “peasouper”) developed and settled close to the ground, remaining motionless for several days and leading to severe breathing difficulties for those living and working within it.

In contrast, with coal-fired power stations largely removed from our cities and, in any case, in most countries now fitted with air pollution control measures to remove particulates and sulfurous oxides, the modern day version of smog is formed due to the chemical reaction of nitrogen oxides (formed in vehicle exhausts) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs, emitted from, for instance, gasoline, solvents, paints), catalysed by sunlight. This results in airborne particles that are highly reactive and oxidising and in ground-level ozone. Exposure to these pollutants can either cause or exacerbate acute respiratory diseases, decreased lung function in children, asthma and other serious health problems. It is this phenomenon that we can often see as a dirty brown stain hanging over our cities on sunny, warm and dry days. For those cities still dependent on local coal-fired power stations, such as Beijing, and combined with the soot emitted from diesel engines, the problem is even more acute. Modern-day versions of the first Clean Air Acts have significantly reduced soot emissions from coal-fired power stations and vehicle exhausts in the United States and Europe.

Scientists now believe that global warming will only add to the problem of air pollution in our cities. Higher temperatures over the coming decades are expected to cause more smoggy days and heat waves, resulting in a greater number of illnesses and deaths. However, the interactions between smog and global warming are extremely complex and are not fully understood. For instance, it is now known that aerosols, which are gaseous suspensions of very fine particles, including soot, are known to increase global warming, whereas sulfates have a cooling effect. What happens when you remove one or the other or both from emissions to the atmosphere is not known for certain. Recent studies estimate that soot in the atmosphere is responsible for 18 per cent of the planet’s global warming, compared with 40 per cent for carbon dioxide. Hence, it is believed that measures to control the emissions of soot from, for example, wood-burning stoves, could be a relatively cheap and quick way of significantly reducing global warming. Unlike carbon dioxide, soot does not linger for long in the atmosphere, but travels immense distances to deposit on snow-capped mountains and polar ice caps, significantly reducing the ability of the snow and ice to reflect the sun’s energy. It is from Asia and Africa where most of the soot emanates.

There are over 700 million wood-burning stoves in use in the World today. Several initiatives are underway to encourage communities in India and Africa to use new stoves that do not emit soot. One such project has come up with an innovative stove for use in the war-torn region of Darfur. Known as the Darfur Stoves project and led by scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (http://darfurstoves.org/), the new stove requires only one quarter of the amount of firewood needed to cook using the traditional three-stone fires. Because of its fuel efficiency, use of the new stove limits the amount of time the women in Darfur need to spend outside the safety of the displaced persons camps to gather fuel for cooking. This decreases their exposure to possible violent attacks, whilst also limiting deforestation and the release of toxic indoor smoke. However, in common with a similar initiative in Kohlua, India (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/science/earth/16degrees.html) there is a reluctance from the communities involved to use these new stoves, partly because the food prepared on them tastes very different to what they are used to (and happy with) and partly because of cultural and traditional values. This is a lesson that must be learnt. If we are to encourage people to change their behaviours to combat global warming, we must work with them to develop technologies appropriate to their needs.

I am Director of the the Centre for CO₂ Technology at University College London, established in response to the Kyoto Protocol and the recognition that existing technologies will not be able to meet the emission targets agreed upon for carbon dioxide (as the main greenhouse gas). Thus, the Centre focuses on developing breakthrough technologies for the large scale reduction (e.g. alternative, low carbon, energy sources), removal (e.g. gas separation from flue emissions) and sequestration (e.g. long term storage in materials) of carbon dioxide.

My personal research interests lie in the development of technologies that radically change the ways that chemicals are made today, so that the energy demand from the chemicals sector is massively reduced. I am also interested in looking into ways to involve all stakeholders in the development of low carbon technologies, in order to encourage deployment of said technologies, a process known as Open Innovation. See http://www.ucl.ac.uk/climate-change/ for the work UCL is doing on climate change. My piece is available at the link “The Next Industrial Revolution”.

For more information, see the EEngineering Pathway’s educational resources on global warming and smog and air pollution. For related curricula, visit the Chemical Engineering Education or Environmental Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Also on this date in 1996, NASA’s Mars Pathfinder and Sojourner rover launched from Cape Canaveral.

Today in History – November 30, 1886 – Niagra Falls becomes first commercial AC (alternating current) electric power plant. The name is synonymous with power. In 1886, George Westinghouse, a major proponent of AC power, had organized the Westinghouse Electric Company and by 1890, the company was operating 300 central generating stations.

See the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on dam design and construction. or visit the Civil Engineering Education or the Electrical Engineering Education community sites.

Also on this day in history in 1934, the “Flying Scotsman” becomes the first steam locomotive to exceed 100 MPH.

Today in History – September 25, 1974 – Scientists first reported that freon gases released from aerosol spray cans were destroying the ozone layer (Molina, M. j., and F. S. Rowland, “Stratospheric Sink for Chlorofluoromethanes: Chlorine Catalysed Destruction of Ozone”, Nature, 249, 810-814, 1974).

It was not until March 22, 1985 that the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer was adopted in response to this and other studies documenting the harm caused to the environment and our own health by ozone-depleting substances.

Ozone is a colorless gas, closely related to the oxygen in the air we breathe. The ozone molecule is made up of three oxygen atoms (O₃), while normal atmospheric oxygen contains only two (O₂). At concentrations above one part per million (1 ppm), ozone is irritating to the skin, eyes, and upper respiratory system. In the lower atmosphere, ozone is a pollutant produced by the action of sunlight on nitrogen oxides and volitile organic compounds present in motor vehicle exhaust and, to a lesser extent, in some industrial emissions.

However in the far upper atmosphere (stratosphere) about 10 to 20 miles above the earth’s surface, a naturally occurring ozone layer performs a highly useful function by filtering out much of the ultraviolet radiation emitted by the sun. By reducing the amount of ultraviolet radiation reaching the surface of the earth, the ozone layer reduces the danger of skin cancer, cataracts, and other negative health and environmental effects.

Scientific studies beginning in the early 1970′s indicated that that the stratopheric ozone layer was becoming depleted by the emission of certain compounds produced on the earth, the most important being the chloroflourocarbons (CFC’s) that had been developed for use in air conditioning and refrigeration systems. Early refrigeration systems had used refrigerants that were flammable (propane), toxic (sulfur dioxide), or both (ammonia, methyl chloride). Joint work by General Motors, Frigidaire, and DuPont in the late 1920′s and 30”s had led to development of the CFC-based Freon refrigerants (see Freon ® – The History of Freon®), which were both non-flammable and non-toxic. These became widely used throughout the world in refrigeration and air conditioning system, as cleaning solvents, and in other applications. Leakage of these substances on earth was carried upward by winds to the stratosphere, where they interacted with ice crystals to cause a breakdown of the ozone molecules.

As evidence of ozone depletion accumulated, governments began taking action to limit emissions of CFC’s and other ozone-depleting substances. International cooperation to address ozone depeletion culminated in the signing of the The Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer on March 22, 1985. Its provisions were further strengthened by the signing of the The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer on September 16, 1987.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on the ozone layer, global warming or view our Chemical, Biochemical, Biomolecular Engineering Education,  Environmental Engineering Education or our Green Design and Sustainable Enginering Education community sites.

Today in History – August 31, 1921 – Lt. John A. Macready performed the first crop dusting flight on a surplus World War I Curtiss JN-6H (Jenny), taking off from McCook Field near Dayton, Ohio. The goal was to attack the Catalpa sphinx moth by dusting an orchard with a load of lead-arsenate from a makeshift metal hopper attached to the Jenny’s fuselage. The maneuver was successful and the moths had been wiped out on that orchard.

Recently, the broad use of pesticides is coming into question due to issues with wildlife, water contamination, energy usage and farm worker exposure. See the February 3 blog on the publication of Rachel Carsons book the Silent Spring.

The Engineering Pathway has a number of resources on pesticides, agricultural engineering, Rachel Carson and environmental ethics. For more educational resources, see our agricultural engineering education community site. The Engineering Pathway also hosts Engineering Education communities in all ABET-accredited disciplines.

Who is most responsible for accumulating this debt? Well, if everyone lived like we do in the U.S. we’d need five planets to sustain our annual needs. If we lived like the Chinese we’d actually just balance our books – at least for now.

Not to be confused with the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Senator Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day, says that the idea for Earth Day evolved over a period of seven years starting in 1962. He wanted President Kennedy to give visibility to pollution and the environmental degradation that was appearing throughout the country, but was going unnoticed by the political establishment. The anti-Vietnam War demonstrations called “teach-ins” were popular on college campuses and he decided to organize a huge grassroots protest over what was happening to our environment, tapping into both the energy of the student anti-war movement and the environmental cause. A Sunday, November 30, 1969, New York Times article by Gladwin Hill forecast that this was going to be a massive event:

“Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation’s campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam…a national day of observance of environmental problems…is being planned for next spring…when a nationwide environmental ‘teach-in’ …

Senator Gaylord Nelson explains that Earth Day worked “because of the spontaneous response at the grassroots level. We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated.”

Today with global warming and another energy crises, sustainability is a top international concern and an estimated 1 billion people will do something to observe the anniversary of the first Earth Day. People will participate in marches and protests, family and community activities, clean-up days, tree-planting events, saving water, saving energy, nature walks, and sustainability events.  A coalition of U.S. government agencies provides more on the history of Earth Day, environmental progress and Earth Day activities.

I am pleased to see a dramatic change in government action to aggressively work on climate and environmental issues. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson challenges all Americans to “begin building the green economy“, Department of Energy’s Steven Chu tackling global warming.

Expressions like “Green is the new black”, “Green is the new red, white and blue” and “green commerce”, such as that highlighted in ABC’s “Green Gadgets for Earth Day” news, demonstrate that green design is big business today. Alas some of these efforts are really “green washing” and are more effective at ringing up sales than in helping the environment. We should encourage life cycle analysis thinking with our students to seriously look at the long term environmental impact of new products, energy options and strategies.

The Engineering Pathway has a number of resources on green design, manufacturing and sustainability as well as on environmental ethics. For more educational resources, see our agricultural engineering education, environmental engineering education and chemical engineering education community pages. The Engineering Pathway also hosts Engineering Education communities in all ABET-accredited disciplines, including interdisciplinary communities such as the Green Design and Sustainable Engineering education community.

Today in History – July 27, 2010 – Plastic bottle catamaran named “Plastiki” completes epic pacific crossing. A crew of experts, scientists, and creatives, led by visionary explorer David de Rothschild,  sailed over 12,000 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Sydney in a boat made out of plastic bottles and recycled waste products. The name “Plastiki” was inspired by Thor Heyerdal’s 1947 epic expedition the Kontiki.

The purpose of this bold adventure was to draw attention to our carbon footprint with a focus on those ubiquitous PEP water bottles and the Pacific Garbage Patch.  The catamaran design was a pioneering example of sustainable design.

The team aims to captivate and inspire, as well as to motivate tomorrow’s environmental thinkers and doers to take positive action for the planet and be smart with waste. Ultimately, they hope to inspire people to rethink waste as a valuable resource. One person’s waste could be another person’s treasure.”

When teaching a course for engineering faculty in India, I used the problems of PET water bottles as the week-long class project. Usually made of PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate), ~25g per bottle, these plastics use:

• 6.45 kg oil/ kg PET
• 294.2 kg water/ kg PET
• 3.723 kg Green House Gases/ kg PET
• and that’s not even including transportation!

You are welcome to use my slides. This problem is ubiquitous, and the solutions will be geographically and culturally depend. Makes a great project for human-centered sustainable design. Also allows for some creative designs that address the triple bottom line of planet, people and profit. My favorite case study is the formation and expansion of the TerraCycle company.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s resources on Plastiki and  water bottles.  Or take a virtual tour of the Plastiki and learn how this boat survived the mighty ocean. Click on “hot spots” for more details on the catamaran design. For related educational resources, visit the Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Education and Ocean Engineering Education disciplinary communities.

Also on this date on July 27, 1866, the First transatlantic cable was completed.

Today in History – April 29, 1998 – Ten percent of the Amazon rain forest is preserved. On this day, Brazil agreed to set aside about 25 million ha (62 million ac) of the Amazon rain forest for conservation in cooperation with the World Bank and the World Wildlife Fund. This initiative will  protect 10% of its forests by the year 2000. The estimated cost of setting aside this land the size of Great Britain is between $84 million and $156 million.

The plant-rich Amazon ecosystem is sometimes called “the lungs of the Earth” with  one-fifth of the world’s plants, one sixth of all the world’s birds, one in 11 of the world’s mammals and one in 15 of the world’s reptiles.

Alas, massive deforestation and development have polluted the environment and now Brazil is one of the world’s top four emitters of greenhouse gases. Between May 2002 and May 2003, it is reported that Brazil lost more than 24,000 square kilometers of forest – an area larger than the size of Israel.

This  1998 initiative has been followed by more recent efforts, but the work seems to be trying to hold back the tide. A recent news article claims: “Since reaching a recent peak of 10,588 square miles of forest destroyed in the Amazon in 2004, deforestation dropped for the next three years, before rising slightly this year to 4,621 square miles, according to data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, which monitors deforestation. “

The good news is that Brazil has decided recently  to set a target for reducing deforestation by 70 percent over the next decade. The success of these plans for set asides require finding economic alternatives for the people living in the rain forests and close monitoring for illegal clear cutting.

For more information, see the Engineering Pathway’s educational resources on rain forest preservation and global warming or view our Environmental Engineering Education community site.