I spent the 4th of July in 2009 in Northern Michigan at a beautiful glacial lake that has only a small hill separating it from its larger brother, Lake Michigan. On the day I was leaving I woke up early so that we could get one last run in – water skiing – while the lake was that wonderful early morning glass. After my pathetic attempt at making “rooster tails,” a friend and I decided to anchor to a sand bar, get out of the boat, and toss the Frisbee in waist-high water. While standing there you can’t help but notice that innate connection to water we all have!
In today’s climate crisis, water is in serious trouble. From droughts to pollution, rich green grass in the middle of deserts to shrinking coral reefs. I read an article by Jane Lubchenco on Yale e360 in which she discusses global warming’s “evil twin” – ocean acidification due to our carbon dioxide emissions. Excerpt from the interview:
“…e360: Several years ago, you and I spoke about the issue of ocean acidification, which has always been a sort of stepbrother of global warming, although by some accounts equally serious.
Lubchenco: Yeah, I call it the equally evil twin.
e360: You’re a marine ecologist, this is really your world. Even if you don’t want to believe in global warming, there’s just no getting around the effects of CO2 on oceans. And yet we don’t hear a lot about this. Why can’t this penetrate?
Lubchenco: I think that oceans in general for many people are still out of sight, out of mind, and there is a lack of appreciation for how important the ocean is in the whole climate system, how important it is to people’s everyday lives, and what the real risk is. The oceans are indeed becoming more acidic, as a result of absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and that acidity represents a very real threat to much of the life in oceans, ranging from the smallest microscopic plants, to coral reefs, to things that form shells — mussels, oysters, clams — but even things like lobsters and crabs. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface in terms of really understanding the full range of the impacts of ocean acidification, and it also affects physiology, not just the making of shells and skeletons…”
This planet’s bodies of water can’t really get too out-of-sight, out-of-mind for me. I live next to the Great Lake Michigan, and it sometimes seems like the ocean. Lake Michigan can get pretty choppy (20-foot waves in high winds) and you can’t see the opposite shore. So naturally, I was fascinated to find a documentary about the Great Lakes called WaterLife. You MUST check out the website! Warning: it’s very addictive. Full of excellent information about the problems of our water supplies and what we are doing about it, as well as how you personally can help work towards solutions.
Having recently gone through the LEED Reference Guide, I applied these problems and questions to The Resort at Isla Palenque. Are we wasting water? Polluting our waterways? Draining our natural aquifer? etc.
As it turns out – and with a big smile on my face – the answer is, NO! To all of those! In a nutshell, we are taking ALL wastewater, treating it on-site when necessary, and then using it for irrigation, which in turn will recharge our aquifer. Every drop used is returned to the island, and nothing pollutes our surrounding waterways. We employ water conservation techniques in a conscientious way to maintain the beauty and purity of Panama’s waters and rainforests.
TAGS: Isla Palenque Panama Sustainability Water
