Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Pollan
I enjoyed Michael Pollan’s writing on the eating of animals. Seeing how a steak dinner is absolutely my favorite meal in the world, I was anxious to read how Pollan would describe his opinion. I felt as if he done a good job of relating to both sides to the reader. He wasn’t strictly for the vegetarian, but he didn’t play the role of the man’s man and not think twice about what he was eating or how it got there. Now, to go back to the vegetarians, I personally don’t have a problem with vegetarians but have found on more than one occasion they tend to be a little more radical on pushing their views onto someone….let me reiterate not all vegetarians. But I like the point Pollan makes when he says “the grain that the vegan eats is harvested with a combine that shreds field mice, while the farmer’s tractor wheel crushes woodchucks in their burrows and his pesticides drop songbirds from the sky.” Animals die either way. And while this is sad in a way it is what has to happen. While I’m guilty of not paying respect to every piece of cow I eat, I have come to terms with it. I am able to live with it. Growing up on a farm and surrounded with neighbors that have farms, I see how “lifeless” cows can be. That doesn’t mean I disrespected them by any means. When I was around, they always had grain and hay to eat and plenty of land to roam. It was just hard to get attached to them. With that being said, I don’t have a problem when Pollan suggests that we “eat them with the consciousness, ceremony, and respect they deserve.” After reading his article and taking a much more in depth look at the eating of animals, I would say that I agree with him.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Damn Dams? (Final Revision)
Chase Wells
Dr. Rouzie
ENG 308J
9 February 2009
Damn Dams?
Dams. Miriam-Webster defines the word Dam as a barrier preventing the flow of water or loose solid materials such as soil or snow. To the average person, one most likely believes that dams are a great tool to our society when trying to protect our environment. For example, dams can be a primary source of water for towns, cities, industries, and irrigation for crops. They provide hydroelectricity, which is an alternative source of energy to fossil fuels. They can aid in a town’s list of tourist attractions. Finally, they can control water flow in the event of a flood and in addition can provide areas of drought with water during the dry season. All of which are great reasons to construct dams. However, the average person might not know that dams prevent the natural flow of sediment through a river causing the downstream area to become narrower and more channelized, that some animal species depend on the flooding season in order to carry out various life cycles, that they prevent various fish from spawning, and create stagnant water areas that provide mosquitoes, snails, and flies to breed which lead to malaria. Lastly a geophysicist named Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao of NASA believes that he found evidence that large dams have caused a change in earth's rotation, due to the transfer of water mass from oceans to reservoirs. Chao stated that with the increased construction of dams, the Earth's daily rotation has apparently sped up by eight-millionths of a second since the 1950s (Environmental Impacts). In the following paragraphs, I hope to inform you of the types of dams that have been carelessly constructed without any consideration to the environment as well as solutions that take into account the needs of both our society and the environment in order to build the best possible dam.
The largest dam that exists in the world today lies in the Hubei Province of Southeast China in the middle of the Yangzi River. It is known as the Three Gorges Dam and it is in the midst of one of the greatest environmental controversies of recent years. Bruce Kennedy of CNN reports the specifications of the Three Gorges River Dam are that it is stands over two-football fields high and over one and a half miles long that will yield a reservoir 400 miles long with a depth of several of hundred feet. Chinese engineers believe a reservoir of this size will permit ocean-going freighters of up to 10,000 ton to navigate openly up the Yangzi River to the interior of China for approximately six months of the year. This will allow an outside world access to a Hubei Province growing with agricultural and man-made goods (Kennedy). Additionally, the Three Gorges Dam will produce hydro power turbines that are expected to generate large quantities of electricity to the extent of 18 nuclear power plants (Kennedy). However, with a dam this size, environmental issues are sure to follow. Along the Yangzi River, there are a lack of water treatment plants which are a major concern to environmentalist because the vast size of the dam will create higher concentrations of hazardous pollutants in the water due to slowing flow of water. Additionally, the large size of the Yangzi River causes large amounts of silt to be backed up above the dam which experts believe will build up and prevent the traveling of large ships upstream. If this is the case, it will negate one of the large reasons for actually constructing the dam. Most importantly, the government of China is estimating a relocation of 1.2 million people that includes 300,000 farmers. Farmers are being relocated from some of the most fertile grounds China has to offer to regions that aren’t capable of producing such crops. The Chinese government response to critics is that the dam will produce one ninth of the world’s electric production and that is a great alternative compared to the burning of 50 million tons of coal each year by the country (Kennedy). They believe the pros outweigh the cons… but do they? I believe that the Chinese were wrong in building such a large scale dam, even with the great benefits it possesses. Instead, a series of dams should have been placed all along the Yangzi River and compromises should have been reached between the government and the people who would have to relocate. Additionally, powering hydroelectricity back up the Yangzi and back into the heart of China is much less effective than constructing smaller dams and pumping hydroelectricity to areas closer to the source.
I opened with such a large scale dam to show all the possible effects a dam can have on the environment. Here in the United States, not all dams have been “environmentally geared”, just like the Three Gorges Dam, and it is affecting our local environment. It is just happening on a smaller scale. Our waters still lack the necessary water treatment plants, helpless fish are still dying, and rivers are being lost. In these areas, action needs to take place in order to save the local habitat. This involves the action of removing certain dams. To site a good example of this particular action, the States of California and Oregon, and the federal government have agreed upon the removal of four dams along the Klamath River. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called the agreement "the largest dam removal project ever in history that California, Oregon and our federal and private partners are undertaking to improve water quality, water supply and fish populations in the Klamath region." This removal of dams will lead to increasing sizes in the salmon population as well as rid the area of harmful toxic algae (Environmental New Service). In order to better our environment, hopefully examples set forth by the states of Oregon and California will go a long way in modeling the removal of dams to better fit our environment.
With that being said, not all dams need to be removed. Companies like Voith Siemens are refurbishing dams all over the United States and Europe. Hermut Kormann, president and chief executive of Voith stated, “In North America we are rehabilitating existing dams, most of which were built 50 or 60 years ago, by installing new technology to extend their life and upgrade capacity." According to the U.S. department of energy, technological advances in hydropower stations can add 20,000 to 30,000 megawatts of renewable energy from old dams (DiSavino). One way Voith Siemens are refurbishing dams is that they have created an aerial turbine that is supposed to double the survival rate of fish and additionally place oxygen back into the downstream water(DiSavino). Efforts such as this are great strides in protecting our environment and may be a better alternative then removing old dams.
In order for society to benefit and not harm the environment , certain criteria will have to be met. To date, efforts to battle the impacts on the ecosystem from large scale dams have endured little success because of the lack of attention being paid by governments, engineers, and society. In order for large scale dams to become less detrimental to the environment, people are going to have to start planning ahead while keeping a “green mind” as the major priority (World Commission on Dams). This then calls for smaller dams that are still capable of producing hydroelectricity. Instead of constructing dams in the middle of large flowing volumes of water, control the water early from the source at the water’s tributaries. Also, in order to let the native fish of the area travel to and from spawning sites, create fish passages for the migratory fish. Flooding will have to be methodically released with a compromise between locals and the surrounding wildlife and ecosystems downstream. In order for this to occur, a good information base has to be mixed with early co-operation between the design engineering team, ecologists, the surrounding cities, the government, and monitoring scientist (World Commission on Dams).
Growing awareness by governments and legislation are becoming more and more popular due to noticeable changes in the environment and local ecosystems. As stated before, parts of rivers, basins, and streams are now being protected from such destruction. Furthermore, governments are taking the time and money to help aid ecosystems through a “compensatory” approach (World Commission on Dams). While some areas around large dams will be affected, other areas will prosper by the efforts of conservation to rejuvenate and protect threatened and endangered species elsewhere. Such processes are now taking place in industrialized countries, but particularly the United States (World Commission on Dams).
In conclusion, there will never be a cut and dry answer as to how beneficial dams can actually be. I do believe that dams are in fact necessary but also believe there are too many of them. Hopefully my argument has persuaded you to believe in this and with the right minds, we can compromise with our world to ensure a better environment for all.
.
Works Cited
DiSavino, Scott. "Upgrading dams could light 30 million US homes ." 30OCT2002 7 Feb 2009 http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18369/story.htm.
Dr. Rouzie
ENG 308J
9 February 2009
Damn Dams?
Dams. Miriam-Webster defines the word Dam as a barrier preventing the flow of water or loose solid materials such as soil or snow. To the average person, one most likely believes that dams are a great tool to our society when trying to protect our environment. For example, dams can be a primary source of water for towns, cities, industries, and irrigation for crops. They provide hydroelectricity, which is an alternative source of energy to fossil fuels. They can aid in a town’s list of tourist attractions. Finally, they can control water flow in the event of a flood and in addition can provide areas of drought with water during the dry season. All of which are great reasons to construct dams. However, the average person might not know that dams prevent the natural flow of sediment through a river causing the downstream area to become narrower and more channelized, that some animal species depend on the flooding season in order to carry out various life cycles, that they prevent various fish from spawning, and create stagnant water areas that provide mosquitoes, snails, and flies to breed which lead to malaria. Lastly a geophysicist named Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao of NASA believes that he found evidence that large dams have caused a change in earth's rotation, due to the transfer of water mass from oceans to reservoirs. Chao stated that with the increased construction of dams, the Earth's daily rotation has apparently sped up by eight-millionths of a second since the 1950s (Environmental Impacts). In the following paragraphs, I hope to inform you of the types of dams that have been carelessly constructed without any consideration to the environment as well as solutions that take into account the needs of both our society and the environment in order to build the best possible dam.
The largest dam that exists in the world today lies in the Hubei Province of Southeast China in the middle of the Yangzi River. It is known as the Three Gorges Dam and it is in the midst of one of the greatest environmental controversies of recent years. Bruce Kennedy of CNN reports the specifications of the Three Gorges River Dam are that it is stands over two-football fields high and over one and a half miles long that will yield a reservoir 400 miles long with a depth of several of hundred feet. Chinese engineers believe a reservoir of this size will permit ocean-going freighters of up to 10,000 ton to navigate openly up the Yangzi River to the interior of China for approximately six months of the year. This will allow an outside world access to a Hubei Province growing with agricultural and man-made goods (Kennedy). Additionally, the Three Gorges Dam will produce hydro power turbines that are expected to generate large quantities of electricity to the extent of 18 nuclear power plants (Kennedy). However, with a dam this size, environmental issues are sure to follow. Along the Yangzi River, there are a lack of water treatment plants which are a major concern to environmentalist because the vast size of the dam will create higher concentrations of hazardous pollutants in the water due to slowing flow of water. Additionally, the large size of the Yangzi River causes large amounts of silt to be backed up above the dam which experts believe will build up and prevent the traveling of large ships upstream. If this is the case, it will negate one of the large reasons for actually constructing the dam. Most importantly, the government of China is estimating a relocation of 1.2 million people that includes 300,000 farmers. Farmers are being relocated from some of the most fertile grounds China has to offer to regions that aren’t capable of producing such crops. The Chinese government response to critics is that the dam will produce one ninth of the world’s electric production and that is a great alternative compared to the burning of 50 million tons of coal each year by the country (Kennedy). They believe the pros outweigh the cons… but do they? I believe that the Chinese were wrong in building such a large scale dam, even with the great benefits it possesses. Instead, a series of dams should have been placed all along the Yangzi River and compromises should have been reached between the government and the people who would have to relocate. Additionally, powering hydroelectricity back up the Yangzi and back into the heart of China is much less effective than constructing smaller dams and pumping hydroelectricity to areas closer to the source.
I opened with such a large scale dam to show all the possible effects a dam can have on the environment. Here in the United States, not all dams have been “environmentally geared”, just like the Three Gorges Dam, and it is affecting our local environment. It is just happening on a smaller scale. Our waters still lack the necessary water treatment plants, helpless fish are still dying, and rivers are being lost. In these areas, action needs to take place in order to save the local habitat. This involves the action of removing certain dams. To site a good example of this particular action, the States of California and Oregon, and the federal government have agreed upon the removal of four dams along the Klamath River. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called the agreement "the largest dam removal project ever in history that California, Oregon and our federal and private partners are undertaking to improve water quality, water supply and fish populations in the Klamath region." This removal of dams will lead to increasing sizes in the salmon population as well as rid the area of harmful toxic algae (Environmental New Service). In order to better our environment, hopefully examples set forth by the states of Oregon and California will go a long way in modeling the removal of dams to better fit our environment.
With that being said, not all dams need to be removed. Companies like Voith Siemens are refurbishing dams all over the United States and Europe. Hermut Kormann, president and chief executive of Voith stated, “In North America we are rehabilitating existing dams, most of which were built 50 or 60 years ago, by installing new technology to extend their life and upgrade capacity." According to the U.S. department of energy, technological advances in hydropower stations can add 20,000 to 30,000 megawatts of renewable energy from old dams (DiSavino). One way Voith Siemens are refurbishing dams is that they have created an aerial turbine that is supposed to double the survival rate of fish and additionally place oxygen back into the downstream water(DiSavino). Efforts such as this are great strides in protecting our environment and may be a better alternative then removing old dams.
In order for society to benefit and not harm the environment , certain criteria will have to be met. To date, efforts to battle the impacts on the ecosystem from large scale dams have endured little success because of the lack of attention being paid by governments, engineers, and society. In order for large scale dams to become less detrimental to the environment, people are going to have to start planning ahead while keeping a “green mind” as the major priority (World Commission on Dams). This then calls for smaller dams that are still capable of producing hydroelectricity. Instead of constructing dams in the middle of large flowing volumes of water, control the water early from the source at the water’s tributaries. Also, in order to let the native fish of the area travel to and from spawning sites, create fish passages for the migratory fish. Flooding will have to be methodically released with a compromise between locals and the surrounding wildlife and ecosystems downstream. In order for this to occur, a good information base has to be mixed with early co-operation between the design engineering team, ecologists, the surrounding cities, the government, and monitoring scientist (World Commission on Dams).
Growing awareness by governments and legislation are becoming more and more popular due to noticeable changes in the environment and local ecosystems. As stated before, parts of rivers, basins, and streams are now being protected from such destruction. Furthermore, governments are taking the time and money to help aid ecosystems through a “compensatory” approach (World Commission on Dams). While some areas around large dams will be affected, other areas will prosper by the efforts of conservation to rejuvenate and protect threatened and endangered species elsewhere. Such processes are now taking place in industrialized countries, but particularly the United States (World Commission on Dams).
In conclusion, there will never be a cut and dry answer as to how beneficial dams can actually be. I do believe that dams are in fact necessary but also believe there are too many of them. Hopefully my argument has persuaded you to believe in this and with the right minds, we can compromise with our world to ensure a better environment for all.
.
Works Cited
DiSavino, Scott. "Upgrading dams could light 30 million US homes ." 30OCT2002 7 Feb 2009 http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18369/story.htm.
"Environmental Impacts." 4 Feb 2009 http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/arch374/winter2001/dbiggs/enviro.html.
Environment News Service. "Four Klamath River Dams May Be Removed to Benefit Salmon." 7 Feb 2009 http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2008/2008-11-19-093.asp.
Kennedy, Bruce. "China's Three Gorges Dam." 4 Feb 2009 http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/asian.superpower/three.gorges/.
World Commission on Dams. "Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision Making." 16NOV2000 4 Feb 2009 http://www.dams.org/report/wcd_overview.htm.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Chase Wells
Eng. 308J
Paraphrasing Revisions
1) Source…
“Given the limited success of traditional mitigation measures, increased attention through legislation is now given to avoidance or minimization of ecological impacts through setting aside particular river segments or basins in their natural state and through the selection of alternative projects, sites or designs. In addition, governments are experimenting with a 'compensatory' approach, offsetting the loss of ecosystems and biodiversity caused by a large dam through investment in conservation and regeneration measures and through protection of other threatened sites of equivalent ecological value.”
Source: http://www.dams.org/report/wcd_overview.htm
My paraphrase…
Growing awareness by governments and legislation are becoming more and more popular due to noticeable changes in the environment and local ecosystems. Specified parts of rivers, basins, and streams are now in protection from such destruction. Furthermore, governments are taking the time and money to help aid ecosystems through a “compensatory” approach. While areas around larger dams will still be affected, other areas will prosper by the conservation efforts to rejuvenate and protect threatened and endangered species elsewhere. (World Commission on Dams).
2) Source…
“It is the virtual definition of a monumental project -- a dam one and a half miles wide and more than 600 feet high that will create a reservoir hundreds of feet deep and nearly 400 miles long. The reservoir, its engineers say, will enable 10,000-ton ocean-going freighters to sail directly into the nation's interior for six months of each year, opening a region burgeoning with agricultural and manufactured products.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/asian.superpower/three.gorges
My paraphrase…
CNN’s Bruce Kennedy reports that the Three Gorges Dams listed as one and a half miles wide and over two football fields high that will create a reservoir several of hundreds feet deep and almost 400 miles long. It is reported that engineers judge the dam will enable 10,000-ton ocean-going freighters to navigate openly into China’s interior for six months of each year, opening a province growing with agricultural and man-made goods (Kennedy).
My paraphrase revision…
Bruce Kennedy of CNN reports the specifications of the Three Gorges River Dam are that it is stands over two-football fields high and over one and a half miles long that will yield a reservoir 400 miles long with a depth of several of hundred feet. Chinese engineers believe a reservoir of this size will permit ocean-going freighters of up to 10,000 ton to navigate openly up the Yangzi River to the interior of China for approximately six months of the year. This will allow an outside world access to a Hubei Province growing with agricultural and man-made goods (Kennedy).
Monday, February 2, 2009
Damn Dams? (Rough Draft)
Dams. Webster defines the word Dam as a barrier preventing the flow of water or loose solid materials such as soil or snow (www.merriam-webster.com). To the average person, one most likely believes that dams are a great tool to our society when trying to protect our environment. For example, dams can be a primary source of water for towns, cities, industries, and irrigation for crops. They provide hydroelectricity, which is an alternative source of energy to fossil fuels. They can aid in a town’s list of tourist attractions. Finally, they can control water flow in the event of a flood and in addition can provide areas of drought with water during the dry season. All of which are great reasons to construct dams. However, the average person might not know that dams prevent the natural flow of sediment through a river causing the downstream area to become narrower and more channelized, that some animal species depend on the flooding season in order to carry out various life cycles, that they prevent various fish from spawning, and create stagnant water areas that provide mosquitoes, snails, and flies to breed which lead to malaria. Lastly a geophysicist named Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao of NASA believes that he found evidence that large dams have caused a change in earth's rotation, due to the transfer of water mass from oceans to reservoirs. Chao stated that with the increased construction of dams, the Earth's daily rotation has apparently sped up by eight-millionths of a second since the 1950s (www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/arch374/winter2001/dbiggs/enviro.html). In the following paragraphs, I hope to inform you of the types of dams that have been carelessly constructed without any consideration to the environment as well as solutions that take into account the needs of both our society and the environment in order to build the best possible dam.
The largest dam that exists in the world today lies in the Hubei Province of Southeast China in the middle of the Yangzi River. It is known as the Three Gorges Dam and it is in the midst of one of the greatest environmental controversies of recent years. CNN’s Bruce Kennedy reports that the Three Gorges Dam is listed as one and a half miles wide and over two football fields high that will create a reservoir several of hundreds feet deep and almost 400 miles long. It is reported that engineers judge the dam will enable 10,000-ton ocean-going freighters to navigate openly into China’s interior for six months of each year, opening a province growing with agricultural and man-made goods. Additionally, the Three Gorges Dam will produce enough hydropower turbines that are expected to generate large quantities of electricity to the extent of 18 nuclear power plants (www.cnn.com). However, with a dam this size, environmental issues are sure to follow. Along the Yangzi River, there are a lack of water treatment plants which are a major concern to environmentalist because the vast size of the dam will create higher concentrations of hazardous pollutants in the water due to slowing flow of water. Additionally, the large size of the Yangzi River causes large amounts of silt to be backed up above the dam which experts believe will build up and prevent the traveling of large ships upstream. If this is the case, it will negate one of the large reasons for actually constructing the dam. Most importantly, the government of China is estimating a relocation of 1.2 million people that includes 300,000 farmers. Farmers are being relocated from some of the most fertile grounds China has to offer to regions that aren’t capable of producing such crops. The Chinese government response to critics is that the dam will produce one ninth of the world’s electric production and that is a great alternative compared to the burning of 50 million tons of coal each year by the country (http://www.cnn.com/). They believe the pros outweigh the cons… but do they? I believe that the Chinese were wrong in building such a large scale dam, even with the great benefits it posses. Instead, a series of dams should have been placed all along the Yangzi River and compromises could have been reached between the government and the possible people who had to relocate.
In order for society to benefit and the environment to go hardly unharmed, certain criteria will have to be met. To date, efforts to battle the impacts on the ecosystem from large scale dams have endured little success because of the lack of attention being paid by governments, engineers, and society. In order for large scale dams to become less detrimental to the environment, people are going to have to start planning ahead while keeping a “green mind” as the major priority. Nonetheless, it is important to note that case studies have showed the impacts of reservoir creation around ecosystems have had little environmental success (World Commission on Dams). This then calls for smaller dams that are still capable of producing hydroelectricity. Instead of constructing dams in the middle of large flowing volumes of water, control the water early from the source at the water’s tributaries. Also, in order to let the native fish of the area travel to and from spawning sites, create fish passages for the migratory fish. Such passages would be better equipped for smaller dams. Flooding will have to be methodically released with a compromise between locals and the surrounding wildlife and ecosystems downstream. In order for this to occur, a good information base has to be mixed with early co-operation between design engineering team, ecologists, the surrounding cities, the government, and monitoring scientist (http://www.dams.org).
Growing awareness by governments and legislation are becoming more and more popular due to noticeable changes in the environment and local ecosystems. Parts of rivers, basins, and streams are now being protected from such destruction. Furthermore, governments are taking the time and money to help aid ecosystems through a “compensatory” approach (World Commission on Dams). While some areas around large dams will be affected, other areas will prosper by the efforts of conservation to rejuvenate and protect threatened and endangered species elsewhere. Such processes are now taking place in industrialized countries, but particularly the United States (www.dams.org).
In conclusion, there will never be a cut and dry answer as to how beneficial dams can actually be, but with a team of intelligent and caring people, compromises can be made between the public and the environment to ensure a better world for all.
The largest dam that exists in the world today lies in the Hubei Province of Southeast China in the middle of the Yangzi River. It is known as the Three Gorges Dam and it is in the midst of one of the greatest environmental controversies of recent years. CNN’s Bruce Kennedy reports that the Three Gorges Dam is listed as one and a half miles wide and over two football fields high that will create a reservoir several of hundreds feet deep and almost 400 miles long. It is reported that engineers judge the dam will enable 10,000-ton ocean-going freighters to navigate openly into China’s interior for six months of each year, opening a province growing with agricultural and man-made goods. Additionally, the Three Gorges Dam will produce enough hydropower turbines that are expected to generate large quantities of electricity to the extent of 18 nuclear power plants (www.cnn.com). However, with a dam this size, environmental issues are sure to follow. Along the Yangzi River, there are a lack of water treatment plants which are a major concern to environmentalist because the vast size of the dam will create higher concentrations of hazardous pollutants in the water due to slowing flow of water. Additionally, the large size of the Yangzi River causes large amounts of silt to be backed up above the dam which experts believe will build up and prevent the traveling of large ships upstream. If this is the case, it will negate one of the large reasons for actually constructing the dam. Most importantly, the government of China is estimating a relocation of 1.2 million people that includes 300,000 farmers. Farmers are being relocated from some of the most fertile grounds China has to offer to regions that aren’t capable of producing such crops. The Chinese government response to critics is that the dam will produce one ninth of the world’s electric production and that is a great alternative compared to the burning of 50 million tons of coal each year by the country (http://www.cnn.com/). They believe the pros outweigh the cons… but do they? I believe that the Chinese were wrong in building such a large scale dam, even with the great benefits it posses. Instead, a series of dams should have been placed all along the Yangzi River and compromises could have been reached between the government and the possible people who had to relocate.
In order for society to benefit and the environment to go hardly unharmed, certain criteria will have to be met. To date, efforts to battle the impacts on the ecosystem from large scale dams have endured little success because of the lack of attention being paid by governments, engineers, and society. In order for large scale dams to become less detrimental to the environment, people are going to have to start planning ahead while keeping a “green mind” as the major priority. Nonetheless, it is important to note that case studies have showed the impacts of reservoir creation around ecosystems have had little environmental success (World Commission on Dams). This then calls for smaller dams that are still capable of producing hydroelectricity. Instead of constructing dams in the middle of large flowing volumes of water, control the water early from the source at the water’s tributaries. Also, in order to let the native fish of the area travel to and from spawning sites, create fish passages for the migratory fish. Such passages would be better equipped for smaller dams. Flooding will have to be methodically released with a compromise between locals and the surrounding wildlife and ecosystems downstream. In order for this to occur, a good information base has to be mixed with early co-operation between design engineering team, ecologists, the surrounding cities, the government, and monitoring scientist (http://www.dams.org).
Growing awareness by governments and legislation are becoming more and more popular due to noticeable changes in the environment and local ecosystems. Parts of rivers, basins, and streams are now being protected from such destruction. Furthermore, governments are taking the time and money to help aid ecosystems through a “compensatory” approach (World Commission on Dams). While some areas around large dams will be affected, other areas will prosper by the efforts of conservation to rejuvenate and protect threatened and endangered species elsewhere. Such processes are now taking place in industrialized countries, but particularly the United States (www.dams.org).
In conclusion, there will never be a cut and dry answer as to how beneficial dams can actually be, but with a team of intelligent and caring people, compromises can be made between the public and the environment to ensure a better world for all.
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