Ticket #4767: SCIU04006_V2.srt

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♪♪ [THEME MUSIC] ♪♪

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>>>CAROL ANNE RIDDELL:
I'm Carol Anne Riddell

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and this is Science & U!

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Today we're
talking about our home,

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planet Earth, a place
both familiar and wildly

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undiscovered for most of
us. We begin with water.

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It is central to our
existence and yet in many

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ways our oceans remain
largely unexplored even

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though they produce 70%
of the Earth's oxygen and

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billions of people rely on
oceans for their livelihood.

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Fabien Cousteau, grandson
of legendary ocean

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explorer Jacques Cousteau,
wants to change that with

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an ambitious project
to raise awareness.

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Living in an underwater marine
laboratory for thirty-one days.

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He spoke to our Vianora
Vinca about the experience.

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>>>FABIEN COUSTEAU: I'm
glad that we all came out

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of it in one piece.

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You know there were a
lot of uncertainties.

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This was a theory really,
the project itself,

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as epic as it was and
based on real science and

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history, as it was,
still was a theory.

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The theory was let's do
this crazy mission and see

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if people are still
interested in the oceans.

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>>>VIANORA VINCA: Dubbed
Mission 31 the endeavor

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took place 9 miles off the
coast of the Florida Keys

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and 63 feet below the
ocean surface where

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Aquarius, the last existing
underwater marine research

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lab or underwater human habitat
sits, on the ocean floor.

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>>>FABIEN COUSTEAU: In
history there have been

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habitats built certainly
first by my grandfather

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and others in the
60's. 

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There were several
dozen in history.

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In the 80's things
changed and underwater habitats

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disappear, and I think
that's a huge travesty

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because we've explored
less than 5% of our oceans.

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>>>VIANORA VINCA: Since then
even with underwater exploration

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technology continuously
evolving Fabien Cousteau

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says there's nothing like living
in an underwater human habitat

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and being able to explore the
marine environment first hand.

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>>>FABIEN COUSTEAU: A
habitat immerses you in

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the environment and you
become very tactile and

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your senses are very much
attuned to that environment,

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which is invaluable when
you're trying to assess things.

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>>>INSTRUCTOR: We're going to do
a test. Where's your EGS valve?

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Steady flow valve? Good to go. 

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>>>FABIEN COUSTEAU: I
picked some young aspiring

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marine biologists to
be able to encompass a

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nice rounded team that
could give a foray into

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robotics engineering, into
marine biology and science

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in general, so that we
could get a good picture

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of what the next
generation of ocean

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explorers and
aquanauts could be.

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>>>FABIEN COUSTEAU: This
is our scientist and this

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is one of our technicians
and they're going out to

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one of our sites to bring
some of the sea grass to

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plant around the, there's
a sea grass right there,

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to put around where
the predator prey fear

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behavior models are.

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And we were studying the
effects of the absence of

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predators on the
coral reef with regard to

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biodiversity and that
really goes into the

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subject of over fishing and how
we're taking away a lot of these

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essential creatures that
make coral reefs healthy.

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>>>GRACE YOUNG: We
actually just got back

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from the dive,
hence the wet hair,

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and it went really well.

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It took us about 45
minutes to set up the camera.

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We're using a lens that
has a really narrow focus

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so we can see the details
of these little critters.

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>>>FABIEN COUSTEAU: No, no,
no, don't move the camera.

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Just let me know when he
spits so I can push the trigger.

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>>>GRACE YOUNG:
Okay, I'll let you know.

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>>>LIZ MAGEE: But after
45 minutes we got it.

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There's a lot of critters that
just move really fast and only

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with a camera can we see the
details of their movements.

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So it was a pretty
good day and all.

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>>>GRACE YOUNG:
Really great day.

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>>>LIZ MAGEE: High-five.

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>>>FABIEN COUSTEAU: We were
able to do over three years

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of science in 31 days and that
in itself was invaluable.

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>>>MAN: Here we go. End of
Mission 31 Alpha.

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>>>VIANORA VINCA: After spending
a full month at the worlds

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final frontier, as Cousteau
likes to call the underseas,

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coming back on land was yet
another challenging experience

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he had to brace up for.

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>>>FABIEN COUSTEAU: It was a bit
of an unraveling experience-

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for the last seven days of
Mission 31 I was dreading coming

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back up because I had gotten so
used to being underwater in

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the worlds only undersea
laboratory, it became my home.

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And fish became our neighbors
and we became very

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accustomed to what that meant.
I'm torn. I'm really happy to

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be back up to the surface to see
friends and family. 

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I'm a little sad to be leaving
our home for the last month

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but it was pretty awesome. 

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>>>VIANORA VINCA: For Science
& U! I'm Vianora Vinca.

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>>>CAROL ANNE RIDDELL:
Gray whales have not

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inhabited the Atlantic
Ocean for the past three

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hundred years however
in the past five years

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sightings in bodies of
water connected to the

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Atlantic have led
scientists to speculate

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these whales may be
migrating through melting

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ice in the polar regions.
Andrew Falzon tells us more.

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>>>HOWARD ROSENBAUM: As a
population gray whales in the

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Atlanta went extinct
several hundred years ago.

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>>>ANDREW FALZON: Dr. Howard
Rosenbaum directs the Ocean

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Giant's program for the Wildlife
Conservation Society.

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Measuring upwards of fifty
feet in length and up to

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forty tons in weight grey
whales are some of the

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largest
animals alive today.

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These gigantic creatures
live in the Pacific Ocean

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in two distinct groups.

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>>>HOWARD ROSENBAUM: So
the gray whales off the

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coast of Russia are called
the western gray whales

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and they are a highly
endangered population

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genetically distinct
from the animals that are

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called the eastern north
pacific gray whales for

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which there's a good
census and recovery

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laws such as the

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U.S. Endangered Species
Act, the Marine Mammal

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Protection Act, have
promoted the recovery of

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those animals from
very low numbers several

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decades ago to more
than twenty five thousand

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animals in the
population today.

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>>>ANDREW FALZON: But in
2010 this video stunned

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whale researchers
across the globe.

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It shows a gray whale swimming
off the coast of Israel. Then in

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2013 another whale was spotted
off the coast Namibia in Africa.

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The scientific community
was so surprised by the

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photos many
thought they were fake.

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But after they were
authenticated scientists

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began to hypothesize.

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They thought climate change
might be part of the equation.

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>>>HOWARD ROSENBAUM:
Now as we consider what's

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happening with climate
change and leads opening

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up in the Arctic and
animals being able to move

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through the Arctic, in
particular ice free zones,

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that these animals may
migrate from the Pacific

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to the Atlantic.

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>>>LIZ ALTER: Phylogenomics
is the study of using D.N.A.

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to reconstruct
evolutionary relationships

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between organisms
and between species.

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>>>ANDREW FALZON: Dr.
Liz Alter is an assistant

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professor of biology at
the City University of

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New York's York College
and Graduate Center.

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She's part of the
team that used D.N.A.

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to examine whether or not
the now extinct Atlantic

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grey whales migrated
from the Pacific Ocean.

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Prior to this study
there was no known genetic

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information on
Atlantic gray whales.

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Sources of Atlantic
gray whale D.N.A.

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are hard to come by and
show how science can come

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from some very
unusual sources.

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>>>LIZ ALTER: So
occasionally fishermen who

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are trolling the North Sea
will pull up a big chunk

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of whalebone and if they
don't feel like throwing

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it back overboard and
if they're a little bit

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curious about it,
they'll bring it back and

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eventually it makes its
way to a museum and then

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eventually to us where
we can extract D.N.A.

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from it and sequence it.

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>>>ANDREW FALZON: This
allowed Alter to confirm

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that the now extinct
Atlantic gray whales

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migrated from the Pacific
to the Atlantic during the

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warmer periods about ten
thousand years B.C. They

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realized that climate change has
created similar conditions.

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>>>LIZ ALTER: We all
started to wonder,

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OK well why is it that
gray whales are showing up

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in the Atlantic now
after this long hiatus?

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And of course the
immediate thing everyone

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starts to think about is
the decline in Arctic sea ice.

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>>>ANDREW FALZON: Since
certain polar regions have

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experienced significant
ice melt as a result of

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climate change scientists
believe that the whales

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were able to pass into the
Atlantic but caution it

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doesn't mean the climate
change is a good thing.

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>>>HOWARD ROSENBAUM: Just
because climate change is

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in essence facilitating
you know a movement of one

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population or another does
not mean it's positive.

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In fact there are really
Arctic dependent species

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that will suffer
due to warming seas.

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>>>ANDREW FALZON: I'm
Andrew Falzon for Science & U!

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>>>CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: As
you can see here at Inwood

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Hill Park even we urban dwellers
are surrounded by nature.

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Our next story is about
the struggle between the

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natural world and
the manmade one.

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Our Tinabeth Pina sat down
with Ted Steinberg author

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of Gotham Unbound.

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>>>TED STEINBERG: Greater
New York's one of the most

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altered environments on
the face of the earth.

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It's not an accident that
Manhattan today is some

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seventeen hundred football
fields larger than it was

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estimated to be back at
the time that Henry Hudson

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came to visit in 1609.

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>>>TINABETH PINA: How did
New York City become one of the

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most dramatically transformed
pieces of land in the world?

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>>>TED STEINBERG: Back
in the 1680's when the

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British created a market in
underwater land into something

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that could be bought and
sold just like anything else.

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The British colonists
paved the way for the

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enormous expansion of New
York at the expense of the sea.

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Another major turning
point in New York's

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environmental history
happened in the middle of

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the nineteenth century
when the city turned to

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sources of water located
outside the local environment.

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First they turn and tap
the waters of the Croton

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Watershed and then the
powers that be went on to

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conquer the waters of
the Catskills and the Delaware.

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By turning to outside
sources of water one of

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the by products of this is
that they could now pave

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over the natural
features of the land.

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Brooks, springs, ponds to
supply the inhabitants of

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Manhattan with water and
this incredible natural

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density gave way to
enormous unnatural density

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by which I mean instead
of oysters now you had all

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these human beings
pack, jam packed,

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into the New York
metropolitan area.

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19 million people stuffed
into less than 1% of the

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land area of the
United States.

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>>>TINABETH PINA: So what
happened to

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those natural inhabitants?

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>>>TED STEINBERG: What
happened to the oyster

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reefs and the marshlands,
they were filled in as

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part of this major
reclamation process that

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was going on here to
make way for real estate,

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roads, parks and
of course airports.

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I mean, if you take a look
at a place like Jamaica Bay

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as late as 1900 there
was about twenty five

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hundred square miles
of marshland there.

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By 1910 the amount of
marshland in Jamaica Bay

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had been reduced to about
three square miles and the

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same thing went on
throughout the other major

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saltmarsh complexes throughout
the New York metro area.

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>>>TINABETH PINA: The
decision to transform the

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waterscape and landscape
to accommodate 6% of the

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nation's entire population
has had several serious

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implications for
New York City.

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>>>TED STEINBERG: New York
has been thumbing its nose

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at the sea for some 300
years and now the city is

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confronted with
global climate change,

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with the prospect of
increasing sea level.

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The mid range prediction
is that by the middle of

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the twenty first century
sea level around New York

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is going to increase
anywhere from 11 to 21 inches.

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New York is on a collision
course here with disaster and in

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particular with respect to the
issue of coastal flooding.

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Hurricane Sandy in 2012 was
most certainly a wake up call.

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According to the Federal
Emergency Management

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Agency some four hundred
thousand New Yorkers

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living in the 100 year
floodplain with a 1% risk

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of flood in
any given year,

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that's more people living
in the floodplain with the

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risk of being swamped than
in any other city in the

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United States
including New Orleans.

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>>>TINABETH PINA: Do you
think there's a chance or

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any possibility sometime
in the future that

00:13:46.459,00:13:50.430
Manhattan may go back
to what it once was?

00:13:50.430,00:13:52.598
>>>TED STEINBERG:
Well it already did.

00:13:52.598,00:13:54.834
That's what happened
during Hurricane Sandy.

00:13:54.834,00:13:58.938
Manhattan returned for a
brief moment to the watery

00:13:58.938,00:14:01.741
world from
which it emerged.

00:14:01.741,00:14:06.546
It's important that we
have some understanding

00:14:06.546,00:14:09.582
given the pace of
urbanization as to what

00:14:09.582,00:14:12.285
the ecological
ramifications are.

00:14:12.285,00:14:16.055
This idea of New York
as an proposition really

00:14:16.055,00:14:20.827
takes off and it continues
to shape and guide

00:14:20.827,00:14:22.829
New York's relations with the
environment to this very day.

00:14:26.265,00:14:28.067
>>>CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: We
live in and with nature

00:14:28.067,00:14:32.105
but its power over us can be
both awe inspiring and tragic.

00:14:32.105,00:14:35.408
From volcanoes and earthquakes
to hurricanes and tornadoes.

00:14:35.408,00:14:38.311
One thing we can do try
to understand the science

00:14:38.311,00:14:40.313
behind those
natural disasters.

00:14:44.684,00:14:46.352
>>>CAROL ANNE RIDDELL:
Despite all our progress as

00:14:46.352,00:14:49.088
people the enormity of nature's
power can overwhelm us.

00:14:49.088,00:14:53.593
Perhaps no more so than when
we face natural disasters.

00:14:53.593,00:14:55.762
A current exhibition at
the American Museum of

00:14:55.762,00:14:58.765
Natural History
captures exactly that.

00:14:58.765,00:15:01.033
Called Nature's Fury:
The Science of Natural

00:15:01.033,00:15:03.436
Disasters, it is an
in-depth look at the

00:15:03.436,00:15:06.406
potential danger
we live with daily.

00:15:06.406,00:15:09.909
>>>ED MATHEZ: Natural
hazards are a consequence

00:15:09.909,00:15:12.645
of us living on a dynamic
planet and there is no

00:15:12.645,00:15:16.182
escaping them, those
risks will always exist.

00:15:16.182,00:15:17.817
>>>CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: Ed
Mathez, the curator of

00:15:17.817,00:15:20.186
Nature's Fury, explains
learning about these

00:15:20.186,00:15:22.388
disasters can help protect us.

00:15:22.388,00:15:23.556
>>>ED MATHEZ:
Understanding the science

00:15:23.556,00:15:27.527
is really important because
it helps us determine the risk.

00:15:27.527,00:15:31.798
You know risk is really a
combination of probability and

00:15:31.798,00:15:35.101
consequence. So that's where
science can help us.

00:15:35.101,00:15:37.103
>>>CAROL ANNE RIDDELL:
Earthquakes, volcanoes,

00:15:37.103,00:15:39.105
tornadoes and hurricanes are
all on

00:15:39.105,00:15:41.107
display here explained
though the stories of

00:15:41.107,00:15:44.177
people in communities as well
as interactive exhibitions.

00:15:44.177,00:15:46.345
Visitors can stand in
the eye of a tornado,

00:15:46.345,00:15:48.948
create a virtual
volcano and even their own

00:15:48.948,00:15:51.551
earthquake by jumping
next to a seismometer.

00:15:51.551,00:15:53.553
I'm going to make my
own earthquake here.

00:15:53.553,00:15:56.889
It's going to be huge. See that?

00:15:59.926,00:16:02.161
Hurricane Sandy is also
part of the exhibition an

00:16:02.161,00:16:04.897
example of Nature's Fury
that many in our area are

00:16:04.897,00:16:06.566
all too familiar with.

00:16:06.566,00:16:08.968
The museum offers an
interactive map exploring

00:16:08.968,00:16:10.970
how New York City
was vulnerable.

00:16:10.970,00:16:13.973
Sandy demonstrates what
some scientists tell us.

00:16:13.973,00:16:17.677
Back in 2011 well before
the storm we brought you

00:16:17.677,00:16:19.912
an interview with
Professor Nicholas Coch,

00:16:19.912,00:16:23.249
an expert on hurricanes
who said New York City

00:16:23.249,00:16:25.518
could be hit hard.

00:16:25.518,00:16:27.053
>>>NICOLAS COCH: We
know that if something has

00:16:27.053,00:16:29.689
happened before it's
capable of happening again.

00:16:29.689,00:16:33.292
If it hasn't happened in a long
time it's going to happen soon.

00:16:33.292,00:16:37.530
This right angle makes the
New York area one of the

00:16:37.530,00:16:41.200
most dangerous places in
America for a hurricane to

00:16:41.200,00:16:45.571
come in based on the
generation of flood surge.

00:16:45.571,00:16:48.040
>>>ED MATHEZ: New York
is one of the places that

00:16:48.040,00:16:50.343
should expect you
know pretty severe,

00:16:50.343,00:16:55.014
pretty large hurricane every,
you know, few decades or so.

00:16:55.014,00:16:57.016
>>>CAROL ANNE RIDDELL:
So we are not out of the clear?

00:16:57.016,00:16:59.018
>>>ED MATHEZ: Well there's no
such thing as being out of the

00:16:59.018,00:17:02.054
clear. There is such a thing as
taking you know sensible

00:17:02.054,00:17:04.390
mitigating actions but
there's no such thing as

00:17:04.390,00:17:05.458
being out of the clear.

00:17:05.458,00:17:07.460
>>>CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: There is
plenty of science here beyond

00:17:07.460,00:17:09.629
hurricanes. The exhibit looks
at plate tectonics,

00:17:09.629,00:17:11.964
the theory of the movement
of the plates that make up

00:17:11.964,00:17:13.532
Earth's outer skin.

00:17:13.532,00:17:16.469
And did you know that
about 75% of all tornadoes

00:17:16.469,00:17:20.373
take place in an area covering
8 states in the central U.S.

00:17:20.373,00:17:22.141
known as Tornado Alley.

00:17:22.141,00:17:24.343
And while some natural
disasters strike with

00:17:24.343,00:17:26.646
little warning,
others can give scientists

00:17:26.646,00:17:28.648
significant
advanced notice.

00:17:28.648,00:17:30.650
>>>ED MATHEZ: Volcanic
eruptions are a different

00:17:30.650,00:17:31.651
kind of hazard.

00:17:31.651,00:17:33.653
We do have forewarning,
typically we have

00:17:33.653,00:17:39.191
forewarning of weeks to days
to hours before eruption.

00:17:39.191,00:17:41.394
>>>CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: But
science is only one part

00:17:41.394,00:17:44.330
of the learning here so is
human loss and resilience.

00:17:44.330,00:17:48.134
For example Isaac Cline, a
meteorologist in Galveston

00:17:48.134,00:17:51.904
Texas. The exhibit explains he
warned of a hurricane in

00:17:51.904,00:17:56.709
1900 that killed thousands,
including his pregnant wife.

00:17:56.709,00:17:58.711
>>>ED MATHEZ: These are
human tragedies and it's

00:17:58.711,00:18:01.147
easy to forget that when
we you know wander through

00:18:01.147,00:18:04.650
an exhibit like this that has
a lot of you know interesting

00:18:04.650,00:18:07.853
things. But fundamentally this
isn't just interesting,

00:18:07.853,00:18:09.855
it's also a tragedy. We can
never forget that.

00:18:12.358,00:18:14.360
>>>CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: You
still have time to check

00:18:14.360,00:18:18.264
out Nature's Fury the exhibition
runs through August 9th.

00:18:18.264,00:18:21.067
Finally today the push
is not to cool down the

00:18:21.067,00:18:23.803
environment and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions

00:18:23.803,00:18:27.173
and a city program is
tackling that problem one

00:18:27.173,00:18:29.508
roof at a time. Mike
Gilliam has more.

00:18:31.444,00:18:33.446
>>>MIKE GILLIAM: During
the summer months rooftops

00:18:33.446,00:18:36.015
like this can be steaming
hot and that could raise

00:18:36.015,00:18:37.116
some serious issues.

00:18:37.116,00:18:39.952
But one group of people is
trying to change all that

00:18:39.952,00:18:43.990
through a program
called Cool Roofs.

00:18:43.990,00:18:46.292
>>>STUART GAFFIN: It's a
great program and it's

00:18:46.292,00:18:50.162
goal is to sort of take
out a heat source that's

00:18:50.162,00:18:52.365
really really widespread
in this city and in every

00:18:52.365,00:18:53.566
city in the world frankly.

00:18:53.566,00:18:55.568
>>>MIKE GILLIAM: Stuart
Gaffin is a professor at

00:18:55.568,00:18:58.704
Columbia University
who also works for NASA.

00:18:58.704,00:19:00.806
He says the principle is
simple and something we

00:19:00.806,00:19:02.908
all learned in
second grade.

00:19:02.908,00:19:05.778
White reflects the sun
and heat while dark colors

00:19:05.778,00:19:10.282
absorb the sun's rays causing
surface temperatures to rise.

00:19:10.282,00:19:12.284
>>>STUART GAFFIN: Because
of that the dark surfaces

00:19:12.284,00:19:14.720
heat up tremendously and I
spent a tremendous amount

00:19:14.720,00:19:16.722
time on rooftops and
I've seen them reach

00:19:16.722,00:19:20.593
temperatures up to 190 degrees
and routinely exceed 170.

00:19:20.593,00:19:22.595
>>>MIKE GILLIAM: And with
the roof painted white

00:19:22.595,00:19:23.596
what do you see?

00:19:23.596,00:19:25.598
>>>STUART GAFFIN: So if it
was about eighty degrees

00:19:25.598,00:19:27.600
out it would probably get
up to about ninety maybe

00:19:27.600,00:19:30.102
one hundred but you're
easily shaving off seventy

00:19:30.102,00:19:32.738
degrees Fahrenheit in that
peak sunlight condition.

00:19:32.738,00:19:34.740
>>>MIKE GILLIAM: Gaffin
says that can produce huge

00:19:34.740,00:19:37.043
benefits when it comes to
global warming and energy

00:19:37.043,00:19:40.379
consumption. Former Con Edison
sustainability manager

00:19:40.379,00:19:44.550
Morgan Scott says the company
has been on board for years.

00:19:44.550,00:19:46.552
>>>MORGAN SCOTT: The
reason why we're putting

00:19:46.552,00:19:48.554
and helping and involved
in this program is because

00:19:48.554,00:19:51.357
we really believe that
our customers will see benefits.

00:19:51.357,00:19:53.793
So when we put a white
roof on a building and we

00:19:53.793,00:19:55.961
reduce the building's
temperature over time we

00:19:55.961,00:19:58.197
reduce the amount of
energy that a building

00:19:58.197,00:20:00.933
needs to consume to keep
the building cool so our

00:20:00.933,00:20:02.234
customers are
saving money.

00:20:02.234,00:20:04.236
>>>MIKE GILLIAM:
Scott also points out the

00:20:04.236,00:20:07.106
environmental benefits of
the Cool Roofs program.

00:20:07.106,00:20:09.108
>>>MORGAN SCOTT: When you
reduce the energy that's

00:20:09.108,00:20:11.711
consumed you have an
emissions reduction on the

00:20:11.711,00:20:15.448
backend and so we like to
see that with emissions

00:20:15.448,00:20:17.450
reduction you have
improved air quality.

00:20:17.450,00:20:19.452
>>>MIKE GILLIAM: The
program is run through the

00:20:19.452,00:20:21.787
city and started off with
a simple pilot program in

00:20:21.787,00:20:24.590
2009 in Long Island City.

00:20:24.590,00:20:28.027
They wanted to see if Cool Roofs
would be effective in New York.

00:20:28.027,00:20:30.029
>>>GERALDINE SWEENEY:
Our goal was to coat one

00:20:30.029,00:20:32.998
hundred thousand square
feet of roof top and at

00:20:32.998,00:20:35.101
the same time work with
the scientific community

00:20:35.101,00:20:38.104
to do some initial
analysis on what the

00:20:38.104,00:20:40.940
benefits are of
coating a roof white.

00:20:40.940,00:20:45.244
And that pilot proved so
successful that the city

00:20:45.244,00:20:48.147
launched a full blown
program in 2010 with the

00:20:48.147,00:20:51.150
goal of coating one
million square feet per

00:20:51.150,00:20:55.421
year in buildings all over
the city to help the urban

00:20:55.421,00:20:59.759
heat island effect that
is a phenomenon in cities.

00:20:59.759,00:21:01.694
>>>MIKE GILLIAM: A heat
island is a location that

00:21:01.694,00:21:03.696
is hotter because
it holds the heat.

00:21:03.696,00:21:06.031
So far according to the
Cool Roofs website more

00:21:06.031,00:21:09.635
than six million square feet of
rooftops have been painted.

00:21:09.635,00:21:12.071
Now that would be the
equivalent of close to one

00:21:12.071,00:21:15.007
hundred twenty
football fields.

00:21:15.007,00:21:17.243
The Harlem Congregation
for Community Improvement

00:21:17.243,00:21:20.346
has a number of buildings
in the program and they've

00:21:20.346,00:21:22.248
seen roof
temperatures drop.

00:21:22.248,00:21:24.250
>>>MALCOLM PUNTER: The
city was ahead of the

00:21:24.250,00:21:26.218
curve on this initiative.

00:21:26.218,00:21:28.821
They actually reached out
to organizations such as

00:21:28.821,00:21:31.257
HCCI, asked us
to participate,

00:21:31.257,00:21:34.426
we thought it was a great
idea and we participated

00:21:34.426,00:21:36.862
and partnered over
a two-year period.

00:21:36.862,00:21:38.864
>>>MIKE GILLIAM: Over
time that should both cut

00:21:38.864,00:21:40.866
energy consumption
in the buildings,

00:21:40.866,00:21:43.235
saving dollars, and it
should also help to cool

00:21:43.235,00:21:46.605
the areas and in fact
the city and the planet.

00:21:46.605,00:21:49.542
Program organizers past
and present say the

00:21:49.542,00:21:52.344
Cool Roofs program works.

00:21:52.344,00:21:54.713
>>>WENDY DESSY: My message is
that every roof should be

00:21:54.713,00:21:59.185
white. This is a benefit to all
New Yorkers, to every resident.

00:21:59.185,00:22:02.755
Everyone who lives here. It's
very easy to do, join us,

00:22:02.755,00:22:07.026
come volunteer with
us, coat your own roof,

00:22:07.026,00:22:11.397
go to our website and see how
you could become more involved.

00:22:11.397,00:22:13.399
>>>MIKE GILLIAM: So the
experts agree a little bit

00:22:13.399,00:22:16.135
of the special white paint
and some elbow grease can

00:22:16.135,00:22:20.072
help to cool down our city
and do all of us a lot of good.

00:22:20.072,00:22:22.074
I'm Mike Gilliam
for Science & U!

00:22:24.610,00:22:26.612
>>>CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: Think
about the size of New York City.

00:22:26.612,00:22:29.748
Millions of people. Now think
about how much water we use.

00:22:29.748,00:22:32.818
But where does all that water go
once it heads down the drain?

00:22:32.818,00:22:35.654
For most of us it's out of
sight, out of mind.

00:22:35.654,00:22:38.991
Managing and purifying New Yorks
water system is a massive

00:22:38.991,00:22:42.761
undertakng and the key might
just be harnessing the power

00:22:42.761,00:22:44.763
of tiny bacteria. Ari Goldberg
explains.

00:22:47.833,00:22:49.835
>>>ARI GOLDBERG: I'm Ari
Goldberg. Every day,

00:22:49.835,00:22:53.072
New York City generates 1.3
billion gallons of wastewater.

00:22:53.072,00:22:55.541
That's four hundred seventy
four and a half billion

00:22:55.541,00:22:58.644
gallons a year. Whenever
rain washes dirt into the sewer,

00:22:58.644,00:23:01.780
whenever you flush a toilet,
take a shower, do the laundry,

00:23:01.780,00:23:04.550
it ends up at one of New
York's 14 treatment plants.

00:23:04.550,00:23:07.453
It's an expensive and involved
process, one that the city

00:23:07.453,00:23:09.455
is trying to make
more efficient. 

00:23:09.455,00:23:14.393
>>>JOHN FILLOS: We
basically have been focusing on

00:23:14.393,00:23:17.663
applied research meaning
that we're looking to

00:23:17.663,00:23:19.832
solve real problems.

00:23:19.832,00:23:21.834
>>>ARI GOLDBERG: Professor
John Fillos and his team

00:23:21.834,00:23:23.903
at City College have been
tapped by the New York City

00:23:23.903,00:23:26.405
Department of Environmental
Protection to develop a

00:23:26.405,00:23:29.141
cheaper and greener technology
for the city's wastewater

00:23:29.141,00:23:32.811
treatment. Specifically, the
removal of excess nitrogen with

00:23:32.811,00:23:35.180
a tiny bacteria called anammox.

00:23:35.180,00:23:37.449
>>>JOHN FILLOS: When you
look at the nitrogen that

00:23:37.449,00:23:41.620
originates from wastewater,
it's in the form of ammonia

00:23:41.620,00:23:45.924
and it's organic nitrogen.
So when it's released into the

00:23:45.924,00:23:48.527
environment, whether it's
Jamaica Bay or

00:23:48.527,00:23:51.630
Long Island Sound, when
you go into an excess amount

00:23:51.630,00:23:54.933
is when you create the problems.

00:23:54.933,00:23:56.935
>>>ARI GOLDBERG: It sounds
almost counter intuitive

00:23:56.935,00:23:59.238
at first. Nitrogen is an
essential nutrient for life

00:23:59.238,00:24:02.508
after all. Conceptually when we
think of wastewater we think

00:24:02.508,00:24:06.312
of sludge and trash pollution,
but nutrient pollution?

00:24:06.312,00:24:08.881
However, it turns
out when excess nutrients

00:24:08.881,00:24:12.418
from household, industrial
and farming products end up

00:24:12.418,00:24:14.887
in our waterways, they can
disrupt oxygen levels,

00:24:14.887,00:24:16.889
marine life, and our
own drinking supply. 

00:24:16.889,00:24:18.958
>>>JOHN FILLOS: I guess
in some way people say

00:24:18.958,00:24:21.427
everything in moderation
is good so when we talk

00:24:21.427,00:24:24.830
about removing nitrogen
we're not talking about

00:24:24.830,00:24:28.334
reducing it to zero. We're
reducing it to a level,

00:24:28.334,00:24:33.205
which will sustain biological
activity in the waterways.

00:24:33.205,00:24:35.207
>>>ARI GOLDBERG: The goal
is to turn these toxic

00:24:35.207,00:24:37.209
levels of nitrogen
chemicals, for example

00:24:37.209,00:24:40.512
ammonia or nitrate, back
into pure safe nitrogen

00:24:40.512,00:24:43.749
gas, which will escape
safely back into the atmosphere.

00:24:43.749,00:24:46.452
Conventionally this process
took massive amounts of

00:24:46.452,00:24:49.555
energy and resources but
Professor Fillos' team is

00:24:49.555,00:24:52.057
harnessing the power of a
bacterial family known as

00:24:52.057,00:24:54.560
anammox to do the work for them.

00:24:54.560,00:24:56.562
>>>JOHN FILLOS: What we're
doing is we're trying to

00:24:56.562,00:24:58.697
find the most cost
effective way of doing it,

00:24:58.697,00:25:00.933
which means the least
amount of energy,

00:25:00.933,00:25:04.770
the least amount of chemicals
that you need. And what

00:25:04.770,00:25:07.005
happens, what we have
discovered that this

00:25:07.005,00:25:11.710
bacteria anammox is
capable of transforming

00:25:11.710,00:25:16.281
the nitrate to nitrogen
gas under anaerobic

00:25:16.281,00:25:19.852
conditions with the
minimum impact in terms of

00:25:19.852,00:25:23.655
energy demand, in
terms of chemical demand. 

00:25:23.655,00:25:25.657
>>>ARI GOLDBERG: The
anammox family of bacteria is a

00:25:25.657,00:25:28.327
relatively new find having only
been identified in the 1990's.

00:25:28.327,00:25:32.765
Early applications began in
Europe but now the City College

00:25:32.765,00:25:35.801
scientists are building that
technology here starting with

00:25:35.801,00:25:37.803
small scale reactors in the lab.

00:25:37.803,00:25:40.973
>>>JOHN FILLOS: Basically this
is a scale model of the reactor

00:25:40.973,00:25:43.776
that is going to eventually be
built to treat the

00:25:43.776,00:25:49.448
waste stream. We start with
basically clean media,

00:25:49.448,00:25:53.919
and the purpose of
this media is to immobilize the

00:25:53.919,00:25:58.424
anammox bacteria
by growing on its surface.

00:25:58.424,00:26:00.359
>>>ARI GOLDBERG: Anammox
is a very slow growing

00:26:00.359,00:26:02.594
bacteria and getting it to
flourish on these plastic

00:26:02.594,00:26:04.963
pieces was no easy task. 

00:26:04.963,00:26:07.299
>>>JOHN FILLOS: So that
process of developing this

00:26:07.299,00:26:12.971
bio-film on this clean
surface took about 6 months.

00:26:12.971,00:26:16.708
Okay. This is how
slow the process is.

00:26:16.708,00:26:20.946
And, to tell you the truth,
halfway through we became

00:26:20.946,00:26:23.882
so frustrated that we
thought it was never going

00:26:23.882,00:26:26.185
to happen but it
eventually happened and it

00:26:26.185,00:26:27.986
worked very very well. 

00:26:27.986,00:26:29.988
>>>MAHSA MERHDAD: The
challenges we face during

00:26:29.988,00:26:34.193
the operation was specifically
related to the wastewater

00:26:34.193,00:26:38.497
characteristics in New York,
that we didn't expect

00:26:38.497,00:26:40.532
it in the beginning.

00:26:40.532,00:26:42.534
>>>ARI GOLDBERG: Despite
these obstacles, once they

00:26:42.534,00:26:44.837
had nurtured a population
of anammox, it was time to

00:26:44.837,00:26:47.106
incorporate them into the
waste treatment process.

00:26:47.106,00:26:49.808
Mahsa Merhdad is a
Ph.D. student working

00:26:49.808,00:26:51.443
with Professor Fillos.

00:26:51.443,00:26:53.445
>>>MAHSA MERHDAD: So here
on the screen we can take

00:26:53.445,00:26:59.751
a look into the controls
here. In the summer we can

00:26:59.751,00:27:03.255
temperature, ph, d.o., of
the reactor and also we

00:27:03.255,00:27:09.294
can control the pumps. We
can calibrate the system.

00:27:09.294,00:27:11.296
>>>ARI GOLDBERG: So as
nitrogen waste is fed into

00:27:11.296,00:27:13.966
the reactor a critical
mass of bacteria is now

00:27:13.966,00:27:16.568
able to feed on that waste
converting it to harmless

00:27:16.568,00:27:19.004
nitrogen gas. And in
the process, cleaning our

00:27:19.004,00:27:21.373
water. And the future
looks promising for this

00:27:21.373,00:27:24.710
technology, using less
resources and costing less

00:27:24.710,00:27:26.712
money then
conventional methods. 

00:27:26.712,00:27:29.615
>>>MAHSA MERHDAD: Anammox
for its growth doesn't

00:27:29.615,00:27:33.785
need any external organic
carbon and the demand for

00:27:33.785,00:27:38.757
oxygen is also reduced by
60%. It is more sustainable,

00:27:38.757,00:27:41.360
more cost effective-

00:27:41.360,00:27:43.829
>>>JOHN FILLOS: The
next phase was to build a

00:27:43.829,00:27:47.733
larger scale, a pilot
unit, which we did this at

00:27:47.733,00:27:51.570
the 26th Ward Wastewater
Treatment Plant.

00:27:51.570,00:27:54.907
That project has also been
completed. It demonstrated

00:27:54.907,00:27:57.943
the practicality and the
cost effectiveness of the

00:27:57.943,00:28:00.879
process and the city of
New York is in the process

00:28:00.879,00:28:04.783
of now putting together a
request for proposal for a

00:28:04.783,00:28:07.252
full scale operation. 

00:28:07.252,00:28:09.254
>>>ARI GOLDBERG: While
this full scale operation will

00:28:09.254,00:28:12.124
still take a while to implement,
thanks to Professor Fillos'

00:28:12.124,00:28:15.260
team and a tiny bacteria
called anammox, within the next

00:28:15.260,00:28:17.529
few years we can
expect all of New York City's

00:28:17.529,00:28:20.499
wastewater treatment
plants to be both more efficient

00:28:20.499,00:28:23.268
and more environmentally
friendly. From City College,

00:28:23.268,00:28:25.270
I'm Ari Goldberg
for Science & U!

00:28:27.239,00:28:28.674
>>>CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: That's
our show for today. 

00:28:28.674,00:28:31.076
Join us next month for
a fascinating look at

00:28:31.076,00:28:33.078
engineering in our
every day lives.

00:28:33.078,00:28:35.847
From your commute to your
local Girl Scout troop.

00:28:35.847,00:28:38.183
I'm Carol Anne Riddell, thanks
for joining us for Science & U!

00:28:40.085,00:28:46.091
♪♪ [THEME MUSIC] ♪♪