Analyze current environmental issues within Maui’s bioregion from multiple perspectives and different scales.

The fringing coral reefs on Maui provide essential marine habitat, shoreline protection, subsistence food, and economic benefits through tourism.  However, they are under threat by higher sea surface temperatures, ocean acidification, sedimentation, nutrient loading, pollution, and habitat destruction.  Through a series of discussions, papers, and projects, I focused my studies towards gaining a better understanding of the threats and their negative impacts on Maui’s coral reefs.  

 

BIO 5010 Natural Systems Ecology

During this course, I applied knowledge using the compartment model for biogeochemical cycling to explore some of the human influences, such as anthropogenic nutrient loading, that severely limit the primary productivity of Maui’s fringing coral reefs.  Through these studies, I was better able to understand the connection between human activity on land and its negative impact on our nearshore marine ecosystems.

 

ENV 5011 Environmental Law & Policy

I explored the Clean Water Act (CWA), a statute that regulates point source pollution through permitting. The programs and standards are carried out and enforced in a federal-state partnership, which focuses on limiting the discharge of pollutants through “best available technology.”  Once I understood the basic mechanisms of the CWA, I applied that knowledge to better understand the details of a current case on Maui where the County was found at fault for indirectly discharging treated wastewater into the nearshore marine environment through injection wells without a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.  A deeper look into the cost-benefit analysis (CBA) process of managing risks revealed its imperfect approach, which artificially monetized health and environmental impacts from pollution discharge to achieve a decision-making framework. It created a subjective valuation that did not accurately take into account the intrinsic value of nature and further jeopardized the future capabilities of environmental services through market discounting.

 

RSC 5020 Climate Change & Resource Impacts

In addition to anthropogenic nutrient loading, higher sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification, due to the ocean’s absorbed anthropogenic increases of atmospheric CO2, are negatively impacting Maui’s marine ecosystems and the industries they support.  It is imperative to effectively manage stressors outside of climate change to enhance the resiliency of the coral reef communities and protect the services they provide.     

 

Supporting Coursework:

BIO 5010 Discussion 4: Human Influence on Biogeochemical Cycles

ENV 5011 Environmental Control through the Clean Water Act 

ENV 5011 Discussion 4.2: Hawaii Wildlife Fund v. County of Maui

ENV 5011 Discussion 5.2: CWA Cost-Benefit Analysis

RSC 5020 Ocean Acidification Excerpt from Climate Change and Maui: Indicators, Impacts, and Responses