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MONJA MIHAJLOVIC
Although being exhausted from my crazy walking adventure through Kobe, I went to the university on Monday the 11th of June to meet with Dr. Matsuda because he and his students were taking a trip to Ashiya (a nearby town), to do an interview with an elderly gentlemen who suffers from mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure during the 1995 earthquake. During that earthquake, Kobe was more or less completely demolished, I think around 70,000 buildings were destroyed and another 55,000 were damage and over 6,400 people died. Obviously, there had to be a significant cleanup effort and he was volunteered to help (even though it was not in his career field). During that period, he was exposed to asbestos, which Japan was I believe one of the last countries to outlaw the use of asbestos, they only outlawed it last year. So, he helped with the cleanup and although he and the other workers were given face masks, he often chose not to wear it because it was uncomfortable. He also happened to have them misfortune of living close to one of the areas that housed the waste from all of the fallen buildings. Although this is not exactly in my research field, it was extremely interesting to witness the research that the students are doing and to see what current hot topics in Japan are. I think asbestos exposure is going to be a big topic over the next couple of decades.
In addition to having the opportunity to meet with the mesothelioma patient this week, I met with Professor Anataksa from the Department of Agriculture, where we discussed the current situation of food production in Japan. I was really surprised to find out that Japan actually imports around 60% of the food that they eat and only creates about 40%. Apparently there is a huge problem with farmers moving into the cities because there is not enough money or opportunity as a farmer. Since they are also able to get cheaper food imported from China and the U.S., they tend to choose those options over their own homemade food. It did not seem to make much sense to me because from what I see, Japan is extremely fertile, I mean there are trees and bushes of fruits and vegetables growing all over the place. They say that there is a problem because there is not enough room, since the people all live in the flat areas and Japan is so mountainous, there is no room to create such large fields for agriculture. I think that politically, it is a dangerous situation to depend on other countries for something as important as 60% of the country’s food supply. We talked about programs that educate students about the problem and they then go work in the rural areas on farms to help both educate themselves and to help promote farmers to stay rather than finding work in the cities. I feel that for the sake of safety, there definitely needs to be a swift plan to change this. Also, food that is imported is bound to contain a significant amount of preservatives and additives which are unhealthy for the population as a whole. I am honestly surprised that I have not seen more overweight people because of this. I think it is because they have much smaller portions both with food and with drinks and they walk a lot more.
One of the definite highlights of the week was going to visit the Kobe Biogas facility. I went with Dr. Matsuda and another Master’s student and we got to sit down with some of the engineers of the plant, talk about the process and then we got a tour of the facilities. The company uses sludge from wastewater to create pure methane as a natural gas for vehicles, many buses in the city are powered by this gas. At the end, they even gave us a ride to the train station in a Biogas car! It was all really impressive and interesting. They also use the gas for heating and air conditioning and create electricity with it. I think the wastewater plant is actually powered by electricity created from the nearby waste management plant. I really enjoyed the experience.
Over the weekend I had the pleasure of going to Kyoto, one of the older and most famous cities in Japan (it used to be the capital way back when). I went to the oldest temple in the city, which was awesome because the surrounding area was still built in the old ways, so the streets were made of stones and the buildings were old and made from wood and they had a ton of souvenir shops there as well as some cafes that sell local sweets. I really love visiting the temples, they are so beautiful and each in their own way. I also enjoy going into the mountains as often as possible, I think it is something we really miss out on in Florida.
I have had the pleasure of meeting a group of Bosnian/Serbian graduate students at the university, so it has been awesome because of course they have wanted to show me everything and they have taught me a lot about Japanese culture and customs. It is also great to have them there because they are able to translate a lot of the information for me since I often find that perhaps some of my research information is in Japanese and I cannot understand it. It is also amazing to be able to find people from my home halfway across the world!
I have made personal deadlines for myself for the project, so the rest of the weekend was spend working on this, there was quite a bit to be done. I would like to be close to finished with the project before I leave Kobe so that I can spend the following few weeks editing it, before we have to present.
COLIN LEONARD
A key learning from my time in Delft was that many companies operate cooling towers on raw water and rely upon chemical treatment to manage cooling tower conditioning. The result is a high blow-down rate of 4-6 cycles of concentration. The result is a high use of chemicals which wind up in the effluent stream (blow-down water) and a tremendous waste of water. At a major university in New Orleans, we have provided a multi-technology water treatment system to pre-treat the cooling tower and boiler make up water resulting in projected water and energy savings as well as a reduced chemical load across the power plant. We will be watching the performance of this system very carefully for correlation between planned and actual water and energy savings. The next step for this type of design would be to recover a high percentage of water in the effluent streams of the multimedia, activated carbon and reverse osmosis systems.
SORANIA RIVERA
After the 2 ½ hour flight, 1 ½ hour drive, 2 ½ hour standing in line at the ferry terminal, and 2 hour ride on the public ferry I arrived to the Island-Municipality of Culebra, in Puerto Rico. The island is about 3 x 7 miles and has around 2,000 residents. The $2.25, 17 mile ferry ride was smooth but the smell of fuel inside the passenger areas was sickening. Upon my arrival to the ferry terminal I boarded a tourist bus to get to what would be home for the next few weeks. The tourist bus was $3 per person regardless of the amount of luggage being carried. On the way to the first stop at Flamenco Beach the driver provided us with loud dance music, disco lights and a smoke machine to “start the party”. The music continued until I arrived to my cottage at the last stop.
Saturday morning I met with my external supervisor in Culebra, Mary Ann Lucking. Mary Ann is a wonderful lady that dedicates her life to protect and restore coral reefs. She also advocates for the environmental rights of Culebra and supports education efforts of the local community and beyond. We spent a couple of hours warming up for the upcoming busy weeks. We discussed Culebra’s main sustainability issues and the obstacles that put a hold on its sustainable development. Later on that day I was introduced to the owner of the tool store and former director of the tourism department of Culebra. I spent an hour listening to the many reasons to why the public transportation, to and from the main island of Puerto Rico, is one of the main issues for the “Culebrenses” and how it affects their ability to progress sustainably. I ended Saturday afternoon with a sunset swim at Playa Zoni, one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen.
Sunday I was up with the sun and ready to meet with Mary Ann and the marine biology interns to observe how they took blood samples from fish provided by the local fishermen (for a low fee). The interns are currently studying fish health. At night I went to walk around downtown Duwey where I had the pleasure to be introduced to great leader defender of the rights of Culebra and its people. I’m can’t wait to sit and chat with her very soon.
Today (Monday) I joined the group of volunteers to help with summer camp at the coral reefs from the Muellecito area of Playa Flamenco. The activity for today was to learn how to measure corals without touching or harming them. About 20 camp kids joined the volunteers for three hours of swimming, playing, sharing and learning. It was great to see the kids so eager to learn about corals!
Images from Muellecito at Playa Flamenco with the kids from the summer camp:
     
CORA BARTOLO
Wow! Now, this is my very first time abroad, so, I may have a case of wanderlust, but I find this city very interesting. The buildings are very old and quite ornate. They have suffered from age and lack of maintenance, but still something to see. Once I have pictures, I will share.
Today is my first day at the Sava River Basin Commission and the people here are friendly. Tomorrow we will begin meeting with representatives of the Regional Environmental Center. We will begin to make plans for next week’s conference on Eco Tourism.
I do believe the Secretariat of the Commission has an interest in my studies regarding utilizing constructed treatment wetlands to work in conjunction with Eco-tourism.
Looking forward to interesting time.
MONJA MIHAJLOVIC
Well, arriving in Japan has been an adventure! It took about 36 hours to fly here, then I had to get on two trains to get to my hostel, and I accidentally got on one of the local express trains which of course does not stop at my stop, so I had to get off, get on a different train and come back. I then could not for the life of my find my hostel (which is tough with heavy luggage in the mountains), until a very friendly woman stopped to help me and brought me there. On the train rides, I did get a great view of Kobe and my observations include the following: 1. It is extremely industrialized 2. There still appear to be green gardens, parks, and rooftops all over the place 3. I saw quite a few solar panels on the buildings, which I liked 4. The transit system appears to be pretty impeccable. My hostel very much reminds me of living in the dorms during my freshman year of my Bachelor’s degree, which is both interesting and slightly stifling.
The first week was great overall, I met with Dr. Matsuda, the professor who is hosting me, we talked about the plans for my stay and it looks like a pretty busy schedule. He also introduced me to one of his doctorate philosophy students, Mr. Akinori Lee, who will be coming to USF to do research in August! I was really excited to find this out, I told him if he helps me out while I am here, I will help him in Tampa. It looks like the Education of Sustainable Development (ESD) program at the university, is actually made up of a combination of different departments. This would include the Departments of Humanities, Human Development, and Economy. Within each of the departments there are professors who study particular sustainability subjects and who are working on specific sustainability projects. I will be interviewing these professors and doing research on the information they provide for me,
I met with the first professor, who talked about the waste management program at the university, specifically about recycling and wastewater management. It was extremely interesting to see how they recycle in a different manner. They have six different methods of recycling on campus, and I think that from my own observations it appears to be rather simple. The students do not seem to be remotely confused or bothered by where they should be putting their trash. I think the more complicated aspect of this is actually picking up the trash and taking it to the facilities to be recycled. I have noticed that Japan in general is remarkably clean for a city that houses over 1.5 million people.
Aside from interviewing the professors, I spend a lot of time at the common area for graduate students, which they kindly gave me access to, and I do research to find out more about each subject. I have also had to revamp my proposal quite a bit because it was really hard to figure out exactly what I would be doing while I was here, so I had to change that up a bit. I think that if the flow of information continues to be as it is now, I will have plenty of information for a great paper. My only fear is that my paper may not be ‘scientific’ enough. I have a lot of statistical data but I am by no means a science student, and I do not plan on writing about subjects which I do not have a background in, so hopefully the paper that I come up with is still regarded as highly informed.
I am taking the liberty to go do a bit of sightseeing over the weekend. By a bit I mean literally every place that could possibly be visited. I have an awesome map that shows pictures of different sights, so I walked to as many as I possibly could, I think I covered about thirty miles total over the weekend. It was great! I noticed that the city had these rough yellow raised parts of the sidewalk, I didn’t know what it was about and I learned later that they are to guide blind people! I thought it was awesome because they are literally all over the city. It is honestly a bit tough to figure things out sometimes because there is almost no one in this area outside of the university that speaks English. This is of course fine, but sometimes if I am lost or hungry it is difficult to communicate. Luckily, as mentioned before, the train system is impeccable, it took me all of a trip or two to figure it out and I think I could probably take it anywhere now. The trains are always on time too, and they play music as the train arrives.
Hm, food is great! There is a local grocery store that I walk to for dinner usually and in the mornings there is a great bakery that I found and the ladies are lovely, so I make sure to buy from them. There is a kitchen at the hostel but since I have no intention of burning the place down, I think I am going to stick to premade dinners for now J Otherwise, I just love the atmosphere here, I am right in the mountains and although it is hard to walk up to the university (it is on a huge hill), I just love the view and the many beautiful areas. Unfortunately, it appears that June is their month of rainy season, so I am not going to get a whole lot of sunshine, but that is fine, I will find it when I come back to Florida.
CHRISTINA PEREZ
Please note, this post is in regards to my last week in England.
This week has truely been an eye opener to me. Not only in seeing the difference in education (very rural to the very elite) it has opened up my eyes to realize that teaching environmental education is and should not be limited. While visiting the Skinners School, I assisted them in a project they were doing at another school nearby named Oakley. However, Oakley is a school for children with profound, severe and complex needs. The Skinners boys project was to help with the various weeding, building a fire, and to help build the cage for fruit trees. However the Oakley students were right there with them doing all the same projects. This is the first I had heard or seen of special needs children building fires. Normally I hear about them staying far away from them.
Great shot to see all three of the projects: Fire, garden, and the tree shed
Prunning
Building a fire
View from the back of the school
Vegetable Garden
Typical….
CHRISTINA PEREZ
Well, today is the day that I get to embark on my world travels. Funny thing is…it hasn’t hit me yet that I’m leaving. As my fellow colleague Cora told me, “It’ll hit you when everyone has a different accent”
I’m very excited to see all the sights and sounds that await me in these far off countries. I mean, I don’t expect to run into Harry Potter or the Queen, even though that would be amazing. However, I do know that I this experience is a one in a lifetime opportunity and I plan on taking full advantage of it.
 Chemical Plant on Final Approach to Louis Armstrong International Airport COLIN LEONARD
I continued my research project after returning to the United States by immediately flying to New Orleans, Louisianna where I visited five engineering/procuremen/contracting (EPC) firms from Batton Rouge to New Orleans, as well as Tulane University, and the West Jefferson Hospital. My goal was to discuss my research with engineers at these firms and institutions and validate some of the early conclusions that I have been drawing. I was able to meet with over 70 engineers who were mostly enthusiastic about a more holistic approach to designing water systems, especially the concept of integrating water AND wastewater concepts into the early conceptual phases of project development and design. Engineers are also receptive to improving the performance of cooling towers by treating the incoming water with ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) versus heavy chemical treatment. This approach will improve cycles of concentration in evaporative cooling towers from 4-6 to 10-12 whcih will greatly reduce effluent from blow-down and eliminate up to 90% of chemicals used in cooling towers. Engineers were also enthusiastic about options from managing RO concentrate to minimize discharge to drain and the environment. Over the next two weeks, I will engage a group of 6-10 water consultants to further refine my conclusions and begin to set the framework for my research project paper and to begin to implement findings in the form of a new product development roadmap for Crane Environmental and to create new modules for Crane Water University and to revise others.
STACY BOHOVSKY
After 4 plane rides and 3 days of traveling I made it to the tropical oasis I will be researching for the next 6 weeks on Wednesday May 16, Ao Nang in Krabi province Thailand. Projects Abroad, the organization I will be working with over the coming weeks welcomed me with open arms, gave me a tour of the eco-village accommodations, the small quaint town, the dive center, and introduced me to the other volunteers who will be coming and going over the next few months. My accommodations are situated within a forest that sports vibrant colors, native species, and high biodiversity along the beach where my view is of the Andaman Sea. On Thursday May 17, we made our way to the Marine Biology Research Center in Phuket that primarily works with green turtles and other native turtle species to protect, rescue, and release them back into the wild. The research conducted here aids in keeping the local turtle population thriving, promotes awareness concerning threats to these marine creatures, and helps to reduce threats posed to the turtles. After speaking with some of the staff, I have come to realize that my project scope is too broad and must narrow it down in order to provide a comprehensive report instead of little information about each restoration technique.
COLIN LEONARD
I have not been in any of the images I’ve sent; partly out of vanity, and partly out of concern for the equipment. Now that my photographer has arrived however…
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