{"id":3795,"date":"2019-08-19T19:42:03","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T19:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/?p=3795"},"modified":"2020-05-19T16:47:11","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T16:47:11","slug":"the-big-impact-of-imperceptible-things-david-oonk-on-fracking-and-microplastics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/2019\/08\/19\/the-big-impact-of-imperceptible-things-david-oonk-on-fracking-and-microplastics\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big Impact of Imperceptible Things: David Oonk on Fracking and Microplastics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

by Alison Gilchrist, CSTPR Science Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This summer, CSTPR\u2019s own David Oonk is working with the Center for a New Energy Economy<\/a> (CNEE) to make the communication of climate research to policy makers a little bit easier. CNEE is headed by Colorado\u2019s 41st Governor, Bill Ritter, Jr.<\/a> and was formed to help the government create policies that steer the United States in the direction of clean energy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey do a lot of information synthesis. They build out dashboards, really helpful information centers. They run workshops, all trying to connect the technical information around energy policy to decision-makers,\u201d said Oonk. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to better inform energy policy-related decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNEE, founded in 2011, is a department of Colorado State\nUniversity. Oonk is excited about the variety of topics he\u2019ll be working on as\none of the graduate interns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince I\u2019ve been spending so much time on natural gas and\nfossil fuel related policy, I\u2019m interested in building out some more expertise\non renewable energy policies and energy financing policies,\u201d said Oonk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oonk is a graduate student in the Atlas Institute<\/a>, where he studies oil and gas development and policy in Colorado. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo credit: David Oonk.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe case study I\u2019m looking at right now is hydraulic fracturing in the Front Range,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to understand decision making around it. I\u2019m also trying to understand its implications for our energy transitions because of climate change, and the air quality risks and impacts that we\u2019re experiencing: how do we measure them, what are the uncertainties, and how do we make decisions about them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oonk makes the point that many of the health impacts of\nfracking are hard to measure, but must certainly be considered when policy\ndecisions about the process are made. It\u2019s hard to see the toxic effects of benzene\nand ozone (both emitted during the process of fracking) as a civilian, but policy\nmakers should be aware of them when considering fracking legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is an interesting tension between the requirement of\nscience, measurement, and instruments to measure what is going on, and the\nserious health questions around it,\u201d said Oonk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, he is generally interested in studying the large impacts of nearly invisible things. As well as the effects of fracking on air quality, Oonk is also studying the tiny pieces of plastic that end up in our mountain streams\u2014microplastics. Along with Patrick Chandler<\/a>, another graduate student in CSTPR, he is measuring these microplastics in Rocky Mountain streams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re essentially going to monitor a bunch of streams around the Front Range, up and down watersheds,\u201d said Oonk. \u2018We want to see, one: if microplastics are present, which the pilot study suggests that they are; and, two: what plastics are in there, and what concentrations they\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He will also be working with Chandler to display this\ninformation in a way that is engaging, artistic, and informative.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing all the data collection and analysis this summer, and then in addition to that, we\u2019re doing an exhibit that is going to be up in CU\u2019s Sustainability, Energy and Environment Community (SEEC) sometime this Fall,\u201d he said. \u201cThat will be a photography, sound and video multimedia exhibit.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo credit: David Oonk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Oonk and Chandler\u2019s goal is to make the prevalence and\nproblems of microplastics visible to the naked eye. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the goals of the art is to bring the microscopic,\ninvisible world, make it perceptible, and make it emotive,\u201d said Oonk. \u201cWe\u2019re\ntrying to elicit some reaction to the fact that our reach as a species, our\npollution as a species, is so great that even the areas we think are still\npristine are in fact infected by our plastic use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oonk\u2019s work shows us how important it is to find a way to\nexplain or display the impact of things we can\u2019t see or appreciate. The more we\ncan understand the small changes, the more we can anticipate and alleviate the\nmore damaging changes that follow. From air quality as a result of fracking to\nthe insidious prevalence of microplastics, David Oonk is helping us understand\nthe big impact of imperceptible things. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alison Gilchrist, CSTPR Science Writer This summer, CSTPR\u2019s own David Oonk is working with the Center for a New Energy Economy (CNEE) to make the communication of climate research to policy makers a little bit easier. CNEE is headed … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentaries","category-science-writer-alison-gilchrist"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 16:36:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3795"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4345,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3795\/revisions\/4345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciresblogs.colorado.edu\/prometheus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}