Water and Evolution

I look out at the expanse of water in front of me and try to imagine it gone. Seems impossible, doesn’t it, and yet vast bodies of water have disappeared from the earth, or at least have been substantially diminished in size. It can happen.

What makes me think of this today is the PBS Nova Series, Becoming Human. The three part series, two of which have already been aired, reports on recent findings about the evolution of primates to Homo sapiens. They ask the question why did our ancestors start to walk upright and what caused their brains to grow.

Anthropologists concentrate their searches in eastern Africa, in the Great Rift Valley. What I learned is that millions of years ago there used to be a huge freshwater lake in this now arid part of the African continent. The water levels of that body of water fluctuated, due to periods of excess rain and drought. This is proven in the geological layers by the presence of diatoms, unicellular organisms that only exist in water. Scientists think that one of the ways that mammals adapted to this climate instability was by increasing the size of their brain.

The water levels of the lake outside my window fluctuates, too, but not that dramatically. Here’s an excerpt from the November 6 report on Great Lakes Water Levels as posted at Great Lakes Observing System website:

Water Level Conditions: All of the Great Lakes remain higher than their levels of a year ago. Lakes Superior, Michigan-Huron, St. Clair, Erie and Ontario are 3, 12, 8, 6, and 1 inches, respectively, higher than their levels last year at this time. The water levels of Lakes Superior, Michigan-Huron and St. Clair are expected to decline by 2 inches over the next month. Lake Erie and Ontario are expected to decline 1 and 2 inches, respectively, over the next 30 days. Over the next several months, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan-Huron and Lake St. Clair are forecasted to be above their water levels of a year ago. Lakes Erie and Ontario are forecasted to remain near or below last year's levels over the same time period

Still, it makes me wonder what changes will take place in our species as our own climate instability progresses. And yes, I do believe our climate is changing, although I also believe climate has always changed. But the rate of change has increased and been influenced by us Homo sapiens and our larger brains, as well as our cars, our factories, our plastic bottles and myriad other modern inventions.

Evolution is an ongoing process, but how will humans change in response to an unstable climate? How will we adapt? Will we have bigger brains instead of bigger cars? Will be go back to walking on two feet instead of driving on four wheels? Will our feet be bigger? Our arms longer? Our skin thicker? What do you think?

The picture at the right has nothing to do with evolution, but I wanted to share it. It was taken last weekend at the Japanese Garden in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens , which I think is a highly evolved and beautiful place.

Sal, The Erie Canal and Me

I’ve got a mule and her name is Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
She’s a good old worker and a good old pal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

We’ve hauled some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal and hay
And we know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo*.

Do you know that song – or is it only known by people who grew up in New York State?

I am still reading Jerry Dennis’s book, The Living Great Lakes. For several chapters Dennis wrote about places on the Great Lakes that I do not know much about, but now I am back to reading about familiar territory as he sails the eastern basin of Lake Erie, through the Welland Canal, into Lake Ontario. He is writing about what I used to call home. I have never seen it from the perspective that Dennis and his crewmates were seeing it - sort of from the inside out, that is from the water to the shore. I have seen all these places from the shore to the water. I don’t know “every inch of the way” but I do know a heck of a lot the places he is seeing from the ship. Buffalo, The Niagara Peninsula, Toronto, Rochester, even the Welland Canal all are an integral part of the first 23 years of my life.

But when I got to the part about the Erie Canal, I admit I was stumped and had to look up some information about it on Wikipedia. I learned in grade school that the canal connected Albany at the Hudson River end to Buffalo at Lake Erie, making it possible for ships to go from the Atlantic Ocean through the Great Lakes. Yet Dennis and his crew enter into the canal, which is rarely used anymore by commercial vessels, at Oswego, New York. What I found out was that almost a hundred years ago the Erie Canal became part of what is now called the New York State Canal System, which includes other canals such as the Oswego Canal, which connect to the Erie Canal at Syracuse. The whole thing is now part of the Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor – which is part of my favorite government agency, the National Park Service.

The Erie Canal today is probably a lot like the I & M Canal which connected Chicago to the Mississippi River. Both are primarily recreational areas now. I have walked and biked the I & M several times and yes, have the stamp in my Parks Passport. Along the path are historic houses, trading posts and other remnants of a bygone era. When I walk it, I think that a mule named Sal would soon be poking her head out from behind the thick trees that now line the canal. But Sal was a New Yorker, so probably not.

And I am a New Yorker too – no, not the kind that inhabits the pages of the famous magazine by the same name, but rather the kind that had to remind people that there is more to New York State than Manhattan and Brooklyn. And that there are lots of trees in the state. It’s not all sidewalks.

Later this afternoon my husband, also a New Yorker of the same variety as I am, and I are flying to New York – both the city and the state - to spend a few days and to attend a wedding. I will not see the Erie Canal, but I will probably see Canal Street. Does any one remember the old song about walking down Canal Street? Actually, it’s probably best if you don’t, at least not the version I learned in grade school.

By the way, the official name of Erie Canal song is *Low Bridge and it was written in 1905 by Thomas S. Allen. Thank you, Wikipedia. I guess I have to send you another donation.

No Silver Lining?

I just finished knitting socks for my husband that are made of an Icelandic wool and alpaca blend. These socks are special because I think I may have met the sheep that produced the wool. I bought the yarn at a Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival earlier this fall. The socks are going to be really, really warm this winter, which is good because my husband's feet get really, really cold. However, his feet don’t sweat, so I don’t expect the socks to get smelly, but if they did, I learned this morning in the NYT Science Section that adding silver to fibers like those used in socks can keep them odor free.

I suppose I knew that silver was an antimicrobial – after all, I do have a degree in Microbiology, but I never thought about socks and silver together. It appears that by adding a few nanoparticles of silver to textiles, the bacteria that cause unpleasant odors are eliminated. Nanoparticles, in case you don’t know, are very, very small. Picture a hair’s breadth and divide it into a trillion pieces, and you have a nanoparticle.

However, you might want to think twice about those odor-free socks because silver is not only toxic to bacteria – it’s pretty much toxic to every living thing. And remember that things like socks and clothing have to get clean. What happens to the silver when those items go through the wash? Does it go down our drains, out into our streams and our lakes, into our fish? How will effect our environment?

The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, a program developed by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Pew Charitable Trusts has issued a 72-page report called Silver Nanotechnologies and the Environment: Old Problems or New Challenge? The report says there are now over 235 products ranging from toothpaste to towels, cosmetics to clothes, appliances and paint that contain silver. It may be that some silver containing products are environmentally safe but it may also be that we just don’t know enough yet to say. Fortunately, there are people a lot smarter than I am who are thinking about this.

So here we are worried about invasive species like zebra and quaaga mussels, sea lampreys and alewives when sweet smelling socks may present just as much of a problem to our water. It seems that even smart new ideas come with a cloud. And does that cloud have as silver lining – a silver lining that’s safe for our environment? That’s the question.

Shipwrecks and Skies

I couldn’t sleep last night so I picked up my book and began to read. I found it a little spooky that here I was, just after midnight on November 1, beginning a chapter that was subtitled “The Gales of November”. It is part of Chapter 7 of Jerry Dennis’s book, The Living Great Lakes. Dennis is a wonderful writer and in this book, he primarily tells about a trip he took through the Great Lakes on a sailboat, but weaves many other stories about the Lakes into the volume as well. He does indeed bring the lakes alive with his excellent storytelling and vivid descriptions.

This morning when I took our dog out for his morning walk, although the clock said 9 AM, my body felt like it was later. I guess even though I hadn’t gotten to sleep until well after 2 AM, the change to standard time was in my favor and I woke up refreshed. But it was still quiet outside and except for a few other walkers, Burlee and I had the marina pretty much to ourselves.

I snapped a few pictures of the emptying marina. Most of the boats are out of the water and by next week, even more will be gone. The geese are probably happy as they now have the water to themselves. As I was walking, I noticed that the sun, which had been shining earlier in the morning, was already waning and clouds were coming in from the southwest. So much for a sunny beginning to November. But it reminded me of something I had read last night in Dennis’s book that had to do with November, changing weather, and ships. I will quote the beginning of Chapter 7:

November is the deadliest month. Ask any sailor. It’s when the lakes still embrace some of the summer’s heat, but the air above has turned to winter. A meteorologist for the National Weather Service once calculated that on average the greatest difference between the temperature of the lakes and the temperature of the air above them occurs on November 10. That differential causes the remaining warmth in the lakes to be sucked into the air, releasing energy and creating wind.

Dennis goes on the tell of huge number of ships that have sunk in the Great Lakes on or around November 10 – the most famous but by far not the only one being the Edmund Fitzgerald. So it is a good thing that all those boats are coming out of the water. I wouldn’t want there to be a local version of The Tempest (remember that Shakespearean shipwreck tale?).

Fortunately the winds of November did not come a night early and Halloween here in Kenosha was clear and dry. The night before I took this picture of the sky from my balcony. It seemed that the sky was turning orange in preparation of the Halloween.

Fading October

October is usually one of my favorite months, but this year, October forgot to come. Well, actually it did come, but it brought with it an abnormal amounts of rain and cooler than normal temperatures. More often than not, the jeweled colors of autumn, gold, ruby and jade, were displayed on a backdrop of gray skies and rain.

It was no different in North Central Texas where I spent most of last week. Several evenings during my six-day stay were spent listening to thunder and watching the radar to see if we would get five inches, or five tenths of an inch, of rain.

The day after I came home, I took a walk, hoping to catch the last of the fall color. I walked past the old Southport Lighthouse and snapped a few pictures of bare trees. Closer to the beach, the trees still had some color, but somehow an image kept coming to mind. It was that of an old woman, who in an attempt to keep up appearances, dabs bright red lipstick on a pale face. Somehow, both the image of the old woman, and the half-naked trees, made me a little sad and sorry that October had flown by so quickly.

After my walk, I spent some time catching up on the blogs I follow. I saw that Loreen, the 1,000 Mile Beach Treker, will be spending a week in the Grand Traverse Lighthouse. Cool. The restoration at the Southport Lighthouse is almost complete and I have heard that in the spring will be open for visitors. Maybe they will also have a visitor/volunteer program as the one at Grand Traverse that Loreen is doing, but I won’t apply. Too close too home. Maybe they have one at the Key West Lighthouse. If they do, I’ll apply for February. Why do I think I won’t be the only one?

Changing Seasons; Changing Topics

This morning at the YMCA where I exercise, the gym was unavailable because they were holding the Third Annual Disability Resource Fair. The participants could partake in yoga demonstrations, chair massage, and a variety of physical activities. Those who were able could try the rock-climbing wall. A Championship Wheelchair Basketball Team from UW-Whitewater was scheduled to perform later in the afternoon.

As I watched the attendees, some with their own attendants, from my view on the treadmill I marveled at the good cheer in the building today. The crowd seemed to be mostly teenagers and young adults and their disabilities covered a wide range. But almost to a one they had big smiles on their faces and seemed so happy to partake in this outing. And so did the people who accompanied them. I saw several people with digital cameras taking pictures of the various activities, especially those attempting the rock climbing.

I had thought I would write today about the change of seasons. The leaves are almost at their peak color in this part of Southeastern Wisconsin and yesterday I took some pictures of trees in my neighborhood. I am posting a few but the truth is they are not nearly as inspiring as the people I saw this morning – those with disabilities and those that were there to help them.

Several of the houses I passed on my walk yesterday are decorated for Halloween. Here’s one of my favorites.

A Hydrological Highway?

Is Hydrologic Highway too much of a mouthful? Does Water Wonderland sound too much like a water park? How about the Aquatic Escarpment? And why speculate about what to call the Great Lakes Basin other than the Great Lakes Basin anyway?

My brain storming for a clever name was prompted by a report of a presentation yesterday at University of Wisconsin Parkside. The speaker at the Executive in Residence Series of the UW-P School of Business and Technology was Richard Meeusen, CEO of Badger Meter. Meeusen, commenting that Wisconsin is becoming a leader world wide in fresh water science, said that, "Wisconsin has the opportunity to be the Silicon Valley of water technology".

Meuseen is not alone in recognizing the role that Wisconsin has come to play in the water sciences. Last week Gary Wilson wrote an editorial for The Great Lakes Town Hall called “Milwaukee Rising?” Here’s an excerpt of what Wilson said:

The University of Wisconsin's Milwaukee campus is home to the Great Lakes Water Institute which bills itself as "the largest academic freshwater research facility on the Great Lakes." Research and education are its prime focus, both critical disciplines in the water age.

The International Joint Commission, the U.S. and Canadian body that advises the two governments on boundary water issues, just cited Milwaukee (and Toronto) as a "success story" for its wastewater management and acknowledged its "well-designed and long-term plans."

Milwaukee's daily newspaper, the Journal-Sentinel, has dedicated significant resources to Great Lakes coverage. This in a difficult period where most papers are scaling back on environmental reporting.

You can read the entire editorial and the comments it prompted on the Town Hall website. I would have included a note about the exhibits at Milwaukee’s newest museum, Discovery World, which make learning about water fun. I would also have cited Governors Doyle’s proposal to allocate for establishment of a School of Freshwater Science at UW-M. $240M.

Fortune for all, it’s not just in Wisconsin that water issues are finally taking a front seat. It’s happening all over the Great Lakes, and although I would like to see Wisconsin prosper from water technology, the truth is that the more Great Lakes cities and states involved in the effort, the more the effort will succeed. Maybe my old hometown, Buffalo, could reap some benefit. From what I hear, they could really use it.

If you can think of catchy name for our area, which can summarize in a slogan the high-tech efforts in freshwater science, let me know. But whatever that name is, it certainly is better than The Rust Belt, our previous title. How about Aqua Fresh? Oops, I think that is already taken by a toothpaste. Sorry.