#environmental engineer

[reasonsforhope]

"With “green corridors” that mimic the natural forest, the Colombian city is driving down temperatures — and could become five degrees cooler over the next few decades.

In the face of a rapidly heating planet, the City of Eternal Spring — nicknamed so thanks to its year-round temperate climate — has found a way to keep its cool.

Previously, Medellín had undergone years of rapid urban expansion, which led to a severe urban heat island effect — raising temperatures in the city to significantly higher than in the surrounding suburban and rural areas. Roads and other concrete infrastructure absorb and maintain the sun’s heat for much longer than green infrastructure.

“Medellín grew at the expense of green spaces and vegetation,” says Pilar Vargas, a forest engineer working for City Hall. “We built and built and built. There wasn’t a lot of thought about the impact on the climate. It became obvious that had to change.”

Efforts began in 2016 under Medellín’s then mayor, Federico Gutiérrez (who, after completing one term in 2019, was re-elected at the end of 2023). The city launched a new approach to its urban development — one that focused on people and plants.

The $16.3 million initiative led to the creation of 30 Green Corridors along the city’s roads and waterways, improving or producing more than 70 hectares of green space, which includes 20 kilometers of shaded routes with cycle lanes and pedestrian paths.

These plant and tree-filled spaces — which connect all sorts of green areas such as the curb strips, squares, parks, vertical gardens, sidewalks, and even some of the seven hills that surround the city — produce fresh, cooling air in the face of urban heat. The corridors are also designed to mimic a natural forest with levels of low, medium and high plants, including native and tropical plants, bamboo grasses and palm trees.

Heat-trapping infrastructure like metro stations and bridges has also been greened as part of the project and government buildings have been adorned with green roofs and vertical gardens to beat the heat. The first of those was installed at Medellín’s City Hall, where nearly 100,000 plants and 12 species span the 1,810 square meter surface.

“It’s like urban acupuncture,” says Paula Zapata, advisor for Medellín at C40 Cities, a global network of about 100 of the world’s leading mayors. “The city is making these small interventions that together act to make a big impact.”

At the launch of the project, 120,000 individual plants and 12,500 trees were added to roads and parks across the city. By 2021, the figure had reached 2.5 million plants and 880,000 trees. Each has been carefully chosen to maximize their impact.

“The technical team thought a lot about the species used. They selected endemic ones that have a functional use,” explains Zapata.

The 72 species of plants and trees selected provide food for wildlife, help biodiversity to spread and fight air pollution. A study, for example, identified Mangifera indica as the best among six plant species found in Medellín at absorbing PM2.5 pollution — particulate matter that can cause asthma, bronchitis and heart disease — and surviving in polluted areas due to its “biochemical and biological mechanisms.”

And the urban planting continues to this day.

The groundwork is carried out by 150 citizen-gardeners like Pineda, who come from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds, with the support of 15 specialized forest engineers. Pineda is now the leader of a team of seven other gardeners who attend to corridors all across the city, shifting depending on the current priorities...

“I’m completely in favor of the corridors,” says [Victoria Perez, another citizen-gardener], who grew up in a poor suburb in the city of 2.5 million people. “It really improves the quality of life here.”

Wilmar Jesus, a 48-year-old Afro-Colombian farmer on his first day of the job, is pleased about the project’s possibilities for his own future. “I want to learn more and become better,” he says. “This gives me the opportunity to advance myself.”

The project’s wider impacts are like a breath of fresh air. Medellín’s temperatures fell by 2°C in the first three years of the program, and officials expect a further decrease of 4 to 5C over the next few decades, even taking into account climate change. In turn, City Hall says this will minimize the need for energy-intensive air conditioning...

In addition, the project has had a significant impact on air pollution. Between 2016 and 2019, the level of PM2.5 fell significantly, and in turn the city’s morbidity rate from acute respiratory infections decreased from 159.8 to 95.3 per 1,000 people [Note: That means the city's rate of people getting sick with lung/throat/respiratory infections.]

There’s also been a 34.6 percent rise in cycling in the city, likely due to the new bike paths built for the project, and biodiversity studies show that wildlife is coming back — one sample of five Green Corridors identified 30 different species of butterfly.

Other cities are already taking note. Bogotá and Barranquilla have adopted similar plans, among other Colombian cities, and last year São Paulo, Brazil, the largest city in South America, began expanding its corridors after launching them in 2022.

“For sure, Green Corridors could work in many other places,” says Zapata."

-via Reasons to Be Cheerful, March 4, 2024

#colombia #brazil #urban #urban landscape #urban planning #cities #civil engineering #green architecture #green spaces #urban heat #urban heat island effect #weather #meteorology #global warming #climate change #climate hope #climate optimism #climate emergency #climate action #environment #environmental news #city architecture #bicycling #native plants #biodiversity #good news #hope #solarpunk #ecopunk #hopepunk

[elithemiar-blog]

Danny gets invited into a robotics/mechanics club after he mumbled out the basic idea of his parent's latest invention just by looking at it, the name did help.

He doesn't have much of a choice to recognize what an invention can do based off of its look for his safety.

So mechanics and engineering he just starts picking up from his parents through association.

At some point, he has to modify one because it hurts both humans and ghosts.

His parents are so caught up on the fact that it hurts ghosts as intended that they completely miss that it hurts humans too, severely.

Danny, and Tucker when needed, start modifying the weapons for people's safety. Which Danny gets really good at and starts taking his parent's blueprints and building safer, and mostly better, inventions.

So, when this new classmate overhears the trio discussing on how to fix it. They think Danny would be a great addition to the club, and when they bring it up at their next meeting, everyone else either doesn't believe them or is joking.

Due to gossip and high school hierarchy (by Casper standards), Danny is a freak, loser, and stupid.

This classmate brings Danny's intelligence to himself and tries to urge this kid to come to the club one day after school.

Danny downgrades his own intelligence on engineering that the classmate is befuddled, until being at Casper for longer they understand on why this is.

A school event has this classmate trying to strike high praise on Danny, but even his parents kind of bat him aside to talk about ghosts.

People start gossiping that this classmate has a crush on Danny.

Eventually, they do get Danny to a club and the rest of the members kind of call him out on his crush, in front of Danny. However, he does prove himself and the club agrees to invite him to some kind of multi-school engineering showcase, and they do need one other person to make a full team.

He really doesn’t want to go. Somehow his parents are pushing him to go. At some point, somehow, he's being required to go.

Maybe Tucker and Sam urge him to go, who already noticed Danny's talent. He still doesn't want to leave Amity, but with his friends pushing him to have fun he's more willing to think about it.

Maybe the trip becomes a 50/50 extra credit opportunity on his math and science grades, which he needs.

Marvel: Tony, Peter, and/or Banner are at this event to find future employees or award scholarships.

DC: Bruce and/or Tim are at this event (maybe another as well), to also find future employees or award scholarships.

Maybe there's some kind of lead revealed during this event that helps a case.

They find Danny being isolated by the club except for the classmate and they're curious on why.

The classmate is giving high praises, gifting information that Danny doesn't want revealed, to these people who will actually listen.

This team gets challenged to build something different.

The classmate turns to Danny to help out and he gets invited by the rest, but he doesn't get a say...

Danny sees something wrong and tries to say something, but no one let's him get a word in..

When the build gets judged, it doesn't work. Danny with random parts in hand, fixes it on the spot adding a little touch that makes it work and then some.

He gets high compliments from these very smart people, but he brushes them aside. Not realizing what he did, he'd just really wants to get back to Amity.

While the event is still going on, he gets pulled aside to look over a project or design and he can tell what needs fixed or how to reroute power better (purposeful mistakes meant to challenge him).

Here he is, at an event for school, being given complements and not really noticing.

These people very curious on who this kid is goes searching. Maybe the club kids tell the not-paying-attention-club-advisor that he did nothing.

Maybe the one doing the complimenting calls the school and, petty tattles on the club, gives full praise and offers a scholarship.

Someone can be so focused on either working on what they want to do or what they have to do (in Danny's case), that talent found isn't recognized even if highly complimented by an expert.

The mental image of Tim inviting Danny to the manor to help out with a WE project, and Tim is trying to get him to recognize his own talent. Bonus points if its vigilante associated (like Nightwing's eskrima sticks malfunctioning and sleep deprived Tim can't figure it out). Bonus points if the rest of the family are there over seeing.

Maybe he can't be an astronaut anymore cause he doesn’t fit certain requirements. Maybe he can still work for NASA despite his grades, he fixes a missed problem that would've made the rocket launch unsuccessful, and it was a last-minute change.

#dp x dc #dc x dp #danny phantom #danny downplaying his intelligence #environmental conditioning that he's not as smart as the rest of the family #he's far too caught up on protecting amity #and his love of astronomy #to notice his talent with engineering #tucker gets involved specifically to lower the strength of the ectosignature tracking #Shout out to the entire four years working on one goal and not exploring the creativity that is my mind #My family and I have no knowledge of where it comes from still #Weapon designs people still want made #Stories that people are telling me to finish and publish #Four years of regret that's still being worked on #dp x marvel

[wachinyeya]

#vegan leather #plastic pollution #plastics #pleather #leather alternatives #leather #environmentalism #good news #science #environment #bacteria #microbiology #genetic engineering

[cybercity-sunrise]

2.8.2024

The past few weeks have been absolutely insane; although stressful due to long hours in the lab and balancing a million things, I can't recall a time I've learned more in such a short period. There is of course still SO much I don't know within my field, but it's satisfying to feel myself becoming more knowledgeable by the day.

Towards the end of last semester, I spent some time reflecting on how my first year was going and considering how to really develop as a researcher. The gap between a first and second year PhD student is huge, in my opinion--since I switched fields from undergrad, it's probably even more true in my case. I did learn a lot last semester, but I was still settling into a new environment and program. There is a lot to get adjusted to in this lab; it's huge, a bit chaotic, and used by multiple groups.

I am finally feeling more confident and independent, so I think this is the time to really grind in order to be where I want to be going into my second year. In addition to ramping up lab work, I've been trying to read way more. For each article I read, I also make a slide in an ongoing PowerPoint that summarizes key findings and any notes or questions I have. This isn't so much an organizational method (I use Zotero for that) as it is a way to follow interesting threads in current research and develop a habit of active reading.

If anyone has a reading practice that really works for them I'd love to hear about it :)

#studyblr #studyspo #grad school journey #gradblr #phdblr #grad school #phd #engineering #environmental science #biotech #PhD advice #sunrise says #study motiviation #study blog #study aesthetic

[cobraonthecob]

rotating zutara motorsports au in my head...motogp zuko x formula e driver katara...now to draw fast

#nightfalcon posts #atla #a:tla #katara #zuko #zutara #i find out that motogp drivers need really good flexibility or something #also the crashes are WILD #now the suits do have built in protection but they're still nasty to see #and katara's in fe because she already won an f1 championship and then wanted to be environmentally conscious #everyone's mad (affectionately) because she came into fe and beat everyone right out of the gate #and yes sokka is her race engineer from f1 to fe

[etherealspacejelly]

you quit your software engineering job to pursue environmental science?? do tell!

(i have a software engineering job. it makes me sad.)

so when i was like. 10. i had this teacher who taught us basic scratch programming. and i was like. freakishly good at it. i picked it up super quickly and was even helping the other students to fix their problems. and so he said to me "you know, you could be a great computer programmer one day" and i was like. yeah! i could!

so throughout highschool my One and Only goal was to become a software engineer. every time i went to the career counsellor thats what i said. so i did computer science at gcse, and got a 9, and i did computer science at a level and got an A*. (i did other subjects too of course. but those were the ones i was focussed on)

then i finished my a levels and i went straight into looking for an apprenticeship. no one was really interested in me because i didnt have any experience or a degree. so then my dad got me an internship with some guys he knew at a company that worked in his building, and i managed to build up some actual industry skills. then i got an apprenticeship! it paid super well and the team was great and it was work from home.

and i hated it.

i was just sitting in my room at my dads house 9-5 mon-fri writing code all by myself. it was lonely and boring and i didnt really know what i was doing. it was supposed to be an apprenticeship but it just felt like a job. they didnt teach me how to do anything they just said "do this and come to me if you run into a problem". half the time they didnt even give me any work to do for days at a time so i was just watching youtube or scrolling on tiktok. which sounds great but it wasnt because i felt guilty the whole time and was terrified of being found out and fired, even tho it wasnt my fault? they literally werent giving me work to do?

anyway. a few months into it i was like man Fuck this. im going to university. so i started looking at courses. it actually started with astrophysics, but since i didnt take a science at a level i didnt have the requirements for that. then i found environmental science! it was all the stuff im passionate about: climate change, conservation, natural processes and earth science. so i worked on my application letter and applied, and i got in!

so i went to my boss and was like hey. im putting in my notice. i got into university. and they were like "oh noooo we're so sad to see you go :( you were doing so well and we were so pleased with your work and your progress :(" (and i was like. huh?? i literally didnt fucking do anything. but oh well.)

so i worked until the end of my 6 week notice and then i handed my stuff back in and left. i had a bit of a summer vacation and then started uni! and ive been here for just over a year now :)

its honestly so much better. i have so many new friends, i got to move out of my mums house, im in full control of my life.

so take this as your reminder that its never too late! you can always change your path.

you are in control.

#inbox #ask #inbox open #life advice #software engineering #environmental science #university #career change

[red-eft]

im a corporate guy now (<- working in an office with my own cubicle and little projects to do)

#txt #work stuff #it's not actually corporate work it's a environmental/engineering consulting firm #but it's funnier with the word corporate and it feels.. very office-y and corporate compared to all my past jobs #also. dressing business casual is killing my soul i hateee it. but i think it'll get better once i get men's business casual clothes :> #also i dont think i ever announced this so. i got the internship i mentioned back in october whshdjf

[justonecitizenoftheearth]

#nature #environment #climate change #environmental engineering #hope for the future #energy #energy production #solarpunk

[bsptourist]

gm_l4d_roe (a.k.a. Running On Empty)

created by Dreyzie

#garry's mod #gmod #source engine #half-life 2 #left 4 dead #other #hearted #found myself really stricken by that rooftop scene. maybe i'm just in a weird space right now but man #'it's just l4d props' i say to myself as i look at deeply harrowing environmental storytelling

[landgraabbed]

sometimes you gotta take in the lil details

#non sims #i'll come up with a skyrim tag #in my tes era again #(always i just go sleeper agent on it ig) #still in my modding skyrim era i'm sick so that's not v conductive to me actually playing morrowind so this is what i've been doing #sad bc nammu made some good progress he joined house redoran he's actually level 3 and somehow keeps invading every vampire tomb #(i run away bc i cannot deal w that right now) #his slave bracers finally broke off <3 #i'll compile some screens and post tomorrow maybe #i truly am the people todd coward thinks about when bethany esda is concocting the latest installment of weird ass lore told through #environmental storytelling and esoteric books and an open world crafted with meticulous detail cursed with bugs up the wazoo #but yeah modding skyrim is being surprisingly fun after i figured out mod organizer #i have bookmarked some mods that require me to regen lods dyndolod or whatever it's called but i'll do that at the end #at least in morrowind that's how i do it #i did my engine fixes my bug fixes my graphics and sounds overhauls my model replacers enb landscapes and now my cities and locations mods #armor next and then i'll start overhauling combat #i'm gunning for dark souls like bc that combat style suits me rly well and i always hated melee in skyrim #(re: armors sforz i looked at your imitations previews and i'm in love i'll have fun experimenting w/ them i owe u my life) #but yeah...... 99% of my skyrim experience has been in ps save for a brief moment i pirated it on release on my shitty laptop i had then #it's been wonderful to actually mod it

[theartofmany]

Artist: Xiang Zhang Title: The Darkest Alley

"A personal project I did in my free time. The goal was to learn more about Unreal Engine 5 and enhance my lighting skills" Wonderful work...

#Xiang Zhang #The Darkest Alley #alley #concept art #illustration #character design #painting #matte painting #UE5 #Unreal Engine #Unreal Engine 5 #game art #Maya #Zbrush #environmental #digital 3d

[wachinyeya]

#good news #environmentalism #science #engineering #co2 emissions #carbon sequestration #carbon dioxide #co2

[cybercity-sunrise]

1.25.2024

Hello friends :) The new semester is underway, and off to a good start so far. For classes, I'm taking Biotransformations, Soil and Groundwater Remediation, Carbon Storage, and the environmental engineering seminar. I've also been in the lab a lot more, and am almost ready to begin my first major experiments here. It's nice to feel like I am settling into my program and new city; both have been bringing me a lot of happiness lately. Wishing everyone a fulfilling 2024!

#studyblr #studyspo #grad school journey #gradblr #phd #phdblr #sunrise says #environmental engineering

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

#that's 2 of 3 partys in my moms honor down. this one was our childhood neighbor friends #which it was really good to see them but it was really just a party. no one really talked about her at all. the subject was avoided #i think bc ppl r awkward abt it. like im fine to talk abt it. it happened. i dont see a point in avoiding it #but im also not the most socially adept. which i did pretty good talking to ppl but i was still the most awkward one there #and idk this experience has really taught me that u should have a lot of friends and a spouse bc i dont kno how a person like me could go #thru what my mom did and survive if i didnt have my dad. so i guess i have to con someone into marrying me #id b difficult to marry. im difficult to b friends with. im too avoidant of any people #im gonna die like that lady from 6 feet under with no friends. like a fridge fell on her or something. idk #but i cant die bc my dad cant go thru this again. i dunno. well see what life throws at me #also. my childhood friends r a lot of real smart ppl. like a lot of engineers and medical doctors #they make me feel so dumb. but alas. im but a humble environmental Science person #ay. i dunno. it was fun but im drained #and my cousings boyfriend is still a fucking freak who harasses animals. he really upset one of our dogs #my sister says she can imagine him murdering someone and tbh so could i. so i hope my cousins safe #unrelated

[stormvanari]

whack-a-jumpman 🔨

based on this

#super mario #detective dynoraptor #super mario oc #mario oc #oc #will sharplock/dynoraptor #giulia jumpman #razor cutello #my art #last art of the year #btw giulia is an ex-environmental engineer

[grainelevator]

Kerr Dam, Montana, USA

#dam #infrastructure #engineering #hydroelectric power #heavy industry #power generation #environmental science