The democratic candidates in this presidential election race all have ideas on environmental issues which is just what the country needs to step it up concerning these issues. One of the strongest voices in the democratic group for environmental change is Bernie Sanders. His platform includes a nationwide carbon tax and using the funds to finance renewable energy actions. He is against the keystone pipeline and wants to see the federal government cut funding for large animal farms. With that money he would like to move the funds to organic agriculture. The other main candidate is Hillary Clinton and she is also involved with environmental issues. Like Sanders, she supported the Kyoto Protocol and speaks to the issue of climate change. She would also like to achieve carbon neutrality nationwide and puts support behind this issue. Clinton also supports efforts to help clean land and the endangered species.
San Francisco Bay: Bird populations doubled since 2003 in vast salt pond restoration area10/22/2015 From 2002 to present day, the bird population has doubled from roughly 100,000 to 200,000. The bird population was decreasing extremely due to pollution and the salt levels used for food and medicine, however the flats have been on the road to recovery after the clean water act and the endangered species act was passed. Many species have come back to the area and reintroduced such as birds, fish, harbor seals, leopard sharks, and many other animals. In order to achieve this the government took two important steps; they opened up 50 ponds, some larger than 500 football fields, and they have restored around 2,000 acres of land to either ponds or marshes and have fixed the saline level in many areas as well. The species have been recovering faster than expected which is great news for the environment as those species that might have gone endangered are now beginning to thrive.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/ci_29008935/san-francisco-bay-bird-populations-doubled-since-2003 A recent effort to make Azusa Pacific University’s campus sustainability provides a bright hope for the future. Many new environmental projects are being implemented in order to improve the efficiency of the campus. It is extremely important for institutions like universities to stress the importance of sustainability. As the future generations begin to take over the functions of our world, it is important for them to be aware of what steps we need to take to be environmentally healthy. Many universities are following in Azusa’s footsteps if they have not already. This is a great place to start changing the views of people in our world.
The wildfires that have been roaring in the western states have been affecting the forests in many ways. Although for the most part it seems as though the fires have been all negative, there could be some underlying positive in mostly bad situations. Forest fires, although they seems like they are very disruptive to the wildlife, do not have all that bad of an affect on the animals. It would seem as though the animals would run fleeing the fires for their lives, but in reality they move away ahead of time, and do not make that dramatic of a getaway. Then after the fire, a lot of nutrients are replenished into the green shrubbery that many animals feed on and seek benefits from. Many small rodents also bury themselves underground during the forest fires, and when the fire is complete, they come out. For lots of consumers, this means easy prey and they are able to find easy nutrition. The fires also create a lot of new life and not having forest fires would actually be detrimental. So although many people only see the bad side of the forest fires that have been happening, there is also a beneficial side to see too.
http://www.livescience.com/52311-weird-effects-forest-fires.html |
AuthorHigh school student in pursuit of a career in Environmental Science Archives
March 2016
Categories |