Turtle slide:)

Environmental Art: part 2

I just recently finished my first lost wax casting project. Lost wax casting, is a process were you carve an item out of jewelers wax. Then submerge it in a flask full of special high temperature plaster, called investment. The flask then goes into a kiln, where the wax is burned out, leaving an empty space where the wax used to be. Finally, the flask is attached to the arm of a centrifuge, where molten metal is forced into the flask by centrifical force.

I carved this ring because of a lizard that I saw on the corkscrew field trip which inspired me.:)
This was also a good lesson in material resources, because I discover that the gold in this ring was worth $200.00, Yikes :) 

Environmental Art:

Being both a scientist and an artist, my art seems to always get filled with influences from whatever I am currently studying in my science classes. Recently, I have been getting into jewelry making, which was significantly helped by the fact that this past year, the arts department was given $20,000 worth of jewelry equipment and gemstones. Anyways, I have really gotten to love casting organic items in silver. Here are some of the pieces I recently made.

On the left: A pendant with a piece of fossilized coral, that I cast the imprint of in sterling silver and then added a black opal and some lapis lazuli.




Bottom: Several partially complete projects, including a silver dragonfly, acorn cap, and carved turtle.

The battle with student government: part 2

Finally, after 12 hours of sitting through senate hearings, our funding bill process was completed. But what we ended up with was only half a bill. The other half was for SCUBA diving gear. Which would allow us to do  research on local reef ecosystems. However, the senators couldn't understand how diving research would fit with our clubs mission of helping the environment. Again, we really desperately need people in our student government who know at least something about science and the environment; if our school is going to genuinely succeed with its mission of  becoming an eco-friendly college.

The battle with student government:

As I mentioned before I am part of the Eco-Action club on campus. Recently we changed our classification from an honors service club, to a registered student organization, which meant basically that we were open to all students and that we could petition funds from student government. As treasurer of the club, it was up to me and the president to learn the process of submitting a funding bill before student senate. It wasn't long into the process that I learned how miserably miss-represented the students of FGCU are by their student government.     
   Not only are 98% of the senators part of a fraternity or sorority. But there was literally only one senator who had any affiliation with a field of science; and that was only with a bio minor. As my friend Sarah said, after attending a senate meeting (quoting Zizek) "I am burdened with the truth."
      Because of what I saw, I was driven to apply to fill an empty senate space. My interview question was
"If I could compare my personality to any flavor of ice cream, what would it be?" REALLY...our student government, which controls 3 million dollars, acts like a high school cheer-leading team!!!! After that, I was not surprised that the sorority girl running against, me got the position.

Thoughts on Alas Babylon

Although I found reading Zizek to be like pulling teeth, I really did thoroughly enjoy reading Alas Babylon. The part I most enjoyed was wondering what it would be like, to try to survive an event like that with the technology we have today. I can't help but think that although many of our gadgets would be completely useless, some of our modern devices would make surviving significantly easier. Like solar power for example; even if most people don't have solar panels laying around. In a post apocalypse Florida, there are probable four or five down every street, powering road equipment. Grab these and some rechargeable batteries (or better yet, ultra-capacitors) and you are set with power for life.:) The main thing that annoyed the engineer in me with this book, was that the characters never figured out that they could simply take the alternator out of the car, and hand crank it, in order to generate power for the car batteries. Anyways definitely should assign Alas Babylon for future classes.

Nickel Iron Batteries:

Another project I have been working on, which related to alternative energy is the nickel iron battery. Nickel iron batteries are really awesome rechargeable batteries, that were invented by Thomas Edison; for use in early electric cars. Edison's batteries are not well known, because after the auto industry fully embraced the combustion engine; Edison's batteries received little notoriety. They are however, truly amazing inventions and in some aspects, still outperform modern batteries of today. Their biggest attribute, is their amazing long life. Original batteries built by Edison's factory are still functioning perfectly well today. The main difference compared to the batteries of today was that the active ingredients,(nickel and iron oxide) do not dissolve or break down from contact with their electrolyte. Which means that the chemical reactions are reversible without degrading the electrode material.
       Anyways, hardly any research has been done to find ways to improve upon Edison's original design, not that it needs much improvement. The main drawback is their energy to weight ratio, is still on the heavy side. Being comparable to lead acid batteries used in cars. So I have been experiment with different variations to Edison's design, to see what I can find out. Chemistry is new to me, so progress is slow but at least I managed to build functional batteries which is a start. 

Quest for megafauna:

Ever since I was a little kid growing up in Idaho, I have always loved collecting cool rock. But what fascinated me even more, was the idea of rocks with the remains of creatures that lived millions of years ago. However, when I moved to Florida, I was understandably somewhat depressed. Because not only does Florida not have dinosaur remains, but it doesn't even have cool rocks.
    But it wasn't until last year that I learned that although FL doesn't have dino remains, it does have a treasure trove of fossils from other prehistoric eras. Last week me and Vikki took a trip up to the peace river, which is famous for its fossils. The water levels were very low, so we could easily stand in the middle of the river and screen wash the black gravel bottom. Which is full of broken pieces of bone and the occasional whole fossil. That day we found several large fossilized dugong rib bones as well as a reasonably large megalodon shark.
Attached are some pictures from a diving trip off of Venice beach...can't wait to go back:) 

Future plans for powering the boat:

The boat came with a very nice, almost unused Yanmar diesel engine, which costs around 15,000 to replace, so I am definitely not getting rid of it; even though I would prefer to convert the boat to run on electric. But I am still trying to make the boat eco-friendly, and diesel is not exactly green or cheep. So that made me think...hmmm bio-diesel could power my boat and be green. And if there is no one else getting the used cooking oil, from the restaurants in my tiny hometown; then maybe it could be cheep as well.:) We shall see...

solar car project

For the past several years I have been working on a solar powered car. It is not meant to be practical...more like a kind of test vehicle to try out ideas on. Anyways, now that I have a good sized bank of ultra-capacitors, I intend to try to experiment with them over x-mass break and see how they work on the car's power system. Because ultra-capacitors can charge much faster than batteries, they have the ability to recapture some of the energy lost through braking. By using the cars electric motor as a generator in the breaking action. Hybrid cars do this, but are only just starting to use ultra-capacitors.

Seabreeze Restoration part 5: Green Power

Now that I have a storage solution, I need a sustainable and readily available source of energy. In Florida wind and solar are the easiest solutions. But wind generators are expensive, and difficult to build to standards that can survive marine environments; so for now I've decided to go for solar. To charge my capacitor bank, I need a solar panel that produces exactly 12 volts. And as most panels actually produce around 18 volts, to effectively charge batteries. I will have to build a custom panel. Surprisingly, building a panel is not terribly difficult. And it cuts a huge chunk off the price of solar power, if you buy the cells off of ebay, and connect them yourself. One thing that also give me an edge is that I work as the studio manager of the sculpture department, and thus have access to all of the studio's fancy tools :)   Basically all that needs to be done, is solder the cells together, then submerge them in a layer of marine epoxy against a sheet of glass, supported inside an aluminum frame. Piece of cake ;)

Seabreeze Restoration part 4: Power Storage

To me a sailboat is a basically a giant experiment. A floating oasis upon which I can test alternative ways to live comfortably an sustainably with the natural world. In order to enjoy modern conveniences you need some form of power, and if you have power, you need a way to efficiently store that power for later use. Batteries or fuel are the traditional way to achieve this; but both will eventually run out or degrade.
    A bit of modern technology that stands to replace battery technology and solve the issue of energy storage, is the ultra-capacitor. Ultra-capacitors function like batteries but do not store energy through chemical reactions. They last virtually forever, having millions of charge and discharge cycles without degrading. And can be charged and discharged almost instantly, unlike batteries that require several hours to charge. There only drawback is that they still weigh slightly more than batteries and are a little expensive.
    I recently bought 10 large ultra-capacitors that will store enough power to run all of the appliances on the boat without ever needing to be replaced. 
Again, we have the technology to make our world way more sustainable, we just need to use it.

Seabreeze Restoration part 3: Bottom Paint

One issue that I am struggling to find an environmentally friendly solution to, is bottom paint. If you leave your boat in the water, you have to deal with the massive numbers of organisms (such as barnacles) that will try to attach themselves to the side of the hull. This is a problem because they add significant weight and friction to the hull. Which makes the boat move slower and use more fuel. Traditional bottom paint slowly leaches toxins into the water, that repel these organisms. However, recent studies are linking some serious environmental effects to the use of these paints. I haven't come up with a solution to for this yet, but I am doing a research project to test several alternative bottom coatings, to see what I can find out. 

Seabreeze Restoration part 2: Toilets

This is a short post, but I just want to vent my disgust, for how insensitive humans can be to the environment. While trying to figure out the plumbing system on the boat, I discovered that their wasn't a way to pump out the sewage holding tank. And that the only way to void the tank, was over the side. This aparently used to be fairly standard practice. I also found out that even today, if you are a certain number of miles offshore, you are still allowed to empty your tanks directly into the ocean. Yuk :(

Seabreeze Restoration part 1: The Bilge

Dealing with the bilge is truly the nastiest part of boat ownership. In our case, the previous owner had allowed a significant amount of motor oil, to leak into the bilge and mix with the already muddy water down below. Now, in a relatively clean bilge, the standard way to get rid of water, is as easy as flipping a switch connected to an electric bilge pump. Which vents the water over the side and back into the bay. However, if oil is involved, this is immediately out of the question for the responsible boater.
  Not only would your conscience try to strangle you, when you saw the black swear spread out behind your boat, but there is a $5000 fine for oil discharge. So, that leads me to my solution. I did some research online and found an awesome way to deal with even the nastiest bilges. Let bacteria do the work for you; and in a completely eco-freindly way. I bought a product called OilGoneEasy, which uses special nutrients to get naturally occurring, oil eating bacteria to have a population explosion inside the bilge. The bacteria feed on any available oil and break it down into non hazardous organic compounds. It takes a while to work on bad cases like mine. But after about a month, the greasy soup in my bilge, turned into nearly crystal clear water, with a few chucks floating on the surface. Super awesome:)!!!!   

 

Dilemma of environmental responsibility on the water...

This past summer, me and my girlfriend Vikki, started on a life's dream of mine, of owning and restoring a classic antique cabin sailboat. I have been restoring sailboats for the past seven years now, and have owned probably 14 different boats; mostly small racing boats, which are easy to work on and have minimal parts that can break. However, I have always wanted to try something bigger, where there would be the option to take trips and move into a dramatically higher resale market. But I was reluctant to start, because of the steep initial costs of buying bigger boats.
    And that is one of the only positive things about being in a recession, is that there are some really great deals around, if you know where to look. We managed to find an antique 35 foot Allied Seabreeze, which is a luxury ocean going yacht, that when restored and in a good economy in worth $35,000... we bought it with a clear title for $2650 and surprisingly found $1000 dollars in quarters down in the lower deck compartments. Now the restoration begins, and the dilemmas of how to restore the boat for as little as possible, while also being as environmentally friendly as possible.

The story of stuff

One of the things that will definitely stick in my mind when I think about colloquium, was the extremely varied number of opinions that I got, when I showed "The Story of Stuff" for my presentation. I am still not sure whether the average opinion from the class, concerning the clip, was positive or negative. But the fact that I heard it referenced, probably a dozen times, even long after I showed it. Tells me it was a success. Because at least I managed to get people to pay attention and think. I do feel, that some of the animosity that I heard in responses, was because I hit a little too close to home for some avid shoppers. But I think a little introspection about the ecological impacts of their habits, was probably a good thing. Even if they didn't like what the found.
I did find it amusing that Jeb decided that the author would be pro-cap and trade, when she recently created another clip outlining the issues with the cap and trade system.
http://www.storyofstuff.com/capandtrade/index.php

Mangrove Restoration

The the most recent environmental restoration project that I worked on with my Eco-Action group, was in partnership with the SCCF marine lab on Sanibel. During one of the last hurricanes that went past Sanibel, a huge section of mangrove forest, inside the Ding Darling state park was destroyed from strong wind and waves. Mangrove ecosystems are one of the most productive environments on the planet; on par with tropical rainforests and coral reefs. They also are extremely important for storm protection and prevention of erosion; which is a major issue in sandy Florida.
 The marine lab showed us how to select healthy mangrove propagules (seedlings), that float up in huge numbers onto the beach. The lab had done studies on mangrove replanting, and found that if the propagules were stuck at least three inches into the mud, in grid patterns, they had almost a 90% chance of surviving. We filled dozens of buckets full of propagules, and headed off to the damaged section of forest. During the boat ride out we saw probably 10 osprey, 2 bald eagles, dozens of egrets, and easily a hundred pelicans. By the end of the day, the lab estimated that based on the average number of propagules that fit in one bucket; we had planted around 6,500 baby mangroves! This was a super cool experience, particularly because through the actions of one day, we helped restore an ecosystem that will be productive for generations.

Oak Creek Cleanup

The second cleanup I attended was at oak creek which is part of the headwaters of the Estero river. I first got involved with this project through a club I am part of, called Eco-Action. Which is an awesome organization...but more on that later. Anyways, we had cleaned the river for the first time the previous year, and had pulled a small mountain of trash out of it. Even though it was messy and sometimes disgusting work, it gave everyone involved an awesome feeling of accomplishment. This year, we had so many people who wanted to come help, that we ran out of spots on the canoes, and had to start a waiting list.
The best part however, was that as we progressed down the river, we found significantly less trash than we had the previous year; showing that our efforts were actually making a lasting impact. At the end of the day we had traveled significantly farther than our first cleaning, and found probably half as much trash.:) 

Bunche Beach cleanup

On September 18th, I helped out at the international coastal cleanup day, held at Bunche Beach near Sanibel. I have attended one other coastal cleanup day, many years ago at my home in Englewood. And I remember being amazed by the immense amount of junk that people pulled out of the mangroves. However, Bunche Beach was a different story. Although it is a beautiful preserve, its not really the best place to hold a clean up; as most of the beach is spotless. I did however, discover the most evil plant in all of Florida. A vine covered with backwards facing spines, that allows you to easily work your way deep into the brush, but tears at your clothes and flesh if you try to leave. But really, overall it was a great day, and the group as a whole managed to collect several hundred pounds of trash.