SALMONFARMING: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to jump into a salmon pen and see the fish swim around you? Now you can, without ever having to don diving gear or even get wet.
The program uses Oculus Rift 3D-goggles, where you can look around a virtual reality just by turning your head, and carry out different actions using a video game controller. Several large companies are investing in this type of technology.
Monicha Seternes from Msval fish farming industries has spend the past few days presenting the simulator to children on Frya. It has been a great success, and feedback from the participants has been important to continuing development of the simulator.
Flipside Science features media-rich units perfect for educators looking to engage their students in design thinking activities around environmental issues. This engaging and upbeat collection of videos, hosted by Academy youth, and associated lessons explores how local communities are addressing environmental problems with solutions ranging from vertical farming to greywater recycling. Check out the units on energy, food, water, and ocean health below:
The ocean affects everyone. It provides important resources and recreational enjoyment to people around the world and is home to some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth: coral reefs. But the ocean's resources and biodiversity are under threat from human impacts. What are some local actions we can take to protect our global ocean?
Energy is an important part of our everyday lives. We use energy to cook, get around, and send emails. In this unit, we'll explore the issues associated with fossil fuels and how people are coming up with innovative sustainable energy alternatives for a brighter future.
To feed our growing world, we need innovative solutions. In this unit, we'll explore environmental issues related to the food we grow and eat. We'll review key issues like food waste, urban farming, and diet, and learn how simple choices we make can impact our planet.
Humans depend on water, and our need for this precious resource is growing alongside our population. How will we meet the needs of the future without harming the environment? In this unit, we'll explore key water issues, the water cycle, and some of the technology and techniques used to conserve water.
"My teaching colleague and I have been discussing possibilities for activities on getting our students involved in problem-solving and critical thinking about the environment. This sounds like such a perfect fit! We wanted real-world situations that they could use, and create possible applications in their home environment." -Middle School Teacher, Incline City, Nevada
"These resources would be a great addition to the ecology lessons we teach. I know this would be current and my co-teacher and I would be able to hook our students!" -9th Grade Teacher, Lockport, Illionois
"I want to help my students critically think and problem solve about the problems they may encounter in their lifetime. This gives them some practice to collaborate with their peers and look for solutions." -7th Grade Teacher, Lincoln Nebraska
"As a science teacher with a diverse group of learners, I am always on the lookout for new ways to present learning interactions, to maximize concept understanding. I think that this is a form of education that will be beneficial to my student's needs and interests. My school consists of students with learning disabilities, some with mental health issues... Thank you for adding another tool to our toolbox." -7th-12th Grade Teacher, Califon, New Jersey
This series is meant to create a transformational learning experience for students and their teachers by incorporating best practices for teaching environmental science and applying design thinking in the classroom. Flipside Science...
Inspires action with a positive, solution-oriented message. Flipside Science empowers students to make choices that positively impact their communities while teaching them about important environmental science concepts with engaging videos and design thinking challenges.
Is easy to implement in the classroom. Free and available online, the series currently features three fully-developed teaching units. Student worksheets that accompany each lesson in the food and water units are available in English, Spanish, and both Simplified and Traditional Chinese. The short modular videos also allow flexibility in the use of distinct Flipside Science materials.
Sargassum seaweed, like the heaps pictured here, can pose a problem for countries that depend on tourism. But this noxious plant could also be used to remove excess carbon from the ocean. Photo from Getty Images
That is huge. But not every technology designed to remove or capture and sequester marine carbon dioxide can get us to that number. And each, the research team found, comes with trade-offs. One might cost less but capture less carbon. Some can only operate in remote, hard-to-reach locations. Others consume high amounts of energy or come with hefty environmental risks.
Most marine carbon capture, sequestration, and removal technologies are still in the early stages of development. But some, like offshore seaweed and algae farming, have been around for more than a century.
Like trees, sea vegetation, including seaweed and microalgae, absorb carbon dioxide from the air and store it in their slimy cells. Three of the marine carbon management methods the NREL team analyzed rely on this biological hunger for carbon: seaweed farming, microalgae farming, and artificial upwelling. Artificial upwelling, in which nutrients are pumped up from the deep ocean to fertilize shallower waters, causes algae to bloom along the surface.
So, while seaweed and algae farming, seaweed sinking, and artificial upwelling are all relatively low-cost options for carbon dioxide capture and removal, they come with trade-offs. All require lots of energy and could cause severe environmental damage if they capture the amount of carbon needed to fight climate change.
The team examined many marine carbon management methods, including marine carbon capture, which separates carbon dioxide from the air or ocean; sequestration, which permanently stores that captured carbon; and removal, which does both. None are faultless. Illustrations by James Niffenegger, NREL
The first electrochemical method, called acid stripping carbon dioxide, converts ocean-based carbon into a gas, which bubbles out, like a freshly cracked-open can of soda. But those bubbles do not just float away into the atmosphere; they can be caught and sold to make fuel.
One of the most promising carbon capture techniques uses electricity to turn ocean-based carbon into a gas, so it simply bubbles out and can be captured and used to make fuel. NREL researchers have supported one company, Captura Corporation, which is powering this technique with renewable energy. Photo by Captura Corporation The ocean is one of our greatest climate allies, absorbing heat and about 30% of global carbon emissions. But these waters have already sucked up too much of our excess; it is getting too warm and too acidic. It cannot keep up.
Whether onshore or offshore, carbon removal technologies will require substantial amounts of energy to achieve global targets. But ocean-based carbon removal comes with a few extra benefits, like vast open space and few concerns about technological eyesores. Onshore, carbon capture and sequestration companies might need to divert energy away from the U.S. power grid to power their technology, but offshore, there is plenty of renewable energy flowing through ocean waters and winds. And much of that energy simply crashes ashore, unused.
Offshore carbon capture, sequestration, and removal companies will need sensors to monitor potential environmental impacts as well as how much carbon their technology captures, stores, or removes. But plunging sensors down to the seafloor, embedding them next to deep-sea rock formations, or even tethering the tech to a buoyant, wave-rocked seaweed farm are not easy tasks.
Marine energy technologies are still in the early stages of development; companies are working to hone their designs to make them durable enough to withstand the ocean and cost-effective enough to be commercially successful. But Niffenegger sees an opportunity for the marine energy and marine carbon dioxide removal industries to codevelop their budding technologies.
Check out the study, Mission Analysis for Marine Renewable Energy To Provide Power for Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal, to learn more about marine carbon dioxide removal. And subscribe to the NREL water power newsletter, The Current, to make sure you do not miss a water power update.
With Animal Crossing: New Horizon becoming one of the hottest games in 2020, farming and life simulators are becoming in vogue once more. One Indonesian studio is looking to shake the genre up even further with their new game.
Coral Island is a re-imagined farm sim game inspired by classics of the genre. Grow crops, nurture animals, and befriend the islanders; decide whether to revitalize not only the town but also the surrounding coral reefs. It may get tough, but stick with it because the island is ripe for change.
In Coral Island, players will be able to transform their land into a lush and lively farm. Find your own play style by deciding what crops to grow, which animals to nurture, or what structures to build.
Just like any good life sim, there are 16 singles who ready to mingle. Sweep them off their feet and find the one. Find out what their personalities are like, take them on a date, and fall in love! There are various relationship scenes to unlock and when you're ready, build a life together at the farm and perhaps even have children.
There are also some action RPG elements, where players can go deep into caverns to mine precious gemstones, which can be used to upgrade your tools and farm. The monsters within are usually protecting rare finds, so bring a weapon or two!
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