we interviewed him to learn more about the initiative and the impacts the work can have on the environment and policies surrounding it.

q: how was the concept of the headwaters initiative formed?

a: i think one of the impetuses was trying to think of ways the domain is a unique asset to the university. it’s really important for them to try to establish and grow their imprint in their environmental programs among liberal arts universities. from a research perspective, the domain offers a lot of really unique opportunities because we own it and it’s so unimpacted by upstream effects; and because it all goes downstream it offers stewardship opportunities as well.

q: so, how are you monitoring these water systems? are you looking at their health? what are the impacts you’re protecting them from?

a: what we’re doing right now is laying the groundwork for more nuanced research in the future. no one has really in the past done a thorough characterization of the streams’ baseline data. we have censors in streams to log light, temperature, and tell us when the streams dry out. we have leaf litter bags to see how the environment is breaking down leaf litter and cycling carbon. what we were doing yesterday was bottling samples to get a snapshot of the stream water chemistry. it’s necessary if anyone wants to do anything more nuanced, like studying the effects of global warming: you have to know your baseline.

q: the southeast is, within north america, this big hotspot for freshwater biodiversity. why is it critical that sewanee look at its biodiversity and freshwater ecosystems?

a: well, because that makes it culturally important. it’s the salamander capital of the world right there in southern appalachia. but it’s also because animals all play their own role in their ecosystem here. if we decrease diversity there’s a good chance you can wreak havoc on some of these ecosystem services that we rely on animals for.

q: such as?

a: things like nutrient cycling, soil health, forest regeneration, trophic levels. if anyone around here is interested in hunting, those animals have to have something to feed on. like i said, soil health and forest regeneration: some of the little critters that hang out on the floor play a big role in seed dispersal and leaf litter breakdown that becomes fertilizer for the plant that grows that allows the deer to eat. the health of all of these systems, none of them are independent. it’s easier to compartmentalize them to study them, but they’re all interconnected.

q: a minute ago you called the southern appalachians the “salamander capital of the world”—

a yeah, they like to put that on coffee mugs in the smokies.

q ha! well, can you explain what bsal is and why sewanee is concerned about it?

a: yeah. bsal is essentially a form of chitrid, and a lot of people who are at least somewhat acquainted with amphibians know of chitrid came through and killed a lot of frog species, particularly in south america.

q: so, is this a viral disease?

a: no, it’s a fungal pathogen. all amphibians can breathe through their skin, and though some also have lungs, they all assimilate moisture and other things through their skin. because their skin stays wet the fungus will colonize it and cause them a lot of physiological stress.

more recently, i think it was 2014, they actually documented bsal in western europe that had been brought over from asia. a lot of animals coevolved with pathogens in their environment, but if you pick up a pathogen and move it somewhere—like in this case from asia to europe—it can completely wipe out whole populations.

because we have so many species here and the international pet trade is so thriving in atlanta, there’s big time concern among most scientists that its’s really a “when” not “if” situation for bsal to get introduced to the southern appalachians. it can cause all kinds of problems for the ecosystem services i talked about before… most people are preparing already for that. it would be sad for people like me, who are just big salamander fans, but it would be terrible for the ecosystem.

q: because the introduction of bsal is a “when” not “if” situation, how do you expect shi to contribute to monitoring bsal and preparing for its arrival?

a: well, we do the stream surveys. if certain species are found to be more vulnerable than others, we will know where they are and will recognize the areas that we’ll have to focus in on.

six years ago on a coarse, sandy beach, the calm breeze scooted light clouds across the beautiful, cape cod night sky. with the pouncing sand fleas nipping at your ankles, there stood my grandfather and myself.

grandude spent most of his life outdoors whenever he could. in a small town outside of boston, he was involved in the local boy scouts troop with my father, and his family would spend their free time in the white mountains or at any local beauty throughout new england. we grew up hearing his tales from the tops of the presidentials or the wild beaches of plum island.

despite spending my entire life in the urban sprawl of the windy city, my father passed grandude’s appreciation for the world onto my three brothers and me. we spent every summer traveling as a family across the country to visit national parks. we would talk about their importance as us peppy, young boys walked, talked, and hiked with our parents.

our family would escape the big lights of the city for the starry skies of the peninsula that is door county, wisconsin. we would be camping out with the wildlife and learning how to whittle tiny boats out of twigs or what proper trail etiquette was. in kindergarten, i remember sitting next to the lake with my father and brothers as my dad told us about the constellations, with my young mind wondering about the stunning views up above.

flash forward to the summer after graduating eighth grade: i had just received my first dslr camera from my mother, a professional photographer. immediately i began documenting everything in sight, and eventually also what was not so clear to the naked eye where i live.

the summer of 2012, grandude had noticed my passion for photography and invited me to join him after sunset at the nearby beach, where my brothers and cousins spent many hours as children. with our wobbly tripods jamming as the gritty sand snuck its way into the components of the camera stands, we turned our lenses to the heavens and i was shown how to photograph the stars.

this lesson quickly became an integral part of whenever i would travel – i always wanted to see how the stars would twinkle their lights across the world. i tried it on every camping trip, where i would be blessed with a sky lit up like in the movies. while in cities, my images reflected the blaring light from the streets, drowning out the heavenly horizons.

my interest in star photography developed from something to practice into a way for me to appreciate the magical things that the environment has to offer. while my eyes were on the skies throughout my camping and traveling during my late teenage years, my mind began to ponder the impacts of light pollution on viewing the beauty above. at the end of this story is an interactive map showing my astral documentations across the world since 2012.

piercing through the hazy, bright night skies of chicago, you can usually pick out a star or two on a good day thanks to the rampant light pollution found here. it’s only once you get outside of the urban sprawl that you can truly experience the greatness mother nature can provide, both in outer space and right here on earth.

we lost grandude in 2015 but his memories live on with me through my passion for nature and star photography. it is at this intersection where i feel like he is still most present, and i find much of my drive to do environmental reporting through his love for the environment.

from up above to the vast surface of our planet, i learned that it is incredibly important to do what is possible to preserve and protect the stunning landscapes that we all call home. through the vista of the skies seen in my experiences of photographing stars, i find inspiration to do my job as an environmental correspondent for planet forward by bringing light to sustainability news. as stunning as the sight of stars is, it is only attainable when pollution is not shrouding the views. this is almost poetically reflective of the beauty of the world despite the trials of unsustainable actions.

through the fleeting memories of nights on a beach with my grandfather and our cameras, i have been inspired to appreciate everything around me while understanding the gravity of what’s at stake with our planet’s at-risk state.

by utilizing both the water that falls onsite and the water that runs off from surrounding areas, urban rain gardens in dc, planted with drought tolerant plants, filter rainwater and runoff water during storms. once rainwater hits the pavement it will travel to a storm drain, dragging anything in its path down the drain. covering more city surfaces with urban rain gardens will allow for greater rainwater filtration and will ensure that our waterways and drinking glasses remain pollutant free and that our streets remain green!

lauren pollack is a junior at the george washington university majoring in political communication.

environment for safe, easy disposal.”

the company, based out of whidbey island in washington state (the same place that has tidal turbines in the works), focuses on everything from contaminated mine water to air quality and stormwater runoff. xr-88 is applied to a contaminated site, which then breaks down the harmful chemicals into a safe, sludge-like substance.

the company focuses mainly on sites in the pacific northwest, including the 3,800 abandoned mine sites, the 12 million tons of coal from washington’s lone coal plant, and 14 million pounds of pollutants dumped in the puget sound annually.

the puget sound (photo from wikimedia commons)

wi environmental is expanding, though. according to a recent article in the seattle times, the company has just “signed a multi-million-dollar deal to license his environmental technology to begin cleaning up china’s heavily contaminated rivers and

soil.”

founder and president tim wandell spent five years in china, and witnessed plenty of pollution at their many factories, “all types of places are loaded with contaminants,” said wandell to the seattle times, “look out
the back side of a factory and here’s this huge mountain of the stuff.”

beyond china, wi environmental continues to move forward, announcing just last week a partnership with a company in south africa to export their xr-88 product.

is a product like xr-88 really the best and most efficient way to clean our earth and air, though? certainly avoiding pollution in the first place would be best, but we have to try out as many solutions as possible.

this technology isn’t without it’s problems, either. often environmental remediation of this kind can release many of those trapped chemicals into the air during the cleansing process, in addition to being a large and expensive undertaking.

what do you think about environmental, specifically soil remediation? how about xr-88, does it really work? is there a better way to clean up our earth and water? share your thoughts below…