PROJECT: One way to mitigate the UHI effect is by increasing vegetation cover and

albedo (39), but this strategy is a trade-off requiring greater water use, especially in arid
regions

After reading the second article on climate change, I was at first, startled at the fact that urban
ecology has altered the discipline of ecology. This article was by far one of my favorite reads
during this course, as it made me realize that ecologists who strictly work within rural
environments need to understand, to an extent, what is happening within cities. This is especially
the case in regards to areas that are down water or down wind of cities. On page 757, it states
that “Cities themselves show symptoms of the biogeochemical imbalances that they help to
create at coarser scales” and that “Cities are hot spots of accumulation of nitrogen, phosphorus
and metals.” This reminded me of algal blooms and how excessive deposits of nitrogen and
phosphorus that accumulate within storm runoff can result in destructive and sometimes
poisonous blooms that last for weeks or months under the right conditions. I wanted to share
with you all, an article that evaluates the impacts of nutrients within urban watersheds and
highlights some of their specific sources such as landfills, construction sites, and industrial
wastewaters. Of note, green roofs were found to be pollutant sources or sinks during intense
precipitation events. The review article reveals that “Green roofs containing 15% compost
leached nutrients and contributed to greater total nitrogen and total phosphorus outflow
concentrations compared to rainfall alone or non-vegetated roofs”. I found this to be quite
surprising as I originally thought green roofs only had positive effects on the environment.
Another important point I wanted to address from our readings are the complementary efforts of
coordination and cooperation. On page 758 of our second reading it says, “For some atmospheric
pollutants, localized variation in human behavior is less important than the collective, temporal
behavior of the population—for example, in driving habits that produce daily or weekly cycles of
particulate, CO2, NOx, or O3.” Personally, I saw this statement as both true and false. We all
know that time is of the essence when it comes to global climate change. In order to halt or even
reverse the adverse effects we as humans have had on our planet, it is vital that we all put aside
our differences and come together as one, as a species, to combat climate change. For example,
the Montreal Protocol is (unfortunately) the only treaty to ever achieve universal ratification,
with 197 countries enforcing the ban on CFCs. Although, the first step towards global
cooperation and coordination begins with us, as individuals and the choices we make every day!
For example, if enough people around the world refrain from purchasing/using non sustainable
products and food items, large corporations will be forced to take note and change their methods!
The sentence above on page 758 says that “…localized variation in human behavior is less
important than the collective…”. It is my opinion that localized variation in human behavior is
just as important as the collective. Localized variation is one of the first dominos that needs to
fall in order to begin a cascade of world changing events, ultimately leading to a collective
movement. This being our last discussion board, I wanted to leave you all with the proposition
that change begins with us each and every day! Every choice we make has far reaching
repercussions whether we realize it or not. Be the change you wish to see in the world!