Final APES Blog

As the term winds down with only 5 students left in our D block APES class, we have taken on the job of creating an eco tour for the Proctor campus Using the app Aurasma. This eco tour will allow the Proctor community along with visitors to embark on a tour of campus that elaborates on the energy usage and special eco-friendly features that the building may contain.


Our Proctor eco tour is designed with a layout that we have put into a brochure. As a group we have designed the tour in a way that we follow the Admissions, Green Key tour route. The route starts at Maxwell Savage (the administration building) and flows clockwise throughout campus, traveling on the South side of the pond to start and looping around to the North side.

Here shows a look at the
brochure that the class has put together.


On the left is the cover,
on the right is the back,
and below is the inside
of the brochure

In order to tell Proctor's story, we have included the use of a free app called Aurasma. Aurasma is an app available for both apple and android and it allows the maker to embed an informational video, picture, or idea into a background image that can be scanned using just the camera on your phone.

As the Proctor story began taking place, our class was given the opportunity to present our idea, our tour, and the brochure to the community for the first time at Innovation night. We started the night off with an open science fair type setting where students, parents and faculty could try out the product, ask questions and give us feedback. The next part of the night was a formal presentation where we presented our tour and a presentation. I believe that this part was very beneficial. It allowed for the community to see the process of creating the tour and how the app Aurasma truly functions. 

After the presentations were completed we were back in the classroom organizing and creating a full working and flowing tour that contained these key buildings on campus that we had chosen. 

Maxwell Savage

Shirley Hall

Carr House

Eco Dorm

Fowler Learning Center

Dinning Hall (New)

Hockey Rink

Peabody

Sugar House

Sally B

Meeting House 

Biomass

Once the tour was finalized with the Aurasma trigger images, the brochure and the images put up on the selected buildings, it was time to show what we had been working on for the last 3 weeks. It was time to put our work to the test and to face the criticism, suggestions and reactions of people who we took on the tour as a class as well as friends and classmates on our own time. 

The first "outsiders" to take the tour  after final revisions were Alan's two daughters. After Alan had picked them up from school, we had set off on our journey. We visited both Carr House and the Fowler Learning Center. 

The Girls reacting to the Carr House Aura

But... We did have to stop for a little break of fun!

Last stop of the day was the Fowler Learning Center.

The girls are finding what the FLC trigger image is.

On Tuesday, it was our last class day before the long exam block which we decided to use for blog revisions. As a class we set off again to find some faculty and peers to take on parts of the tour to capture their reactions. As we traveled through the wise center we found a few peers that were willing to come check out the project that we were working on. 

The reactions were very pleasing. We got many, "Wow's" and "Thats really cool". Which was a good sign. As the project designers we had to figure out how the app worked and get feedback on both the tour and the app itself. 

My second interview of the day was with Daisy Bewley after I took her to the Sugarhouse. 

I asked her, What was your first reaction?

She answered, "Since I have taken APES before, I somewhat knew what was going to happen, but I didn't expect a video to pop up! That was really cool!"

My next question was, Can you think of a setting where we can use this app around campus?

She responded, "Maybe admissions, On open house days they can send families out to take the tour and lean the campus and the people in an interactive way."

My final question was, What building do You believe will be interesting to see in the tour?

Daisy said, "Maybe Maxwell Savage, I know there is a lot of history in that building, and it was a big part of Andover."

Next we met David Netburn at the Hockey rink. Netburn in a boys varsity hockey player who volunteered to check out the hockey rink Aurasma. David showed us the best reaction we had gotten all week.

He said, "I had no idea there were even solar panels on the roof, are you serious?"

Netburns feedback and reactions... You can say he was a little camera shy.

With the reactions and feedback that we had gained the last two days, we were confident that all of the 11 Auras that we had created, not only worked, but were effective to the viewer. I noticed that all of the tours participants were engaged and were willing to take part, and give feedback as our "guinea pigs".

As a class we took a total of about 20 peers to view the tour and a visit multiple Auras around campus. Out of that 20 people, we had experienced 3 complications with either the app or the Auras. With the three people having trouble we were able to asses the problems and get them fixed. 

As seen in this video, Ryan is having trouble loading the Aura, as Annie and Avery are having no trouble at all. As we figured out, Ryan's wifi was slow, so after shutting his wifi off, the video loaded without problems.

With the tour being successful, we will use our long exam block to show off our hard work and gain our knowledge of the tour based on the reaction and feedback of the faculty and students.

Some constructive criticism that we got today during the exam block tours from Scott and Dan included, sound being too dull (maybe bring headphones), text is too small or too fast, arms get tired, and only have one piece of information at a time.

This criticism can be introduced into the tour, and hopefully a class will pick up next year where we left off.

Proctor is such an amazing place, Each place and each building tell a different story. We do not want that story to slip through the cracks and be forgotten about.

Come visit us for a tour, or email myself at bonewalder@proctoracademy.org for a copy of the tours brochure and for more information.

We look forward to your input and feedback.

Annie loves the tour, why wouldn't you!?

Have a great summer!

All videos and photos by myself: Eric Bonewald

Eco Tour Blog 2

As we begin week three of working on our environmental campus tour we have come to a point where a rough draft is beginning to take shape.

In order for us to have a working draft and model for Innovation night tuesday May 17th we have divided the project. Each of us have been assigned two buildings on campus, while Eamonn has worked on the new dining hall and the map or project brochure with keys to the tour and locations of the buildings.

As we all work individually on our section of the project, we are constantly collaborating with one another to figure out a problem, find a way around something or even politely critique each other's work.

Picture by Aurasma

As time goes by, I am becoming a better Aurasma user and creator. I have been able to create my trigger image, then I have been able to use Imovie to manipulate video footage that Proctor has in order to create a short informative video about a building on campus.

Picture by Proctor Academy

The building on campus that I am proud to say I have created the video for is the Sugar Shack. 

In order to see the Aurasma I have made you must scan the Johnson Family Sugarhouse sign (As seen below). Next pops up a short video I have created (Also seen below).

Enjoy!

Here is my Aurasma video 

D-APES Aurasma Project

As we near the end of the school year, the class has been whittled down to only five. The seniors left the class for senior project, so in order to make use of our time in D Block, we are working to create a virtual tour of campus, both online and interactive by walking.

Who wouldn't want a tour of this beautiful community and environment?

Photo by Jim Block

Our Goal

The goal that we have set for ourselves, it to focus on a handful of key buildings and places on campus and tell their stories. What makes this building so great? What is the history behind it? What is its key element that the building uses to either reduce energy or use natural resources such as the sun, geothermal, and biomass. Below are photos of a few renewable resources that we use here at Proctor (Solar and Biomass).

Photo by Revision Energy

Photo by Chuck Will

Our story

In order to tell Proctor's story, we have included the use of a free app called Aurasma. Aurasma is an app available for both apple and android and it allows the maker to embed an informational video, picture, or link into a background image that can be scan using the camera on your phone.

So, why don't you just download the app on your apple or android store to save yourself the trouble later, It looks like this...

Picture by Aurasma

Class Work

For the first two days we had continued to brainstorm and create a map of campus in the order taken by the green key tours. By creating this map, we then assigned each building with a trait of a characteristic that we could focus on. 

The Library and day lighting

Photo by Eric Bonewald

The meeting house and solar

Photo by Revision Energy

The new dining hall and geothermal 

Photo by Andover Beacon

Each of these buildings, and each system tells a story about the innovation and technology as well as Proctor itself. 

Final Mission

Proctor is such an amazing place, Each place and each building tell a different story. We do not want that story to slip through the cracks and be forgotten about.

Come visit us and take the tour on innovation night, May 17th.

Carbon Neutrality at Proctor

In the D block APES classroom we stem from this idea of carbon neutrality. What even is carbon neutrality? Are we at Proctor Academy carbon neutral? Carbon neutrality is having a net zero carbon footprint. This is accomplished by balancing the carbon that you produce and emit by the amount of carbon that you can sequester or offset.

At proctor Academy out mission is to teach and practice sustainability throughout or school community. In our mission statement we say, "We strive to attain and sustain a carbon-neutral footprint on campus."

Through the teachings, we connect with nature. We bond with nature. And we rely on nature. Today was a perfect example. Today was our "EAARTH DAY" and this years theme, connecting with nature. For my part in Eaarth day I visited Spring Ledge Farm in New London NH. We toured the farm with the owner Greg Berger, and landed a helping hand for two hours. While on the visit I learned how much we rely on what we have been given in nature. The sun, the soil, the rocks, the rain, the insects, the people. All of these things are what make a place like Spring Ledge so special. Everyone who works there realizes and appreciates the beauty and the power that nature possess.

Picture by Spring Ledge Farm

Picture of Greg Berger by Colby Sawyer

Spring Ledge is the only retail farm in the town of New London and Greg Berger's dream is to keep the place health, happy and earth friendly. This trip to Spring Ledge Farm was just one of the many possibilities of workshops created on this day to help connect over 300 teenagers to nature. And all I can hope is that all 300 other students have a greater understanding and appreciation for the nature that surrounds us.

So, Are we Carbon Neutral?

Lets start of slow, and not jump to conclusions.

For the past week our class has been learning about and researching renewable resources. At proctor we do still rely on fossil fuels such as oil and propane, but for little, minor uses, as a back up. On campus, presently, we are noticeably reliant on solar power and Biomass. Solar arrays can be located on the meeting house, hockey rink, the boat house, the ski hill and the bike shed to name a few. But with the process of building a new dining hall we have drilled 42 geothermal wells to heat and cool the building, NATURALLY! The Biomass is a way that we successfully use a renewable resource such as trees, and burn them for heat. By using the Biomass we help ourselves become closer to carbon neutral because the carbon that is emitted through burning the wood had already been absorbed. So if you think about it, we are not adding to the carbon in that way, we are just "relocating it."

Now getting to this idea of carbon neutral, are we there yet?

At Proctor we do our best to become and stay carbon neutral on a yearly basis. We are lucky enough to own just under 3000 acres, we own land which we can use for things like eco-friendly buildings, solar arrays and amazing and green athletic fields. Each year Proctor crunches the numbers to see what we are really putting into our environment. 

In class we were faced with this problem. "Find out if we are carbon neutral, and if not, how long until we are."

Lets put our math skills to the test. 

• At proctor we have about 2300 acres of woodlands. Each acre of woods can absorb 1.22 CO2e mtons/yr. 

From that right there we can calculate the moons of CO2 that our woods can absorb per year. 

2300 x 1.22 = 2806 mtons CO2/yr

We then found out through Proctor's calculations that we emitted 1425.93 mtons CO2/yr last year. If we emit only 1426 mtons CO2/yr and our woods can absorb 2806 mtons CO2/yr then we have room for 1380 mtons CO2/yr that we can emit. Here is the catch, some things there is no clear guidelines on where we keep track of our emissions. Mini buses, airplanes for getting to Spain, France and Costa Rica. All of these variables are unaccounted for because there is no define line on them. 

So in class we decide to test our numbers even more. 

• If we have about 20 mini buses, each one gets 9 MPG, and they drive about 60 miles twice a week. 

And again, we calculated our carbon emissions from the mini bus travel. 

20 x 60 x 2 = 2400/9 = 266 x 22(lbs of CO2 per gallon of gas) = 5852 lbs CO2

5852 lbs CO2 = 2.66 mtons CO2/yr 

2.66 mtons CO2/yr x 30 weeks per year = a grand total of... 80 mtons CO2/yr

In total with mini buses we emit around 1506 mtons CO2/yr. 

            The answer for, "Are we Carbon Neutral" is YES

... For now ... 

What I have found in my math is that on paper we are carbon neutral. But just because some pieces of our emissions are not documented does that mean they aren't really there? Or they aren't our problem? 

No matter what the math tells us, we can always be better. we can always do more. So, while it is good to crunch the numbers to see where we fall, I think we should get out in the world, experience nature, learn from nature, and do even more to protect and preserve it. 

Preserve and protect our home

Picture by Chuck Will

Atoms for Peace

Picture by: thebreakthrough.org

     In the film Pandora's Promise by Robert Stone, we are introduced to the ideas, benefits, and consequences of nuclear power. Nuclear meltdowns such as Three Mile Island, Fukushima, and Chernobyl set the stage for the publics eye on nuclear power alone with the atomic bomb. Pandora's Promise is filled with personal stories of environmentalists and energy experts who risked their careers and reputaions from changing their views on nuclear power from strongly anti-nuclear to strongly pro-nuclear power. The experts we meet throughout the story of Pandora's Promise are extremely passionate about the work that they do for nuclear energy and will continue to fight for what they believe in.

     For us at Proctor Academy, nestled in the small town of Andover, New Hampshire; nuclear energy and power does not seem to be on our minds. As for I am only 17 years old, I, along with my classmates were not alive to live and witness the troubles of many catastrophic nuclear meltdowns. The only melt down that comes to mind is that of  Fukushima, a nuclear meltdown that followed a very destructive combination of both an earthquake and a tsunami. Because of the slight possibility of a nuclear failure occurring, I tend not to think about this specific energy source.

     In the opening scenes of Pandora's Promise, as an audience we get an introduction to nuclear energy. "There is no other energy source that can leave areas contaminated by such deadly chemicals." "To be anti-nuclear, you pretty much need to be pro-fossil fuels." "The dangers of nuclear power was made fun of by shows such as the Simpsons." These are some of the opening statements and arguments we are presented with by using nuclear power.

Photo by: sites.lafayette.edu
The photo above shows a nuclear power plant 

     Along the sequence of events in Pandora's Promise, we begin to hear about the positives of using nuclear energy. We learn that nuclear energy is a clean source of energy, which means it does not emit any greenhouse gas affects. Also, "1 pound of uranium (the size of your finger tip) has the equivalent of about 5,000 barrels of oil." But as the movie continued on, I found one statistic to be surprisingly bizarre following the talk of destruction of Three Mile Island, Fukushima, and Chernobyl. "Death rates associated with each energy source placed nuclear as the second safest, just after wind power. And it is true, nuclear is ranked safer than solar power (due to toxins that are used to create solar panels).



     In my opinion, I believe that we should focus in the direction of clean energy. It has been proven, as shown in the video that we can create a nuclear reactor that is tested safe from all of the previous occurrences. I believe that we must focus on and direct money into the field of clean nuclear energy if we want a chance to survive on a planet with a growing population, a known factor of climate change and a supply of energy that will eventually run out.

And for those of you who believe that the only forms of 

radiation that you can be exposed to are from toxic sites,

 you are wrong...

Photo by: www.nytimes.com


We are exposed to radiation on a daily basis, just look at the proof that we get from Pandora's Promise 

Climate Change at Proctor

This week in APES our assignment is to submit a photo blog on climate change that we see throughout campus. Is there evidence that it is or is not occurring, or perhaps both?

While spending time on campus it is very hard for me to be observant enough to notice climate change and wether or not it is happening. This is my third year at Proctor and wile spending the last couple days walking around campus I can't see and immediate climate change, but I can compare what I see this year with past years.

Recently I have been noticing the lack of snow fall. 'As an Easter Skier how could you right?' So I looked into it. According to RichLeftko, a website I found with average snow falls says the New Hampshire state average snow fall (since they had started keeping data) was 69.75" per year. This winter we have counted just under 29" as an average. I know winter is not over, but Im not convinced we are getting 40 more inches in March.

Lack of snow fall seen on the turf fields (February)

With this crazy winter, I have noticed a dramatic change from last year. In the last two years, we have seen two dramatic winters. Last year was dramatically cold and this year, the opposite, dramatically warm. As a result of the brutally warm temperatures I have seen the small run off stream from the blackwater river you cross on your way to the ski hill is not frozen in mid February.

Unfrozen stream at the ski hill (February)

With this above average warm air it is almost impossible for water to freeze. Especially with the sudden increases and decreases in temperatures. This December in New Hampshire was a record breaking warm month. As you can see in the WMUR calendar, all of the red days are above average, blue is below and gray is average. This calendar goes to show the dramatic winter we are having. 

December 2015, Warmest ever

Both examples I have brought up here are reasons to believe Climate Change is happening, But Climate is defined as; "an area's long-term atmospheric conditions" While Weather is defined as; "the state of the atmosphere with respect to wind, temperature, pressure, and perspiration on a short term basis."

With the last two winters New Hampshire has seen, it is safe to say it it neither evidence of climate change or global warming, but 'Extreme Weather' where storms happen on a larger scale and become magnified. The extreme weather can be both snow storms and heat waves.

Change is inevitable, but are we speeding it up? What can we do so slow it down?

Lets stop warm winters like this from ever happening again. 

I know the Proctor ski hill will be happy with that!

All photos taken by Eric Bonewald

Calendar photo taken by WMUR

A Journey to Recycle Circle

On one cold Feb. 13th afternoon I took a trip to my local New London, Transfer Station. (Because of my tight schedule with skiing I was unable to attend the trip to the andover Transfer station.) I pulled in on a street named Recycle Circle and was immediately welcomed by the sight of the hustle and bustle of the 17 cars full of trash trying to be emptied at the same time.




With my absence of class the day my D block APES class visited Andover, I decided to reach out to my town Public Works Director to answer a few questions that I had on my local, town transfer station. 





I had five specific questions that I was curious about to enhance my understanding of my town transfer station.

     1. What percent of all the waste in the town is recovered through recycling? (Last year, New London recycled about 23% of our waste stream.)

Recycling (Pre-sort drop off)

     2. How many people does the transfer station usually see daily? (On average the town sees 300 vehicles per day. It can fluctuate due to the seasons. Summer and get up to 500 vehicles per day.)

     3. Is there a certain type of recycling system that we have? (New London uses a drop off system. Home owners need to pre-sort recyclables and the town will then process them separately.)

The recycling building

     4. Where does the trash go? Landfill or Incineration? (Trash from New London goes to a landfill in Berlin NH.)

Trash shoot into an 18 wheeler

     5. What are the items the town struggles with getting rid of the most? (Richard Lee, New London Public Works Director, told me that the items the town struggles most with is generally  all recyclables, but paper is the larges struggle to get rid of.)




Even though my experience was slightly different and didn't take place in a class setting I believe that my time spent at the New London transfer station was valuable. While the New London and Andover transfer stations hold similarities they also hold major differences. In Andover, the town runs on Single stream recycling which is zero sort, and all recyclables can get thrown together. In New London, the town runs on a pre-sort system where all recyclables must be sorted by the home owner. As a result to the different styles of recycling Andover recovers 72% of its waste while New London only recovers 23% of waste. I strongly believe this is due to the single stream recycling Andover uses which takes up less space, takes up less time, and takes up less energy.

In New London, the waste that is not recovered it eventually transported to a landfill in Berlin NH, while Andover's waste is brought to an incinerator. Both methods work to get rid of the trash we produce, but neither are 100% clean and 100% safe for the environment.



My takeaway from this experience is that recycling in a major part in the battle to our global trash problem. As a community we must reduce and reuse as much as possible to give our planet the best chance of survival. Also through comparing the Andover and New London transfer stations, I can now say that I am a believer in the single stream recycling, and will hope to do further research and data collection that I can use to help my town make an informed and factual decision on our recycling choices. Maybe New London has been doing it wrong all along.

The benefit of recycling 

All photos taken by Eric Bonewald

Chasing the Inversion

For the last week I have been thinking of ideas for my Chasing the Inversion photo blog. Even being a day student and spending time away from campus every day I was struggling with a circumstance to photograph. With the option to attend polar swim on Friday Feb. 12th not being available, I started to explore other options.

My inability to capture a moment of Inversion I resorted to my past summer when I spent time skiing in Chile. While the ski trip was one of the most amazing opportunities I have ever been a part of, it was also one of the most eye opening.

The ski resort, El Colorado

When walking through the Santiago airport in Chile, I could see through the large bay windows, the poor and depressed city. Through the large sliding glass doors we were abruptly hit with a thick layer of what looked to me to be fog or smoke. Come to find out it was smog.

For the last week or so in my D block APES class we have been discussing Air pollution and have been focused on the differences in smog. There are two major types of smog,  Brown and Gray Smog. By researching a little bit about Santiago as a city I have learned that the smog I was experiencing was Brown Smog, also known as photochemical smog.

This picture you can see in the upper right corner the smog covering the city of Santiago Chile.

This Picture above shows the Photochemical Smog that is covering the city of Santiago. Photochemical Smog is mainly produced by vehicle use and combustion in urban areas. This smog is produced when sunlight drives a series of reactions involving primary pollutants. Due to the sunlight Photochemical Smog regularly peaks in the afternoon, after both rush hour and a long day of sunshine.

Mountains surrounding the city of Santiago

As the pictures show the city is surrounded by large mountains which help trap in the smog. The way thermal inversion works is, warm air sits above the cold air on the ground. The warm air contains and pushes the pollution down below the layer of warmth. This creates smog. In a sense, the pollutants become trapped with no way out above the clouds and continue to build until the weather changes. Because of the mountains surrounding the city, it adds another constraint to the pollution from the sides. Not only can the smog go up, but it can't even go sideways.


As the trip was fun and I got to do what I loved, skiing, I realized how different rural New Hampshire is from a dirty, poor and depressed urban city like Santiago. So what can I do? More importantly, what can we do? As the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets standards for emissions nation wide, we can still help out and do our part by reducing our car use by car pooling and riding bikes, and continue to find cleaner ways to supply us with power and run our factories.

DO YOUR PART, REDUSE YOUR EMISSIONS. 

I CHALLENGE YOU, WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Help preserve this precious earth.


All Photos taken by Eric Bonewald

The bioremediation expert, Kent comes to class.

Kent Armstrong
Picture from Kent's Twitter

In class on Monday, January 25th Kent Armstrong came to the campus of Proctor Academy in little Andover NH to talk with our D block APES class. Kent is a environmental manager and is a Bioremediation specialist. Kent works for a company named, BioStryke, which deals with toxic and contaminated areas by cleaning them up or contain them using bioremediation.



Before Kent is able to treat a site he must think, what will happen to the public health, what could be potentially effected and the environmental risks. After Kent has to give the client a price, an estimate of what it will cost. But here is the thing, the client can save money by using Kent and his bioremediation process if he has the time to wait. If he does not have the time to wait the client must think about more expensive but quicker methods such as soil washing, inorganic chemical stabilization, disposal in a land fill or incineration.


When Kent is hired and arrives at a site, he has a process and an order of which to follow.

• First he and his team evaluate. By evaluating they are looking into the history of the site, the previous testings of the site, and they will start to take mall site samples. 
• Second Kent and his team will survey and map. Surveying and mapping allow Kent to then create a flow rate for the contaminants and bare samples, and have locations for these samples.
• Thirdly we have Kent's specialty. The Bioremediation. The process of bioremediation is as follows, with the ability of drilling Kent injects the contaminated area with "food". This "food" consists of things like carbohydrates and sugars. Kent adds biostimulants to enhance the bioremediation process. ("Bioremediation is a technique for waste management that involves the use of organisms, the bugs, to remove or neutralize the chemicals from contaminated sites.) 

*Below shows a comprehendible picture of bioremediation*

picture by: science.halleyhosting.com

You may ask yourself like I did, does bioremediation actually work? The answer in yes. Kent and his team at BioStryke have proof. That after 15 years a previously contaminated site of theirs was tested with no remaining results of any contaminants. As Kent said, "There may be a couple of yellow tennis balls left (meaning toxic material) but such a small amount that the sampling has not picked up any traces." If you have the time to wait and the money to do so, your safest bet is to use our friend Kent and his company BioStryke to clean up all of your toxic messes. 

By having Kent come visit and talk to our class I have a greater understanding of not only bioremediation, but other ways of going about cleaning up toxic land areas. While the luxury of having the class discussion on youtube to watch after Kent had come to class is great, I do wish I had gotten the chance to meet with him and person and ask a couple of clarifying questions about a topic or just ask some more questions about his life and how he got top where he is. There was not only a lot to what Kent had to say but a lot of meaning, even if he did go off onto little tangents. The effect that Kent has on these areas with little hope is amazing. It gives me hope that one day I can do my part in helping the planet we all share and live on together, Earth.

To some this information may be advanced or too much, so if there is one thing I want you to take away from this blog is that Kent and BioStryke are doing amazing things to help our environment and they are doing their part in "Helping mother nature out with the overflow of substances that she can not keep up with herself."

Lets now do our part to never need need BioStryke and to never see this.

Picture by: BioStryke