TOMORROW IS LAST BLOG DAY!

Relevant Pic is relevant

So uh yeah... should I delete this blog or do y'all want it for nostalgia value? Also Matt Foley posted this on my Minecraft blog and I thought I should link it since it has to do with agriculture.

What... What is this?

Vertical gardens and eco-sculptures dot the polluted streets of Mexico City

Original Article: Lush Walls Rise to Fight a Blanket of Pollution

By: Damien Cave

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/10/world/americas/vertical-gardens-in-mexico-a-symbol-of-progress.html

 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=873954
Luke Kwon
The Killer Fog of '52
By: John Nielson
 



Summary:
    First I'd like to start off by saying that this article is not the same one as the one Mrs. Deluca showed us.  This fog was in London.  This happened in 1952.  This fog was much worse then the one in PA.  First off the fog came one day.  It doesn't explain how or why.  It says it was so dark you couldn't see.  Then it got cold so people started lighting fires to keep warm which made it worse.  A wind suddenly took it away.  By the end 12,000 people died.

Reaction:
     This article was very surprising to me.  I never thought that these killer smogs could kill so many if given the opportunity.  This really gave me a different view on what pollution could cause.  I can't believe some kind of thing like this could happen.  The fact that this happens should make the governments of our world do something about this kind of thing.

Questions:
1.  Do you think this could happen around here?
2.  Is anything being done about this kind of pollution if so how?
3.  Is this a big problem now?
4.  Is fog just a cloud? Yes or no?

[Polls] No spam

Normally, I would spam Google polls from different IP addresses just to mess up the results, sometimes in my favor. For the serious polls that Nam has posted now, I will not because I really want to know your opinions. If you haven't voted, please vote, and if you have, please don't vote again.

Thank you,
Your eternal Lord and Master's truly, Pat

Guys, Cows Cause Global Warming...

...WELL, NOT EXACTLY.

Link: http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0612sp1.htm

Summary:

This article expands on the impacts of the livestock sector on our environment, and although livestock can positively impact the environment, it focuses more on the negative effects. The article goes much in depth about the specific impacts of livestock on land degradation, water pollution, and biodiversity loss, but I am going to focus more on its association with greenhouse gas emissions. The livestock sector’s role in global warming is often one that goes unnoticed, but is actually responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. This is said to be even more than the amount of emissions released by transportation. Feed crops used in the livestock sector continue to expand and cause increases in carbon dioxide. Emissions are even greater for other gases with potential to warm the atmosphere, such as methane and nitrous oxide. One way these harmful emissions can be reduced is sustainable intensification livestock and feed crops. Basically, by reusing plots of land rather than expanding them, we can cut down on deforestation, and in result greenhouse gas emissions.

Reaction:

One of the things that surprised me the most in this article is that fact that livestock production emits more greenhouse gases than transportation. It’s actually still pretty difficult to believe, because with the extent at which cars, trucks, and other vehicles are used on a daily basis… It’s just shocking to realize the shear amount of land and food we have to be using to compete with transportation. This article was also the first time I had ever heard or read about the idea of livestock being harmful to the environment. I agree with the article in saying that it is something that goes unnoticed, and it’s interesting to see what other major environmental factors it impacts as well. With that being said, I suggest you guys read the whole article, it is actually pretty informative.

Thoughtful Questions:

1.       What characteristics would a sustainable production system exhibit?

2.       Aside from the negative impacts of livestock, what are the positives?

3.       What can we do to the land to make it more reusable? Because all of the nutrients in the soil would surely get used up after a while.

4.       What other agricultural processes harmfully impact the environment on a large scale?

5.       If a train leaves Chicago at 3 p.m. heading east, and another train leaves Tokyo at 7 p.m. heading southwest, what is the square root of the sun?

[Devil's Advocate] The Great Global Warming Swindle

Before I get into the documentary, let me just say that I'm kicking off the blog cycle with what is probably the opposite of what everyone else will be posting over the next two weeks. I tried finding "Not Evil Just Wrong" (made by the same people making "FrackNation"), but couldn't so I stuck with the documentary "The Great Global Warming Swindle". Right, on to the graded part of the blog post! The rest of the post is after the page break since I kind of wrote an essay. Sorry, my bad.

The Comment Quest

So we got another blog schedule over with. And then Mrs. DeLuca gives us the challenge to get an expert or professor to comment on one of our posts. I would just like to say: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. Also I wanted to know how many of you are going to do this. Also I'm posting the results for the polls after the page break.

[Devil's Advocate] The Problem with Recycling (Article and Link is Orange)

Can Recycling Be Bad for the Environment?

Waste water from recycling paper.

Summary:
This article is about recycling, but rather than positively, the author takes a negative view. The article at the beginning admits that the idea of recycling is good and in the beginning it did seem good to renew used resources. That's about as positive as the article gets. It then says that while recycling rates are rising fast, consumption of resources is also rising. This is because "American consumers assuage any guilt they might feel about consuming mass quantities of unnecessary, disposable goods by dutifully tossing those items into their recycling bins and hauling them out to the curb each week." The article uses the plastic industry as an example, saying that while it tells the public to recycle plastics, the industry also helps consumers justify the use of plastics by believing anything they toss will be recycled and everything will be better. 

When the demand for a recycled material drops, it is then stored in a warehouse with the hopes of demands rising again. If demands don't rise however, the material is sometimes dumped into a landfill which is where the materials would have gone anyways. Another problem with recycling is that people need to recycle things correctly for it to work. Someone has to first dispose the right materials correctly, then it has to be collected, and then the recyclers have to find someone to sell the recycled products to.Some things can be recycled but aren't because of the chance of cross mixing with something else. The article uses the example of PVC and PET, both look alike but will cause a brown resin if mixed, which then has to be thrown out as waste. This is the same reason bio-plastics aren't recycled either.


Another problem with recycling is the emissions from the recycling centers. The amount of greenhouse gases emitted is greater than if people were simply told to use less resources. Even with low energy recycling processes like glass and plastic, the particles emitted are still pollutants. In a recent study, it is shown that recycling centers were one of the Oakland's polluters.

Opinion:
I find that this article is informative, and unlike a lot of things I've read before finding this article, it actually has links to external sources. I find it strange to think that what we've considered good for the environment may actually be negative. The idea that even after all the energy used to recycle something it may still end up in a landfill, not by consumers but by the recycling plant. The main problem with this is that it would have been less energy to just throw out the item. This article is not going to stop me from recycling completely, but I'm probably going to think through what would have the least impact first.

Questions:

1. Is this article lying or are the pro-recycling articles lying?
2. Is it possible to develop a more efficient way to recycle in the future?
3. Is there anything people should still recycle even with the problems?
4. Is it weird to watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic? How about Legend of Korra?

Space Solar Power


Summary:
This article explains a new very renewable energy. This as you can see from the title is called space solar power.  It explains how this new energy resource is unlimited once you set up the satellites.  It also explains the process that this energy transformed into useable energy by using solar panels to gather this energy and then wireless send the energy down to earth into an antenna that receives the energy gathered from this satellite.  It says how this energy can be used 24-7 every day because it is in space and the sun is always shining in space.  Another thing this article says is that this article says is that since this energy is taken from the sun it is a very long lasting resource that will last billions of years.  This says that this energy source will solve the energy crisis that we are having now.  One other thing this article says is that since this energy can be turned into electrical energy we can use it to fuel electric cars which is what we already have.  This is creating an new clean energy source for transportation.

Opinion:
           This is a very good article to me.  I never thought that you could get energy from the sun in space without any kind of wires or anything to connect to power sources.  This is very good to me because we can use this resource 24-7 for billions of years.  Also this energy creates no waste and is an environmentally friendly resource that gives you much more power than we can produce now.  This is also very interesting because it talks about giving us a new very long lasting energy that can be used to fuel cars.  It amazes me how we as a race can learn to adapt to losing one of our most precious resources.

Thoughtful questions:
1.  Are there any negative impacts of this resource?
2.  Should America change to using this resource? Why or why not?
3.  Do you think using this resource will fix the world's energy problem?
4.  Why do we use the dash through thing?

Sustainable Dance

Sources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoewlHwI3U4&feature=related
http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/san-francisco-nightclubs-sustainable-dance-floor-powered-by-partiers.html

Summary:

When you think of alternative energy sources, you probably think of solar power, hydroelectricity, or biofuels, which is the thing that makes the idea of sustainable dancing, or any motion for that matter, so unique. Sustainable dance uses advanced technology to transform the kinetic energy made by dancing people in clubs, into energy that powers that very same club. This mechanism would sit under the panels of the dance floor, as shown in the video, and as people dance they generate power for the lights in the club. The best thing about this invention is that, it doesn’t only have to be used in clubs. Also, it can get kids and teens more interested in helping the environment. It would be pretty cool to know that while we have fun at our school dances, we are also working to create a sustainable and non-polluting energy source. With the limited amount of oil reserves the world has, it is time creative and innovative ways of obtaining energy are brought into the light.

Reaction:

When I was first looking through all of the different alternative energy sources, I came across the usual ones that we learned in class, like solar and wind power. I looked at these, and I was thinking that we’ve seen them SO many times before. So, I started looking specifically for weird alternative energy resources, and I stumbled upon the idea of sustainable dance. I think it is a really original and just plain fun way to make energy.  I especially like it, because it will get young people more interested in the environment. Often when we as teenagers can’t relate to something, it makes it harder for us to put in the effort. But this way we can still have fun and help make sustainability possible.


Questions to Ponder:

1. Is this a plausible alternative energy source? Why or why not?


2. Other than clubs, where else can this idea of harvesting our kinetic energy be used?


3. Michel Smit, from Sustainable Dance Club, believes that we should have " Sustainability as a goal, and creativity as our means". Do you believe creativity is the way of the future, or should we stick to the safety of what we know will work?


4. What are some environmental benefits of a sustainable dance club? Negative Impact?


5. BRB GOTTA GO DRAW SOME KORRA FANART.

Unrelated to Science, But is Still Interesting

So I was checking the blog stats as the admin, and I realized that the blog is actually public. The way I know this is because Google gave me this as the audience report:

Pageviews by Countries United States                180 Russia                      16 Germany       7 Canada         1 Malta             1 New Zealand 1

Pageviews by Browsers Firefox 79 (38%) Safari 53 (25%) Chrome 42 (20%) Internet Explorer 29 (14%) Konqueror 1 (<1%) Netscape 1 (<1%) Opera 1 (<1%) Pageviews by Operating Systems Windows 119 (57%) Macintosh 86 (41%) Linux 2.4.22-10mdk 1 (<1%)

It's interesting to see that so many people have stumbled upon this blog. If anyone thinks that I should try to close off the blog to the rest of the world then tell me. Not sure how effective it would be though. And most importantly, who is the awesome person using Linux? Because I love you.

Hornets have surpassed us...

Article:

Solar-Powered Hornet Found; Turns Light Into Electricity

 Published by National Geographic News
Author: Matt Kaplan



URL: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/12/101221-solar-power-hornet-science-animals/


Summary/Description:
This article basically explains that the this species of hornet generates electricity for unknown purposes, but it is know HOW they produce electricity. Scientists first started observing these hornet because of their abnormal activity patterns. Unlike other hornets this species is most active during the afternoon. Scientists soon found that the brown sections of the exoskeleton contain melanin, the pigment which, in humans, turns dangerous UV light into heat in addition to determining skin color and tans. Thanks to the unique structure of the exoskeleton only one percent of the light that hits the hornets' body in the brown parts is reflected. The yellow part of the exoskeleton, which contains the much rarer pigment xanthopterin (No, I cannot pronounce that properly, but I think it's "zanth-op-ter-in"), is where the important action takes place. This xanthopterin, when put in a liquid solution exposed to light, generated electricity at .335 efficiency (Human artificial solar cells produce between 10 and 11 percent).

Reaction:
I was impressed by this. I mean, an electric hornet? How could that not be cool? Still, it gives no reason for the insects producing the electricity, which is what I would really like to know about. It may take extensive study, but knowing why it is produced may lead to further discoveries, and if the military is interested enough, possibly lead to weaponization, the latter of which I do not approve of. Learning why the hornets produce the electricity would be more useful to everyone than what has already been learned, because our solar power cells are already more productive than these hornets. Biologists should look at creatures with similar niches, just to see if there are any other odd adaptions that were missed and should be looked in to.


Thoughtful questions:

1. Is this discovery really noteworthy? Why or why not?
2. Do you think there are other animals with electricity producing chemicals? If so, how many?
3. Could this be beneficial to humans? (Meat + Dairy + Electricity farm anyone?)
4. Do you think that we could genetically alter ourselves to produce xanthopterin? I am serious; after all, it would be useful to walk outside and photosynthetically charge your phone, wouldn't it?
5. If you had $500, an army, and a few other nonsensical things for you to have, where would you go on your rampage?

Poll Results!

Good job y'all we're done another blog group assignment/ schedule thingy. And starting another one. To celebrate a new start, I addded a Sort feature at the top of the blog (took like 10 seconds to do BTW). Anyways the two polls from last time results are as follows:

Did you do your comments on the last day possible:

Yes	3 (75%)
No	1 (25%)

How was the Hunger Games?:

MAZING!!!!! <3	3 (50%)
Terrible...	0 (0%)
Haven't Seen It	1 (16%)
I'm Not Hungry	2 (33%)

And  the new blog buddy schedule in case anyone loses theirs:

• 1st Day: Pat
• 3rd Day: Kevin
• 5th Day: Rahaf
• 7th Day: Luke
• 9th Day: Nam

And Mrs. DeLuca please don't grade this as my blog post!

Thirsty? How 'bout a cool, refreshing cup of seawater?

Thursday, March 29, 2012
By: Howard Perlman
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/drinkseawater.html

Summary of Article:
 This article is about the desalination of water. First it explains that desalination is the process by which we turn ocean or saline water int fresh drinkable water.  Then it explains how in some parts of the US fresh water is hard to get so this method becomes useful.  Also this article talks about classifying how salt is in water.  If water has a concentration of more than 1000 ppm of dissolved salt then it is technically saline water.  This article also talks about how water will continually be harder to get in the US so this technique of getting water will be very useful.  Next the author talks about the process of desalinization and how it is an ancient method of getting water.

Opinion:
This article made me realize that if we run out of natural freshwater we won't be totally dead.  It also made me realize that we have the ability to mass produce fresh water.  We could distribute it to third world countries or places that need water.  I'm also glad that this means we probably won't be running out of water for a very long time.  Something else I found interesting was that that in ancient times this technique was used to get water.


Questions:
1.  Do you think this could solve world thirst problems? If so how?
2.  If we ran out of natural fresh water could this method be used to provide all of our fresh water? How?
3.  Do you think this will ever be the worlds only way of getting water? Why and if so how soon?
4. Should Nam be allowed to add a random question if one is not already present?

I've Got 99 Problems and My Thirst Is One

 The Future of U.S. Water Supplies is Anything But Certain
By Climate Control (Not really sure if this counts as the author)
http://news.opb.org/article/the_future_of_u.s._water_supplies_is_anything_but_certain/
 
Summary:
The author believes that the water availability in the United States is decreasing. This is due to factors such as global warming, pollution, a rising population, and natural droughts. While most people associate access problems to third-world countries, the US may also be getting problems. For the last ten years, the US Southwest has been suffering from droughts and high water demands. Because the Colorado River is being overused, water distribution arguments have sprung up. In the Southeast, water has been highly restricted due to resource overuse, population boom, and poor weather. This is all foreshadowing for future issues. As polar ice melts into the ocean due to global warming, the sea water will start to rise. This will mix it with the country's drinking water supplies. This is a problem because of how polluted sea water has become and how high the salinity level is.

Opinion/ Reflection:
I found the article shocking when it said that we may be having water problems in the US since when we think of water issues we think of Africa or India. The problems that are the cause of the water issue are all things we are/ will be learning about. We already discussed how human population growth may be a problem, but we didn't discuss how the water supply in America may be affected. We will be talking about global warming later. I found it interesting that the biggest problems were in the Southern part of the United States. This means that if global warming continues, we in the North may also be getting water shortages. With temperatures like last summer, water shortages may not be that far away.

Questions:

1. Is there any way that we could prevent a United States water shortage?
2. How concerned should we be with this issue?
3. Is it too late to prevent an issue/ Were there any warning signs to hint to a possible water shortage?
4. Do we have responsibility to supply the drought areas in the US with water?
5. Do you like green eggs and ham?