I'm excited to introduce Miss Gwen Buck, a junior board member at This Is My Quest. Gwen has been exploring her passion for writing, focusing on topics like the environment, conservation, and our ecosystem. I believe this is the perfect platform to share some of her insightful work with you all.​

Written by Gwen Buck

Don't be salty, protect our environment! 

I live in a pretty rural area right next to a creek. So when I learned about how bad road salt is for the environment, especially the streams, I had to do some research and testing. Fortunately right by me the salt levels in the creek are at a good level. But any road salt in our streams is bad. Salt can be good in the right amount, but road salt is not good in any amount due to the added chemicals. 

First of all what we are putting on our roads isn't just salt, it's also minerals that are bad for our environment. Chemicals that may be in road salt are sodium chloride, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, and urea. Two of the most toxic things that can be in road salt are chloride and cyanide which is an anti-caking agent. 

Some of the drawbacks of salt are: 

Salt can corrode vehicles, trucks, concrete, and steel bridges. 

Salt can contaminate drinking water. 

Salt can harm aquatic life. 

Salt can increase soil erosion. 

Salt can damage private and public property. However some environments have small amounts of naturally occurring salt and have adapted to it. 

Second, if the salt levels get too high in our fresh water streams, it will kill all sorts of aquatic creatures and plants that just aren't designed to survive in salt water. One of the other ways it affects the water is that it can lower the oxygen levels, which can create dead spots that things can't live in due to lack of oxygen. 

It also affects land animals because it doesn't just affect the water it affects everything. Some animals, like deer, are attracted to road salt as they crave salt especially in late spring and summer. They like the sodium but other added chemicals can be dangerous as well as the deer being in the road to get the salt can increase roadkill. Another land animal affected by road salt is birds, since they have less efficient kidneys then mammals at removing sodium. Salt also dries out and kills plants, since salt absorbs the water taking it away from the plants. 

It also affects our drinking water, if you've ever been to the beach and accidentally drank salt water you know it's not exactly pleasant. 

So what can we use other than salt? We can use wood ash on our driveways. This creates traction without harming anything. 

Other things that can be used instead of road salts are chips, straw, ash or sand. So take a second thought before covering your driveway in salt and help the environment.