The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Category: Science

  • Alaska Wildlife Refuge Vulnerable to Drilling

    Alaska Wildlife Refuge Vulnerable to Drilling

    The Department of the Interior finalizes the plan for leasing out the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain

    The Federal Government has finalized the Environmental Impact Statement to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Reserve for oil drilling.

    The hands of industry and development have clawed at wilderness since pioneers began pushing westward. Oil has tempted landowners for decades, but the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve denied the resource to industry interests in order to preserve its unique, ancient landscape.

    gwichin_streering_committe-07

    That landscape is threatened. In the perpetual words of writer and wilderness activist Robert Marshall, “And so the path of empire proceeded to substitute for the undisturbed seclusion of nature the conquering accomplishments of man.”

    “[The Oil and Gas] Leasing Program will help meet the long-term energy needs of the nation, support job creation and economic growth of rural Alaskan communities,” The Department of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Land Management, announced on September 12. “The [Tax Cuts and Jobs] Act directs the Secretary of the Interior, through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to establish two area-wide leasing sales, not less than 400,000 acres each, along the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.”

    The legal authority for the Oil and Gas Program is found in Public Law 115-97, otherwise known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Written into Title II, section 20001(page 184) are simple yet powerful exemptions for the oil industry’s special interests. For example, “Section 1003 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3143) shall not apply to the Coastal Plain.”

    The intent of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is clearly to honeypot Alaska into opening up the refuge to industrial interests. The Act sets aside standards in the Mineral Leasing Act as the Federal Government plans on claiming royalties at a rate of 16.67%, when standard royalties are 10%.

    While the Mineral Leasing Act Section 35 gives 37.5% of money made from sales, bonuses, royalties and rentals of public lands to the State, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act declares 50% of the money made will go to the State Treasury.

    The Trump Administration declared $1.8 billion dollars of oil could be mined, essentially promising Alaska $900 million in revenue. The latest federal report suggests the potential income is half of that, approximately $905 million in revenue for the government and significantly less for Alaska.

    The pristine wilderness within the Alaskan Arctic Wildlife Refuge. | Photo by Greg Wiler, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

    The projections continue to fall as independent studies conclude significantly lower revenue opportunities based on other local lease sales. How low can you go? Alaska’s governor is prepared to open up the wildlife refuge no matter the cost.

    “Forty years after Congress selected the Arctic Coastal Plain for potential energy development, the Trump Administration is making good on that decades old potential,” Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy said. “I join with all Alaska Governors since 1980 in assuring the nation and the world that we develop our natural resources responsibly. I look forward to the lease sale scheduled for later this year.”

    In 1929, a 28-year-old forester named Robert Marshall visited the landscape which would eventually become Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on summer vacation. He chose that area because it was the most remote section of Alaska.

    Marshall published an essay titled The Problem of the Wilderness where he describes the extraordinary benefits of the wilderness, considers the drawbacks of preserving wild lands and calls wilderness allies to action in the face of society’s aggressive advance into nature.

    “Within the next few years the fate of the wilderness must be decided,” Marshall wrote. “This is a problem to be settled by deliberate rationality and not by personal prejudice. Fundamentally, the question is one of balancing the total happiness which will be obtainable if the few undesecrated areas are perpetuated against that which will prevail if they are destroyed.”

    Alaska Governor Mike Dunlevy is prepared to open up the wildlife refuge no matter the cost.

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages the network of protected lands in the United State’s National Wildlife Refuge System. The mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System is “to administer a national network of lands and waters for the conservation, management and, where appropriate, restoration of the fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitats within the United States for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans.”

    The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been referred to as “The American Serengeti” for its rich biodiversity and untouched landscape. The ANWR is home to a caribou herd nearly 170,000 strong and other beasts including polar and grizzly bears, snow hares, mink and beavers. None of the revenue from Oil and Gas sales will go toward reserve restoration efforts.

    The Coastal Plain is “Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit,” the sacred place where life begins, to the native Gwich’in people. Both the Gwich’in and Inupuat people have depended on caribou and the land for food, clothing and resources to support their way of life. Gwich’in Elder Jonathon Soloman acknowledged his people’s connection to the land.

    “It is our belief that the future of the Gwich’in and the future of the Caribou are the same.” Solomon said. “Harm to the Porcupine Caribou Herd is harm to the Gwich’in culture and millennia-old way of life.”

    It seems, despite the 89 year difference, Robert Marshall’s word still ring true.

    “There is just one hope of repulsing the tyrannical ambition of civilization to conquer every niche on the whole earth,” Marshall wrote. “That hope is the organization of spirited people who will fight for the freedom of the wilderness.”

  • CCAT Poised to Pig Out

    CCAT Poised to Pig Out

    CCAT plans to keep pigs on campus to reduce food waste

    Humboldt State University’s Campus Center for Appropriate Technology plans to house two pigs on campus as soon as next week.

    CCAT will loan the pigs from the Tule Fog Farm in Arcata for the duration of the fall semester. CCAT plans to feed the pigs food waste from HSU’s J dining hall.

    Jacob Gellatly, environmental resources engineering major and former CCAT Co-Director, helped lead the project from concept to reality.

    “We want to show how animals can be raised in a residential environment, and how you can use urban byproducts such as food waste to raise animals in an urban setting,” Gellatly said.

    EnvironmentalRresource Engineering majors Jacob Gellatly (right) and Kong Vang (left) prepare a log on Sept. 6 to be used for the roof of a pig pen. | Photo by James Wilde

    The plan to house the pigs began last fall when students in the CCAT Student Club vocalized interest in keeping animals on campus. CCAT contacted Shail Pec-Crouse from the Tule Fog Farm in Arcata. Pec-Crouse recommended pigs as the most viable animal.

    “The easiest animal for us to raise would be pigs,” Gellatly said. “The reasoning for that is—a big thing is predators. So it’s a lot harder for something to come and get a hold of a pig as opposed to a chicken.”

    As part of their plan, CCAT realized they could feed the pigs food waste from the J. While CCAT couldn’t feed the pigs food thrown away by customers of the J, CCAT could feed the pigs pre-consumer waste, such as food trimmings or spoiled foods not suitable for people.

    “Another goal with the project was how can we divert food waste on campus,” Gellatly said. “And with that we can feed almost, and in some cases, their entire diet from food waste that’s at the school here.”

    Once CCAT decided to loan the pigs from the Tule Fog Farm it needed approval from HSU’s Associated Students, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Facilities Management, Risk Management and an environmental health and safety specialist.

    The pig pen-in-progress on Sept. 6. CCAT plans to house two pigs in the pen for the duration of the fall semester. | Photo by James Wilde

    Humboldt State’s IACUC reviews the use of animals on campus to ensure the animals are treated humanely under the requirements of federal and state law. College of Natural Resources Associate Dean Rick Zechman, who chairs IACUC, said the IACUC proactively reviews and inspects over 100 animal-involved projects on campus each year.

    “There’s varying kinds of emotional feelings about the use of animals, and that’s respected and honored in the system of review,” Zechman said. “And that’s why the Animal Welfare Act was developed, to prevent mistreatment of animals. And I think, you know, in our committee, that’s sort of our first principle.”

    While Zechman could not comment on the details of CCAT’s proposal, which is still pending, CCAT has worked over the last year to assuage concerns raised by various HSU faculty.

    CCAT started by building a pig pen out of reclaimed wood from a local logging operation in Fieldbrook. CCAT has since integrated plans for a roof to prevent flooding of the pen and security to prevent people from getting harmed by the pigs.

    In the long run, Gellatly hopes the project might convince the University to keep animals around for good.

    “Big picture, I would like the school to see this and see, with what we’re having to deal with—getting rid of all this food—we could be raising meat for the school and have locally-produced meat with a byproduct of our current dining system,” Gellatly said.

    Environmental Rresource Engineering majors Jacob Gellatly (right) and Kong Vang (left) working with a log for the pen. | Photo by James Wilde

    CCAT’s plan to house pigs has only recently become known to the wider HSU campus. Saraí Escalante, psychology graduate student and president of HSU’s Vegan Club, sees the value of reducing food waste but wonders about the sustainability of the project.

    “I think the underlying problem is that we see them as a convenience, as objects, so we see them as a tool to help us fix a problem or make our problems or our lives easier,” Escalante said. “And from a sustainability point of view, you still waste a lot of water in all of the slaughter process and the cleaning up of the meat. In that way, it wouldn’t be sustainable.”

    Escalante said she’s considering starting a fundraiser to purchase the pigs and send them to a sanctuary instead of a slaughterhouse. However, Escalante said she plans to talk with CCAT to exchange thoughts, as she does like the idea of reducing food waste on campus.

    Gellatly, for his part, noted that the current plan as registered with Tule Fog Farm and IACUC is for CCAT to house the pigs only for the rest of the semester.

    “I think it’s, in theory, possible for them to buy the animals from the farmer if that’s something they’re inclined to do,” Gellatly said. “But, as far as our scope goes with the IACUC, once the project’s done, we’re taking the animals back to the farm and that’s where it ends for us.”

    The project’s beginnings are dependent on approval from IACUC, but the pigs could arrive at CCAT as early as the week of Sept. 8 through 14.

  • Sleeping Strategies

    Sleeping Strategies

    A few ways to get to sleep easier according to science

    Being relaxed, refreshed and clear-minded are common themes for getting to sleep. Going to sleep and waking up at the same time each day is touted as the most effective way to ensure good sleep. Beyond that, here are seven other great strategies for passing out.

    1. Sleep in a colder room: To initiate sleep, your body has to cool down a couple of degrees. A colder room will get you there faster.

    2. Take a hot shower or bath before bed: When you’re exposed to hot temperature, blood vessels on your skin’s surface swell to release heat. This will help you cool down.

    3. Avoid stimulants and sugar late in the day: Nicotine, caffeine and sugar can energize your body and make it tough to fall asleep.

    4. Don’t nap too late in the day: A late-day nap can make it harder to fall asleep at night, since your brain’s already had some rest and may want to stay up.

    5. Relax before bed: Relaxing before bed will prepare your brain for bedtime. Doing a relaxing activity such as reading or yoga for an hour or so before bed will prepare you for sleep.

    6. Avoid bright screens at night: Screens emit blue light, a wavelength of light which tricks our brain into thinking it’s daytime. Putting the phone away an hour or two before you go to sleep will make it easier to fall asleep.

    We all have our own methods for falling asleep. Personally, I like to lay on my belly and cover myself in pillows, but I’m weird like that. I asked students on campus what their methods were for falling asleep. Here is what they said:

    Stephanie Rodriguez and Krystal Padilla both have pre-sleep rituals that prepare them to crash.

    “I feel like de-stressing,” Rodriguez said. “Taking a shower, doing a face mask, smoking a bowl. You have to turn off your brain before actually going to sleep. I hate going to bed actually thinking about stuff.”

    “I have these Christmas lights in my bedroom and I turn those on, I smoke a blunt, I listen to music,” Padilla said. “I’m just relaxing, I feel refreshed and I just brush my hair. It helps me go to sleep.”

    Gigo Derderian and Seamus Begley have straightforward methods for getting to sleep. Allowing sleep to wash over them, they lay in bed either meditating through discomfort or rolling around until maximum coziness is achieved.

    “One thing I do is I lie down and try to stay as still as possible,” Derderian said. “Even if I feel an itch or something I just ignore it. I will kinda start with my toes and work my way up. I try to make sure I’m comfortable and relaxed in every point in my body. By the time I get to the top, I’ll already be dozing off.”

    “Whenever I’m going to sleep, I’ll lay down and I just need to get really comfortable,” Begley said. “I’m always rolling around for the first five minutes and then I find a spot where I’m like ‘yeah, that’s it,’ and then I’m just out.”

    School demands a lot from students. We can be pushed to a limit as project deadlines approach. The stress we face is definitely real, but we shouldn’t let that get in the way of some shut-eye. Sleep is just as important as eating and exercising when it comes to health. Get some.

  • Redwoods Growing at Remarkable Rates

    Redwoods Growing at Remarkable Rates

    Some coastal redwoods are growing faster than expected and scientists aren’t certain why

    Many redwoods in Northern California are growing at unexpected—even record-breaking—rates. While redwoods only remain in a tiny portion of the world, they appear to be in good health.

    “People talk about saving the redwoods,” Humboldt State University Professor of Forest Ecology Steve Sillett said. “The redwoods, as long as we don’t cut them down, are doing just fine. The question is, can they help save us?”

    The answer is complicated.

    “The Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative found that one Del Norte County redwood put on 2,811 pounds in 2014, a record-breaking annual growth.”

    Many coastal redwoods are growing faster today than they have in the last thousand years, according to a 2019 report from the ongoing Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative.

    The RCCI, a research partnership studying redwood health since 2013, found surprising growth in redwoods located away from dry forest fringes or recent fires.

    By estimating tree weight based on the tree’s measured width, height and volume, the RCCI found one Del Norte County redwood put on 2,811 pounds in 2014, a record-breaking annual growth.

    The cause of the increased growth is uncertain. Sillett, who sat in his lab beside tree rings which he used to measure age and growth, said climate change may or may not play a role in the increased growth. Sillett said the Clean Air Act of 1970 may have cleaned the air enough to allow more sunlight on the trees.

    “What happened is, the air cleared,” Sillett said. “And with clear air, you get more light, and so it could very well be that this increase in growth rate that we see very strikingly in some of these trees, starting in the late 60s and early 70s to present, is just because of increasing air quality.”

    Beyond climate and air quality, Sillett said multiple factors likely contribute to increased growth. Sillett also said the growth won’t necessarily last.

    “I think that there’s very much a limit to what redwoods or any vegetation can achieve,” Sillett said.

    A redwood tree ring in HSU Professor Stephen Sillett’s lab Aug. 28. | Photo by James Wilde

    A sudden spread of redwood forest also seems unlikely, Lucy Kerhoulas, an assistant professor of forest physiology, said. Kerhoulas said redwoods already have to work hard to reproduce via seed. Climate change might make reproduction even more difficult.

    “Successful seedling germination and establishment might be really challenging under a warming and drying climate,” Kerhoulas said.

    In other words, redwoods are doing well, but they’re not about to reclaim their lost forests.

    Sillett emphasized that many living redwoods are maintaining their normal growth despite less successful reproduction.

    “It’s not the case that they’re responding uniformly,” Sillett said. “But what we do see is that in the prime parts of their range, which is, say, north of San Francisco and relatively close to the coast, the rates of wood production are higher than they were in the not-too-distant past.”

    Redwoods store large amounts of carbon, especially in their prime ranges, but Sillett said that won’t offset the carbon dioxide produced by humans.

    “There’s not enough land in the world to plant with redwood forest,” Sillett said, “that would allow them to save us from what we’re doing to the atmosphere’s chemistry.”

  • Pollinator Predicaments

    Pollinator Predicaments

    Climate change affects the lives of birds, butterflies and bees

    Pollinators matter! Right under our noses a huge community of ants, butterflies and bees are hard at work to make sure the world gets fed. The climate crisis is turning up the heat on these poor guys, and our many-legged friends are at risk. Here’s some information on how pollinators are still doing their best to help us out.

    A solitary silver bee perches on a yellow flower to drink nectar. Notice the yellow pollen on its legs which it will bring to the next flower it drinks from. | Photo by Rand Rudland

    Flowering plants and pollinators have a unique relationship with one another. Ecologists and biologists pay attention to special events in these organisms’ lives which mark growth and development. The science of studying life events is called phenology.

    Ideally a pollinator will hatch from its egg or develop from its pupa and leave the hive around the same time its flower of choice blooms. The timing of these life events is important because if a bug emerges too early or late, it may miss a plant’s flowering completely. No flower equals no food, and that’s no good.

    After emerging, the pollinator goes searching for nectar. The sweet liquid is energy-packed food for bugs. When a pollinator lands on a flower, it picks up pollen. As it continues to look for nectar, the pollen is shaken off and sticks to other flower’s pistils, the female organ of the plant. Pollen travels down a shaft to fertilize the ovary, which begins to go through mitosis and eventually produces fruit.

    Tayloranne Finch and Melanie Honda are two farmers working on the Bayside Park Farm in Sunny Brae who get to interact with pollinators every day. Without pollinators, their farm would be a bunch of fruitless bushes.

    Finch said the farm was working with the City of Arcata to build a permanent solution, a perennial native pollinator garden. The garden would have year-round plants that local pollinators prefer, supporting the local habitat organically.

    Tayloranne Finch, left, and Melanie Honda, right, are farmers at Bayside Park Farm. They spent a sunny afternoon pollinating corn by walking through the rows, swaying their arms back and forth. Every week is a volunteer friday at Bayside Park Farm on Old Arcata Road in Arcata, CA 95521. | Photo by Collin Slavey

    “We’re installing plants that will be there forever. It makes it easier for pollinators to establish themselves on the farm and it is mutually beneficial for us,” Finch said.

    Small changes in abiotic, or physical non-living factors, can alter life events. There are many changes in an ecosystem that can affect how a plant or pollinator does its job. Dr. Rachael L. Olliff-Yang and Dr. Michael R. Mesler published a paper in 2018 titled The potential for phenological mismatch between a perennial herb and its ground-nesting bee pollinator.

    In the paper they investigate how temperature affects the phenology of the silky beach pea (Lathyrus littoralis) and its main pollinator, the ground-nesting solitary silver bee (Habropoda miserabilis).

    “Temperature best predicted both flowering and bee activity, although soil moisture influenced the timing as well,” the paper said.

    Their findings imply that in the face of the climate crisis, an average increase in temperature may cause the silky beach pea and the solitary silver bee to fall out of sync.

    “Comparison of linear regression slopes of phenology against temperature suggests that bee nesting time is more sensitive to differences in seasonal maximum temperatures, and may advance more rapidly than flowering with temperature increases,” the paper said.

    A bumblebee looking for lunch landed on this flower to get a drink of nectar. The bee will help pollinate nearby flowers as it continues on its flight. | Photo by Collin Slavey

    Olliff-Yang and Mesler said that it’s important to understand what factors influence flowering and pollinator activity. Their investigation into the bee and the pea is just an example of a broader issue in the world.

    Building habitat is invaluable to local animal communities, as shelter, food and water are critical needs for every living organism. The most simple thing to do is to plant native plants in the front yard, as this will attract local pollinators.

    Local nurseries like Mad River Gardens will be more than happy to teach you about native plants and how you can attract and support our flying friends. As active members of the ecosystem, we all need to do our part.

  • Take the plunge with HSU’s Dive Program

    Take the plunge with HSU’s Dive Program

    HSU’s scientific diving program is an opportunity for any student to get their face underwater and see one of the most spectacular coasts in the world

    Ten-foot-high waves crash onto the Mendocino Coast. The rocky shore does its best to quell the energy of the waves but the swell is relentless. A group of suited divers slip on their fins and walk toward the frigid water. Students hold their masks and take the plunge.

    Students in Humboldt State’s Scientific Diving Program were tense with anticipation, but they were not nervous. This was the last dive of the semester and they felt safe and prepared. The conditions were challenging but not overwhelming. Plus, they had Jessica Doyle and the Dive Program leadership at their side. They were stoked.

    “The students were brave their first time,” Doyle said. “At 100 dives, I knew the conditions were bad. There was very low visibility. Regardless, the beginners were still excited about seeing even a sea star.”

    Doyle is passionate about diving. She is studying Environmental Interpretation and Education, but the dive minor opens new doors of opportunity. Doyle gets to help teach all the classes, which go on weekend long dive trips down to Van Damme State Park. Divers in the program are involved in research ranging from studying the impacts of sea urchins eating kelp to monitoring marine protected areas up and down the north coast to counting fish and plants.

    [perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”Jessica Doyle” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”17″]”The Humboldt Dive Program is very prestigious. That’s like getting a law degree from Harvard. And any student can participate!”[/perfectpullquote]

    To teach students about the HSU Dive Program, Doyle helped put on Ocean Night on May 1, 2019 at the Arcata Theater Lounge. It was a night of fundraising, underwater video and picture presentations and raffles. All the money raised went to the diving program to support their future trips. Doyle and the Dive Program taught attendees about the dive program and shared some really neat videos from recent dives.

    Doyle said she wants to make it clear the HSU Dive Program is open to everyone. She said certification and education from HSU Dive is a big deal. McKenna Rayburn took advantage of the program two years ago, changing her major to Oceanography and jumping into the HSU Dive minor. Both of the divers had a lot of good things to say about the program.

    “Generally diving is not a common experience,” Doyle said. “The Humboldt Dive Program is very prestigious. That’s like getting a law degree from Harvard. And any student can participate! We want everyone to know you don’t need to be in marine biology to be a part of the dive program.”

    “The dive program is a great experience,” Rayburn said. “Diving builds character and pushes limits. Once I am under the water, I feel calm. After I get my buoyancy figured out, being in the water is my favorite feeling. It’s glorious.”

    Photo courtesy Jessica Doyle

    The HSU Dive Program comes with a lifetime diving certification. Equipped with this certification, the opportunities for underwater exploration are endless. Diving Safety Officer Richard Alvarez helps organize and approve all dive plans and research missions. Alvarez said the HSU Dive program prepares their divers for any conditions they may face worldwide.

    “Diving here is super challenging,” Alvarez said. “We have low visibility and are constantly exposed to the elements. The program takes people and prepares them for a lot. We are training in rigorous conditions. The main theme of the program is safety.”

    “Diving builds character and pushes limits. Once I am under the water, I feel calm. After I get my buoyancy figured out, being in the water is my favorite feeling. It’s glorious.”

    McKenna Rayburn

    Alvarez said it was important to prepare divers for an emergency. He said the divers in the program practiced safety and were highly skilled. This ensures they do high quality science. Alvarez said it can be easy to get distracted from the basics when counting fish, so rigorous training was necessary.

    Rayburn has not taken the scientific diving course yet, but said she was looking forward to it. In the program, she will get to how to identify fish and plants underwater. She will also have the opportunity to collect her own data for any project she wants to do, as long as Alvarez approves it.

    “When HSU students dive at other spots, they get really excited,” Alvarez said. “The stoke to get in the water is enthusiasm. Diving the north coast can be challenging but it’s worth all the effort. The coast is phenomenal. We have the most beautiful coast. Diving here is mind blowing.”

  • #Trashtag is still happening

    #Trashtag is still happening

    The viral clean up challenge is going strong across the world

    The viral challenge to pick up nasty littered areas hasn’t been tossed out. #Trashtag is still going!

    In case you haven’t heard about the challenge, #trashtag challenge has a few simple steps. First, locate an area of your community covered in trash. Second, equip a team of people with gloves and trashbags. Third, bag it.

    Be sure to take a before and after photo to show what a difference you made for your community and upload it on social media like Twitter or Reddit with the hashtag #trashtag.

    The trashtag hashtag has been on the internet for some time now, the trend got popular in March 2019 after a guy named Byron Román made a post on Facebook about it. His post is a photo of a man in a littered area before and after he cleaned it up. Román challenged teens to do the same.

    “Here is a new #challenge for all you bored teens,” Román wrote. “Take a photo of an area that needs some cleaning or maintenance, then take a photo after you have done something about it, and post it.”

    IMG_5231.PNG.jpeg
    Photo Courtesy of Jadarlin

    Román made it viral. After more than 100,000 likes and shares on Facebook, #trashtag had it in the bag. The movement spread online like the pacific garbage patch has spread in the ocean.

    All across the world from Bali to Brooklyn trashtaggers are cleaning up their backyards. Reddit user misoxx even submitted their #trashtag contributions from Nepal!

    Littering has serious impacts on humans and the environment we live in. According to a study published by the Royal Society, fish may actively seek out and eat plastic waste because it smells and looks like food.

    This kills fish. As humans, in turn, eat plastic filled fish the plastic accumulates in our bodies. This is “litter-ally” as dangerous as eating tide pods.

    As far as viral internet memes go, #trashtag is probably the most wholesome one yet. It’s relevant, it’s productive and it encourages an awesome behavior, picking up trash.

    The Story of Stuff, founded by Annie Leonard, an investigator who took the lid off of manufacturing in the world, teaches its viewers about where all this waste comes from.

    Leonard explains how consumerism is all about that “buy buy buy” attitude. The problem with this attitude is the fact that we end up with way too much stuff. As soon as we realize that fact, anything we don’t need or want gets tossed. That’s one reason there is so much trash that ends up on our beaches, in our rivers and on our streets.

    IMG_5228.jpg
    Photo Courtesy of misoxx

    Litter is a serious issue in our modern age. Our society depends on cheap production and disposable items to make life convenient. Unfortunately, these behaviors “externalize” the real impacts of plastics, including litter.

    Trash becomes a problem, real quick. Although our waste quickly piles up in landfills, at least it’s a heck of a lot better than it piling up on our beaches. #trashtag is a great reason to make sure nasty trash ends up where it belongs.

    So let’s pick up a trash bag, put on a pair of gloves and start bagging that trash. Our communities will appreciate and out planet will appreciate it. Remember to take a picture and #trashtag.

  • April showers bring May flowers

    April showers bring May flowers

    Upbeat music filled the air on campus. May Day, the springtime celebration of fertility and joy, was in full swing at CCAT. Smiling faces crowned in flower wreaths welcomed visitors to the house. Anticipation was building.

    The front lawn of the Campus Center for Appropriate Technologies was covered in yellow hay. The sun shone over people gathered there, warming hearts and heads. Funky music rolled across the yard, digging deep into people’s souls. There was a pep in everybody’s step as they danced around the yard. May Day is a celebration of rebirth and revitalization. Students and families crowded around tables to weave themselves flower crowns, dressing themselves in natural beauty.

    Sean Armstrong introduced May Day with passion. He stood above the crowd with his corn blond hair blowing in the wind as he wove an image of May Day. Armstrong said humans have been celebrating May Day for five thousand years. May Day is a celebration of fertility and rebirth, of sexuality and community. May Day marks the beginning of spring and traditionally pays homage to Eostre, the pagan goddess of spring. May Day is ultimately a celebration of one and all.

    “Spring is a non-optional time of renewal,” Armstrong said. “Today is a moment of optimism. This place is about regeneration and optimism. We have a ‘world gets better perspective’ and we trust in a future of growth.”

    CCAT offered a whole bouquet of May Day themed activities. Piles of flower clippings were set out on tables so people could make themselves a wreath of flowers to wear. The wreaths were crowns accentuating natural beauty. Bright blues, fiery reds and striking yellows were set in rings of ivy and grass. Abigail Lowell shared why flowers were celebrated on May Day.

    “A flower is beauty,” Lowell said. “Flowers are one of humans definitions of beauty. Humans have always considered flowers to be the foundation of beauty.”

    Lowell wore a light blue dress to match her light blue eyes at the May Day festival. The weather was kind enough to copy Lowell and grace the celebration with a bright blue sky to boot. Girls danced and twirled in flowery dresses to the funky music. After a while a hush fell over the crowd, the music slowed down when Armstrong took the stage to introduce the May Pole.

    The May Pole is a symbol of the potency of the god. For lack of a better term it is a phallic birch pole set straight into the ground. Attached to the top of the pole green, red, yellow, blue and orange ribbons streamed down into the hands of excited people around the base.

    “I met my wife at a May Day celebration right here on CCAT’s lawn,” Armstrong said. “The whole day build up to this great release. You know, there’s flirting, there’s drinking, there’s feasting. We can pay attention to the spring season and celebrate it.”

    The music kicked up again. Half of the dancers began to skip around the pole. Every other person walked towards the center of the pole and danced in the other direction. The inner circle and the outer circle wove in and out between one another. At the climax of the dance the May Pole was wrapped in an intricate lattice of color. As the weave tightened around the pole, flowers were tucked into the ribbons. What resulted was a rainbow braid adorned with bright flowers and surrounded by smiling faces.

    If only the sensation of May Day could be pressed and preserved forever. Alas, just as the celebration recognizes change the day’s sky began to change as the sun set. Sebastian Forward, CCAT’s organic gardener and future botanist, did his best to save the day. He was teaching CCAT’s visitors how to press plants and flowers.

    “Pressing plants gives you something tangible when photos and drawings just won’t cut it,” Forward said. “We can preserve plants for over 100 years. Pressed plants show us what the plant was like the day it was pressed. We can still see what the little hairs look like under the microscope.”

    May Day celebrated the transition of winter to spring. As plants bloom they herald fruits to come. Chirping birds and buzzing bees sat on branches while they watched humans dance around a field of hay celebrating life and joy. Celebrate this time of year with happiness and love. Show compassion to those around you. Stop and smell the roses, spring has come.

    “It was heartfelt,” Lowell said. “Everybody was talking to one another. There were no inhibitions. The bright colors livened everybody up. We felt community. I liked it.”

  • Every day can be Earth Day

    Every day can be Earth Day

    Green Campus, CCAT, WRRAP and Associated Students have organized an Earth Week

    A buzz is on campus as Earth Week begins, a celebration of progress towards a bright green tomorrow. The theme is “Building Resilience in a Time of Climate Crisis.”

    In the Kate Buchanan Room, Green Campus took reduce, reuse, recycle to a whole new level, kicking off Earth Week with a ‘Trashion’ show. Participants used recycled rugs, sheets and even toilet paper rolls to create one-of-a-kind fashion masterpieces. The goal was simply to bring awareness to waste.

    Kassidy Fosdick of Green Campus said the Trashion Show was a great way to get people involved in Earth Week.

    “Trashion Show is a great communal gathering,” Fosdick said. “We have a big message and we need a lot of time to communicate it.”

    Building resilience in a time of climate crisis is a bold, challenging initiative. It requires people to start paying attention and adapting to a reality that will otherwise be a rude awakening.

    To be resilient to climate change, people must be prepared to use less water, buy food grown closer to home and turn the lights on later in the evening.

    Mark Farrell, a student studying energy and climate encourages anyone who hasn’t began to be conservation-minded to catch up.

    “If you haven’t realized how to live a less wasteful life by now, it’s time to figure it out,” Farrell said. “Earth Day isn’t the only day to be environmentally friendly. We should be living that way every day. Make every day Earth Day.”

    Earth Day, April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans turned their faces towards the warm spring sun. Sweet-smelling flowers were tucked behind the ears of beautiful humans.

    Fifth Avenue, New York, NY was closed off to celebrate the very first Earth Day. Rolling music wafted through the streets as thousands of people marched to advocate for action to heal a sick planet.

    Gaylord Nelson was the founder of the Earth Day movement. His will caused the first Earth Day to happen. In 1970, on a stage in Denver Colorado, here is what he had to say.

    “Earth Day is dramatic evidence of a broad new national concern that cuts across generations and ideologies,” Nelson said. “It may be symbolic of a new communication between young and old about our values and priorities.”

    Nelson had witnessed the ravages of the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California and demanded something be done about it. The United States was rocked with disaster after ecological disaster as the Cuyahoga River caught on fire, also in 1969. Unrestrained and unregulated smoke stacks poured smog into the atmosphere, poisoning the citizens of the United States.

    “Establishing [environmental] quality on a par with quantity is going to require new national policies that quite frankly will interfere with what many have considered their right to use and abuse the air, the water, the land, just because that is what we have always done,” Nelson said.

    Today, the planet continues to face an assault from humanity. Pollution is more subtle now, but the impacts on Earth are just as severe. Society’s demand for things requires massive amounts of natural resources to be extracted, processed and consumed.

    These processes release Carbon Dioxide in excessive amounts, which has been proven time and time again to create a destructive warming effect on the planet.

    Dillon Anderson with the Energy and Climate Professionals Club on campus went over some ways to decarbonize your life.

    “One low-cost change would be to switch your electricity service to a 100% renewable source, with Redwood Coast Energy Authority for example,” Anderson said. “Beyond that, make small adjustments to your lifestyle.”

    Every single human can give a helping hand to Earth. Any great American should want to protect the unique and precious landscape we’re blessed with. From sea to shining sea, citizens have the opportunity to make change. It’s simple. Biking or riding the bus to school may be a little less convenient than a car, but it can save buckets of money and will improve health while also reducing emissions.

    On Wednesday April, 24 in Nelson Hall East there will be a Humboldt County Climate Action Plan Forum. All are encouraged to attend.

    CCAT co-director Karina Coronado said it was important to get everybody involved in the climate conversation.

    “When it comes to the Earth, as inhabitants, we are collaborating towards a shared vision,” Coronado said. “With events on the quad, we get to meet people beyond those in science. Climate needs to be an inter-sectional issue. All inhabitants are part of the community.”

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  • Saltwater tanks are for everyone

    Saltwater tanks are for everyone

    Fish tank care can be a fun and healthful hobby to pick up

    Aquariums, from home built to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, are a great way to relieve stress and learn a little about ocean science. Jason McCormick has loved being around fish tanks since they were a kid. They explain their favorite part about their aquarium.

    “The joy of taking care of the animals,” McCormick said.

    Chris Kellawan is the sales manager at Arcata Pet Supply. Kellawan has been working with saltwater tanks for almost 30 years.

    “Get the biggest tank you can afford,” Kellawan said.

    The large tank will make the conditions more stable for the fish. Plus it will be easier to grow the tank as time goes on. The tank should be kept out of direct sunlight and in a well ventilated area. This keeps toxic algae from taking the tank over and getting the fish sick.

    There are other supplies necessary, such as a substrate, a heater, power-heads, and lighting equipment. However, the most fun supplies are the aquascaping materials. Aquascaping is just landscaping, but underwater. People use plants, rocks, or driftwood to aquascape within their tank. Aquascaping is the most creative part of setting up an aquarium.

    Fish can also be a fun, creative part of setting up a saltwater tank. Research is the first step in knowing what fish are right for beginners and for specific tank sizes. Local pet stores and the internet are a good place to start. Although, there can be some conflicting answers during the research process.

    “Context around the answers changes,” Kellawan said.

    Kellawan recommends finding out why the answers are conflicting. This encourages a better understanding of saltwater tanks.

    Saltwater tanks have three main chemical processes to pay attention to. The first is the tank’s alkalinity level. The alkalinity of a tank is most important to measure the bicarbonate levels. Those bicarbonates in a tank are an essential part of corals’ skeleton.

    It is also important to pay attention to the tank’s level of ammonia. The levels of this chemical should be zero. If the levels of ammonia become too high, the tank can become toxic to the fish. Ammonia can come from rotting food and the fish pee. This can be controlled with a proper filtration system.

    The third most important piece to pay attention to is the calcium levels. Calcium helps keep corals’ skeletons healthy and growing.

    Kellawan finds that getting in the zone with their fish tanks has a calming effect on everyone they encounter.

    “Shut out the periphery,” Kellawan said.

  • OPINION: Let that yellow mellow

    OPINION: Let that yellow mellow

    Flushing your toilet has a larger impact on the environment than you may think

    Many homes across the country have a motto, “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down.” This saying encourages water conservation when it comes to flushing the toilet.

    The amount of water a toilet uses depends on how old it is. If your toilet was made before 1982, then it could be using anywhere from five to seven gallons of water each flush. Newer toilets use about two gallons per flush. The average person flushes about five times each day. That is 10 gallons of water thrown out every day.

    You can check how much water your toilet uses by looking at the little block right behind the seat or under the tank lid, or you can check for the year in the tank of the toilet which could give you a good idea of how much it is using.

    Flushing can also be very dirty. Each flush can spew water as far as six feet. That could reach your toothbrush! So letting the yellow mellow may help you avoid having your toothbrush become more covered in germs.

    Saving your flush also saves water. Water usage is projected to increase by 55% from 2000 to 2050. This increase creates problems as 21 of 37 aquifers across India and China, and the U.S. and France are draining at an alarming rate.

    CA is a good example of overuse of water. The state’s aquifers receded about 16 trillion acre-feet per year. That caused CA to have 1,900 wells dry up from 2011-2016. Letting the yellow mellow could have helped save some of that water.

    Each time you flush your yellow down the toilet, it’s like flushing three tenths of a cent with it. This adds up to about $10.95 per year. You can save $7.66 each year by letting the yellow mellow. Not only does saving your flush save water, but it also saves money.

    If you were to flush every third time you used the restroom, you would be saving about six gallons of water each day. That means more clean water for drinking, or showering, or even future flushing.

  • April showers bring May flowers

    April showers bring May flowers

    This past week flowers on Humboldt State’s campus have come into full bloom

    Rhododendron, azalea, coltsfoot and more plants have begun flowering. Don’t forget to stop and smell the rosemary. Flowers’ sweet smelling perfume waft across campus, attracting a host of pollinators and people to their petals. Our biologists are on a buzz researching flowers on campus.

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    Stefani Brandt pointing to the date of the first flowering plant. | Photo by Collin Slavey

    Stefani Brandt is one such biologist. Brandt teaches plant taxonomy on campus, the branch of science concerned with classification of organisms. She said flowers serve one function: sex.

    “Flowers have evolved to be the perfect fix for their pollinators,” Brandt said. “If no pollinator showed up, there would be no flowers. The flower uses scent, color and shape to attract pollinators that spread sperm and pollen from one flower to the egg of another. Once fertilized, every flower produces a fruit.”

    Casey Albarran is a co-director for CCAT and a biology student who is investigating Petasites frigidus var. palmatus, otherwise known as Arctic sweet coltsfoot. Albarann is working with Michael Messlet to learn about what pollinates the mysterious plant. Together they are hoping to discover what pollinates the plants.

    “Petasites is a complicated plant,” Albarran said. “It is dioecious, meaning there are male plants and female plants. It is native to this region and there is not much we know about it. We’ll check on it for ten minutes at a time and try to learn what pollinates it.”

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    Casey Albarran posing with the Arctic colts foot he is studying. | Photo by Collin Slavey

    Albarran said the research group has already began collecting pollinators. Some flies and bumblebees have been captured to be studied. Keep an eye out on campus for pollinators like the bumblebee and treat them nicely. Those bumblebees are responsible for making sure the beautiful flowers come back year after year.

    Biologists keep track of when flowers bloom each year. Phenology is the study of periodic life cycle events such as a plant’s first flower. These life cycle events are often sensitive to climate and temperature and are used as indicators for climate changes.

    Our grounds crew takes care of plants on campus as they grow and change. Skye Freitas prunes the campus trees to prepare them for flowering. Freitas cuts away dead branches and shapes trees to help the tree thrive.

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    Sky Freitas hanging out with some plants. | Photo by Collin Slavey

    She said she enjoys working with plants every day. Since the bloom has happened on campus, Freitas is more than happy to take care of the plant life.

    “It never feels like I’m actually working,” Freitas said. “It’s very therapeutic to work with the trees. I get to help make sure all the nutrients get to the right place.”

    Petasites, however, is not waiting for Freitas to visit. It displays its white flowers, beckoning pollinators to its petals. Albarran and his team monitor the plant as pollinators begin to fly towards it, landing on the flower in search of Petasites sweet nectar.

    In due time the plant shall be fertilized to create fruit, restarting its life cycle so it may live on to flower another day.

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    A blooming trillium flower. | Photo by Collin Slavey

    “There are over 300,000 species of angiosperms, flowering plants, in the world,” Brandt said. “There are probably over a hundred on campus. There is a reason they smell good and look pretty.”

  • The fungi among us

    The fungi among us

    Mushroom week is in full swing at HSU

    Humboldt State is home to a variety of mushrooms that are sprouting as the rain comes and goes. CCAT held a series of presentations and workshops to further educate more students on mycology this week, and it came with a lot of educational fun facts about mushrooms. The most interesting being the things that can be made from mushrooms.

    Casey Albarran, the internal co-director of CCAT said mushrooms can be more than just food.

    “There are so many applications of mushrooms that are revolutionizing different things in the world,” Albarran said.

    According to students at CCAT mushrooms can be made into bricks, buildings, leather and of course food. They can be medicinal as well. These discoveries of mushrooms have led to so many innovations with what can be made from them. There is still a lot of testing that needs to be made, though. The use of mushrooms traces back to traditional Chinese medicine, and that’s the kind of information that CCAT wanted to display to the students.

    Michelle Stone, president of CCAT said that her favorite thing about mushrooms is identifying them.

    “It’s kind of like a scavenger hunt without knowing what you’ll find,” Stone said.

    Stone explained that with making something like leather out of mushrooms, it would support the vegan movement and revolutionize the industry making leather. She also explained that over-producing mushrooms can be a problem with all these innovations, and the goal would be to create a more sustainable form of production.

    “We wouldn’t be able to just completely switch to myco-building, but it’s still an interesting idea,” Albarran said.

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    Mushroom growing locally in Humboldt County. | Photo by Amanda Schultz

    One big thing about mycology is that it is incredibly complex. Just when you think you know a good amount of information there turns out to be a whole new array of facts and information.

    JT Abbott, a student involved with CCAT, explained that despite his knowledge on mushrooms that there is still so much he doesn’t know.

    “I love substituting my groceries by finding mushrooms, they’re a really fun addition to my forest walks,” Abbott said. “But eat them only if you are good at foraging.”

    Mushrooms are notorious for their role in breaking things down in the ecosystem, and it’s myco-remediation that draws so many students to learning more about them.

    Ben Nguyen is another student that is apart of CCAT.

    “Nothing would be possible without them because they’re the natural digesters of Earth,” Nguyen said.

  • Thorns hurt but friends are forever

    Thorns hurt but friends are forever

    These three campus clubs serve the community for good

    Humboldt State University has a multitude of clubs who participate in community service. This week’s focus is on the Natural Resources Club, Campus Center for Appropriate Technologies and the Redwood Chapter of Environmental Educators and Interpreters.

    Environmental Science student and Natural Resources ‘Club Homie’ Alexander Mouriten talked about a recent invasive Himalayan blackberry removal project at Fern Canyon.

    “I gotta say, the thorns hurt but getting to work with my friends made that nothing,” Mouriten said. “I enjoyed it. I always enjoy volunteering.”

    Mouriten said he volunteers for the field work, the experience and the gratification of a good honest job.

    Early on Saturday mornings, the Natural Resources Club meets in front of the Natural Resources building before heading out for their weekly restoration service project. The Natural Resources Club does invasive plant removal, trail building and habitat restoration on a regular basis. Food and coffee are provided to keep up morale, and the club welcomes all students to join.

    The Campus Center for Appropriate Technologies, CCAT, is built on environmentally-friendly means. CCAT often creates opportunities to volunteer and provides students with hands-on experience with unique technology.

    Sebastian Forward is the sustainable gardener at CCAT. Forward is working on an ethnobotanical gardening project to educate people about the science and history of food domestication. Forward said he believes everybody who works at CCAT is here for the community.

    “CCAT is a source of information and education in the community,” Forward said. “Every Friday is our signature volunteer Friday. Everyone is always enjoying their talking and enjoying their time.”

    Volunteer Fridays are a really good opportunity to get involved with the CCAT community. CCAT invites environmentally conscious people who have sustainable technology ideas to come to the house and make their ideas come to life. Visitors will be met with a welcoming attitude. Just ask what you can do to help.

    To have a healthy community, the community must serve itself. Every weekend, community service projects pop up across the nation. Projects rely on volunteers who offer their time to improve habitats, clean up streets and improve their communities. Participating in community service gives volunteers the opportunity to help improve the place they live while offering the chance to create a special bond with whomever they serve.

    IMG_5099.jpg The Redwood Chapter of Environmental Educators cleans up for Coastal Clean Up Day. | Photo by Collin Slavey

    The Redwood Chapter of Environmental Educators and Interpreters, RCEEI, excells at explaining challenging topics to the community in approachable ways. The club serves young community members often, with events like their annual March 4 Parks.

    Brighton Hayashida is the vice president of RCEEI. He said March 4 Parks is an opportunity for students to serve young members of the community.

    “Kids are really excited about March 4 Parks,” Brighton said. “Just the fact they’re outside is important. The biggest thing is that we made nature relatable to kids.”

    RCEEI communicates environmental knowledge by interpreting it. Scientific interpretation is similar to language translation. Instead of language, RCEEI talk about science in a way everybody can understand. It’s a valuable tool for inspiring people to volunteer to serve their community.

    Service is one of the United State’s defining values. From the beginning of the nation, Americans have been volunteering their time and energy for selfless progress. In 1736, Benjamin Franklin founded the first volunteer fire department. In 1865 William and Catherine Booth form the Salvation Army, which would become one of the largest volunteer organizations in the nation. Finally in 1961, President John F. Kennedy founded the Peace Corps which created volunteer opportunities across the world.

    “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country,” President John F. Kennedy said.

  • Illuminating the dark

    Illuminating the dark

    Professor Derek F. Jackson Kimball sheds some light on his research into dark matter

    Gravity keeps us down, thermodynamics keep us warm and dark energy is getting big. CSU East Bay physics Professor Derek F. Jackson Kimball uncovers the nature of dark matter.

    Students from the physics department gathered in Science A 475 to listen to Kimball explain his research into the nature of dark matter. Kimball and his team hypothesized that dark matter is axion particles.

    Axion particles are hypothetical particles that are unbelievably small and weigh almost nothing. They’re classified as boson particles. This means multiple axion particles could occupy the same space without interfering with one another.

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    Professor Kimball pointing out equations used to determine the frequency of an axion’s rotation. | Photo by Collin Slavey

    Why does dark matter matter? Kimball used a colorful example to explain his pursuits in physics. His colleague Max Zolotorev, a former citizen of Soviet Russia, said that physicists care about dark matter because they “are curious to know how things work.”

    “Three percent of rats are physicists,” Zolotorev said. “In a Soviet experiment, an electrode is placed on top of a rat cage. Seventy percent of rats touch the electrode, get shocked and never touch the electrode again. Twenty-seven percent of rats watch 70 percent of rats touch the electrode, get shocked and never touch electrode in the first place. Three percent of rats touch the electrode and get shocked. Then the [three percent of rats] touch the electrode from the side, gets shocked. Then rats touch the top of electrode, also gets shocked. [Those] three percent of rats are physicists.”

    Kimball hopes to detect the axion particles in a rather unconventional way. Since the theoretical particle would be very small, Kimball’s team is going to try to detect them using magnetic resonance.

    Gynell Higby, a student of physics at HSU, attended the seminar. She was inspired by Kimball’s efforts.

    “Theories were taken from my modern physics class and made real,” Higby said. “That he can put together a new model from his mind and make it happen, it’s awesome.”

    Kimball is working together with physicists from around the world to figure out whether their axion hypothesis is valid. To detect axion particles using magnetic resonance, the GNOME program is a global network of sensors designed to record an event where the planet Earth passes through axion particles.

    The basic idea is to get a baseline recording of what space sounds like. When a sensor passes through dark matter, the axion particles in the air will change the baseline recording, appearing as a spike or a curve over the baseline data. Alas, so far there has been no such event.

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    Professor Derek Kimball | Photo by Collin Slavey

    Dark matter is a great mystery of nature. It won’t necessarily build a better toaster, but to discover what dark matter is will be a great human achievement. Kimball began his explanation of dark matter with a brief overview of what we know about it.

    First, we cannot see dark matter because it does not interact with light. That’s why dark matter is dark. Second, there is a lot of dark matter. Observations and a lot of complicated gravitational math inform us that dark matter makes up 26.8 percent of the observable universe.

    The remaining 63.8 percent of space is dark energy, an expanding force. And the remaining 4.9 percent of the universe is observable matter, stars, planets, galaxies etc. Finally, we know that we know just about nothing else about dark matter.

    Knowing so little drives Kimball’s research. Physicists know dark matter exists because of some significant astronomical observations. Primarily, the fact galaxies don’t spin themselves apart as they rotate tells us dark matter exists.

    If only the gravity from visible matter was holding galaxies together, galaxies would break apart and scatter stars across the universe. But they don’t. Gravity from dark matter and visible matter combined has enough force to hold galaxies together. The math works out to confirm dark matter exists.

    “We may be just swimming in dark matter,” Kimball said. “We could be able to detect it here from Earth today. Or maybe we are mostly sitting in nothing but every so often we run into dark matter. It may be clumped up in little dark matter balls or it may exist as massive dark matter walls. We will figure it out.”

  • HSU participates in the Math Modeling Competition

    HSU participates in the Math Modeling Competition

    The Mathematical Contest in Modeling is a chance for math fanatics around the world to flex their intellectual muscles

    Humboldt State students recently took part in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling, a large undertaking with over 900 institutions around the world participating. Teams are challenged to solve a complex, open-ended real-world math problem.

    About half of the teams participating worldwide fail to even solve the problem. One of the teams from HSU received a hypothetical disaster situation, and was briefed on how to best provide surveillance and medical delivery to Puerto Rico following the recent hurricane. They figured they could supply three cities with two years of medical supplies.

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    Photo courtesy of Humboldt State

    Johnny Rasnic, a mathematics major at HSU, enjoys being active within the math department.

    “Here the department is small but they try to keep things active for the math majors,” Rasnic said.

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    Photo courtesy of Humboldt State

    Rasnic applied his knowledge fully to this competition. His favorite aspect of this competition is the collaboration.

    “People see things that you don’t. Two brains is better than one,” Rasnic said.

    To Rasnic, this competition is about making the impossible possible. It’s about taking a mathematical truth and applying it to certain situations to find more true statements.

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    Photo courtesy of Humboldt State

    There was one team from HSU who was tasked with finding out how to evacuate the Louvre in Paris as quickly as possible. They made their evacuation plan as specific as possible, and made different potential plans of evacuation for different potential solutions.

    Astrophysics and applied mathematics major at HSU, Gynell Higby gave advice to people looking to compete in the future.

    “Be prepared,” Higby said.

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    Photo courtesy of Humboldt State

    One group from HSU focused on the opioid crisis. They were given data on opioid incidents in five states: West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Iowa.

    Briana Ramirez, applied mathematics major at HSU, was on the team tackling this problem.

    “Basically, the purpose of the problem was to see the driving drugs of the opioid crisis and the driving demographic that uses the most opioids,” Ramirez said.

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    Photo courtesy of Humboldt State

    The demographics for this crisis were shown on an excel sheet which the group looked over. They were given 96 hours to tackle the problem. They laid out code on a computer, but just as they were close to solving the problem, the power went out and all of their code got wiped clean.

    So, they started over with a sleepless night. After hours of grinding work, they found that Ohio has the biggest opioid crisis, but Kentucky has the largest demographics that use the most opioids.

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    Photo courtesy of Humboldt State

    The teams used different aspects of their intelligence. This was Ramirez’s second time participating in the competition.

    “We’re really using all of our education in one setting,” Ramirez said. “It’s an academia competition. But we’re not getting graded on it and we kind of have the full range of our creativity and all our knowledge to go into something productive.”

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    Photo courtesy of Humboldt State

    Ramirez went on to share the positive aspect of collaboration in this math modeling. she said that since the team os divided into groups of three, people can bring a lot of different skills to the table.

    “Bringing all of our education together was something really beneficial,” Ramirez said. “It kind of reinforces your learning through however many years of college you have.”

  • Dissecting the dead

    Dissecting the dead

    Cadavers and animal specimens give HSU students a unique opportunity

    For many, the sight of a lifeless body is enough to make them spew their lunch. But for many in the sciences, it’s not a problem. The presence of lifeless bodies and the smell of embalming fluid is so commonplace for professor Moana Giacomini that she can enjoy a burger and chocolate chip cookies in the same room.

    “I’ve been around them for so long in physical therapy school that it doesn’t bother me,” Giacomini said. “We had to dissect things all the time.”

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    Professor Moana Giacomini poses with a human skeleton in front of a cadaver case. | Photo by Dajonea Robinson

    HSU has four and a half human cadavers on campus—one is just a torso. Students in the kinesiology, pre-med and biology departments are among those who get to handle the cadavers. Two of the cadavers are male and all are on a five-year loan from UC Davis. The bodies sit in steel tanks filled with a solution of phenoxyethanol and water.

    Each of the cadavers are used for different purposes, but all are dissected. One of them sits with their skin flayed back revealing muscles, tendons and ligaments. Others are in a similar condition and are used to exam to the reproductive, nervous and urinary systems among others. After pulling off body parts and organs students place them into their corresponding bucket, so nothing gets mixed up when they are reassembled.

    “It is very important that we get to have these guys,” Giacomini said. “A book can never give you what a cadaver can. Especially the brain. Holding it. Feeling it. Understanding the size is important. That’s what makes this class special. There are a lot of [universities] that don’t have any.”

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    Drawer full of human bones in a Science A lab. | Photo by Dajonea Robinson

    Kinesiology student Martin Gordillo sat within two feet of the cadavers, fully engulfed in a hamburger and textbook as chemical smells wafted from the bodies. Gordillo was unfazed, but admitted that it was a little weird.

    “It’s pretty cool to touch and feel the body,” Gordillo said. “Learning from a model is different. You don’t get to see the muscles. I’m a hands-on learner and getting to see a muscle, a vein or artery is pretty intense.”

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    HSU student Martin Gordillo holds a spine in his classroom on March 5. | Photo by Dajonea Robinson

    Not everybody in the anatomy classes are as chill as Giacomini and Gordillo are the around lifeless bodies. Giacomini said that she had one student who refused to touch the cadaver all semester, but still managed to get an A. Gordillo said that he has had a few lab partners with similar responses.

    “I had a lab partner last semester who would gag a little when he was near them,” Gordillo said. “I had another one that didn’t want to touch them, but she got over it.”

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    Preserved alligator is kept in a jar in the Science A building. | Photo by Dajonea Robinson

    The number of lifeless bodies on campus are not just limited to the human form. HSU has a wide array of animal specimens for students to dissect. John Reiss is a professor of zoology and teaches students about the internal structures of our non-human counterparts.

    “They are used for understanding how animals work and how they compare to others,” Reiss said. “We use worms, crayfish, squids, sharks, frogs, fetal pigs. For invertebrates, we are trying to understand what makes things work and how they evolved into humans.”

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    Junior Evan Miller takes measurements of the bone structure of a small rodent. | Photo By Freddy Brewster

    Reiss said that in one of his classes students dissect sharks. The whole process takes about a third of the semester and students start at the tail and work their way to the head. It is also not uncommon for students to work on large sea mammals as well. Reiss said that HSU has whales, dolphins and sea lions and that the specimens “come in waves.”

    “It is really cool that our students have hands on experience,” Reiss said. “A lot of larger universities have eliminated that, and that is what makes HSU a good school. Would you rather look at a picture, or get in there and do some hands-on learning?”

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    A preserved owl is kept in a jar in the Sience A building. | Photo by Dajonea Robinson

    That hands-on learning is what brought junior Evan Miller to HSU all the way from Washington D.C. Wildlife major Miller is currently working on a project comparing the bones and muscles between moles and shrews. This summer he is heading to Madagascar to study lemurs.

    “I love D.C., but I didn’t have the opportunities that I have here at HSU,” Miller said.

  • Power Down HSU!

    Power Down HSU!

    Help out and power down HSU on March 6!

    Wednesday March 6 is Power Down HSU! Turn off unneeded lights, turn the thermostat down and unplug or power down vacant computers. Help lower HSU’s power use as much as possible.

    Megan Moore, Power Down HSU program coordinator, gave some insight into Green Campus’ techniques to turn HSU off.

    “We use slogans like ‘Turn Down for Watt,’ and ‘Energy Savers do it in the Dark’ to get people to pay attention,” Moore said. “We collect data each month to set a baseline for power down. We do this all with the help of our Guerilla Teams.”

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    Graphic courtesy of Green Campus

    Click. The room had gone dark. Guerilla Team Alpha successfully powered down Siemens Hall. To achieve a total Power Down, Green Campus dispatches cape wearing Guerilla Teams across campus with one objective, turn off as many lights as possible.

    The Guerillas began marking their tally sheets for Power Down. Siemens Hall: 85 lights flipped off, 40 computers shut down, megawatts saved. Guerilla Team Alpha has to sprint to the next building. They were running out of time. The school day was coming to an end. Before the day was over, all of the campuses lights had to be shut off. All in the name of energy.

    Moore encourages everyone to help out. She said that Power Down helps reduce HSU’s carbon footprint.

    “It will make a difference for the campus and if you power down at home, it will make a difference for you,” Moore said.

    Power Down HSU brings awareness to HSU’s power use and encourages students, staff and visitors alike to change their behavior. The goals of Power Down is to encourage people to embrace natural light by turning off unneeded interior lights. Green Campus makes an effort to unplug appliances, shut down computers on standby and teach the student body about why these actions matter.

    Let’s talk about why energy use is significant. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration the average U.S. Citizen uses 10,399 kilowatt hours of energy every year. One kilowatt is 1000 watts. Running an appliance that consumes 1000 watts for one hour means one kilowatt hour of electricity has been used. Along the same wire, if ten 100 watt light bulbs are ran for an hour they would consume one kilowatt hour of electricity.

    IMG_4865.jpg
    Graphic courtesy of Green Campus

    Interested in learning your annual energy consumption? Understanding kWh can let you control your electricity bill, reduce your energy use, and minimize your ecological footprint. Most of your appliances, especially light bulbs, will tell you how many watts of energy they use. Do some math and you can figure out it’s kWh usage. Outside the house is a PG&E power meter. This device will tell you how much energy you have used since your last bill. Watch those numbers rise.

    Now let’s upscale. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a calculator which compares watts to other things. 10,399 kWh is equivalent to 827 gallons of gasoline consumed, 8,039 pounds of coal burned, 937,683 smartphones charged, and 519,950 twenty watt light bulbs lit. That’s a lot of resources being used by one American per year. Now consider the fact there are 325 million of us. It’s shocking.

    Moore gave some tips of things people can do to help out such as turning off computers that aren’t being used.

    “Use natural light instead of artificial light,” Moore said. “Encourage you teachers to teach with the lights off or bring class outside for the day. Let’s meet and exceed our 2,755 kWh goal from last Spring.”

    Green Campus has been conducting Power Down HSU for several years now. It began as a club activity to reduce power consumption on campus. Today it is a challenging competition between the members of Green Campus as they spend the day turning off as much of the school as they can.

    Over the past few years Green Campus has been recording the power use of HSU in large data sheets. Compared to a baseline set on non-Power Down Wednesdays, Green Campus and their Guerilla teams make a significant impact on HSU’s power use. You can help too.

    “On the first Wednesday of every month do anything to save energy,” Moore said. “Meet in front of the library to get drafted to a Guerilla Team. If you’re busy Wednesday, try to make it to our Green Campus meetings Thursday, 2pm in Nelson Hall East 106.”

  • The Eel River and cannabis

    The Eel River and cannabis

    The Green Rush took a toll on the Eel River’s health

    Cannabis farms have been polluting the Eel River since the Green Rush began. There is sediment eroding and fertilizer running off into the river and the attached streams. Water is also being siphoned off from the streams and river to use on large grow operations.

    There are some sections of the Eel River that are at high, medium, and low risk of being polluted by illegal cannabis farms. This map lays out sections that are at those different levels of risk. All of the grows shown are within three miles of the Eel river.

    The sediment that is eroding due to the grow operations building roads that they do not maintain. They are also clear cutting a lot of the redwoods which held the sediment in place. This sediment falling into and settling in the river is causing it to flatten out and become shallow.

    This takes away the salmon’s favored habitat of deep, cold water. The fertilizer is causing algae bloom to occur that is very toxic for the salmon. It causes them to become diseased and die off. The grows are also siphoning off too much water, to the point of the river running dry in some seasons. This makes it hard for salmon to migrate from the ocean, up the Eel River, and to the streams where they lay their eggs.

    Cannabis becoming legal will allow the government to regulate the fertilizer used, maintain roads and minimize the impact of clear cutting, and regulate the amount of water being siphoned out. These regulations will keep the Eel River beautiful and protected.

  • Herb alternatives for students

    Herb alternatives for students

    Everyday ailments and problems often have herbal alternatives

    Plants and herbs have been used for centuries to treat different ailments. With big pharmaceutical companies handing opioids out like candy, many are turning to alternative treatments for different problems.

    Sophia Laverdiere is a local herbologist at Moonrise Herbs in Arcata. Laverdiere received her education at The Southwest institute of Healing Art in Phoenix, Arizona, she has extensive knowledge of over 140 plants.

    “Before pharmaceuticals how did humans survive?” Laverdiere said. “We have all these plants that do everything we need.”

    20190207_165734.jpg
    Sophia Laverdiere is a local herbologist at Moonrise Herbs in Arcata. | Photo by Maia Wood

    She described what the term ‘disease’ means in her line of work.

    “Disease literally is dis-ease in your body,” Laverdiere said.

    When you have health problems, that means your body is not in balance with the environment around you.

    Pharmaceutical drugs and medicine are often derived from plants. Scientists isolate the chemicals in plants that help treat ailments in humans, so going to plants to treat illness is not so far off. Using the whole plant, instead of part, can provide benefits for illness and disease. Before going to a pill, try some of these herbal alternatives.

    Asthma

    Mullin:

    · Description: “Leaves look like lungs”

    · Use: Soothes the bronchioles

    · Origination: Used by the Native Americans

    · How to Consume: Tincture

    Local Organic Honey and Pollen:

    · Use/ Benefits: For asthma and allergies

    · Builds immune system by exposing you to local allergens

    · How to Consume: Eat a spoonful

    Anxiety & Stress

    Ashwaghanda:

    · Use/ Benefits: Sleep and pain

    · Origination: Chinese herb, means “strength of a horse.” The medicine comes from the root of the plant.

    · Lowers your cortisol levels, which get overloaded during stress.

    · How to Consume: Tincture

    Holy Basil:

    · Use/Benefits: For extreme and severe anxiety and panic attacks.

    · Origination: India, used in almost every home in India. Considered to be a sacred plant. The whole plant is used for medicine.

    · Lowers your blood pressure and eases your heart muscles.

    · How to Consume: Tea and tincture. You can just pick the leaves of the plant to consume.

    Oats/Oatmeal:

    · Use/ Benefits: Natural nervous system relaxant because there are some many vitamins and nutrients in oatmeal. These factors come together to create a natural calming effect in your body.

    · Cheap and accessible at most grocery stores.

    · “Food Medicine”

    Insomnia

    Rubious (Rhobilea, Rosea) In the Rose family:

    · Uses/Benefits: This herb gives you a natural boost of energy and vitality.

    · Calms down the central nervous system. Helps increase the moods in your brain

    · How to Consume: Tea or tincture. A little goes a long way.

    Passion Flower/ Passion Fruit:

    · Uses/Benefits: When you wake up at any time at night

    · Works to help reset the brain cycles

    · How to Consume: Eat before bed

    California Poppy:

    · Uses/ Benefits: For deep sleep and to stay asleep

    · Hypnotic herb which means to induce sleep

    · How to Consume: Tea or tincture

    · Uses the whole plant for medicine

    Next time, before you reach for something in your medicine cabinet, pick up a whole plant or herb instead.

    “Plants are here to help us, instead of just taking a pill derived from plants. Go the source and use the whole plant,” Laviedere said.

  • Studying dinosaurs is dino-mite

    Studying dinosaurs is dino-mite

    Humans can learn from dinosaurs’ experiences with climate change

    Humans can learn from dinosaurs’ experience with global warming. Elliot Dabill, president of the board of directors for Friends of the Arcata Marsh, gave a lecture on Friday Feb. 15 on the topic, “What Could Dinosaurs Teach Us About Global Warming?”

    “Of course the answer is a lot,” Dabill said.

    Elliot said that during this time, the continents were crashing into one another to create Pangea. Volcanoes then began erupting. The lava produced was enough to cover Europe.

    Elliot said the heat from the lava cooked limestone and coal which then threw carbon dioxide and sulfur into the atmosphere. The large amount of gases, carbon dioxide and methane specifically, absorbed heat from the sun. Permafrost would then melt, which threw more methane into the atmosphere. During this time, oxygen was being sucked out of the air.

    Dabill referenced statistics that there was only 12 percent to 16 percent oxygen in the air, compared to 21 percent today. This lack of air would make it very difficult to breath at higher elevations.

    “You couldn’t go to Willow Creek,” Dabill said.

    According to Dabill, this is when dinosaurs began to evolve. This is also when Pangea began to break apart. Oxygen levels had just started to recover only to crash again. Volcanoes and poison gas again began to spew into the air.

    “Huge volumes of lava coming out,” Dabill said.

    The Earth started to heat up and oxygen levels were crashing quickly.

    “Volcanoes had to be a factor,” Dabill said.

    Many of the animals during these eras went extinct due to the low oxygen. Thankfully, dinosaurs have special lungs with air sacs. This type of lung system allowed the dinosaurs to absorb more oxygen than the other animals. The air sacs also helped absorb and exhale heat from the air. This allowed dinosaurs to survive while other animals suffered and went extinct.

    [perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”Bill Prescott” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”17″]“The more you hear about global warming, the more you understand it. The human influence is irrefutable.”[/perfectpullquote]

    Katy Allen, secretary for Friends of the Arcata Marsh board of directors, attended the lecture on Friday.

    “I never knew the reason dinosaurs survived,” Allen said.

    That is when it shifted into the Jurassic era. The dinosaurs began to take over.

    “Dinosaurs end up running the world,” Dabill said.

    Today, the Earth is heating up faster than ever. This is due to the mass of carbon dioxide being emitted across the planet by humans.

    The melting of glaciers and sea level rise are two issues of concern. People across the planet are counting on glaciers to provide water for their rivers. Sea level rise will affect people all across the planet. This will destroy homes and infrastructure for millions of people.

    Bill Prescott is a retired businessman who attended the lecture on Friday.

    “The more you hear about global warming, the more you understand it,” Prescott said. “The human influence is irrefutable.”

    Humans also have a trick to combat these issues. Humans can put their brains together to solve climate change once and for all.

    “This is only the beginning,” Dabill said.

  • Black excellence in science

    Black excellence in science

    Cellular and molecular biology major, Tanae Nichols, shows other black girls, anything is possible

    Sacramento California native, Tanae Nichols has a plan to prove to other black girls, anything is possible. Nichols is a third year at Humboldt State and is studying cellular molecular biology.

    “Dealing with genetics on a molecular level, I’m able to break down how things work and function on the most basic level,” Nichols said.

    IMG_1957.JPG
    Cellular molecular biology major, Tanae Nichols sits behind Bret Hart house on Feb. 19. | Photo by Dajonea Robinson

    Nichols takes this goal and brings it to life with her hands-on work as a caregiver. Growing up she had many family members with disabilities and was inspired to find out how she could help. Her love for knowledge and caring for others is what drew her to work in the field. She was also interested in internal medicine dealing with black people.

    “I wanted to learn more on a developmental level, I can fix things in the body,” Nichols said.

    When a Humboldt State recruiter came to her advanced placement class in high school, she became drawn to the beautiful location and the sense of community. These factors are what pushed her to attend school here.

    “I’ve always been into hiking, camping and just being an outdoors girl,” Nichols said. “I am an adventurer.”

    IMG_1940.JPG
    HSU student Tanae Nichols | Photo by Dajonea Robinson

    Nichols moved to Humboldt straight out of high school. She came with intentions to join the pre-med program. She also enjoyed how the school pushed a biology centered curriculum. She tried many different majors before finding a fit.

    “I changed my major from general biology to environmental biology to psychology and then back to pre-med,” Nichols said.

    [perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”Tanae Nichols” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Continue your studies and trust in your dreams.”[/perfectpullquote]

    Being the first person to go to college in her family, and a black woman in science, she has felt the pressure to succeed.

    “I have professors that really believe in me and tell me ‘Don’t let anyone tell you, you can’t do it,’” Nichols said.

    She takes this advice and strives forward to be a positive role model for her family back home.

    With three brothers and four sisters, Nichols finds herself in the middle. Raised by two hard working parents who did not go to college, education was always important.

    “My parents made sure I was put into schools that were college oriented,” Nichols said.

    The charter school she attended really promoted children of color to go to college.

    IMG_1947.JPG
    HSU student Tanae Nichols | Photo by Dajonea Robinson

    She is involved with the Humboldt State’s club/sisterhood, The Legacy. This group of women aim to be a home away from home for all women and a platform to connect with the Humboldt community. They do different community service events like canned food drives, beach clean-ups and mentoring girls. Nichols believes it is important to be involved with the community to be an effective doctor.

    “When going into medicine, you have to learn the community you are serving,” Nichols said.

    Nichols has about two more years to go until graduation. Her next steps after college are to go to medical school, do a two-year residency and eventually become a doctor. Nichols encourages other young black girls who aspire to go into the science field.

    “Continue your studies and trust in your dreams,” Nichols said.

  • Humboldt Women’s basketball blocks Coyotes

    Humboldt Women’s basketball blocks Coyotes

    Jacks beat CSUSB 69-66 on Black Out Night

    Alexia Thrower’s physicality was unmatched as she accounted for twenty-four points and tied a season-high sixteen rebounds. Humboldt State secured their fifteenth win on the season against the California State University of San Bernardino on Saturday night. HSU got its fourth straight win, and Thrower earned CCAA player of the week honors.

    “I think we started as a team pretty slow,” said Thrower. “I was just trying to pick up the energy and get everybody going and just try to play my hardest regardless of the situation.”

    IMG_9006.jpg
    Senior Jovanah Arrington gets the Coyote defender to bite on the pump fake in front of the Lumberjack Arena crowd. | Photo by Braedon Delome

    The game went back and forth, with CSUSB getting off to a fast start leading by nine in the first. Jovanah Arrington made a big time jump shot to end an early San Bernardino run at the beginning of the first quarter.

    [perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”Head Coach Michelle Bento-Jackson” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”17″]”[Alexia Thrower] plays with such a motor in particular when she’s around the basket… Both offensive and defensively she’s going to be on those boards, and she creates problems for our opponents.”[/perfectpullquote]

    Just as San Bernardino was starting to make a strong push late in the quarter, Thrower drained a three and got the crowd into the game. Gabrielle Carbajal added to the early comeback with a three of her own as CSUSB headed to the second quarter with a five point lead.

    The game was extremely physical throughout, with Thrower driving to the basket and drawing hard fouls. She went 10-13 from the free throw line, and shot 50 percent from the field. CSUSB continued to push back whenever HSU would go on a run. Thrower set up a big screen for Arrington late in the second, as she drove to two points.

    Thrower’s ability to grab offensive rebounds and give HSU a second opportunity was pivotal. Teammate Isamar Conde showed how much fight was left in the Jacks, grabbing an offensive rebound between two coyotes under the basket. Conde also piled in a nice driving layup in the second as HSU went to the half with a 37-35 lead.

    “[Thrower] plays with such a motor in particular when she’s around the basket,” HSU Head Coach Michelle Bento-Jackson said. “Both offensive and defensively she’s going to be on those boards, and she creates problems for our opponents. Those were high energy type moments when she was going up and securing rebounds.”

    UCSB took a five point lead to begin the third, but Thrower would continue on the second effort shots. Her ability to draw the foul continued down the stretch. A giant three pointer from Carbajal got the crowd back into it and put HSU up one heading to the fourth.

    IMG_8999.jpg
    Junior Guard Madeline Hatch retakes the lead with a jumper from outside the paint. | Photo by Braedon Delome

    Costly turnovers from the Coyotes continued into the fourth, led by a Carbajal steal and assist to Thrower. Thrower would end up hitting a crucial shot that put the Jacks up nine and forced the timeout from CSUSB. She continued to make big play after big play in crunch time. The Coyotes tried but could not put it together, falling short by three points in the end.

    Thrower’s 24 points were a game-high as she put the team on her back down the stretch. Jovanah Arrington added 15 points and two rebounds, Isamar Conde finished with 13 points four rebounds, Carbajal and Tyra Turner scored six points each and Madeline Hatch had five points and six rebounds.

    “We didn’t get into any flow, but I thought Jovanah Arrington was aggressive in the second half and gave us some big buckets,”Bento-Jackson said. “Along with Lexi Thrower, we did enough just to grind out the win.”

    An excellent performance by HSU puts them into position to potentially host a playoff game. They play this Thursday in Carson against California State University Dominguez Hills.

    “We have an excellent home crowd, they get really into the game,” Thrower said. “So if we get to host a game here that would be pretty awesome.”