A JAUNT ON THE MOOR

Schorhill stone circle, Dartmoor. By Herbythyme (Own work) GFDL: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html, via Wikimedia Commons

As part of the second year of my Environmental Science degree at Plymouth University I had the opportunity to take part in a course named Education through Expeditions (ETE) Leadership Award. A course designed to develop self-confidence, project management skills and leadership styles that can be applied in all aspects of life.  

It began with a series of theoretical based workshops that explored a wide range of concepts and ideas that contribute to the title of “being a leader”, involving individual reflection and group activities; with much emphasis on team work. An interesting concept I explored was different leadership styles that were presented in the form of a four colour triangle:

RED – authoritative, very task orientated - potentially at the expense of other things (e.g. team morale), could be compared to a dictator; “it’s my way or the highway!”

GREEN – analytical, concerned with doing things in the correct manner and “by the book”.

BLUE – people orientated, concerned with making sure team morale is high with members working cohesively and harmoniously.

YELLOW – in the middle of the triangle, rather “adaptable” a yellow will mould into any which way accepting what the rest of the team suggests.

These sessions provided me the opportunity to delve into self-reflection not only to discover how I might fit into different leadership styles but to also, through understanding myself, understand others.

The culmination of the course involved a two day expedition in Dartmoor National Park. This put into real perspective the ideas and concepts explored in the workshops. The first day proved challenging to us all as we trudged over the moor in gale force winds curtesy of Hurricane Ophelia; by the end of which I found myself rather fond of as the whistling winds harmonised my humming of a song with the same name – Ophelia – to the beat of the teams’ boots.

My team and I, Dartmoor. By Georgia Pengelly (own work).

The two days involved leading and being led, navigating across the moor. When seeing the theory put into real life situations, it struck me that people cannot be defined as only red, green, blue or yellow but leadership styles that people adopt change. The terrain and conditions were a major influence – when the going got tough heads tended to go down and the leader would morph to red. However when the going was good and the team knew exactly where we were, a more green/blue style would be adopted. When lost (rather easy to do if you have little experience on Dartmoor!) it was a toss-up between green and red. I learned that people cannot simply be put into clear cut categories of leadership styles and characteristics but we all have the potential to be red, green, blue or yellow and it is situational, skill and team dependent. It is a matter of having the awareness to know when to adopt a certain leadership style.



- Ben

ARE WE A PLAGUE OF POLLUTERS?

The way we choose to live can impact our surrounding environment positively or negatively. The marine environment is not exempt from this. In fact, currently our society, fundamentally based on values of materialism and consumerism, is having a detrimental impact on not only the marine environment but the world as a whole.

Henry David Thoreau pondered:

“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?”

Crumpled Earth. By Corey Matsumoto, GFDL: (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), via Wikimedia Commons.

Our oceans constitute 71% of the Earth’s surface and contain 97% of Earth’s water[1]. They play a vital role in the functioning of the atmosphere to allow life to flourish, in the form of carbon cycling, climate regulation and providing large numbers of the population with an essential source of food.

With that in mind, how are WE causing harmful pollution to enter the marine environment?

Much of the pollution entering our oceans is a result of human activity on land. A significant source is called nonpoint source pollution, which is an accumulation from a variety of small and large sources that includes: cars, septic tanks, farmland for crop or livestock and forestry. This form of pollution occurs largely as a result of run-off. For example, after heavy rain the water will flow across a car park simultaneously picking up oil left behind by cars[4]. This example can also be applied to farmland where fertilisers are used to aid crop cultivation. Heavy rain will wash these chemicals from the fields into valleys, leading into rivers that then carry the pollutants into the marine environment. Imagine swimming in that!


Another source is known as point source pollution, which is pollution that occurs from a single source. Examples of this include oil spills from drilling/tankers and discharge from factories or water treatment systems (e.g. sewage treatment plants) as a result of damage or faulty operations.[5]

An oil spill. By US Gov NOAA (US Gov NOAA) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Today, one of the most obvious sources of marine pollution is in the form of marine debris. Marine debris includes materials such as plastics, glass, metal, rubber, paper, cloth and wood that originate from a range of land-based and ocean-based sources. For example, waste accumulated by day-to-day use in society, derelict fishing gear and abandoned vessels[3]. The most common form of marine debris is plastic, this is due to an explosion in its production and application in our lives; from the 1950s to 2014 there was a 200-fold increase in the annual production of plastic[2]. This begs the question: where is all that plastic going?

Marine debris. By Nevit, GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) via Wikimedia Commons.

We produce and consume on a vast scale, ending in the production of huge volumes waste. Waste that, once released into the environment translates into detrimental pollution. Unless we clean up our act, will we be known as the plague of polluters?



- Ben



References:

[1] Hawaii Pacific University Oceanic Institute, undated. Aqua Facts. Available at: http://www.oceanicinstitute.org/aboutoceans/aquafacts.html (Accessed: 4 October 2017)

[2] Li, W. C., Tse, L. and Fok, L., 2016. Plastic waste in the marine environment: A review of sources, occurrences and effects. Science of the Total Environment 566-567, 333-349

[3] National Oceanic and Amostpheric Administration, 2017. Marine Debris Program. Available at: https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/discover-issue/types-and-sources (Accessed: 2 October 2017)

[4] National Oceanic and Amostpheric Administration, 2017. Ocean Service Education. Available at: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_pollution/04nonpointsource.html (Accessed: 3 October 2017)

[5] National Oceanic and Amostpheric Administration, 2017. Ocean Service Education. Available at: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/pollution/03pointsource.html (Accessed: 3 October 2017)