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Sustainability We've got lots of great ideas and inventions that are helping out the environment. You would never think that the humble ping pong ball would be effective in helping collect rainwater. Trent Church an innovative Victorian has used this to create a 'filter' system to prevent contamination of tank water. Read about B1 and B2, the flower pots who are helping to measure climate change. Young Chris Watson wrote about them and won himself a nifty prize and the title 'Young Scientist of the Year'. You can use food waste to make plastics, power cars with fast food frying oil, make jewelry out of used gum, or recycle cigarette butts... there's also hybrid cars, available in Australia today and blitzing the European market. We've got the low-down on amazing ideas for new power sources and good environmental practice, including extracting methane from rubbish. Check out one possible alternative to landfill for the millions of mobile phones used around the world. Recycling difficult products is a challenge we face in building a sustainable world. Check out this Aussie recycling tyres in an innovative way. It’s not the deathly sound of a woman screaming or a barking dog, it’s just Narelle Weston from Monash University studying owls. It's not the smell of the tiger poo; it's the thought of who made it that scares the animals. Spider venom may be the key to developing an environmentally friendly insecticide. You might think that farming is an old industry but a yound Western Australian farmer has just created a whole new farming crop, sandalwood trees. Scientists are looking to bugs to help us clean up our environment using a process called Bioremediation. Desalination plants are becoming an suggested alternative as a water resourse. South Australia is building a solar powered plant to make it even more environmentally friendly. We recycle plastic and newspapers everyday, but have you ever though of recycling your urine? For the first time in Australia, a community is recycling their urine and using it as fertilizer. Looking to the sky to solve future energy problems with flying power stations. If you’re interested in the environment you might dream of being a park ranger or a marine biologist, but odds are you never considered being an environmental officer at a piggery or abattoir. Background Notes A brief synopsis of each of the sustainability items in our shows and links to our references.
Ping–pong Ball Used to Save Water This is an Aussie invention by a Victorian man Trent Church. Trent has invented a water filtration device designed to filter rain water, and leave uncontaminated drinking water to flow into the tank. When rain first starts to flow off the roof and into the pipe, it enters the ping-pong ball through a few holes in the surface of the ball. The ball is connected to an elastic band that begins to stretch as the ball fills with water. The filled ball blocks off the intake pipe, operating a valve that allows the debris to be dumped outside the tank. The valve then switches back, allowing clean water to enter the tank. References
Return to top. B1 and B2 the Flower Pot Men Turned Hip and High Tech
Chris Watson from both the University of Tasmania and CSIRO Marine Research Team in Tasmania, won a trip to the UK and the title "Young Scientist of the Year" for writing about two flower pots B1 and B2. These flowerpots named B1 and B2, are helping to measure climate change by comparing the sea level, measured from the bouys calculated with the measurements from two satellites. This system checks the accuracy and stability of the satellite system. The flower pots most likely cost $20 each and the GPS system housed in them, $40 000. The flower pots do not get sea sick while floating along in the Bass Strait. Data from the instruments inside the flowerpots is used to calculate the location and height of each buoy every second. “Our system is accurate to about the diameter of a 10 cent piece" , the research team reports. Reference Return to top.
Dr Kerry Bridle, School of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Tasmania is researching the breakdown and decomposition of human wastes in a natural environment. Her work provides detailed evidence of how humans affect national parks, wilderness areas and bushland. This is the first team ever to study the affect of human waste on the natural environment: current minimal impact guidelines for bushwalkers are not based on solid research. Many people enjoy being out in nature, a national park is a lovely place to spend a weekend, bushwalking is a popular pastime for many nature enthusiasts. However, sometimes people need to go to the toilet in nature. Even though there are guidelines to tell people where and how they should go, some people do not follow these guidelines. Dr Bridle takes samples of poo , toilet paper and tampons (all provided to her by her friends), and buries them out in various forest types of national parks. She then digs them back up after six, nine and 12 months, and analyses them to ascertain how much they've broken down and what they are composed of (pathogens, bacteria, nutrients, etc.) Preliminary results from data collected show that human faeces take far longer to decompose in national parks than people assume. Faecal pathogens can survive in soil for 9 months or more. This has serious implications for the plants and animals living in these environments, and for bushwalkers who could be sitting or camping nearby. Other findings show that when camping, people do not travel much further than 50 m from a base camp or hut to do poo. Also, a novel method of speeding up the decomposition process is to mix urine in with faeces. Reference
Return to top. Some products can prove extremely pesky when you are trying to recycle them. Even if you can get a product out of them, the process is often too expensive to be feasible. Tyres have certainly proved hard to recycle in the past, due to the fact recyclers were only trying to get rubber out of them. The recycling process actually cost more than the rewards. Luckily John Dobozy was thinking about this problem and came up with a nifty solution. The recycling solution attempted to get all the products out of the tyre: rubber, oil, fibres, carbon and steel. The recycling process involved getting oil out of the tyre, traditionally done by heating them up. Initially, John heated his tyres by throwing them on the barbie...much to the delight of his neighbours. Thankfully his process has come a long way since then! Reference
Return to top. Australians are very aware that they need to use water very carefully but aside from shortening our showers (maybe??) and not watering our lawns as much, most of us aren’t trying to fix our water problem. However, a young guy named Michael from Canberra is trying to fix our water problems by creating a really inexpensive, effective way of turning all our grey water (that’s all the water we use in our homes, except for sewerage water) back into usable water again. Michael took his design to the University of NSW Sustainable Living Competition last year and he took out top honours. Reference Return to top. By the year 2014 there will be an incredible amount of mobile phones in Australia; if we laid them out side by side they could cover the entire surface area of the continent. This is a big problem when we consider that the majority of these phones end their life in landfill. There are recycling programs that are making a dent in the waste, but some researchers from England and NEC have a radical new plan. They have designed mobile phone covers that are completely biodegradable. The English researchers place a sunflower seed in each handset to encourage users to ‘plant’ their phone, not throw it out. And the NEC handset is the first phone with a biodegradable cover to be available commercially. Reference Return to top. It’s not the deathly sound of a woman screaming or a barking dog, it’s just Narelle Weston from Monash University studying owls. Narelle uses the unusual sounds to help her estimate the populations of owls in Victoria. Narelle likens the sound of the threatened Sooty owl to a woman’s high pitched scream and the barking owl, as its name suggests, sounds like a barking dog. The sounds she uses are actual recordings of the owls’ call — they just don’t sound like your ordinary bird noises. Narelle plays the sounds through a megaphone and listens for replies from other owls in the area. References Return to top. It’s not the smell of the poo; it’s the thought of who made it that scares the animals. Researcher Tarnya Cox from the University of Queensland is trialling tiger poo as a repellent for small animals and rodents in Australia. Tarnya believes that when animals here in Australia (such as kangaroos, feral pigs and rabbits) smell the tiger poo spray they know it comes from a large, dangerous animal. Because they can tell this, they avoid the area. This is amazing, considering animals in Australia would have never seen or smelt a tiger before. They do have an evolutionary sense though, to know when danger, of the predatory kind, is around. References
Return to top. It can kill people, it can cause excruciating pain and even paralysis; but spider venom may be the key to developing safe and environmentally friendly insecticides. Youmie Chong from the University of Technology in Sydney is working with the venom from different dangerous spiders found here in Australia. She collects venom from tarantulas, funnel webs and mouse spiders and separates their venom into their individual chemical components. She has found that some parts of the venom are lethal to insects but not humans or other vertebrates. This may be the key to developing insecticides that are not harmful to humans. References Return to top. The drought and the rising cost of fossil fuels are major issues for agriculture in Australia. A WA farmer has started farming a new crop, which cuts down on energy usage, and is drought proof at the same time. What’s going on? Aaron is slowly replacing wheat and sheep on his farm with a new crop; sandalwood trees. The wood of these trees is highly sought after, but Aaron hopes to sell the nuts instead, using the oil inside them as an alternative to olive oil, or as bio-fuel. Sandalwood trees are native, grow well in drought, and don’t require fertiliser, as they suck nutrients out of native acacia trees that are planted with them. Most of the fossil fuel in agriculture goes into making fertiliser, so fuel costs and the impact on the environment are both cut. Who’s doing it? In 2003 Aaron travelled to India, Scandinavia, Western Europe, and North America looking at farming practices. He was able to do this through a Nuffield Scholarship. He also scored $5000 through the Young People’s Rural Development Award winner to help him try his idea. Aaron plays Aussie Rules in his free time, but reckons he might have to retire soon. He loves travelling, and in March last year a Federal Government grant let him travel to Bundaberg in Queensland, to look at how macadamia nuts are farmed. How do I get into it? There are heaps of scholarships and opportunities for young farmers in Australia to travel and try new things. Here are some you can look at: Return to top. Bugs Fighting to Clean Up Australia When most of us think of bacteria, there are a lot of things that pop into our minds. Getting a throat infection, brushing our teeth or even rotten, mouldy food festering in our fridges. Not many people think of bacteria in a positive light, but researcher Mike Manefield is working tirelessly to show how bacteria can actually help to keep Australia beautiful. What’s going on? Researchers are now thinking that with this knowledge they can start putting these special bacteria into polluted areas to clean up all traces of any nasty stuff that might be hanging around (in a process called Bioremediation). Pretty amazing for an organism that most of us use antibiotics to get rid of. Who’s doing it? Mike’s research has won him lots of awards, most recently the British Council Eureka Prize for Leadership and Innovation in Environmental Science and a 2005 Tall Poppy Science Award. This award recognises the fact that Mike has come up with a way to get rid of pollution without having to use harsh chemicals that could be as bad as the stuff they are trying to remove. When Mike was at school he had a big decision to make, study Environmental Science or join the circus. Obviously he chose to follow his love of science, and now his interests include bushwalking, swimming, going to the beach and hanging with friends in a ‘relaxed environment.’ How do I get into it? Or check out your local Tafe’s or Uni’s to see what kinds of courses they offer. If you want to get involved in helping out our environment right now, then why not volunteer some of your time to helping programs like: References Return to top. Solar Powered Desalination PlantGreen DesalinationAustralia’s water shortage is encouraging all sorts of innovation from simple water saving devices like showerheads to the controversial desalination plant. Desalination plants take water from the ocean, remove the salt and make it suitable for drinking. Desalination greatly increases the amount of drinking water available to Australia’s urban population. However, these plants also use huge amounts of energy and can potentially have severe consequences for the marine and coastal environments where they are situated. The salt removed from the seawater is often pumped back into the ocean, dramatically changing these delicate ecosystems What’s going on? A company from Victoria has announced plans for Australia’s first solar powered desalination plant at Point Paterson near Port Augusta in South Australia. Solar power eliminates the huge energy consumption and green house gas production usually associated with such plants. The project also incorporates commercial salt production, meaning that the salt does not have to return the sensitive coastal environment. Who’s doing it? Aquasol Pty Ltd has plans for a two-square km area for a solar field, where each solar mirror will stand 3 metres tall. Initially it will produce enough water for the town of Port Augusta – but will be built with the potential to expand. The cool thing is none of this technology is new, but this is the first time ever all the technologies will come together in a stand alone, near zero greenhouse gas emission facility. How do I get into it? Water management is a huge issue nation wide and is just one of a myriad of environmental issues that are only going to get bigger in the future. If you’re interested in clean green solutions, protecting local ecosystems, or just understanding what’s going on in the world around you; maybe you could make a future out of environmental science, or natural resource management. References Check out what’s on offer at The University of Adelaide. Newspapers, Plastic, Urine - Recycling Takes A Step ForwardWhat’s going on?The EcoVillage in Currumbin, Queensland is the first place in Australia to trial urine recycling for fertiliser. Each person produces around 500 litres of urine a year and it’s full of nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen which makes great fertiliser, so why not use it. Normal toilets waste these nutrients by mixing faeces and urine and sending them straight into sewerage. The urine separation toilets being used in the Department of Natural Resources and Water trial send faecal matter into sewerage but have a separate outlet for urine. Separating the urine at this stage means it can be used as a fertiliser with very little treatment. The urine is stored in a tank outside the house and then moved to a large communal tank where it is treated by storing it for six months at a temperature of 20?C. It can then be used as a concentrated fertiliser. Who’s doing it? Dr Cara Beal from the Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water is running the trial. As a young child Cara’s passion for the environment was inspired by Dr Seuss’s ‘The Lorax’ – a children’s book that showed her how humans can affect the environment around them. Cara went to Scotch College in Adelaide before studying environmental science at university. Running this trial Cara has taken on many roles – researching urine separation and reuse, working with local councils to get approval, finding out about social perceptions of reusing their urine and convincing members of the public to be involved in the project, collecting data, and reporting on the success of the project. How do I get into it? If you're interested in working in Environmental Science check out the courses available at The University of Queensland at References Check out the news story. Return to top. Flying Power StationsHave you ever look up into the sky and wondered how we are ever going to solve our future energy problems? Just 11 kilometers above the surface of the earth are fast-flowing, relatively narrow air currents called “jet streams”. The wind in these jet streams move at speeds in excess of 100km/hr: what if we could tap into this wind source and produce a clean and potentially never-ending source of electricity? What’s going on? We may be able to use something pilots of aeroplanes have used for over fifty years to reduce their flying time. Australian wind-energy campaigner Bryan Roberts has been looking towards the sky as a source of inspiration for decades. He has come up with an invention that crosses a helicopter with a kite; he calls them flying wind turbines, or flying power stations. These hovering stations could potentially create up to 60 times more power than the equivalent ground-based wind farms, and they could produce 100 times more power then solar energy. This new source of power could be an important tool in addressing the world’s energy and global warming problems. Harnessing high-altitude wind energy may sound like science fiction, but it uses a combination of existing technologies in the fields of aerodynamic and electrics. The flying power-stations are made from carbon fibre and steel alloy, and would fly under their own power from ground level to a height of about five kilometres above the surface. Attached to the earth by cable, they would use the power of jet streams to remain aloft, and their blades would drive the turbines. These wind turbines convert the kinetic energy of wind into mechanical energy and then into electricity. Who’s doing it? After 25 years in the making Bryan Roberts, a former engineering professor at the University of Technology, Sydney, has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct tests of the flying power stations in the California desert. How do I get into? Subjects like Maths, Physics and chemistry will help you if you want to get into the engineering field. After high school you could look at doing a TAFE course in engineering or science. Or, you could look at university courses in science majoring in engineering and physics. ReferencesHarnessing High Altitude Wind Power Article- Return to top. Janine – Environmental Scientist at an Abattoir What’s going on? If you’re interested in the environment you might dream of being a park ranger or a marine biologist, but odds are you never considered being an environmental officer at a piggery or abattoir. Janine Bedros is working to reduce the environmental impact of the piggery and abattoir where she works as an environmental officer. Luckily she doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty because one of her latest projects involves finding the best way to dry pig poo! She’s also working on a way to capture gases released from the piggeries effluent lagoons so that they can use it as biogas to run the abattoir. Who’s doing it? Janine Bedros is a twenty four year old environmental scientist working at QAF Meats, a piggery and abattoir in Corowa, NSW. Janine started off wanting to be a marine biologist but after studying geography and looking at catchment areas in year nine she realised she would prefer to be a land based environmentalist. This led Janine to study Environmental Science at RMIT University in Melbourne. She never thought she’d end up working at a piggery and abattoir but after hearing what past students of her degree were doing she realised that there are lots of great environmental projects going on at piggeries and abattoirs. How do I get into it? If you’re interested in being an environmental scientist, universities across Australia offer Environmental Science degrees. References In the mean time doing subjects like biology and chemistry is a good start and you can get some experience by volunteering with organisations like Conservation Volunteers Australia. To check out the degree Janine did go to RMIT University- Bachelor of Environmental Science Return to top. |
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