Kauai Recycling and Televisions
Kauai has begun an annual electronic recycling drive for all types of electronic equipment. Items accepted include: Computers, Hubs, Keyboards, Laptops, Typewriters, Stereos, Cameras, TV’s, Fax Machines, CD-ROM drives, Telephones, VCR players, Speakers, Radios, Copiers, Cell phones, DVD drives, Backup batteries, DVD players, Camcorders, GPS systems, Monitors, Scanners, Stereo components, Printers, Plasma Screens, Electrical gaming units, Overhead projectors.
During the year, televisions from institutional sources are not accepted at the landfill because the components of the monitors CRTs and LCDs exhibit characteristics of hazardous waste that exceed the limits for landfills. Call 241-4837 for information on recycling TVs & monitors generated from businesses. Also, E Recycling Kauai is now offering year round Electronic Recycling to residents and businesses including door to door pick up for a fee. For more information, see their website erecyclingkauai.com, or call 651-2544.
Free Annual Electronic Waste Recycling Event
Vidinha Stadium Parking Lot
Friday, October 21 from 8 am to 5 pm for Businesses & Institutions
Saturday, October 22 from 8 am to 5 pm for Residents
For more information, visit the county’s Kauai recycling website.
Ocean Acidification Demonstration
Ocean acidification is the ongoing absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere causing a decrease in the pH and increase in acidity of the Earth’s oceans. About half of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere goes into the sea, and as the amount of carbon rises in the atmosphere there is a corresponding rise of carbon going into the ocean.
Human activities such as the combustion of fossil fuels and land use changes have led to a new flux of CO2 into the atmosphere. About 50% has been taken up by the oceans, with most of the rest remaining in the atmosphere. Between 1750 and 1990 the world’s oceans have seen an increase of around 30% acidity.
18th century 0%
1990s +18.9%
Present +28.8%
2050 +69.8%
2100 +126.5%
Natural seawater has an abundance of calcium carbonate minerals, which are building blocks for calcifying organisms to build their skeletons and shells. When carbon dioxide is absorbed by seawater, chemical reactions occur that reduce seawater pH, carbonate ion concentration, and saturation states of biologically important calcium carbonate minerals. Continued ocean acidification is causing many parts of the ocean to become undersaturated with these minerals, which is likely to affect the ability of some organisms to produce and maintain their shells. The degree of change to ocean chemistry, including ocean pH, will depend on the mitigation and emissions pathways society takes.
Ocean Acidification and Phytoplankton
Water is moved around the globe by the great ocean conveyor belt. As warm surface water is moved away from the tropics, it cools and releases its heat to the atmosphere. The further north this water moves, the cooler and heavier it becomes, eventually sinking to the lower level of the conveyor belt. This cooler water is then carried along the depths of the ocean, picking up nutrients that have gathered there.
As winds move the top layers of the oceans, cold, nutrient rich waters from the depths are brought to the top at “up-welling sites”. These areas are important feeding grounds for phytoplankton — microscopic plants that float in the light filled waters at the top of the ocean. Phytoplankton feed on the nutrients that come from the deep ocean waters and many other species then feed on them. They are the primary producers of the ocean and form the base of many marine food chains.
Scientists predict many ecosystems will be greatly altered or may collapse altogether as a response to global warming. Fresh water is less dense than sea water. Therefore, the addition of significant amounts of fresh water from melting ice caps and glaciers may result in a slowing of the ocean conveyor belt, leading to cooler winters in Western Europe and a disruption of the circulation of vital nutrients to phytoplankton.
Phytoplankton may also be cut off from their food supply as surface temperatures warm, causing the mixing between the warmer top layers and cooler bottom layers to diminish. A decrease in phytoplankton can lead to a collapse of marine food webs, affecting marine mammals (whales, seals and dolphins), sea birds (albatross) and important commercial fish species (cod, salmon and tuna).
Ocean Acidification and Marine Life
Marine life ranging from the smallest plankton to the largest whale may be affected by ocean acidification. Coral reef ecosystems will be some of the first casualties of ocean acidification. Impacts to these beautiful and important habitats could have huge consequences for a quarter of the entire biological diversity of the oceans that depend on coral reefs for food and shelter. Shellfish such as sea urchins, lobsters, sea stars and brittle stars are some prime examples of creatures that could be affected. More acidic oceans are expected to lead to a shortage of carbonate, a key building block that these animals need to build their shells and skeletons.
In addition to coral reefs and shellfish, animals without shells or skeletons such as squid and various types of fish may be negatively affected in a variety of ways. Impacts to individual species may ultimately disrupt entire food webs. For example, pteropods are tiny swimming sea snail that forms a large base of the food chains and their shell building is particularly vulnerable to increasing ocean acidity. If pteropod populations plummet from acidified waters, this will affect the population numbers of animals that eat them, like salmon. If salmon numbers drop due to a loss of pteropods, it could further impact predators that eat salmon, such as killer whales.
The changing acidity of the oceans threatens to throw off the delicate chemical balance upon which marine life depends for survival. Corals are the framework builders of reefs, by far the most diverse ecosystems of our oceans. However, the effects of acidification are not going to stop with reefs. Like dominoes, the impacts are going to be far-reaching throughout the oceans.
Ocean Acidification and Sea Levels
The oceans play an important role in regulating the Earth’s temperature. As the levels of heat and carbon dioxide rise in the atmosphere, so do their levels in the oceans. Rising sea levels are caused by both the warming oceans and melting ice. As water heats above 39.2 F), it expands through a process known as “thermal expansion”. Global warming is causing the oceans to heat up and expand and therefore rise. The melting of glaciers, ice caps, and the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are also contributing to the rising seas.
In 2006, the first inhabited island was lost to rising sea levels in the Bay of Bengal. The island of Lohachara sank beneath the surface of of the ocean, and some 10,000 people became the world’s first global warming refugees. This Indian island was situated in an area which has some 70,000 people living on a dozen islands who are all facing the same fate as those of Lohachara. Unlike the area’s human inhabitants, its unique wildlife, including 400 endangered Bengal tigers, are unlikely to survive the rising tides.
Scientists have suggested that by 2080, millions of people are likely to be flooded every year and hundreds of millions more may be displaced by rising seas. Whole island nations could disappear off the map altogether and large swaths of low lying areas are likely to be inundated. Even some of the world’s most important and heavily populated cities, such as New York, London and Bangkok, are at risk of disappearing under the rising waters.
Increasing sea surface temperatures also increases evaporation and the amount of moisture in the atmosphere, which acts as the fuel for thunderstorms. As storms move across the open ocean, they pick up energy from the warm ocean surface and become more powerful. The more heat in the ocean’s surface, the more potential exists for strong winds and heavy rains to be created. It is these winds, rains, and storm surges that can devastate lives and cause billions of dollars of damage.
Kauai Recycling And Galapagos Lessons
The Galapagos Islands have experienced an increase of residents and visitors over the past few years, which has created a variety of environmental concerns including an unprecedented amount of waste. How do you handle all the waste when you live on a small island? Their efforts included helping develop a more sustainable waste management system, along with a recycling outreach campaign. Now, after just over 3 years of recycling, there are some things that the system could teach the U.S.
They have better recycling rates than the U.S. after less time.
The island currently recycles 35 to 50 percent of it’s waste, which is as good, or better, in many cases, than most U.S. municipal systems after just three years, versus three decades in the U.S.
Composting makes waste management way easier.
They’ve added yard waste and food scrap composting, which makes so much sense on a small island. Santa Cruz produces about 12 tons of waste per day (pretty small compared to any developed city) but still, all that waste has to go somewhere. With organic waste being about 50 percent of those 12 tons, there’s definitely no shortage of compostable material, so the installation of the industrial compost system has a hugely positive impact on the island’s waste stream.
Encouraging reuse with a bottle deposit really works.
The Galapagos has a deposit of $1 on all beer and soda glass bottles. That’s six bucks extra for every six pack, and even for the casual beer or soda enthusiast, that would add up quickly unless you were hanging on to your bottles to return for the deposit. It’s working great on the island; the return rate is well over 90 percent, and the bottle deposit program is really in it’s infancy.
These new efforts remain a work in progress, and more conscientious waste reduction is an obvious first step to slowing down the waste stream. The current system is a huge step up, but ultimately, they’ll need to continue finding ways to simply require fewer and less wasteful goods for both residents and tourists alike.
