EcoCMUfall21A

 Urban Sprawl Jessica Bailey September 29, 2021     Urban sprawl is defined as the uncontrolled expansion of urban and suburban areas that takes over a large area and creates a low density environment with high segregation between commercial and residential areas. It has and is becoming a major issue in North America. There is harmful impacts on the people living in these areas including social segregation (which leads to crimes) which will then lead to a decline in political participation and a strain on transport and its infrastructure.                 There are many factors that contribute to Urban Sprawl such as a decline in population, economic growth, and  globalization as well as attractive land and housing prices, and the desire for larger houses with more amenities like yards, appliances, privacy, storage, etc. Urban sprawl often can drain local environment resources, can increase transportation and energy cost and can destroy a communities character.  https://www.britannica.c

 Nolan cobbs jr Professor Boon College comp 1 09/29/21 Ways to prevent water pollution       While we talk about ways that water pollution is hurting our environment quickly, their are ways we can help stop this from spreading even more. The small things from us people is the reason this is getting out of hand like a wild fire. Six things that we can do to help out water pollution is one, picking up trash. Most trash is left on beaches but trash can be anywhere in a community and make its way to water streams leading to oceans or lakes. Another thing that we can do is when you wash your car at home, try to let the water run into the grass. By doing this, you wont put soapy water down drains. If water from you washing your car goes down the drain, it can pollute local waterways. Another big thing not to do is pouring motor oil down the drain. Rather than doing this, take it to the auto part store, they will take care of it. One more way is don’t clean up spill but hosing it in the drain

              As well as a lot of other people, I enjoy a nice relaxing day on the water. Some people decide to take a weeks worth of days on the water. Including a boat, food, and entertainment. Cruise ships are some what of a luxury with the fancy dinners every night. Swimming pools and massive halls for shows and people to perform. Not to forget some even have places to throw cards and gamble. In recent study’s, cruise ships are found to be a major contributor to the growth of on water environmental pollution and degradation. This is also due to the ever so increasing amount of people taking cruises along with the industry booming in the way that it did. The recent popularity before COVID-19 had researchers interested. So they did a few study’s and found out the information above. Other dangers that cruise ships might present is potential danger to passengers/staff physical and mental health including land-based residents who live close to the port.  Some crazy things that happen wh

Renewable Energy that Might Surprise You Renewable energy is something that is well known and is also something that modern scientist are still trying to master. Even with how vast the media and the internet is I am sure you have not seen these types of renewable energy. Whether or not these energy sources work is for a different blog, for now just have fun and enjoy this random information that is guaranteed to blow your friend's mind.  The first kind of renewable energy is solar wind energy. It is exactly as it sounds, we have solar energy, we also have wind energy, so why not put the two together. According to a blog written by Opus Energy, " if viable, we could potentially source one hundred billion times more power than humanity needs..." Of course that sounds like a crazy number, and this is because it is a crazy number. This is an energy source that will most likely not be possible for a while, but if we are ever to master this source of energy all energy problems

  Bree Taylor The Orangutan community are currently critically endangered. There are three species of orangutans: the Bornean orangutan, the Sumatran orangutan and the Tapanuli orangutan. The Tapanuli species is currently the most endangered, with only about 800 of them in existence. This species is also the most endangered of all the great apes.  The Bornean species is now estimated at 104,700 which makes them just endangered. The Sumatran species is now estimated at 7,500 which makes them critically endangered.  The orangutans are extremely important to the ecosystem because they are known as the gardeners of the forest. They play an important role in seed dispersal in their habitats.  Orangutans also have an extremely low reproductive rate which makes them highly vulnerable in the wild. They give birth to one orangutan every 3-5 years which makes it hard for this animal to recover from their declining population.  This animal also happens to be an easy target for hunters because the

  The worlds ocean fish stock is on the verge of collapsing. T he  International Union for Conservation of Nature , Jared Ferrie reports that the oceans have absorbed more than 93 percent of the heat generated by human activity since the 1970s, primarily through its large surface area, volume, and low albedo. Last year, the ocean was its warmest in 136 years of records. The increase in temperature has led to new toxic organisms and algae bloom that poison fish. Many specials are leaving their natural habitats in search of cooler areas. Since fish are leaving their natural habitat it causes a lot of problems for the fish in the habitat they move to. Food starts to dwindle down quicker that it should and the people that eat fish can search for fish in that area but cast find any if the fish leave. People are also overfishing and causing species to decline.   https://youtu.be/AHI-B-4c2NU  https://www.newsecuritybeat.org/2017/02/ocean-fish-stocks-on-verge-collapse-irin-report/

                                        https://www.panna.org/resources/environmental-impacts Pesticides in agriculture are chemicals that kill bugs, parasites, and other small creatures that damage crops. Yes, these help for our food production, but it is terrible for our environment. According to Panna.com, it is killing off our bees, bats, and frogs. Water contaminated with pesticides can even turn male tadpoles to females due to the chemicals. Runoff of pesticides are un-regulated, and can even kill off our birds. Without these insects and animals, it will put a ripple in our ecosystems and it can cause many things to go wrong. There has to be an alternative to pesticides, and we need to find it and take action, before it’s too late. 

 Peyton Driskill https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/energy-and-resources/articles/renewable-energy-outlook.html This article states that renewable energy will probably accelerate in 2021. This new administration named Paris Climate Accord is investing in $2 trillion in clean energy and fully decarbonizing the power by 2035. 

 Wasteful types of energy- Ylaria Valadez September 29, 2021 There are multiple types of energy that are wasteful for the environment. Even without noticing we use a lot of energy each day. A couple examples of a wasteful use of energy is leaving the lights on, leaving electronics plugged in, running the dishwasher half full, and setting the thermostat too high. Leaving the lights on is one of the easiest habits to fix, fixing this issue can save electricity and help your lightbulbs last longer. Electronics use energy even when they are turned off, connecting electronics to a power strip makes it easier to switch off unused devices. Running the dishwasher should only be done when it is full because a dishwasher uses 1,800 watts electricity a day. Lastly setting the thermostat too high is when the water heater is set at 140 degrees. It should be set at 120 degrees to be energy efficient. https://www.ase.org/blog/10-biggest-energy-wasting-habits-home

  Mou ntain Gorilla Tyler Perkins The mountain gorilla is my favorite animal. It is also the most endangered out of the entire gorilla family. We still have a lot of  mountain gorillas alive and rooming. There is over 1,000 mountain gorillas still alive, but they are mostly in Africa near Nigeria and Uganda. As you may know they like to live in the mountains and hunt there. There has been conservational efforts to try and save these mountain gorillas. That still won't stop hunters from moving closer and closer to there habitat. Making the gorillas move further up the mountain and endangering them even more. https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/mountain-gorilla

  https://www.earthday.org/how-our-trash-impacts-the-environment/     Our current waste management programs are not sustainable. the things that are left and thrown away some of them will rot and disintegrate. This process causes bad smells in the environment near the waste facility. This is also not sustainable due to the limited amount of space that we have to actually create waste units. Waste gets thrown to other places like landfills because  waste facilities fill all the way up. But the things that rot in the smell are the least of our concerns. what about the things that do not rot or disintegrate or become smaller, they stay in that place for years on top of years. Eventually there will be more non-biodegradable waste than there is space keep it it or “dispose” of it. 

  In the United States, diet depends on crops from  the Mediterranean and West Asia , like wheat, barley, chickpea, almonds and others. Meanwhile, the U.S. farm economy is centered on soybeans from East Asia and maize from Mexico and Central America, as well as wheat and other crops from the Mediterranean

     Americans need oil for gas, because of all the Americans that drive Gas cars and trucks we need more oil if we need more oil then we need more and bigger oil rigs and company's because of those rigs and company's they will be releasing more Co2(Carbon Dioxide) just to get more oil.  There was a recent study done by a professor at a college and found out in 2015 that 9,000 oilfields in 90 countries produced greenhouse gases and those greenhouse gasses are about one point seven gigatons of carbon dioxide. All that pollution and you still haven't even pumped gas in your car.  When you go purchase a vehicle you never look at how much miles a gallon that vehicle gets or how it may pollute the atmosphere, what we look at when buying a car or truck is how the vehicles exterior and interior look. Electrics vehicles may be a little more on the pricey end but with Electric cars you will never have to wait in like to pump twenty dollars of gas  again. Cars can range any where fro

 Carson Crager  Professor Boon College Composition 1 9/27/21 Northern Forest plan for 50 million trees gets £15m funding boost By: BBC News Article Link Summery and Response:     This is article talks about a plan for planting 50 million trees in England. Cities that are going to receive trees include Chester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds, and Hull. This plan just received  £15m in funding. This money will go towards helping create 1,660 acres of woodland to help this plan grow. So far, there have been around 3 million trees already planted. The article says that the land that is going to receive the trees, is only 8% covered by trees, if I understood that right. This does not sound like a lot. TV presenter George Clarke, who is all for this plan and who is a northerner himself says, " We desperately need more trees up here for both people and wildlife." This project is not only going to make the people happy, but it will make so many animals and plants happy too.

 California Farmers Worried about Water In the state of California, farmers are starting to worry about the lack of water. They aren't able to grow many crops because there's no water to work with. A type of water is available, called supplemental water, is very costly making farmers unable to afford it because they don't have crops to get profit from. In California, agriculture is an important part of their economy and the state is a top producer of vegetables, berries, nuts, and dairy products. Everywhere you go you see wasteland, and it hurts for farmers to have to see that. Without the water, there's no work, and no money.

  Due to all the pollution that is going on in todays world and every other crazy thing that is happening I say that electric vehicles are better to own, it is proven that Electric Vehicles are most environmentally friendly and honestly are cheaper and easer to maintain. on a recent survey done by electric vehicles owners when asked why they purchased the vehicle the most given answer was "most economic friendly".  In the future  is it said that around fifteen percent of people around the world would convert to electric vehicles dur to the harmful pollution.  Electric energy is stored inside the cars batteries and are used in EV's, EVs don's emit or release any type of harmful pollution into the environment. Electric cars and trucks have no engine, powertrain, or transmission so that means they are quiet and if they are quiet that means that the car is not polluting the earth in any way shape or form. The gas industry has profited a lot of money off of pretty much any

    Water pollution is a rising global crisis. Water pollution can come from many different things such as oil spills and trash.   the main cause of U.S. water quality problems is now non-point source pollution. That means it comes from things such as runoff. R unoff can contain fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides from farms and homes; oil and toxic chemicals from roads and industry; sediment; bacteria from livestock; pet waste; and other pollutants. Drinking water can get polluted by just the pipes. If the pipes are dirty and haven’t been cleaned in a long time then it pollutes the water we drink. Water pollution can cause a health crisis, poison wildlife, and long term ecosystem damage.  The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 38 percent of the European Union's water bodies are under pressure from agricultural pollution. There is a lot we can do to help prevent water pollution. Things such as watching what you flush down the toilet or down your sin

Dams have many positive aspects such as water security, energy supply, and provides extra protection from flooding. You would think that dams would be beneficial especially since the increase in climate change. But unfortunately they are doing quite the opposite. Although dams have been proven to be very beneficial their time and their efforts are slowing starting to decline. It was shown that freshwater fish and birds are greatly impacted by dams this is due to disruption in connectivity between rivers. These dams are releasing greenhouse gases, destroying carbon sinks in wetlands, depriving ecosystems of vital nutrients, and destroying habitats.  https://www.earthlawcenter.org/blog-entries/2017/12/dams-climate-change-bad-news https://www.pnas.org/content/117/7/3648

 Nolan Cobbs  September 22, 2021 Professor Boon College Comp 1 What happens when we pollute     While there was many things that where seen that affected the community when people polluted the our oceans and lakes, their are more ways that are still being used today that are affecting these natural environments. Since last week we talked more about how it more of radioactive waste hurting the ocean, their are many other things that we have seen worst than this. Industrial sites have waste that can get into the oceans and streams. Most industrial sites produce toxic waste and sometimes it can be dumped into freshwater streams which is easy to get into. Marine dumping is another way to put trash into the ocean and many countries do this so just imagine that. One more things that really affects our oceans is oil leaks and spill. This to me is one of the worst since its dealing with oil. Since we know water and oil doesn’t mix well, this situation is bad for us. Sometimes it be accidental

https://civileats.com/2018/05/08/farm-runoff-in-us-waters-has-hit-crisis-levels-are-farmers-ready-to-change/  Runoff from farms is super detrimental to our bodies of water. How this occurs is when it rains or the farm floods, the water carries phosphorus, nitrogen, and other contaminants with it due to pesticides and fertilizers.  This is dangerous to the ecosystems in the water, as well as people who get in the water near this area. As you see in the picture above, the murky water contains all of those nasty chemicals in it as it flows from the farm.               While this may only occur near bodies of water, it’s still dangerous to the reproduction of animals         And to humans who may benefit from the animals as well. This needs to be addressed more, as this is the first time I’ve heard of it, but it’s actually a very common issue within agriculture.  Brennan Logan 

 Peyton Driskill https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200713-the-most-powerful-renewable-energy Surprisingly the worlds most relied on renewable energy source is water, even over wind and sunlight. All throughout the globe utilities use hydropower to generate electricity because it is a lot easier to store and easier to mover from place to place and dispatch. Other than the profound ecosystem impact of making huge waterways, hydropower actually can wreak a havoc on aquatic species and those species ecosystem. Most of watersheds around the world are very highly degraded and have very polluted waterways

 Land Degradation Jessica Bailey September 22, 2021     Land degradation is the loss/deterioration of the capacity of productive soils. It is a big global issue that is happening at a rapid rate and if it doesn't get under control it can cause serious issues. It can affect the quality of food, the prices of food, hazards to the surrounding environment and ecosystems, and climate change. It is a contribution to the dramatic decline in fertility in the crop and rangelands all around the world. About 25% of the total land area, worldwide, has been degraded. When land is degraded, certain chemicals are let into the atmosphere such as soil carbon and nitrous acid contributing to the climate change crisis. This problem is mostly predominant in the dry parts of the world that are impacted by drought; these dry parts cover about 40% of the worlds land areas and host approximately 2 billion people.  https://www.thegef.org/topics/land-degradation

  Bree Taylor     The pandas are a well known a species that originates from China. When most people think of pandas they think that they are  endangered which was true but thankfully they are not anymore. On September 5th in 2016 they were officially removed from the endangered list and moved to the vulnerable list. This is because of China's hard work in protecting this species. Most of the work that was done involved captive breeding, protecting habitat and making laws to punish hunters and smugglers.      In China there are thirteen panda nature reserve areas. In these areas fields have been left out to grow bamboo and the forest in general. Farming practices have also been around these forests have been reduced or separated from the reserve areas. In 2015, the habitat for pandas has grown by about 2,720km(squared). That is about the size of Yosemite National Park.      The strict laws in China for hunting and smuggling pandas have also protected this amazing animal. In fact, y

 Did you know that children with lead poisoning tend and are more likely to have lower IQ, ADD, bad memory, and impulsive control issues. This is a common problem among children being raised in Michigan. Especially in the city of Benton harbor. Which is the home to a majority of low income African Americas citizens. Who possess little to no ability in getting clean water. Clean water is a vital resource that is often taken for granted by the majority of those who have it. Even some in America, the land of the great and free, don’t have access to such things. This enters the question of what is the government doing, much less than what are us as a people doing about it. Well for starters we have organizations such as Red Cross that help provide “relief,” but when the problem is ongoing for more than 6 years it seems relief isn’t quite enough. This problem is stemmed from the lack of sufficient aid through state and country. When the water levels are 60 times higher than what is regarded

  COVID and Agriculture From my reading of this article, I found that COVID-19 has had a major effect on the life of agriculture and farming. The biggest hit was shown in floral and nursery crops, the production value decreased by $32 million. Cannabis growth was not included in that report, but Hemp was included with other indoor grown floral and nursery crops. Vegetable production also saw a decrease by $4.4 million, but livestock actually was shown to have brought in $5.6 million. This surpassed the $3 million in 2019. They key to keeping the agriculture industry open and running were Community Supported Agriculture subscriptions and Certified Farmers' Markets. From seeing successes, there have been closings of slaughterhouses. This article mentions that there has been a lot of uncertainty in the market, but there is a stabilization seen of the ag industry. 

  As we all may know, most of our food sources come from animals, which also help us get the necessary nutrients for our system to function well. However, many people don't know the processes that these animals go through in order to be converted into our favorite foods. The main animals used for our consumption are cows. chickens, pigs, fish, and others. They go through torturous processes until we are able to get these in the grocery store: windowless sheds, wire cages, metal crates... Most of these animals come from Factory farms. They are packed tightly to maximize output and profit. Some of them die from diseases or infections. 99 percent of the animals used for food in America come from these farms. Most of them live constant fear and torment throughout their lives. https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/

 Do We Take Advantage of our Energy? We have always had energy, in fact, not having energy has never been a problem. Other than a power outage every once in a while energy has always been guaranteed. Even though energy is something we don’t think about in our daily lives, I wonder if we know how much we actually consume. America is one of the largest energy consumers in the world. In an article by the American Geosciences Institute it was stated that America uses around 97 quadrillion Btu every year, that is 97 and 15 zeros. I never knew we used that much energy. They also stated that we consume about 17% of the worlds energy It does make sense to me that we use that much energy, almost everything I use on a day to day basis requires some type of energy. I would be interested in seeing how much energy I consume on my own. I can’t imagine a life without energy, almost everything that I do would be impossible. What do you guys think? Does that feel like a lot of energy to you? Would you

  Vaquita Tyler Perkins Vaquita is the rarest marine animal and just plain animal in the world. There are about ten of them left TEN and yet people are still trying to hunt for them. They are usually in the northern gulf of California. The weigh as much as 120 pounds and are around 5 feet.People use the gillnet method to catch these animals. Over the the past few years they have been dropping like flies. I hope if they know where some of the Vaquita's are that they'll put them in some type of habitat. We can still save them as long as we make the right decisions. https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/vaquita

 Ylaria Valadez, Wind Power September 21, 2021     There are many more advantages of wind power than there is challenges, which is why it is one of the fastest growing energy sources in the world. Wind power describes the process which the wind is used to generate mechanical power or energy. Some of the advantages to having wind power compared to any other source of power is that wind power is more cost-effective, it creates more jobs, it is a clean fuel source, it is sustainable, and wind turbines can be built on existing farms or ranches. The challenges of wind power is wind turbines can kill birds or bats, good sized wind sites are often far away from cities. Turbines can also loud noises and aesthetic pollution, which is a visual impact to the  https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/advantages-and-challenges-wind-energy

 Julius Caulder    https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/plastic-pollution Plastic pollution is becoming an increasing issue. Plastic is often rapidly disposed of and ends up not having multi-purpose. Plastic pollution is most noticeable in developing Asian and African nations where garbage collection is non-existent or insufficient. Plastic is made from fossil fuels and I have been around for over centuries. The production of plastic increased after World War II. Plastic offers convenience but it's also influencing throw-away culture which is a materialistic outlook and not healthy for our environment. Many things that are made out of plastic have a short lifespan in our homes and a long life span and our environment for up to hundreds of years.  Most rivers and streams lead to larger seas or oceans. The way the water system works constantly picks things up and moves more trash downstream and into the oceans. Once the plastic has got into the ocean it can be trans

 For my 2nd blog I will be talking on the extinction problems in the United States. To start of their is nearly 1,300 total species. Two of the main mammals to feel the impacts of extinction risks are wolverines and polar bears. The American wildlife experts are calling sixth mass extinction, which means species are feeling extreme increases in disappearing rates up to 100 or even 1,000 times higher before humans were present. The main reasons of these increases are from humans causing deforestation, pollution, fragmentation, urbanization and many other reasons to follow suit. One study shown has evidence of 227 species to go extinct in American wildlife since 1973. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/reports/2015/10/19/123085/confronting-americas-wildlife-extinction-crisis/

Carson Crager Professor Boon College Composition 1 9/20/21 "Worlds largest tree wrapped in fire-resistant blanket due to threat of California wildfires" By: NBC News Article Link Summery and Response:     This article talks about current fires in California and how they are closing in on some very important national parks. The article mainly talks about the Sequoia National Park. This park is home to thousands of giant sequoia trees, including the worlds largest tree named General Sherman. According to the National Park Service, General Sherman is 275 feet tall, its base has a circumference of 103 feet, and its volume is 52,508 cubic feet. At the beginning of the article it talks about how firefighters have wrapped the base of General Sherman, many other sequoias, the Giant Forest Museum, and many other buildings with an aluminum wrap. This aluminum wrap is supposed to help protect the trees and buildings from any possible wildfire that comes near it. They go onto say that fi

     Climate change is already wreaking havoc on access to fresh groundwater. Meaning the public having less access to their public resources is not helping. Water privatization is when private corporations buy and operate public water utilities. Privatizing water resources makes it much harder for those that are suffering from droughts or floods to receive their basic rights. Since the start of COVID-19 some water operating expenses have risen by almost 40%, making it much harder for civilians to pay their bills. Many governments are actually encouraging the push for private sectors. Since the early 2000s there was a large decrease in private water systems, but it seems now we are moving backwards in progression. Now is even more vital that we the public have the ability to decide what happens with our basic needs, the earth is slowly degrading why are we now not being allowed basic needs? https://www.rapidtransition.org/stories/turning-the-tide-of-water-privatization-the-rise-of-the-

   Electric vehicles over Gas Vehicles has been an on going debate for a while. When I first heard about this topic I honestly thought it was dumb and was not needed, but that is before I found out about major global warming problems and how bad it is for the environment. A single gas car can release about four point six metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. There is about seven point eight billion people on the world and about one point four of them drive cars on a daily basis. That’s about six point four billion tons of carbon dioxide that is being released into the atmosphere. That is without adding all the pollution that big corporations are letting out into the world. The more and more people that find out about global warming the more that people change from gas cars to Electric cars. People all around the world are slowly changing to electronic vehicles, even big companies like Walmart and Amazon are slowly converting to electrical vehicles. It’s crazy how global warming Is happ

  https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/factory-farming-is-killing-the-environment/ Factory farming didn’t become prominent until the 1970’s, due to Earl Buttz. But since then, it has grown rapidly, and is very detrimental to our environment and our future. Our food system is responsible for about ONE-THIRD of total greenhouse gas emissions! Not just that but the fossil fuels in fertilizers, transportation, and pesticides emit 90 MILLION tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere YEARLY.  Deforestation is a huge problem as well, with 260 million acres of forest being cleared to create crop fields, in the United States alone. Not to include the deforestation around the world. Which contributes to deforestation in the Amazon, in Brazil, and many other places.  It’s difficult to come up with a way to solve this, when we consume an insane amount of meat as a nation, and as a globe as well. With a high demand comes a need to create more farms to produce for consumer needs. This is

Fossil Fuels Ylaria Valadez September 15, 2021 Fossil fuels are a nature fuel like coal or gas that are made from decomposing plants and animal. They are found in the crust of the Earth and contain carbon and hydrogen which are then burned for energy. There are many disadvantages of fossil fuels, land degradation, water pollution, and emissions. Land degradation unearths, processing and moving underground oil, coal and gas. Water pollution threatens waterways and ground water. Fossil fuels emit harmful air pollutants even before they are burned. Major progress has been made toward setting up renewable energy and energy efficiency. Not only is energy efficiency the cleanest, cheapest and largest energy resource it can also make up to 2.2 million new jobs in the U.S. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/fossil-fuels-dirty-facts

Peyton Driskill https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210909162226.htm   Hydrogen sulfide is from sewer pipes and manure piles which is called "sewer gas.” Also another thing that sucks other than it just smelling awful is that it is very toxic. It is actually the most harmful gas to the environment. This study about "sewer gas" is based on previous research by the same research group and they used a process called chemical looping. The researchers created a concept that make hydrogen sulfide into hydrogen. This concept is called SULGEN process. For the most recent study, the researchers have found that molybdenum improves the breakdown of hydrogen sulfide, splitting it into two different parts; which are hydrogen fuel and sulfur.  This article is a very well put together article that gives you a lot of information about hydrogen sulfide and what scientists are doing to take it out of our world.

  Bree Taylor      The Omaha Zoo is one of the zoo’s that has a genetic and reproductive conservation program. Sometime in 2012, the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium Madagascar Biodiversity partnership created a program that rewards families or individual people for planting trees. These rewards included fuel-efficient rocket stoves, biofuel briquettes, and commercially valuable trees. Giving out these rewards helped strengthen community ties to the forest and habitat preservation.      The Reintroduction and Translocation Program helps save lemurs and translocate them to hopefully reintroduce them back into the rainforest. In 2006, this program was introduced at the Omaha Zoo. They ended up re-establishing black and white ruffed lemur back into their habitat. They continue to evaluate their status in the wild through a radio collar. The program is doing so well that that the visitors at the zoo have been able to see three generations of babies born at the zoo.