It’s A Big Deal!
Antarctica is a unique place, and the nations that are doing research here want to keep it as untouched as possible, at least on the continental areas. Because of this, the Antarctic Treaty provides guidelines for how to treat this environment. The US Antarctic Program has its own rules that everyone who is down here must follow. This posting is to give you an idea of the extent of the environmental protection policies that are in place.
The Three R’s
Reduce – If you know your three R’s, you should know that Reduce is the first R. Any resource you can use less of (or none) means that there is less trash and less material to recycle or dispose of. This is the absolute best way to reduce your personal environmental impact. In Antarctica the ways that you can reduce are:
Reduce Water Use - You are asked to limit yourself to 4 showers a week and only do laundry once a week with full loads. Water here is produced by desalinization of sea water. This process uses reverse osmosis to separate salt from water by forcing it at high pressure through a filter membrane. The salt stays on one side, the water goes through. Reducing the amount of water you use reduces the amount of waste water that also needs to be treated. Bathrooms have automatic faucets that only run when you are close to them. Urinals in the men’s bathrooms are waterless – no flushing.
Reduce Electric Use – turn off lights when don’t need them, use natural light. All electricity is generated with a diesel fueled generator system, so less electricity means less fuel used and fewer emissions into the atmosphere.
Reuse – Use things over again rather than use a new item or throwing away something usable.
Reuse anything! Around here you can see crates being reused, wood scraps being used instead of starting with a new board, equipment from old projects being reused for new projects (much of Wissards drill equipment came from older projects here in Antarctica).
In the Galley (the cafeteria) dishes are not disposables – they are washed and reused.
The supply room in the science lab has many items that are returned to be reused – partial pads of paper, pens and pencils, you name it.
Recycle – Recycling is important because it lets us use resources over and over, sometimes in the same form, sometimes in different forms. I hope that all of you are recycling your paper, cans, bottles, and plastic. Down here all waste materials are collected and sorted by type. These include:
Normal recyclables - Paper is separated by type and how it was used. Plastics, cans, bottles, and other types are also separated. In our dorms there is a whole wall of recycling containers. All waste generated here is packed, compressed, or bailed and sent back to the U.S. for disposal – nothing is left here. Each individual is expected to do their own recycling and separate materials using the correct methods. It’s a part of the culture of living and working here and everyone does it the right way.
Metals – any scrap metal is separated from other materials.
Oil, gasoline, etc. – any waste oils or machine fluids are kept in steel drums for recycling in the U.S.
Trash and non-recyclables – this accounts for about 30-40% of the waste generated here. It includes:
Food Waste – since there is no garbage dump or landfill, organic food wastes are collected separately and frozen for shipment back to the U.S. for disposal.
Non-recyclables – this is anything else, including some hazardous material like medical waste. This is the category they try to keep at the lowest possible amount.
These bins are used for recyclable materials outside buildings.
Overall about 65-70 % of the waste is recycled here in McMurdo.
These bins are used in the dorms to sort recyclables into the correct categories.
The Skua bin. People can put things to give away here and anyone can look to see if there is something they can use.
Reducing Human Impact
Just being here is an impact on the environment. We walk around and crush lichens and mosses. We release vehicle emissions into the air. We have human body wastes. We spill things. So how do we as humans reduce our impact simply by being alive?
- Stay on established roads and trails. This reduces the destruction of the natural land surface.
- Reduce driving and fuel use (this is tough – fossil fuel runs the technology that keeps man alive down here)
- Spills – any spill, even a few drops, of anything other than water must be cleaned up. If you let a few drops of gasoline spill when fueling your snowmobile, you are required to scoop up the contaminated snow, put it in a bag, and return it to McMurdo for proper disposal. It must also be reported. This helps to insure that the contaminants in fuels don’t enter the environment and affect the local plant and animal species.
- Human waste – yes, even the wastes that our bodies produce have to be disposed of properly. All human waste must be collected and processed in the waste treatment plant. If you are out hiking and you need to pee, you do it into a bottle and take the bottle back to empty into a toilet in town. There is no yellow snow at McMurdo. In most field camps solid waste has to be bagged and brought back as well. Luckily it’s cold enough that it all freezes!
There are other environmental issues here as well. Both fishing and the introduction of invasive species are problems in Antarctica. Watch for discussion on these topics in future posts.