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 It doesn’t seem likely that bringing reusable grocery bags to the the grocery store would result in people buying more junk food, but apparently that is the case. A recent study conducted by Harvard Business School and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business shows that people are seven percent more likely to buy junk food than people who shop with the regular plastic bags. This seems to be the case because people feel that since they are doing something good for the environment, they can treat themselves with a sugary or salty snack such as ice cream, or potato chips. This is called the licensing effect. Although this study is not all that serious, the switch from plastic bags to reusable bags is. Plastic bags take from anywhere between 15 to 1000 years to decompose. If all the people in the world switched to reusable bags the benefits on the environment would be monumental. These plastic bags pollute and even kill animals if they happen to digest or get caught up in the bag. The bags travel and pollute rivers, lakes and oceans and are a terrible option for bringing home your daily groceries in. Everyone should make the switch to reusable bags, even if it does mean the extra purchase of some cookies or chips.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reusable-bags-junk-food_55a7cf02e4b0896514d07681?utm_hp_ref=environment In a recent study about the linkage between childhood leukemia and proximity to heavily trafficked roads, scientist have found out that cases are 30 percent higher for those who live by these roads. Researchers from Paris Descartes University conducted this study and found the results to be terrifyingly true. There is a definite connection between traffic and childhood leukemia. The children who have developed leukemia from the traffic are around 150 m from a heavily trafficked road that has a combined length of 260 m. It is said that benzene that is released from the cars is what is creating this problem for children and leukemia. This relates and affects us directly because every one of us was either at one point a child, knows a child, or will have a child in the future. If our world does not change, and we keep relying on cars as our mode of transportation for everywhere we go then these problems we are seeing with health will keep increasing and become even more of an issue. What we can do is cut down on how much we use cars all over the world. This will not only help the leukemia, but also the problem of CO2 emissions and global warming.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150917125246.htm
Due to more foliage being dropped by the giant Sequoia trees, a scientist who climbs these trees and checks for data on how they are doing in water usage climbed a tree to see how the drought has affected the largest tree species on this planet. Because Sequoias are extremely resilient and have lasted through previous droughts, insect infestations, and fires, biologist Anthony Ambrose says that these giant trees will do just fine. However, when the Sequoias are showing even just a small amount of stress, that means smaller trees like the pine tree are in a lot of trouble. The stress is really showing as more and more trees are dying. This in itself creates more problems, such as forest fires much like the ones going on in Sequoia National Forest. With the arising of these forest fire comes the pollution of smoke into our already polluted air. The thick smoke adds to our low quality air here in California as the smoke spreads with the wind streams. We are starting to see more effects of this drought we find ourselves in, and the only thing we can really do is try and remain as environmentally healthy as we can.
http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/biologists-climb-massive-sequoia-trees-gauge-health-amid-drought-n422456 A recent discovery has been made in the aspect of turning harmful CO2 into natural gas. As many people know, CO2 is the primary greenhouse gas that is released into our atmosphere and causes extreme damage concerning climate change, and is almost entirely produced by humans. In order for our environment to replenish itself and get back to a sustainable state, we need less carbon dioxide. This is why the research from professor Marc Koper, and PhD student Jing Shen is so important, it deals with a pressing issue that is going on in our world today. They figured out that if you pass CO2 through an acidic solution, a chemical reaction happens to change it to a natural gas. Although at first the acid would also create unwanted hydrogen, they found the correct amount of acid to use after many trials. Another benefit of this conversion method is that it is very affordable. The catalyst uses common materials such as Cobalt Porphyrin, which can be found in the vitamin B12, and graphite that is similar to the pencil lead. Because the materials are inexpensive, this would allow for many people to start using this catalyst to decrease the CO2 emissions. It is also believed that we can use solar energy to convert this CO2 into natural gas which would be an excellent added benefit to this sustainable discovery, with this type of thinking, our world is on the cusp of environmental change.
In some alarming new research, a discovery has been made about chemicals in the plastic containers consumers use daily. These convenient packaging resources that millions of people use daily could be extremely hurting human life and also the environment. Although the contents in these plastic packages are safe from any harmful metals, it is after the plastic has been thrown out and dumped in a landfill where we can see the consequences. After some degrading of the material harmful metals are released such as led, mercury, chromium, cadmium, and antimony. These heavy metals can then find their way into bodies of water that could potentially be someone's drinking water. This can cause some serious harm to not only to human beings, but also the planet we inhabit. Keith Vorst, and associate professor of food science and human nutrition at Iowa State has been working to develop a "sophisticates sensor array that helps manufacturers track potentially harmful materials in plastic polymers in real time." This new technology will be extremely helpful in stopping this problem right away in its tracks. The metals can be detected right in the manufacturing stage and can be taken care of before it becomes harmful to any humans or our environment. Already, a couple of companies are implementing this technology in their work. This topic is very important and concerns every human being because it pertains to what we use everyday. If one has a look in any persons house who lives in a developed country, one would find many sources of plastic packaging. Sooner or later, this plastic will be thrown out and can become harmful to the same person who benefited from it just years later. We can help with this issue by cutting back on the amount of plastic we consumers purchase.
http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2015/08/21/vorstplastics |
AuthorHigh school student in pursuit of a career in Environmental Science Archives
March 2016
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