EcoCMUfall21A

                                                                                          Vertical Farming  Vertical farming is the new way of farming for some farmers with their crops. This way of farming takes out the risks and complications out, as it's a controlled environment. Growing vertically also allows farmers to save not only space, but water as well. One of the biggest benefits found though is how quickly the crops can grow like this. Of farmers main crops, they are ready to harvest in just three to four weeks. While this won't change traditional farming or getting food to families, farmers believe that innovation is needed. Emma Pettigrew Link: https://wsbt.com/news/local/vertical-farming-is-the-future-o...

 With the population growing we are putting impacts on animals and plants due to high demand of products. The 4 species are all diverse in our geographic areas. Extinction is threatening animals from the oceans and all the way through our country. All species threatened by extinction  are all directly cause by the rise in population. Losing habitats from pollution and even having problems keeping up with demands of hunting or fishing. With all this in mind here are the 10 species feeling the most impact.  1.) Florida Panther The panther feels such a huge impact due to the population rise, with the rise the area left of where panthers once live is down to just 5% of what it originally started as. 2.) Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Bluefin Tuna make up 15% of all animal proteins consumed by human beings, with that in mind the Tuna aren’t able to keep up with the demand and are decreasing in population. 3.) Longhead Sea Turtle With half of the 7.5 billion people living 150 miles from...

 Julius Caulder https://theconversation.com/californias-latest-offshore-oil-spill-could-fuel-pressure-to-end-oil-production-statewide-169215     I personally think oil spills should be taken more seriously. Not only because of the short term effects but also the long term effects on our environment. The most recent one I have heard of is the oil spill off the coast of California. The amount of oil that is dumped into the ocean when an oil spill happens is more of a problem than the oil. If you added a drop of oil to a glass of water it wouldn’t seem like much but fill the glass ¼ full of oil and it makes a big difference. This oil spill covered over 25 miles of shoreline in Orange County California. Oil spills are extremely difficult to clean up and can have a huge effect on sea life. They try to clean up as much as possible but the closer the oil gets inland the harder it becomes to clean up. It is a long process that starts causing problems as soon as it happens. N...

 Mining; Why It's Bad Jessica Bailey - October 27, 2021                Mining is defined as the extraction (or removal) of metals and minerals from the Earth. Mining is necessary for building roads and hospitals, to generate electricity, to build cars and houses, to make computers and satellites and much more. As mining is indeed used for a lot of things, it is very dangerous and damaging to the  environment. Mining is damaging to the earth and it's natural resources but is also damaging to human health. There is mining accident as well as exposure to toxins and dust which can cause multiple heath problems. Miners are known to suffer from different diseases due to this exposure.  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10653-019-00367-7

 Bree Taylor The Yangtze Finless Porpoise is a critically endangered species. They only live in freshwater rivers and lakes in the Yangtze River. Their closest cousin, the Baiji dolphin, went completely extinct in the year of 2006. Their is only about 1000-1800 of them left. They happen to be as intelligent as a gorilla. They happen to be about 6.2 feet as well. Overfishing is the main cause of this animal's food supply going down. Pollution and ship movement is also not helping their condition in the wild either.  https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/yangtze-finless-porpoise

 The sea level has risen 8-9 inches since 1880, in 2020 it rose 3.6 inches since 1993. This is the highest increase recorded. The increase in sea level causes many problems being that 40% of the population lives in coastal cities. Sea level directly effects flooding, seashore erosion, and increase of hazards caused by storms. Rising sea levels causes more frequent nuisance flooding which is very detrimental to cities and infrastructures. Higher flooding causes the mixture between freshwater and saltwater leading to dangerous impacts on wildlife. The cause of the rising sea levels has been observed to be from the melting of glaciers and ice sheets (a result of the global warming).  Monica Thies https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-sea-level

  In Slovenia’s capital, massive and tremendous flooding has shaken it’s people. Leading to hundreds of interventions through way of emergency crews. Overnight rainfall is the culprit behind this flash flooding and the destruction caused in Ljubljana. This heavy, sudden downpour happens reportedly every “once in two centuries event.” The major issue that stems from this flash flooding is with the hospitals that where damaged. Other damaged pieces of property include houses, a theatre show(shown above), and miscellaneous buildings here and there. The majority of critical infrastructures was flooded. In the hospitals people report seeing the water racing down the stairs as if it was a waterfall. Over 2,700 calls, 400 interventions, and 500+ Buildings which where flooded came from this storm. This rain also gave way to the protest going on causing them to disperse and flee. They where protesting over virus contamination. Even though protestors had already had water cannons and tear ga...

https://borgenproject.org/sustainable-agriculture-in-nigeria-2/ Brennan Logan 10/27/21           Nigeria is located in West Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea. Sustainable agriculture employs near 70 percent of the workforce in the country. If you’re wondering, sustainable agriculture is farming in ways that meet our needs, while not jeopardizing the future of our environment in the process. There are speeches, initiatives, and many other things coming from people looking to expand sustainable agriculture in the future.                      If every country began to shift to sustainable agriculture, it would be one huge step in the direction of making our environment cleaner and healthier for our future. Governments should push sustainable agriculture more, instead of allowing for industrial farming to take place and contribute to the detrimental factors of our environment in the present day. 

  Ways to Prevent Extinction Tyler Perkins There are some ways to prevent extinction, but these ways that i will be telling you about are things you'll disagree with. I would also disagree with some of these ways. One of the ways is eco-friendly products such as bikes and certain clothes. Most people only care about how it looks on them, but it goes deeper than that. Some clothing are made by animal fur and to make clothes made out of fur they would have had to kill them or strip them of their skin or fur. Another way is recycling your trash and I know people don't like doing it, but it really does help. Animals can eat trash or even get caught up in it. Just like in some animated movies animals can get their heads stuck in plastic rings then end up dying. It can happen pretty quickly and it is also sad to witness.  https://ecobnb.com/blog/2021/02/steps-prevent-animal-extinction/

 Clean Energy- Ylaria Valadez 10/27/21 RNG also known as Renewable natural gas is a transportation fuel made from organic waste. It reduces carbon emissions, unlike conventional natural gas. The source of RNG is when organic matter decays it naturally produces methane, when methane is captured it is prevented from entering and damaging the atmosphere.

  Fishing is one of the biggest declines in ocean wildlife population. The number of overfished stock globally has tripled in half a century. With over fishing we will lose  billions of fish, along with hundreds of thousands of sea turtles and cetaceans.  The damage done by overfishing goes beyond the marine environment. Billions of people rely on fish for protein, and fishing is the principal livelihood for millions of people around the world. Many people who make a living by catching and selling fish are working on how the world manages and conserves resources.    WWF works with a cross-section of stakeholders to reform fisheries management globally, focusing on sustainable practices that not only conserve ecosystems, but also sustain livelihoods and ensure food security. https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/overfishing 

Seventy percent of our world is covered in water, and about eighteen percent of the food that we consume comes from the ocean. Have you ever been to the beach or lake and noticed waste in the water? Any type of waste that we put in the water is harmful to sea life. People may think "it's only a plastic bottle" that is in the water but that plastic bottle could cause harm to sea life. Marine Litter could cause lots of problems, not only for sea animals but for us too. It's bad for us because what if we eat a fish from somewhere and we get sick due to the fish eating a piece of plastic. Animals also get sick or die from swallowing trash like cigarettes, silicon packets, and that plastic six-pack rings. The plastic six-pack rings have been found a lot recently on pelicans and even on baby penguins and because of those six-pack rings they are dying. People may think "it's only a piece of plastic" but what if everyone thinks that? Not only is it bad for the e...

How do Wind Turbines Work?      Last week we looked at solar energy and how it works, but what about wind energy? Wind turbines are more common than solar energy and you will probably see this type of energy more than the other. Not only are wind turbines more common, but they are also much easier to understand. Of course, as solar energy gets its energy from the sun, wind energy gets its energy from the wind. All though wind turbines might seem a little intimidating, they are actually fairly simple.     Some of you may have seen or used at some point  a crank radio like the one below. With these radios, you crank the handle that has a generator which creates energy for the radio to run. This is exactly how wind turbines work but instead of your hand cranking the generator, it's the wind. the wind moves the propellers which crank the generator turning the wind into energy.     Have you guys ever seen these wind turbines before? I think that wind t...

 Peyton Driskill https://www.geoexpro.com/articles/2008/04/pioneering-production-from-the-deep-sea It is a common fact that most of the earth is covered by water. The ocean has given a lot of exploration opportunities and challenges, while going over the Gulf of Mexico and also off the coast of California. Those two places have led the way for the first offshore oil and gas production places. The first wells were drilled from peirs and then went into the ocean at Summerland, California, in 1896. The first offshore well detached was form Caddo Lake, Louisiana, in 1911

  Food waste is a really big issue when it comes to this topic. This is the food that is not eaten, and the reason behind it may be because of the food system (production, processing, distribution, retail, and consumption) This is an issue in too many forms. For example, there are so many people on the planet that doesn't get the same opportunities as others do. While food is being wasted in a country, it may be needed somewhere else. However, there may be so many factors that affect this, and we can't really control them at all. Also, food gradually breaks down, to form methane. This greenhouse gas could be more powerful than CO2 is. Food waste is also among the leading causes of freshwater pollution.  In conclusion, wasting food leads to many issues in the world, and the main issue could be global warming.

Carson Crager Professor Boon College Comp. 1 10/25/21 After drought, US west coast slammed by 'bomb cyclone' By: PHYS. News Article Link Summery and Response:          As we know, the west coast has been dealing with major droughts. The land has been very dry, which also makes it a lot easier to catch fire. This is all because of climate change. In this article they mention that the area burned in California was up 250 percent from last year. Last year was one of the worst years for fires in California and this year was even worse. The article mostly talks about how the west coast has had recent thunder storms that have brought a record amount of rainfall. This has ultimately lead to a lot of flooding and some landslides. People are calling this the, "bomb cyclone." It's about time that area got some rain, but its been a bit too much. There has also been winds up to 60 mph that have blown over trees and blown off some roofs. Once again theses problems are all co...

 The planet is forever changing to due humans. Nearly every habitat across the planet has felt a toll from coastlines to glaciers. In this list I we are threatened with losing with some of the planet’s  biodiversity, the eight places I will list could disappear while taking thousands of species of plants and animals. With in this list we see huge strides towards endangering animals and even huge strides in losing ecosystems. 1. Madagascar  2. Borneo 3. Micronesia and Polynesia 4. Sky Islands in Arizona, New Mexico and Chihuahuan desert 5. The Mediterranean Basin 6. The Tropical Andes 7. Antarctica  8. The Arctic  https://www.livescience.com/29569-8-of-the-worlds-most-endangered-places.html

    Plastic pollution in the ocean is a very big problem all across the world. In 1 year we send over 12 million metric tons of plastic into the ocean. Once the plastic breaks down it can find its way into fish habitats and birds stomaches. It causes habitats to be destroyed and animals to die. One of the best ways to reduce the amount that goes into the ocean is recycle. You can recycle your used plastic and there are companies that can turn it into something else. A company called Quantafuel started taking this action.  The company chemically recycles mixed plastic waste, transforming it into a raw material for new plastic products. In addition to removing plastic waste from the environment, Quantafuel's process reduces other forms of pollution from incineration and landfills, reduces energy consumption, and promotes the circular economy of plastics. https://www.theexplorer.no/stories/ocean/cleaner-seas-with-norwegian-technology/?gclid=CjwKCAjwn8SLBhAyEiwAHNTJbfpzfLneU8...

How Does Solar Energy Work? Most people and I would assume everyone in this class have heard of solar energy. Some might even know some that use solar energy at some level. One question that I myself sometimes find myself having is how does solar energy really work? Of course, we know that solar energy is energy that is absorbed from the sunlight, but let's dig deeper. The most common way to use solar energy is through solar panels. Solar panels absorb solar energy through something known as photovoltaics. As stated in a post made by Energy.Gov "energy from the sunlight is absorbed by the PV cells in the panel. This energy creates electrical charges that move in response to an internal electrical field in the cell, causing electricity to flow, " Solar energy is something that can seem expensive at first, but if you compare the costs of a one time installment versus a continuous energy bill, it will most often come out being cheaper. Do you guys know anyone that uses solar...

 Nolan Cobbs Jr  Professor Boon October 20, 2021 College Comp 1 Places we see pollution There are many places in the Unites states where we see pollution and its not just one or two states, its many states. Many areas as we know has wild fires and these are most common in most of the western states. The Ozone pollution has affected many people, about 137 million people lived in that area. The air quality in these areas changed because of global warming and due to the climate changing its self. Some of these cities has good air quality as well to but also have bad ozone pollution as well. Some of the top 10 places we see pollution to the fullest and is worst than another places are: Los Angeles-Long Beach, California Visalia, California Bakersfield, California Fresno-Madera-Hanford, California Sacramento-Roseville, California San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, California Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California Las Vegas-Henderson, Nevada Denver-Aurora, Col...

 Severe Storms; How They Affect Land Jessica Bailey - October 19, 2021     Extreme weather can have an impact on the land and the land population by the the severity of the storm. Recently, there has been a lot more heat waves (which cause droughts), heavy downpours (which can cause floods/flash floods), hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, blizzard, etc. Droughts affect crops and can deteriorate good land for farming due to the loss of moisture in the land. Floods, when severe, can damage houses, threaten peoples lives and can drown crop lands. Humans have added to the weather factors by adding  unnecessary toxins to the air which causes the temperatures to rise. This causes an increase in heavy down pours, which can relate to more extensive storm surges due to the rise in sea levels and can lead to more rapid spring snow/ice melt. In the United States due to floods, the property and crop damage averaged close to 8 billion dollars per year from 19...

 Expensive foods are defined as because of the quantity and quality of those. Some of these foods are scarce or just hard to get. This makes them luxurious, from the finest caviar to rare white truffles. Food is also getting more expensive, as some companies are raising the prices, and others are selling small quantities for the same price. Also, supply-chain shortages and poor weather are helping drive higher commodity costs.  This is a big problem in the world. Some countries would be able to cover costs or adapt to higher prices. However, smaller or poorer countries may have massive issues with this, leading to riots between people and the government.

  Bree Taylor The humphead wrasse is a coral reef fish that is over six feet long. They also can be up to 400 pounds. It has a bulge on its forehead hence the humphead name. A cool fact about them is that some of them live up to thirty years of age. They tend to live in the coral triangle or in the costal east of Africa. This species is currently endangered.  This fish is important to the coral reef health. They eat starfish that killing the coral. This helps the population of keeping the damaging coral reef predator in check.  This fish is vulnerable to being overfished. The humphead wrasse is considered a luxury food and part of the live fish trade around Southeast Asia. In Malaysia, the WWF helped stop exporting this fish. They work with people to repopulate the coral with the humphead wrasse so that the fish can do its job helping the coral. 860 humphead wrasse have been released into the wild since the year of 2010. https://www.worldwildlife....

 Why is coal bad for your health? Ylaria Valadez Coal is the most polluting way to produce electricity. When coal is dug up and later it is burned in power stations, which it then releases massive amounts of pollution, damaging our health, and intensifying climate change. Not only does coal add greenhouse gasses, it also emits toxic carcinogenic substances into the air, water and land. Coal affects the health of miners, workers, and surrounding communities. The toxins of coal can cause a range of health problems lung cancer, heart disease, premature death. In China and India coal caused up to 500,000 deaths.  https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/killer-coal-just-how-bad-are-the-health-effects-of-coal/

Avocado Boom in Colombia Emma Pettigrew In Sonson, Colombia, Riobardo Zapata was left subsisting during the best of crop seasons and dept during the worst. He was managing his money well by having to take out money from banks all of the time. Until seven years ago when there became a boom in avocados turning his family life of growing coffee to his family now growing avocados. This green fruit is now exported to the United States, Europe, and Asia.  Today, Colombia is the third-largest avocado exporter in the world and the biggest to Europe. Some places in the world have even hailed the avocado crop as a antidote to poverty. Long term, avocado is set to continue growing in Colombia, especially as the climate crisis is pushing weather conditions to new and  different extremes. Link: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/10/8/colombias-avocado-boom-shows-the-hidden-costs-of-green-gold 

 Peyton Driskill https://www.brookings.edu/essay/why-are-fossil-fuels-so-hard-to-quit/ Fossil fuels are the causes of local pollution when they are produced or used. There ongoing use is causing them to harm the climate and the entire planet. Saying this changing our ways have been very difficult to do. 

https://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-faq/oa-faq6/en/ Brennan Logan 10/20/21     According to the article, there are plenty of benefits to organic agriculture. These benefits include sustainability, reduction of non renewable energy, no use of GMO's, etc. In organic farming, they use different practices than in traditional farming, which eliminates plenty of wastes and other things that are detrimental to our environment.      In my opinion, all farming should be organic. The reason it isn't is because industrial faring allows for crops and meats to be mass produced, but it is terrible for the environment. If we could do away with industrial farming and all convert to organic farming, it would be much better for our environment. 

 Blog 6 Julius Caulder     https://www.turtleconservationsociety.org.my/how-can-plastic-and-straws-kill-turtles/             I’ve never seen the point in harming things that are harmless and helpless. Sea turtles are very harmless animals that are harmed by others careless and thoughtless actions. They are not contributors to the harm that has been done to our environment but have to live and try to survive something that they have no control or influence on. When this problem was first brought to my attention it was because of a video that most people have probably seen over the years. In the video it showed a sea turtle with some boaters trying to pull something out of it nostril. The sea turtle shows clear signs of pain in discomfort. The boaters used pliers and had to use a lot of force to dislodge what is later discovered to be a straw. This video had a big impact and showed people how their actions harm our marine li...

 Water scarcity is an unheard of thing within those who have plenty of water. Some are just now realizing that they don’t have as much of it. It can even happen anywhere in the world. For instance the place where we stand, could dry up and get used. Leaving nothing left for you. Within Iran they are facing problematic times when it comes to there lakes.  Lake Urmias levels have been dropping dramatically within the last 25 years. The size of their lake was at an astounding 5,400 square kilometers in the 1990’s, to now being at a small 965 square miles. This was once a place for tourist to come through on fairy’s and boats to see their country. Now they don’t have enough water to even move around, much less they can’t even live on the salted earth that’s now inhabitable. All throughout the Middle East in places like Jordan, Iran, Iraq, they’re having to pump water from beneath the ground. They do this at a rate that’s higher than the rainfall that they receive. This is importan...

‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ Global Warming has been happening for a while now and it's crazy that not many people have been close to noticing all the sudden changes that have been happing in the world. And it's not just a wildfire here and there it's multiple fires happening at the same time around the same area, because of those fires it is causing animals that live in that habitat to leave and find a new home. Once the animals leave that are there then there would not be as much biodiversity as there was before the wildfire. That is only one way of telling people about global warming another way that we can tell that global warming is happening because of all the big chunks of ice that are melting and going into the water in the Arctic.  As a result, there is a growing number of islands and small towns that are threatened by rising sea levels. A large portion of the world's population lives along coastlines and in areas prone to flooding, so these changes could cause many peo...

Carson Crager Professor Boon College Comp. 1 10/18/21 Then and now: Why deforestation is such a hot topic By: BBC News Article Link Summery and Response:           First off, deforestation is the removal of trees for lumber, firewood, clearing of land etc. Deforestation has been one of the most harmful things to the environment and loss of nature. The article goes on to say that climate change is definitely linked to the loss of tree cover on the planet. Then they go on about why trees and plants are so important to the environment. The article says the basically plants and trees have the ability to absorbed CO2. They say that about a third of our CO2 emissions are absorbed by plants and trees each year. So with less and less trees/plants on the earth the less and less CO2 will be absorbed, leaving even more CO2 in the atmosphere. This is pretty disturbing. I didn't realize that plants got rid of that much CO2. We need to stop deforestation and keep plantin...

  Extinction Causes Tyler Perkins The main causes of animal extinction are habitat lose, pollution, population growth, overconsumption, and an introduced species. I'm going to explain how some of these are causes for extinction. An example for habitat lose is when construction workers get paid to move in on animals habitat and start to build buildings there. Population growth is when predators grow and they are more animals hunting the prey. The last one I'm going to be talking about is an introduced species. An introduced species is if an animal that hasn't lived there shows up and is now their predator, then that'll cause them to go endangered or even extinct.  https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plans/teaching-content/learning-causes-extinction/#:~:text=There%20are%20five%20major%20causes,%2C%20population%20growth%2C%20and%20overconsumption.