Mary Catherine O'Connor

Diving Deep: Microfiber Investigative Series for Ensia

June 19, 2018 by mcoc

For a three-part multimedia series for the online magazine Ensia, I described how microfiber pollution is a growing concern around the world. Tiny fibers shed by synthetic (and natural) textiles are often covered in potentially toxic dyes and treatment chemicals and are being found in our food, our water and the air we breathe. This […]

Categories: Action Sports, Gear, Lifecycle, Microfiber Pollution, Oceans, Policy, Recreation, Technology • Tags: ensia, lifecycle, mark browne, microfiber pollution, ocean plastic, synthetic fibers, textiles

On the Progress and Promise of Water Reuse

December 29, 2017 by mcoc

Building codes and regulations are changing—slowly—to accommodate systems that support the capture and reuse of graywater and blackwater. Architect Magazine Water is omnipresent in Virginia Beach, Va., where the Chesapeake Bay meets the Atlantic. Due to rising sea levels and land subsidence, sunny-day flooding during high tide is common here and in surrounding towns, stressing […]

Categories: Climate Change, Energy, Food and Agriculture, Lifecycle, Oceans, Policy, Technology • Tags: building codes, chesapeak bay, drinking water act, drought, graywater, sea level rise, water quality, water recycling, water reuse

Alternate Materials and Methods: The Hoops of Specifying Green Products

November 11, 2017 by mcoc

For projects pursuing high standards in sustainable design and environmental health, architects should expect to work closely with manufacturers and code officials. Architect Magazine Architects who want to pursue the International Living Future Institute’s (ILFI’s) Living Building Challenge (LBC) or an upper tier of certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC’s) LEED rating system often find themselves in […]

Categories: Uncategorized

Ten Years After the Spill, a Look at Where the Cosco Busan Settlement Funding Went

November 7, 2017 by mcoc

Around one third of the $32.3 million directed toward restoration has been spent. Bay Nature The Bay was blanketed in fog on the morning of November 7, 2007 as the container ship M/V Cosco Busan steamed out of the Port of Oakland, toward the Golden Gate. Due to a chain of blunders by its crew, […]

Categories: Oceans, Policy, Recreation, Transportation, Wildlife • Tags: and Bureau of Land Management, Bay Bridge, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California State Lands Commission, Cosco Busan, Delta Tower, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, national park service, nesting habitats, oil spill, Port of Oakland, restoring eelgrass and oyster beds, san francisco bay, trail-building, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Lerner’s Permit: How Young Is Too Young to Begin Avalanche Ed?

November 1, 2017 by mcoc

Teens are breaking trail in the backcountry well before they can drink, vote, or even drive. Avalanche educators are hustling to get to them early. Outside Magazine In 2013, 15-year-old Dawson Toth was perched on a ridge watching his best friend, Evan, ski down the north slope of Hero’s Knob, a popular backcountry area in […]

Categories: Action Sports, Recreation, Technology, Wilderness • Tags: American Avalanche Institute, Avalanche Canada, avalanche safety, Dawson Toth, Jordy Hendrikx, Sarah Carpenter, Selkirks

Building Codes that Promote Resilient Design Still Get a Mixed Reception

October 30, 2017 by mcoc

Five years after Hurricane Sandy—and in the wake of a brutal hurricane season—architects face both forward and backward momentum in their efforts to champion resilient design standards. Architect Magazine Just days before Hurricane Irma made landfall, Michael Lingerfelt, FAIA, sold his house in Orlando, Fla. But the new owners weren’t left in a lurch: Though […]

Categories: Climate Change, Policy, Technology, Transportation • Tags: federal alliance for safe homes, Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Sandy, international code council, resilient design

AI for Good: Energy, Water, Food

September 19, 2017 by mcoc

A series looking at how the energy, food and water sectors are using AI and machine learning to try to reduce consumption, cut costs and make the use of resources more efficient. It’s not kindness, it’s economics. Medium ($) How Artificial Intelligence Is Making Energy Smarter and Cleaner Artificial intelligence is powering more and more of […]

Categories: Climate Change, Energy, Food and Agriculture, Oceans, Technology • Tags: artificial intelligence, energy, energy efficiency, faming, fossil fuels, hydroponics, machine learning, Medium, precision agriculture, solar, wastewater, water

The Wild West of Predator Control Is Hurting Humans and Pets

July 17, 2017 by mcoc

Idaho is the first Western state to take some action on dangerous cyanide traps, but it’s not enough Outside Magazine One day in mid-March, Canyon Mansfield took his three-year-old yellow lab, Casey, on a walk into open scrubland behind his house in Pocatello, Idaho. It was the boy’s happy place. About 400 yards from his […]

Categories: Food and Agriculture, Policy, Recreation, Wildlife • Tags: canyon mansfield, casey, coyotes, cyanide, M44, pocatello, predators, ranching, Wildlife services

Dumpster Diving Robots: Using AI for Smart Recycling

July 5, 2017 by mcoc

Recycling facilities use robotic sorting stations and object-recognition technology to identify and put garbage in its proper place. iQ magazine July 5, 2017 Filled with intricate mazes of high-speed conveyor belts carrying yesterday’s garbage, high-tech recycling centers use sophisticated sensors to sort plastic from paper from aluminum. While this technology may streamline sorting, it’s not […]

Categories: Technology • Tags: artificial intelligence, Intel, municipal recycling facility, recycling

Invisible plastic: microfibers are just the beginning of what we don’t see

June 29, 2017 by mcoc

The tiny pollutants in our clothes are forcing us to look harder for, and think more carefully about, the ways humans have shaped the environment The Guardian June 29, 2017 Opening my washing machine at the end of a cycle is not something that generally fills me with excitement. But today it did, because doing […]

Categories: Action Sports, Gear, Lifecycle, Oceans, Policy, Recreation, Technology • Tags: Guppy Friend, invisible plastic, microfiber, synthetic microfibers

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