VOA -- CONNECT
EPISODE 69
AIR DATE 05 10 2019
TRANSCRIPT
Draft 05 08 2019
This episode contains previously aired material.
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Preserving Green
((SOT))
((Chris Barton, University of Kentucky))
Really interesting thing about it is after we do it, there is no question that that was the right thing to do.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Growing Green
((SOT))
((Caitlin Arlotta, University of The District of Columbia))
These are the tomatoes that we're growing. We have the same experiment running with tomatoes as we do with strawberries. So, we're doing variety trials and we're trying just to see which variety grows the best in a green roof setting.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Building Green
((SOT))
((Denis Hayes, President, Bullitt Foundation))
We talked to a number of developers and said, “Could we build a six-story building that is net energy neutral in Seattle?” and every single one of them said that it was not close to possible.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((Banner: Renewing Green))
((PKG)) FORESTS FROM MINES
((Banner: Forests from Mines))
((Reporter/Camera: Steve Baragona))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Elkins, West Virginia))
((NATS))
((Pop-Up Banner: Appalachia has lost 90% of its native red spruce forests. But reforestation presents challenges.))
((NATS))
((Chris Barton, University of Kentucky))
So, my name is Chris Barton. I’m a professor of Forest Hydrology and Watershed Management at the University of Kentucky. Most of the areas that were mined in this region were forests prior to the mining. If you went out and planted trees on these sites, they just didn’t grow. The original topsoil that was here is usually buried, you know, tens to hundreds of feet deep. And the material that ends up becoming the topsoil is just blasted-up rock. And so, the amount of organic matter or organic carbon in these soils is very, very limited, basically none. The ground was way too, you know, compacted. Water didn’t infiltrate. Roots can’t penetrate. Oxygen can’t circulate in those environments, and one of the things that we recognized was if we could get rid of the compaction, then that was probably the biggest attribute to getting the forest back.
((NATS))
((Chris Barton, University of Kentucky))
So, when we come in and we rip this up, we’re allowing not only those roots to get down deep, but they’re going to die, they’re going to turn over, and you start building up the carbon in these soils.
((NATS))
((Shane Jones, U.S. Forest Service))
From a big picture perspective, when you have red spruce growing in the over story, there are several things that happen. One, that canopy of that conifer tree, you have that canopy year-round. It keeps the temperatures down. It keeps it more cool and moist in the microclimate. And then also when red spruce is in the over story, there’s a complete different process going on with soil development, where the red spruce forest encourages development of a really deep organic horizon in the soil profile. That’s basically black dirt. It looks like potting soil. Incredibly high in carbon, incredibly high in water retention, and you can go and look and see that organic horizon or that black soil that’s high in carbon, and you can pick it up and wring it out and actually see the water drain out of it.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: University of Kentucky))
((Chris Barton, University of Kentucky))
Here, in the temperate region of the world, in Appalachia, four hours away from Washington, D.C., we have billions of trees that potentially we could be planting. So, here’s a great way for an individual to come out and actively do something about climate change. Not give money, not protest, but actively come out and do something to participate in improving the planet.
((NATS))
((PKG)) FRAMING SALINITY
((Banner: Adapting to the Sea))
((Reporter/Camera: Steve Baragona))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Dorchester County, Maryland))
((Pop-Up Banner: As sea levels rise, farmland on Maryland’s Eastern Shore being overrun by salt water))
((Bob Fitzgerald, Farmer))
All this, you can see where I planted this with soybeans, and they just died. I can show you big swaths of land that 25, 30 years ago were being farmed and now they’re just marsh.
((NATS))
((Kate Tully, Professor of Agroecology, University of Maryland))
So, all along the Eastern Seaboard, sea level rise rates are increasing. They’re about two to three times the global average here. And so, with sea level rise comes salt water intrusion, which is the landward movement of sea salts. And when that happens, you start to see plants that are not adapted to salt dying off. The tides are rising higher and higher, and you actually start to get that salt water basically dumping onto the fields or coming up through the groundwater. And you just get these swaths of big portions of the field that are super, super salty, way saltier than corn can handle, soy or wheat, and the plants die. Some farmers will try to switch crops, so actually sorghum, which we see here, is a crop that does very well, as you can see, in saline environments. So, we are looking at alternative crops. So, they might try to switch or adapt.
((NATS))
((Bob Fitzgerald, Farmer))
When they grew up, they didn’t die immediately upon their emergence, but later on, the salt got to them and they died. You can see the skinny little soy bean, that he just got beat back. The problem on the Eastern Shore also is if you dig a ditch, you’re subject to let in as much salt water as you let out fresh water. Because, while you want fresh water to go out so it doesn’t drown out your crop, the salt water’s right there waiting to come in when the tide gets high. If the tide’s up when you have a big flood of rain, the rain is not going to run off until the tide goes down. And if you have a mixture of salt water in here, that’s just going to hold it, you know, hold the whole mess.
((NATS))
((Bob Fitzgerald, Farmer))
Basically, this all I’ve lost on this farm, which is enough on this farm. Another farm down the road that basically they gave up farming, and the guy who is quite well off and is a hunter bought the whole farm. And he’s put berms around, and pumping in fresh water, so that he has a wildlife refuge and a place to hunt.
((NATS))
((PKG)) ALGAE SCRUBBER
((Banner: Algae Scrubber))
((Reporter/Camera: Steve Baragona))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Baltimore, Maryland))
((Locator: Port of Baltimore, Maryland))
((NATS))
((Pop-Up Banner: University of Maryland researchers are testing an algae-based system that can remove excess nutrients contained in runoff wastewater headed for the Chesapeake Bay))
((NATS))
((Peter May, University of Maryland))
This is an algal turf scrubber, a trade name. We’re calling it an algal flow way technology, and it is a technology that is ecologically engineered to use algae to strip nutrients and sediment out of the water body. This technology allows you to use the forces of nature, if you will, sunlight, photosynthesis, gravity flow. We’re pumping water from the river. And so that water, as it pulses down the flow way, stimulates algal attachment on the flow way, essentially creating a controlled algal bloom on land, which put the algae to work, pulling nutrients out of the water body and then creating algal biomass, which then needs to be harvested. In order to remove those nutrients and the sediment and carbon, you would need to harvest it. So, algae grows very fast. It’s the fastest growing organism on the planet. So, we harvest this about every week. That algae is collected on the flow way, and at the end, we have a large mass of algae that we’re producing every week. What do we do with that algae? You have to have an end use, otherwise you’re going to pile that algae up very quickly.
((NATS))
((Stephanie Lansing, University of Maryland))
So, this is algae that we took off the turf scrubber. And what we’re doing with this algae, this is biomass, that again, nutrients from the bay, there’s too much nutrients in the bay. The algae love it. The algae take up the nutrients in the biomass. But then, once you’ve harvested this algae, the question is what are you going to do with it. We actually put it into an anaerobic digestion system. In that digestion process, the bacteria break down this carbon material, and they produce methane biogas, methane-enriched biogas.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: Amro Hassanein))
((Stephanie Lansing, University of Maryland))
So, we collect this biogas, and then the biogas is used to run a fuel cell. The fuel cell is actually a very efficient way of using the energy. So, we use the biogas and that fuel cell can be used anywhere you need to put electricity in.
((NATS))
((Stephanie Lansing, University of Maryland))
But as you scale up, we have systems that are two megawatts, three megawatts, very large systems using this anaerobic digestion process. All you have to do is make the vessels bigger and put more materials inside.
((NATS))
((Peter May, University of Maryland))
Over wetlands, treatment wetlands, rain gardens, bio-swales, you name it, this will extract more nutrients per unit area when it’s running than any of those other systems. Very efficient at doing what it does.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
New Green Spaces
((SOT))
((Keith Green, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society))
Gun violence has gone down, and you know, people's heart rates is being reduced. People are exercising more in certain sections of, you know, Philadelphia. You just be like, wow.
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((Banner: Urban Green))
((PKG)) ROOFTOP GARDEN
((Banner: Rooftop Farming))
((Reporter: Julie Taboh))
((Camera: Steve Baragona))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((NATS))
((David Bell, Bell Architects))
This roof has a greenhouse. It has stairs and elevators to access the roof. We put in a weather station. We put in cisterns to irrigate. So, all of those things are critical components to its success.
((NATS))
((Sandi Farber Bandier, “Master Gardener” Coordinator))
This is the future for food. What we have established here at this college is the food hub concept of, you grow it here, you prepare it, you prepare it in a commercial kitchen, you distribute it through farmers markets, food trucks, and then you recycle.
((NATS))
((David Bell, Bell Architects))
We're really excited about this project because it started to do something more than just dealing with storm water management. It took advantage of a resource above the city that you see all over.
((NATS))
((Caitlin Arlotta, University of The District of Columbia))
In an urban environment, you don't have, maybe, all that many spaces to choose from, and so, rooftops are just unutilized space. So, it's a really good way to not have to restructure your city necessarily and be able to incorporate green roofs. So, bringing fresh food into cities where you wouldn't necessarily have that access. These are the tomatoes that we're growing. We have the same experiment running with tomatoes as we do with strawberries. So, we're doing variety trials and we're trying just to see which variety grows the best in a green roof setting.
((NATS))
((Caitlin Arlotta, University of The District of Columbia))
In the U.S., it may not seem very common to use hibiscus leaves and sweet potato leaves as food, but in many places around the world it is.
((Sandi Farber Bandier, “Master Gardener” Coordinator))
My biggest surprise was that we produced 4,250 pounds (2000 kg) of produce the first year and was able to disseminate that to people in need.
((NATS))
((David Bell, Bell Architects))
I’d like to see this as becoming more a part of the standard where people design and build buildings with farming on the roof, with the ability to actually go up there and enjoy it and have a better connection to nature, but also to provide better fresh foods to people.
((NATS))
((PKG)) GREEN SPACES
((Banner: Green Spaces))
((Reporter/Camera: Steve Baragona))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania))
((Pop-Up Banner: LandCare is a model of urban revitalization that addresses the widespread challenge of abandoned land plaguing Philadelphia))
((NATS))
((Keith Green, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society))
The program started as a pilot program to clean vacant lots. It sets itself up for dumping like this. It's really not safe for the kids that live around here because, you know, it’s an open lot. Anybody can hide in here. You can stash drugs in here. It’s huge for everybody involved. It's huge for the community because, you know, you're cleaning up vacant lot. And, you know, in these neighborhoods, you're giving small businesses opportunities that they may have not had, and you're also hiring, you know, local residents to perform the work.
((NATS))
((Sheila Parker, Philadelphia Resident))
People, you know, they go out their door and they just see rubbish and trash and nothing cut. It does a lot to a person. I know this has really been helpful for me, really has.
((NATS))
((Stills: Before / After))
((Keith Green, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society))
We, like, educate the community people in, like, basic horticulture, teach them how to water, the difference between an annual on a perennial.
((NATS))
((Stills: Before / After))
((Dr. Gina South, Emergency Room Physician))
What we found was a significant drop in heart rate when people were walking past the vacant lots when they were greened compared to before they were greened.
((NATS))
((Stills: Before / After))
((Dr. Gina South, Emergency Room Physician))
I did a qualitative study in which I interviewed people who are living in neighborhoods that had a lot of vacant lots and abandoned buildings and asked them what they felt the impact was on their health. They had a lot to say. People felt like it had a negative impact on the overall well-being of the community and, in particular, that it fractured ties between neighbors. So, it affected that social milieu of the community, which we know has an impact on health, and then people felt like it impacted their mental health. They felt stigmatized and neglected and then experience a lot of negative emotions like depression and anxiety and fear, because of living on a block with a lot of vacant lots or abandoned buildings. People reported feeling 40% less depressed and an overall improvement in their mental health. We took care of a lot of shooting victims and did a great job of treating their physical injuries but did little to nothing to think about what was causing them to come in as shooting victims to us in the first place.
((NATS))
((Keith Green, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society))
Gun violence has gone down, and you know, people's heart rates is being reduced. People are exercising more in certain sections of, you know, Philadelphia. You just be like, wow.
((Dr. Gina South, Emergency Room Physician))
Our results were most prominent actually in the poorest neighborhoods in the city so, indicating that there may be certain neighborhoods where interventions like this can have the biggest impact.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up…..
((Banner))
Building Houses and Self
((SOT))
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
It's a 400 square foot sort of tiny house concept. We are saying: come, learn yourself, figure out how to build it.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((Banner: Building Green))
((PKG)) SUPER ADOBE
((Banner: Building Houses and Self))
((Reporter/Camera: Arturo Martinez))
((Map: Hesperia, California))
((NATS))
((Pop-Up Banner: Ian Lodge gave up his life as a musician to start teaching about SuperAdobe in the California desert, an architectural technique developed by the Cal-Earth Institute))
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
I love coming out of my house now and seeing this thing.
((NATS))
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
Here we are, building, and you've come to Cal-Earth to learn how to build and there is a physical aspect to that. We are suddenly here, building a house. Six inches more to the outside.
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
I was working in Los Angeles as a musician, struggling really, and I just had arrived at a point where musically I hit a wall, financially I felt like I hit a wall, and I wanted to try and provide for myself.
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
You know, musicians drink, and they don't get much sleep, and they do all kinds of terrible things. So, I had a lifestyle that needed to be modified.
((NATS))
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
Oh yeah. I didn't have a particularly healthy life and slowly as I moved towards eating whole food and eating healthy food, it doesn't take much of a jump to start to ask: well, what about a healthy house? What about the health of the structure you live in? I just suddenly stopped renting a house, sold my stuff, got on the phone to Cal-Earth and showed up.
((NATS))
((Dastan Khalili, President of Cal-Earth))
Cal-Earth is the California Institute of Earth, Arts and Architecture. We are a nonprofit foundation and in our nonprofit work, we are an educational institute and also a disaster relief charity. We teach our students, empower our students how to build structures called SuperAdobe. What that means is taking long sandbags and barbed wires and building structures that you see. Now these structures are fireproof, hurricane proof, tornado proof, earthquake resistant. They work in harmony with nature and they have a minimal carbon footprint.
((NATS))
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
We have right here, adobe. We have earth and we can build a house out of earth. You put the earth in the bag and you put the barbed wire on top of it. It's not much to that.
((NATS))
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
And that's why we can reasonably say to people: hey, come and we'll show you how to build a dome house quickly.
((NATS))
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
This is an example of what can be done with sandbags and you pack the soil inside these tubes and then compact it and each layer comes up like so, until you've generated some sort of a structure. Most of these buildings can be built in one day with ten people and you could create these structures. We teach workshops and in a matter of a few days, we have people doing this. So, it really is a very simple method of building.
((NATS))
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
So, these are long term apprentices building a dome. Right now, they are laying the foundation layer. It's the part that touches the ground.
((NATS))
((Michelle, Cal-Earth student))
I love SuperAdobe. I love working with the earth, so that's what I'm doing here.
((Jerry Alan, Cal-Earth student))
I would love to build my own house up in upper Michigan. I think once people see this technology up there, they're gonna want to do workshops, maybe an eco village.
((NATS))
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
I've found in architecture what I used to have in music, which is excitement and passion and fun and everything that you hope to have.
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
That's eco dome. It's a 400 square foot sort of tiny house concept. We could deliver that, no question, with paid labor for $50,000. But we're not selling anything. We're selling education. We are saying: come, learn yourself, skip the $50,000, pay $10,000 for the material input and figure out how to build it. There's a solution there. It's to do with people power and cooperating and forming relationships with people.
((NATS))
((Michelle, Cal-Earth student))
Hopefully, we will be finishing the dome that's behind me next week. It's been moving a little slow and we've definitely had to correct ourselves quite a few times but it's all part of learning.
((NATS))
((Jerry Alan, Cal-Earth student))
We are getting close though.
((NATS))
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal Earth Institute))
We are going to do this. You are getting really close to the top. This is the coda to our work.
((Michelle, Cal-Earth student))
I'm excited to be closing it.
((NATS))
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
That's it.
((NATS))
((Jerry Alan, Cal-Earth student))
I thought it was going to be a lot easier but there's a lot of things that can go wrong.
((Michelle, Cal-Earth student))
This is a small scale so we were really excited to actually build like an actual official dome.
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
If they can do this, as they've demonstrated in the last three weeks, then they become part of a team of people who, today, can build houses out of sand bags. So for us, that's just a win. It means we've got five more people in this army that we're educating and moving forward. So, I mean, I feel fantastic.
((NATS))
((Michelle, Cal-Earth student))
Hi. I'm Michelle. Nice to meet you.
((Bob Lien, Builder of SuperAdobe house))
Where are you from, Michelle?
((Michelle, Cal-Earth student))
Lake Arrowhead.
((Bob Lien, Builder of SuperAdobe house))
Oh wow. Cool.
((Michelle, Cal-Earth student))
Not too far. Thanks for having us here.
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
This is not new. Right now, as we speak, as you're filming this, I know for a fact because I've looked into this, half of the world lives in adobe houses.
((NATS))
((Bob Lien, Builder of SuperAdobe house))
We started this myself and two of my older kids. We started in 2006 and we moved in in May of 2010. So, I call it almost four years, really.
((NATS))
((Ian Lodge, Site Director, Cal-Earth Institute))
This SuperAdobe system is able to advance a very significantly ecological model of housing. That's the right thing for this time in human history.
((NATS))
CLOSING ((ANIM))
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BREAK
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
SHOW ENDS
