climate,climate,climate..

Changes in climate have the capabilities of affecting the human society in many ways. One main change influences human health. The most common fact we know is that weather may bring changes in birth rate because of epidemic outbreaks. It is also important to acknowledge the fact that climate affects different cities in different ways. For example, cities, which are found in tropical islands, Africa and India, may be more exposed to diseases because of the heat. This increase of heat leads to a large amount of deaths.

The problems with weather change may lead to an increase of climate conditions, which influence parasitic diseases, which are transmitted through many species. This may reveal why the rates of mosquito borne diseases have ended the life of millions in the region of Africa.

How will “climate change”(global warming) affect this? An increase in temperature will put many at risk to develop viral borne diseases. Many of these diseases breed in water. It is interesting to think about that if climate change increases, precipitation may in fact decrease. This may be detrimental for many species, which carry these deadly diseases.

One prime example discussed is Dengue, which is a mosquito borne virus, which has spread dramatically in many tropic islands. However, Dengue is not the only virus, which has been cleaning many. There are many ranging from ascariasis (a round worm), west Nile virus (mosquito borne) or yellow fever (also a mosquito). This is just to name a few out of hundreds.

It is important to built more efficient methods for cities, which are in danger with many parasitic diseases. The spread of mosquito borne diseases has affected both children and adults worldwide. However, the methods that we use today to prevent them at limited. There has been an increasing in education, bed netting, organization formed and more. However, it is the maximum amount that we are currently doing in order to decrease the amount of parasitic diseases- what will occur is climate continues to change. The climate is not changing very quickly, however it is change that will be quick enough to affect the lives of many.

There needs to be a more efficient plan to help the countries which are greatly suffering from parasitic diseases because of heat, poor water supply and poor sanitation. If climate change were to become even more drastic (which future research plans for this to occur), perhaps the affect of diseases would become more known in the United States rather than just tropical islands and countries in warmer weather.

Will the diseases hit us as hard as they hit other countries in history (As seen in CDC reports)?

Mackiewicz,John S (Spring 2008 Lecture)

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/

Professor Hirsch- October 28, 2009 Lecture

who should we listen to?

            Today in our society it is hard to know who exactly to trust.  In Muller's Physics for Future Presidents, he talks a lot about Al Gore and his movie An Inconvenient Truth.  In this he talks about three different strategies that people use to help to get others to support them.  These three key strategies are distortion, exaggeration, and cherry-picking.  Its almost like a white lie.  You aren't fully lying, but you are leaving out important facts.  Although these strategies help to get someone's point across, they actually distort the listeners point of view.  As Muller states, he is worried that if people find out that Al Gore actually distorted the truth, they may disregard his findings all together, even though most of his information was factual, just with a twist.  One example of what Al Gore did was that he put a graph that shows the correlation between CO2 levels and warming temperatures.  It is true that fossil fuels do help to induce global warming but the truth, however, is that this correlation does not necessarily mean cause and effect.  By doing this Gore is trying to get his point across more efficiently, but this in turn may be counteractive if people realize what he really is doing.  

There is so much propaganda for global warming, fossil fuels, energy, etc.  but how do people know what to really listen to?  You would think our government would want to tell us the truth in full but sometimes its just not that simple.  In the end we really need to research what we chose to believe in.  If you believe that human activity is causing global warming, then you better have evidence to back that up.  Its not okay to say I believe it because I heard someone say it.  In society today we are so used to getting information as quick as possible from search engines like google, and ask.com, that we really don't stop to check if the information we are getting is really reliable.  It all goes back to asking who posted this information, when was it posted, and is it something that I can really trust.  

Today we need to start to work together to figure out the truth and inform others of our findings in full.  Our society has become so wrapped up in putting ourselves first that we forget about everyone else.  We really need to start worrying about long term effects rather than short term.  Groups all over have been trying to unify populations to come together and make an impact on helping the future of this world.  The group 350 actually devoted October 24th as as the international day of climate action, and National Grid is another group trying to bring people together. 

There quote:

"If we all reduced our energy consumption by 3% a year for the next 10 years, the impact would be huge. 

But everything starts with you."

Its hard to know who to trust now a days but if we really don't have faith in who's giving us the information, we can take the initiative and find it for ourselves.  We should be able to have enough faith in each other to believe that when someone tells us something, especially someone in the government, that they are telling the truth.  A common quote "two heads is always better than one" really is the truth.  If we all start to work together and listen to each other instead of constantly trying to compete to be the best, maybe we can have an impact on the future world.  This is what Cuba did when they experienced peak oil and by doing so, managed to survive something that could have ultimately collapsed their society.  Although we are different from Cuba in many ways, we should try to use them as an example and take any advice we can get rather than just thinking we can simply do everything ourselves.  

 

-Muller, Physics for Future Presidents-Chapter 19

-Muller, Physics for Future Presidents-Chapter 22

-http://www.350.org/

-https://www.powerofaction.com/

Cuba During Peak Oil

The video that we watched in class showed how Cuba worked together during a peak oil crisis. They were worked as a community helping one another through this crisis. They began to lose weight up to about 95 lbs. Cuba was also having blackouts for 14-16 hours a day. It became very difficult for them that meant no access to air conditioners, fans, no elevators they had to use the stairs, they had to wait for buses for 3-4 hours a day to get to work. Even when they arrived at work there was really nothin gto do because there was no electricity. Doctors rode bikes to work. No technology but the human relationships were strong. They began to farm Even with agriculture it took about 3-5 years for soil to become fertile again. People found different ways to get money. Communities would go to one place where the majority of the neighborhood would be fed. The Cuba oil crisis was very difficult but Cuba worked together as a community and family like to stay strong. I thought what Cuba did was amazing and how they all came together to help one another was great. The United States would not be able to handle an oil peak crisis we are way too large it would definitely be harder here. Cuba is much smaller and condense. If America was to ever experience something like this it would not go the same way. With blackouts alone we cannot handle that. I really liked the way Cuba went about things it was truly a great video to watch.

Atmospheric Carbon and a Growing Population

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution human activity has led to a major increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. This surge in carbon emissions is due in large part to the burning of fossil fuels in industry and transportation. Since 1957 and 1958, stations in the South Pole and Hawaii respectively, have accurately and directly measured atmospheric carbon. A steady increase in atmospheric carbon has been observed. In 1958 the level of carbon dioxide in parts per million was recorded at 315. The most recent measurement calculates that atmospheric carbon is now over 380 ppm.₁

The increase in humans’ use of synthetic fertilizer has greatly affected levels of carbon in the atmosphere. Synthetic fertilizers have facilitated a great surge in the earth’s population, and carrying capacity, by providing much higher yields in agriculture. This directly affects carbon in the atmosphere because a growing population begets a growing industry, need for agriculture and demand for more fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels has had one of the greatest impacts on atmospheric carbon, and therefore the growing use of fossil fuels will ultimately increase carbon emissions. It is a cycling continuum that requires an ever expanding demand for fossil fuels.

1. Bloch, Michael . "Current CO2 levels." Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Levels. 2009. Web. 27 Oct 2009.

Oil Free!

After watching the video on Cuba and how after the 1990s fall of the Soviet Union, the result of the exporting in oil to the nations that are dependent on it had a drastic downfall on Cuba for many years. Before the fall of the Soviet Union Cuba had been a large importing country for some years, and had most of its agriculture needs that depended on oil. When they stopped receiving oil their lifestyle changed dramatically. Majority of the population on average lost 20 pounds in the next 3-5 years, and people couldn't work or get to work without gas for their cars, and the most important they had no fuel for the tractors for farming and as a result the food supply were beginning to decrease. But the people of Cuba came together and figured out how to sustain a lifestyle without oil. One of the important thing that I found interesting in the video was how the people started farming all over again without technological equipment; they started revitalizing the soil and planted corn, fruits, and other vegetables and started a farm market. They also started growing some crops in their backyards or on their rooftops. Another way that they survived was the use of solar energy to warm up the water and to use their radio and other equipment.
After watching how the Cubans manage to survive without oil, I asked myself the question if it would be possible for the United States to survive without oil? I came to the realization that this could not be achieved in such a manner as Cuba. The U.S. is a larger country than Cuba and the people would not think of living in such a lifestyle because they think that the U.S. is an advanced country where money is the solution for all problems. There aren't many places where you can grow crops in the U.S. since we're mostly an industrialized country with many urban populated areas, as well as a technological based country that solar energy wouldn't even give us half the energy we need to use the equipment that we have now. Perhaps in time we could learn to better understand the uses of the elements and learn from Cuba's experience of life without oil, therefore we can start becoming less Oil dependent and soon be Oil Free, but the day when that happens is far from now.

Going back to basics!

People only used what they needed, hunted and killed what was life sustaining, fished for food, made fires by hand, etc. Our way of life now is unhealthy, we use way more then we need, expensive, and not all people could even live in the “old world” if need be. People need to think about the future and what it holds for man-kind. If we all start walking more to get places, take bicycles, car-pool, etc we will be healthier, using up less or no fuel, and will pave the way for a better future for our children. Living close to our jobs, having a piece of land if we need it, and learning to grow food will help us for our future. People use up so much energy every single day and don’t even think about it. When we watched the video on Cuba I really started thinking because throughout the video we are shown what it means to live poorly and have resources taken away in the blink of an eye. The Soviet Union crashed and Cuba experienced the “special period”. 80% of Cuba’s imports were taken away, interest rates went through the roof, stocks crashed, gas prices grew immensely, black outs were occurring all throughout Cuba, etc. Everyone had to learn how to farm, grow their own food, and get to their job without using fuel. According to the video, Cuba now grows almost all organic foods because of this change, they take care of their land, money became unimportant to Cubans, they went back to using animals for transportation and to help tend crops. As a result from these changes the average Cuban lost 20lbs., there was a decrease in the amounts of stroke and heart attacks seen by doctors, incidents of diabetes decreased, and 80% of Cuban people owned their own homes.

If Americans could learn to live this way and actually practice these changes we would be better off in the long run. We would be healthier, our children would learn at a young age how to live better, and longevity would exist for Americans. If anything were to happen down the road we “the American person” would be ready.

Will it really help? The earth has its own cycle of evolution.

Along with some other classes, I am also taking human evolution and we watched a movie last class called “how the earth was made”. This movie shows what was contained on our earth from the beginning of time, billions and billions of years ago. From the first ameba, to rain fall, to lava explosions, to when the first rock formed, and oxygen slowly covered the atmosphere around the planet; there has been a very distinct cycle that our planet has gone through since the beginning of time. People have only inhabited it for a fraction of how old the planet really is. The stages and cycles the planet goes through are generally unchanged from who and/or what is living on the planet. I’m not saying that people aren’t contributing to global warming or shouldn’t be using up all of the planet’s natural resources, but it really doesn’t matter. There are ice ages that come and go, warm stages that come and go, and right now we are in a warm stage. Once the planet goes into its freeze stage everyone on earth will die, the planet will be uninhabitable. This may not happen for another million years, but eventually it will happen. The movie, “how the earth was made” is very educational and resourceful. It shows people what to expect for the future and when to expect it. Hopefully we will be living on another planet by then and won’t have to worry about the changes, freezes, and lava explosions that will occur and kill everything on the planet earth.

Could we be like Cuba (in terms of oil...)

The Power of Community video interprets a great understanding on how important it is for a community to work together in order to survive through peak oil. The sound of peak oil sounds like a horrifying tragic event. However, there are possible options which may allow us to survive through the “peak oil tragedy”. The strategies used in Cuba show us how people may be capable of applying specific methods in order to reduce depletion. Cuba, just like the United States has used more urbanized farming methods which typically promote depletion. However, instead the Cubans changed to using other methods such as local and urban gardens. It almost seems like this is a backwards process. However, it may be what is necessary to survive the peak oil crisis. Overall, Cuba slowly used less energy in their society with the HELP of their community (unlike in the United States).

Another issue touched upon is the transportation. As we know most sources of transportation need a lot of energy in order to be maintained-but this energy is not always available. Could there be a possible way to transport ourselves and our goods without using “precious” energy that we need for other things? Cubans decided to use bicycles in order to sustain a lower energy society. Cuba began to deal with a lack of energy which lead to no gas available for car usage. How did this all happen? GOVERNMENT HELPED. Perhaps it is important that we as a part of the community along with the government need to put our thoughts together and realize how “small” adjustments can change a lot quickly. As seen the Heinbergs “Party’s Over”, non-petroleum sources will take a long time to adjust to. It will take a long time to transfer our energy sources to different variables. Also, the amount of energy will greatly vary and the expenditure and consumption will not equal to what we are accustomed to. The government helped Cuba. They broke up the state farms into smaller local farms. This allows the distance of transportation to be minimal. If smaller farms begin to emerge, a former farming method will arise again- HUMAN POWER. Human power has always been useful in agriculture. Perhaps it does not expend as much product, as quickly. But, it does use a lot of energy sources that we do not have available to us at this point in time (or if we ever will recover?).

The government also helped to create various forms of fertilizer which were organic and eliminated the need for nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides by using new organic methods. This organic material will put great efforts into “re-mineralizing” the soils through the use of organic waste. Clearly, Cuba survived and it is possible for many other countries to survive. But the question which comes to mind is that does land population affect how quickly we will be able to adjust to a change like Cuba experienced? Was Cuba able to succeed because they have less Greenland? The United States has gone up and down with the concept of the government dealing with issues of society, however- perhaps it is time for the government to fully intervene with the question of life and death (caused by oil).

Its all around us

Today I saw a commercial that advertised, "America has enough natural gas to last more than 100 years.  And supply is growing."  Honestly, if I never took this class I probably wouldn't have even noticed it.  Its funny to see the things I've begun to notice after discussing these issues in class.  Heres the website, I thought it was pretty interesting.

www.newnaturalgas.org

How would the US really react to a instant stoppage of Fossil Fuels

In class today we watched the video on how Cuba handled themselves when their energy resources got cut off with no notice. The discussion that followed lead us to our opinions and ideals as to what we would do as a country if this happened in the US. Some feel that we would come together as one and be OK and make adjustments like the Cubans did. Others felt that we wouldn't. I believe that there are many out there that would want to unite for the good of all but over all I don't see this happening. America is not what it was in the 1970's oil shortage. This country is very large and populated. Its a violent society as a whole with fire arms easily and readily available. Violent crimes are committed every second of every day and for what, to steal a car, jacket, sneakers, wallet etc..... Just imagine if food which is for the most part very available to us now was not. Would you be thinking of your neighbor if you where hungry and didn't know when the next meal was coming. I am sure I am one of the few if only class member with children, let me tell you feeding my kids would make me take drastic measures. This is just a point that I wanted to put out there. We have evolved into a me first materialistic society that combined with its size, social structure and geography would be very hard to emulate what the Cubans did. Also it would take the govt. to instantly devalue money. If money was not worth as much as it is in our society people would be more inclined to farm or just grow there own food and be more helping toward others. Basically we need to change our cultural priorities of today.
The last thing I would like to comment on was the talk at the end of class how maybe the University should offer courses on things like basic cooking, gardening, some "handyman" type things around the home, care etc. I personally feel that these things should have been already learned by college aged students. These things for years where taught by families and passed on from generation to generation. Its not a college course, its a life course that I believe is our parents and grandparents responsibility to teach. However in today's society there are to many broken homes (which is not really an excuse) cases of children having children and an emphasis people wanting so much but not wanting to get there hands dirty earning it which has eroded how these lesions have been learned form family. It starts and ends at home with the family. Basic life skills and knowledge is not a college course.....!!

Whats really going on?

What else can companies and the government hide from the public?  Today in class we watched a video about Enron and who was really responsible for its downfall.  Throughout the video Enron employees especially Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, and Andrew Fastow were questioned and put to the spot to answer this question.  

Throughout their reign, Enron managed to grow faster than any company had before, but were doing so in one of the most deceptive ways possible.  Enron used an accounting technique known as mark-to-marketing.  With this they would actually add profits that were not even there and those who came up with the ideas were paid in millions.  Yet the real question remained, where was all this money coming from when the profits really never happened?  To the stock holder, and even to the trained analysts, Enron's stock seemed to be skyrocketing at a record speed, but in reality the company was in a massive amount of debt.  Before this became known to the public and before everyone saw the stocks begin to decline, the companies top employees pulled their stocks making thousands, and millions of dollars while the others were left to take a massive fall.  Although some saw through this  scam of deception and lies, they were too afraid to say anything.  However, as the scandal became more obvious and as new information was now available to the public it quickly unraveled and was exposed for what it really was.

This story relates directly to the oil crisis occurring today.  When the word of an oil crisis first arrived, so few accepted this idea.  Although some like Hubbert and others, saw the supply of oil for what it really was, many simply turned the other way and ignored the issue.  It was not until in the 1970's when the U.S. reached its peak oil that concern began to spread.  Just like with the Enron scandal, no one wanted to really acknowledge the truth.  In both cases, the public was being deceived of what was really happening and only a select few professionals, such as the analysts of Enron, and Hubbert with the oil crisis knew the truth, but their opinions were quickly rejected and ignored.  As more information became available, more people become aware of the truth and were quicker to agree to the once radical ideas they were so quick to reject before.

Today it is known that what Enron was doing was all really one big scam, and it is greatly known that the petroleum supply is finite, and other means of energy will soon be needed in larger quantites than ever before.  In The Party's Over, Heinberg dedicates an entire chapter to what non-petroleum energy source or combination could compensate for the decrease and possible loss of the use of oil.  He discusses the possibilities of the uses of  natural gas, coal, nuclear power, wind, solar power, hydrogen, hydroelectricity, geothermal power, tides, waves, biomass, biodiesel, and ethanol and the chances they would be able to replace the loss of oil.  However, as Heinberg states almost all of these alternates have some sort of a downfall and most likely would not be able to support society the way it is today.  " If indeed none of the energy alternatives now available has the near-term potential to "support the high levels of structure and process of our current civilization," then profound changes are virtually inevitable in every sphere of human concern as oil begins to run out.  Just what sorts of changes can we expect to see within the next 50 years?" (Heinberg 183-184).  

The movie about Enron today really makes me wonder, just how much are we willing to believe simply because someone higher up than us says its true?  It is so easy to accept information from people who you believe know what they are talking about but very difficult to obtain the truth for yourself.  So what is really going on, and how do we know who to really believe?

The Party's Over-Chapter 4

The Smartest Guys in The Room

What can we do to help?

Throughout society we the people are continuing to destroy our own environment and as a result the earth is suffering from it. Just as we have seen how the carbon dioxide emissions that we give off from us burning fossil fuels we are continuing to increase the rate of global warming. Just the other day we noticed how fast the weather is changing, I mean its already starting to snow and its not even winter yet. My question is how can we sustain an enriched environment while trying to live in such technological luxury and lifestyle?

Although people are contributing efforts to try helping the earth, but we are living at a high rate and don't realize how we are affecting the people throughout the world. Recycle, Reuse, Reduce are the three major ways people are contributing to helping the environment, but it doesn't mean that it will fix the problems that the burning of fossil fuels are doing to the atmosphere.

A long ride through the Corn

This past weekend I drove from my home in Schenectady NY to South Bend Indiana to watch my beloved Notre Dame football team attempt to knock off USC. Well the Irish fell a little short (4 yards to be exact)but what I saw on my drive was interesting to me. I know that before taking this course I would have never paid much attention to the massive amount of corn farms I seen on my 10 hour drive. The drive takes you out to Buffalo NY then southwest following lake Erie into north western Pennsylvania. Then into and across Ohio straight into Indiana. I have to say I have never seen so much corn in my life. Some of these farms had large processing plant on them. I also saw a plant that made ethanol. Ohio by far had the most corn and a very good amount of grain. Indiana had a lot of corn fields but not at the same scale of the Ohio farms. I did see some live stock but not as much as I expected to see. In western NY and PA there was some very large vinyards nestled in between the the corn. So normally I wouldnt think anything of it, but as I drove I kept thinking about NPP and how the grapes and corn are basically stored solar energy. Then I kept thinging wondering if any of these farms where getting large amounts of govt. subsidies. Then I thought about how barren these huge flat fields of corn would be if no corn was on them and that it would be like a big dust bowl. I also noticed that there really wasnt many trees at all, just endless corn fields. I have to say my mind just didnt stop. 2 months ago this would have been a mindless boring drive. On top of all that thought brought on by the corn and grapes, every time I filled my SUV I thought about how much it was costing me but yet that I was glad there was gas available to me so I could make this special trip.
I noticed at Notre Dame that they where trying to "go green" they had recycle bins and trash bins every where around campus, the bathrooms had the super power hand dryers and no paper towels.
I have to say that I am shocked at the impact the information from this course has had effected the how I see and view my surroundings.

actions are bigger than words

Today in the world it seems like everyone says one thing but does another.  From politicians to car companies, people all over are trying to act like they care but their actions say something different.  We in the U.S. take for granted so many things and its come to a point where we don't even realize were doing it.  As Smil discusses in chapter 8 of Enriching the Earth, synthesized nitrogen fertilizer is really not a major necessity for the U.S.  Although it does help to provide food for the continuously growing population, it really is more for the economic benefit.  With a decrease in the amount of synthesized nitrogen fertilizer the U.S. would not suffer any nutritional deficit, but simply not be the world's largest exporter of food.  If we reduced our use of this fertilizer we may have to change our diets to a degree but we certainly would not face a hardship of any kind.  Yet, why do we feel the need to be the largest food exporter?  Why do we need to produce so much excess when really we could be saving our resources for when we really need them?  It is simply because the U.S. is always going to believe in excess, more is always better.  More nitrogen based fertilizer, more food, more energy, more oil, more more more.  Will it ever come to an end?

There are thousands of documentaries and articles about the obesity epidemic in the U.S. but we continue to produce an excessive amount of food simply for our economic gain.  If weight is such an issue in the U.S. then why doesn't anyone take the initiative to help manage this?  Everyone has the "cure" and the "solution" written in words but when it comes to actually taking a step forward and doing it, no one seems to be able to follow through.  McDonalds for example says how they make better options for kids meals, like apples instead of fries or milk instead of soda...but what kid in their right mind is really going want this?  They try to make a "healthier" image for themselves but still continue to serve calorie and fat packed super size value meals. 

China, unlike the U.S. has a great dependency on nitrogen based fertilizer.  Since they faced such hardships under the rule of Mao Zeodong and also faced one of the greatest famines in all of history, there continuously growing population actually depends on this fertilizer as a means of survival, not economic growth.  

We as Americas, myself included, seem to hardly think twice before ordering a large value meal at any of the millions of fast food places, only to end up throwing more than half of it away.  Its easy to say I'm going on a diet but very hard to follow through with it.  You always hear people talk about their "new years resolutions" only to do it for a week or two and then continue back to their old ways.  If people would just realize that not everything is always better in excess, we might be able to stop overusing the only planet we have to survive.  If someone says they are going to do something, they need to step up and actually do it.  If we are in such an oil crisis and if there is such an obesity epidemic then people need to stop talking about using alternate means or energy, and stop talking about losing weight or changing their ways and actually do it! We are living in a time when everything we consume and produce is in excess and we think nothing of it.  It's simply our way of life.  Yet it is our greed and need for always being bigger and better that is ultimately going to led to the downfall of this civilization.  What will students hundreds of years from now (if there are any), read about the U.S. in textbooks?  How we overused our resources to such an extent that we could no longer support our society?  Or how we took control and saved ourselves from probably one of the biggest disasters that could have happened?  Actions ARE bigger than words, and bigger is NOT always better.

Thinking Our Way Out of Destuction

We are a very interesting species wouldn't you agree? While many different species of all kingdoms phylums and classes we appear to be on the top of the food chain. Why do you think that is? In my opinion it is our problem solving ability that has let us to span the globe, build civilization, and create technologies other species are incapable of doing. Our over ambitions have been a downfall for our species and has led us to the brink of destruction. Because of our need to expand and grow we have leveled forests, plundered the Earth for resources that it couldn't repleanish, and toxified the planet.. it is dying... because of us.
We have made many mistakes as a species and have caused more damage to our egosystem than any other organism its come across. If we have been able to do so much damage with our ambitions then why can't we be able to reverse it? We are great problem solvers, why can't we solve climate change? Why can't we detoxify the Earth? With the right motivation I believe we, the human race, can accomplish anything.
Take the sixteen year old highschool student Daniel Burd for example. Daniel was able to breed microorganisms that can rapidly degrade plastic material. Through determination and intelegent thinking Daniel has made a breakthrough in environmentally friendly ways to detoxify our planet. I think that with perseverance and our thinking power there is nothing that we can't accomplish.

source: http://www.mnn.com/technology/research-innovations/blogs/boy-discovers-microbe-that-eats-plastic

What else is out there?

Learning about the various biomes exposes the variation of resources on earth. In a larger perspective, it is easier to portray our community as a small part of the rest of the ecosystem. It is still very important to have the same consideration for all existence on all other biomes because they all contribute to our ability to live.

If you look at forests and the idea of importance in climate discussed in class. A prevailing climate is the most important factor in determination of a biome. It is interesting to think about the size and capacity that forests take up. If drastic changes were to occur to the many forests in our ecosystems, it is scary to think of the consequences we will suffer. Forests were used from the reindustrialize for slash and burn methods which have left many depletions of carbon dioxide and soil erosion. Along with many technological techniques, many new practices has decrease populations in biomes such as keystone species.

It is important to keep the global diversity because at the end each system within the ecosystem depend on each other. Another biome which should really be appreciate is the water biomes. Water is a main source of our life and allows us to maintain crop production. Without water, many species would not be able to sustain their lives.

However, issues such as pollution and runoff lead to the great depletion of water. Practices that are used in crop production such as fertilizer being run off in fresh water and restrict proper water production for the hydraulic cycle and for plant growth. Another major factor of water is the over fishing and population which corrupt the ecological systems in the oceans. This is represented in the movie Affluenza which was seen in lecture on the twenty-first of September. This movie emphasized on the issue of collapses and changes in the ocean which are caused by the consequences that people have caused. Some of the most productive fishing sites have diminished because the impacts have become severe. Fisherman make a living on what they catch, however in order to increase their income they invest in larger boats and more advanced technologies which deplete the marine biome.

People need to be aware what is occurring in the water because we greatly rely on the water species even if it is not for food consumption. The estuaries are coastal bodies of water which are partly surrounded by land and have access to open ocean and the fresh water. Many industrial pollutants are dumped upstream the estuaries which then lead to defects for many lives in the marine because the estuaries merge the fresh water rivers with the oceans. It may be difficult to sustain stability in the ecosystems because of resource depletion. Also many of the biomes have such different species that levels of adaptations vary greatly.

Need I say any more!

Evolution When is enough enough??

Chapter 3 in the cartoon guide talks about evolution and how all live on the planet has evolved. It mentions Selective Advantage which are organisms that are better at getting food, withstanding heat, cold and reproduce at a high success rate and so on. So its save to say that humans have been fortunate to be the most selectively advanced species on the planet. As we know humans have evolved greatly over the many years of our species existance. As we seen in the Smil readings how the discovery of nitrogen and its importance to live and humans ability to grow food. So as humans evolve they keep exploring the world they live in and start unlocking some of the keys to all its mysteries.
So back to Nitrogen. Many years ago this element was found to be important in agriculture and how over time more and more has been learned and discovered about it. So now humans figure out how it can help grow more food. Great but that somehow translated into lets reproduce more causing steady rise in population ever since. I truely can figure out the corrilation between the two but it is what it is. I think it had something to do with when the world was agriculture based and when they learned how to grow more they could feed more people thus by having more kids they would have more help to work the land. Not a smart concept to me but thats an entire different matter in itself we can save for another day.
So let me jump way a head to today. In our world today we as humans are so evolved in every way possible that we are destroying the planet. My question is when is it ever going to be enough? I say never, simply because ever since the birth of a merchant economy in the 17th century and then on to Capitalism human greed for money, power and what ever else you want to add to that drives us to continue to evolve. The technologies we have today wether its in communication, transportation, education, business, agriculture, housing, energy extraction and on and on and on. All these things are so far advanced that many of our grandparents let alone great grandparents couldn't of imagined. But they are today's realities.
Where I am going with all has been a long road to a short statement: humans will continue to evolve with the same recklessness, like we have done for years and years. Consuming mass amounts of energy, over developoing the earths land and over using its resources. Why because as we have evolved in many good ways the bad in human nature has evolved and grown to epic porportions. Today we keep cars for 3 years and after that they are old, no good same with computers, appliances, electronic etc. Its alway I want more and new and fast. Humans live for the here and now, and to satisfy there self fullfilling needs of the moment that tend to never be able to be full filled anyway. Leaving them in search for more more more.
Maybe its time we all just take a step back and say what we have and how advanced we have become is good enough for now. Maybe we can give the planet a chance to catch its breath!! If we just settle where we are now for a while.

Over the limit

The other day as I was flipping through the channels on my T.V, I came to a stop on animal planet and watched an episode about recent grizzly bear attacks in Alaska.  Recently more and more people have been bothered by these giant creatures searching for food.  As most of us know, bears typically stay close to rivers or streams catching fish as their primary food source. However, as the show stated, the reason for the bears movement from these rivers and streams is due a recent decrease in the amount of fish available.

In the beginning of this class, I really just believed a lot of the things we were learning about the oil crisis and humans over using their resources was really just an exaggeration to help us become aware of the situation.  However, now the more and more I read the news, or see things on T.V, I realize that a lot of the things we learn really are not exaggerations at all. Everything we have been learning and discussing in class is really beginning to tie together.   

The other day in class we watched a video called Affluenza.  This video discussed our over fishing of our water sources.  It discussed how over the past few decades the decreasing abundance of plankton (the primary fish food), our use of electronic fish finders, and fishing techniques such as bottom trawling have greatly decreased the fish populations.  The fish cannot reproduce fast enough to keep up with our demanding protein diets and our means of fishing destroy the fishes environments.  In the end, even if the fish were reproducing fast enough, they would have no where to grow into adult fish.  Now more than ever the rapidly depleting fish population is not only effecting the fishermen and consumers but people all over the world.  

When animals, wether it be bears or any creature can't find enough food in their primary locations, they will either adapt and move to find new food sources, or they will stay where they are and possible die off.  If bears are moving further from the streams and closer to people in order to get the food they need then who knows what will come next. 

Fish are not the only resource being overused and taken for granted but one of many.  Wether its oil, corn, or fish, several of our common resources we think nothing of having are all quickly decreasing. People need to really start to take a step back and realize that all their actions no matter how small it may seem effect not only them but the entire world.  How far over our limit will we really have to be in order for people to make a change? Soon we are going to have to really decide if something that we want is really something that we need but most likely by the time people do this it will be late.

Worldwide Panic, Here We Come!

The burning of fossil fuels and deforestation have lead to a widespread panic in the recent years where humans are now witnessing physical, therefore detrimental changes to our surroundings. Climate change is an environment issue affecting all living organisms in the world today. “Warming temperatures are melting coastal ice shelves
and frozen sub-soils, which act as natural barriers to protect the
village against summer deluges from ocean storm surges.” Global warming
seems to be the main topic of discussion while other harm is being done
to our environment by acid rain and other byproducts of human devastation. In an article I found quite relevant to environmental issues discussed in class,
the people of Alaska in the village of Newtok are being forced out of
their village due to climate change. The indigenous people of Alaska have
endured some of the harshest of environments for thousands of years, but
the flooding due to recent climate changes was unbearable for the Newtok
villagers to bear. “The crisis is unique because its devastating effects
creep up on communities, eating away at their infrastructure, unlike with
sudden natural disasters such as wildfires, earthquakes or hurricanes.”
There were floods which the village was trampled with which forced the
native villagers to relocate 9 miles away from “home”. According to the
article, twenty six other Alaskan villages are in immediate danger of
flooding, which also may result in the abandonment of their villages as
well as the way of life the natives were used to. "We are seeing the
erosion, flooding and sinking of our village right now," said Stanley
Tom, a Yup'ik Eskimo and tribal administrator for the Newtok Traditional
Council. Also, the UN estimates that this severe climate change will
force the displacement of about 150 million people by the year 2050.
Although there are only 320 people in the Newtok village, this may be a
mere preview of what is “in store” for certain groups of people in areas
which are prone to be damaged by flooding due to climate change. I feel
that climate change should be enforced to the people as a more serious issue and this article is just a small
indication of what the people of the Earth have coming if more major
adjustments in human lifestyles aren’t made in the upcoming years and therefore, the near future. People need to be aware of these occurrences where people can have some tangible evidence that climate altering is taking place, thus harming the future of humankind. Like we discussed in class, humans seem to attempt to correct long term problems with short term solutions. Adjustments in our lifestyle need to made as soon as possible because it is wrong for people in this village, as well as
other species affected by human induced climate changes, to be negatively
affected by ways of human industrialism. For example, polar bears are coming closer to extinction day by day because they are losing ice to live on because it is melting, and they have to swim for extended periods of time to find food and land (ice) to habitat. Thus, a long-term lifestyle change would ultimately lead to a step back toward “homeostasis” where humans as well as all living creatures may interact the way nature intended, unaltered by smog and chemical byproducts.
(http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/04/24/climate.change.eskimos/index.html

'Climate change' forces Eskimos to abandon village, by Azadeh Ansari on
April 28th, 2009)

Nitrogen, how much of you do we need?

We need nitrogen, point blank. Whether it is for our crops or in our DNA- Nitrogen holds a large responsibility of our human being. If you think about it in general terms, limited nitrogen will limit out production-which will solely lead to a limited population. This cycle would be lethal. Nitrogen cycle rapidly because air is full of it, however the cycling greatly depends on how much access we have to the element. Nitrogen takes up a large part of our atmosphere- and many species depends upon it. We are lucky enough to know that living bacteria is able to fix our source of nitrogen into nitrates. This fixed nitrogen is then able to be taken up by the plants in our society and in turn useful to our animals. Generally speaking, the production of nitrogen allows our atmosphere to sustain itself. However, based on Smils reading- experimenting with the amounts of nitrogen skewed what we know about nitrogen. Farmers were seeing that some of the nitrogen that was being taking in by plants was not completely cycling back into the atmosphere. This is a severe issue to us as a society because if the soil is depleted, we will be unable to produce the agriculture that we need to sustain living. However, scientist developed theories of legumes and sources of manure. Without the help of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, or the help of recycling nitrogen, we would not be able to sustain agriculture. By growing legumes, we can fix nitrogen and have it be a large part of the soil. Scientists from early times have theorized methods of legumes and bacteria.

Researched were able to show that legumes were capable of restoring the nitrogen to the soil- however, it also led them to the conclusion that plants did not associate with any nitrogen given off from the atmosphere. The theories of manure believed that there was a fixed amount of stored nitrogen in the soil- which can then be recycled. Different countries have different various theories of the use of fixed nitrogen and legumes a main source. However, regardless of the countries procedure, a large amount of the sources will always be needed to maintain the soil production. The levels of agriculture vary between the east and western countries because of the various nitrogen productions. These differences may be caused by changes in precipitation, soil erosion and plan and simple- the availability of resources. The shift in overall cultivation can change the overall amount of people that are being bed fed per region. Without the process of nitrogen, the cycle will not be maintained considering how much nitrogen is being over consumed. Therefore, the progress in using nitrogen fertilizer has helped begin to feed people worldwide. The real issue is how much should we use? Where do we really need it? Is too much, too much? Will using less greatly affect us? How will it affect us? Overall, scientists have attempted to establish ways to figure out the pros and cons of the synthetic nitrogen fertilizer that we greatly depend on as Americans. We don’t realize how much nitrogen is used for in our society. Most people wouldn’t know that it is used in iron and steel production, as well as the petroleum industries. However based on Haber’s process we are able to use ammonia as a severe catalyst in this major production of synthetic fertilizers.

Another important issue which cannot be ignored is Eutrophication. What is it? It is when there is an increase in concentration of chemicals in the ecosystem. This process greatly affects the water and the fish populations. However, it can also greatly affect the animals in our wildlife. The process should be concentrated on the “underground life-the fishes”. The excess run off has begun to pollute the water- which is leading to a depletion of our animals. Although Eutrophication may be a natural process that may occur during floods- it is still occurring at an increasing level. But nutrients are not the only thing killing the fish. The fisherman are partly blame too. Areas like Georges Bank are nutrient rich on the submarine floor. This area used to be one of the most productive areas for fishing in the world. However, electric finders were depleting the source of the fish. The fisherman obviously need to stay in business- however it is not fair if too many fisherman are going out to see and there is no control or maximum limitations to the amount of fish which are being taking out. There should at least be a way to sustain the ecosystem and avoid fisherman’s greed. If you think about the entire concept in the long run. Limiting the consumption of fish, would increase farm agriculture because more people would relay more crops. This would then lead to fisherman losing their jobs. A severe change in diet would occur because there would not be enough protein for some people to survive. However, America is not greatly dependant on fish. Major countries around and surround Asia are greatly dependent on the consumption of fish products.

Will the time come, when there will be no fish left in the sea?

In class last week we watched a movie called, “Affluenza”. This was a movie about how many aquamarine species are becoming extinct because of the inadequate techniques of our late fishermen. Our now-a-day hunters of the sea inherited these horrific practices, leading to our current problem: a decline of sea life.
There are many destructive fishing techniques used by our fishermen, a few are fishing with explosives, using poisons such as cyanide or pesticides, bottom trawls, and muroami. Fishing with explosives, also known as blast fishing, has probably been in existence for centuries and is apparently spreading. Explosions can produce fairly large craters, devastating ten to twenty square meters of bottom. In coral reefs, decolonization of damaged habitats is very slow and complete recovery may take several decades. The explosion kills both the target fish and the accompanying fauna. People have been injured and even killed from this. Explosives and the raw materials for preparing explosives, such as fertilizers and sugar, are inexpensive and easily available. Which makes this type of fishing hard to shy away from. Using poisons to catch certain fish kill off many parts of the sea ecosystem including fish, coral, plants, etc. The muroami technique is used mostly in Southeast Asia which uses an encircling net together with pounding devices. These devices usually comprise large stones fitted on ropes that are pounded onto the coral reefs. This scares the fish out of the coral and smashes the coral to pieces. Then the net encloses the fish and the fishermen take them for market.
I think these practices are a disgrace and if the population knew about them, they would do something to stop it. We can’t let this go on much longer. If it does then what will become of earth’s aquamarine life?