Third Post for the Third 9 Weeks (Due March 27)

[Mr. Dove]

Please respond to this topic post to complete your third post for the third nine weeks. PLEASE RESPOND TO ONLY THIS POST. If you wish to appropriately comment on your classmates post then respond to their thread in this discussion. 

[Caroline Firer]

Caroline Firer

 

A. Environment. Pollution, and Human Health and Emerging Technologies

 

B. The United States Environmental Protection Agency have set new standards for all the newer models of cars in general. These standards are predicted to significantly reduce harmful pollution and emissions from cars as well as save money for the owner, and the manufacturer as well. The Obama administration is really pushing for new standards to cut the soot, smog and toxic emissions from cars. The goal they say is to cut down on improve fuel economy and reduce green house gases. Specifics weren't given how but it was averaged that this upgrade will end up saving the basic American family 1.7 trillion in fuel costs. Setting a particular matter standard is also in the works for new cars and virtually eliminating fuel vapor emissions. The harmful pollutant benzeme has been targeted to be reduced by 30% by the year 2025. All these adjustments are supposed to help with reducing the reliance on the gas pump, cars living a longer life, and improve health conditions by reducing the amount of pollutants and emissions.

 

C. My reaction to this article was that i was glad they were making some eco-friendly improvements to the newer cars because almost everyone has a car and for something that we use almost everyday why not make is as sustainable as possible. I think everyone would benefit from reading this to find out that these new standards not only help the environment, but human health, and cut down on costs as well. I was kind of disappointed that the article didn't go into detail about what specifically is going to be improved to result in this kind of action. It would be nice to how they plan on making this work but I'm happy that we are taking the initiative to do something about it.

 

D. ENN , STAFF. "EPA Sets cleaner Fuel & Car Standards." enn.com. enn.com, 04 march 2014. Web. 11 Mar 2014. <http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/47121>.

[Lauren Cosner]

A. Human health 

B. The scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are working to develop an efficient way to filter out bacteria from water using plant xylem that usually transports water and nutrients to the soil. This solution could majorly help the horrible water borne illness'  in East Asia and the Pacific. The team at MIT plan to produce a prototype within the next 2-3 years. The reason is clear as to why the need for more clean water is a primary problem currently. This certain method of cleaning the bacteria would be low cost and would be used my many. Xylem filters at least 99% of the bacteria which is sufficient enough to meet the clean water drinking needs of a person. With the discovery of this plant cleaning water, hopefully many more countries will have a larger access to water.

C. I chose this article because it relates to the unit we are currently discussing and previously discussed. Water is a important resource that not everyone has enough access to. In this unit we learn about how soil can play a role in filtering the water and so can plants therefor, I picked this article. My reaction to the article is that I'm excited to see new methods of cleaning water so that everyone can receive enough water to survive which also made me like reading this article. Everyone could benefit from reading this because it shows that things such as purifying water using plants is possible. Yes kids my age could benefit because there are kids my age that do not have enough water to survive and this could be the method that saves them.

D. "ENN: Environmental News Network -- Know Your Environment." Global Pollution and Prevention News: Scientists Develop System to Filter Water Using Plant Sticks. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

[Alexandra Fitzgerald]

A. Natural Hazard, Environment (human health)

B. This article was about how the hazardous air pollution in Beijing has been upgraded to a "Orange Alert", which is the second highest alert. Schools were forced to cancel outside classes and sports activities.Also more than 140 factories were forced to temporarily stop their operation. This smog has led to a large amount of respiratory and health problems in Beijing. Many people are wearing sick masks, however when the Chinese president visited he decided not to wear a mask saying "Breathing together, sharing the same fate." 

C.I can't imagine ever being in this situation where it is unsafe to step outside and breath the air. This problem needs to be getting more attention.because if you hadn't posted this in your twitter feed i probably never would've read it and wouldn't have learned about all this. I knew that Beijing had more people but i never thought it would be bad enough to work on the air pollution case.

D. . N.p.. Web. 18 Mar 2014. <http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/orange-alert-dangerous-smog-chokes-beijing-n38091>.

[Alanna Breeden]

A. Emerging technologies

B. This article talks about a seemingly simple fruit flies flight. At Cornell University, the Cornell Team studies fruit flies flight patterns and determines that the way fruit flies correct disturbances in their flight is essentially a humans basic calculus problem. The halteres, biological gyroscopes, located at the base of each wing, sense changes and the neurons located in the haltere do computations and send the signals to the wings to correct the problem. Humans do this in calculus problems when they find changes in angular momentum through a function of inputs and outputs. The way this was discovered, was by simple and high tech measures. The simple- a piece of metal glued on the back of a fly that a magnet can manipulate to simulate flight disturbances. The high tech- three video cameras recording at 8,000 frames per second. The researchers then merged the footage together to create a three dimensional reconstruction of the movements to analyze mathematically. Technology centered around these discoveries are insect like flight robots, maybe the new Amazon drones? Who knows, the results of the entire experiment haven’t been published, parts are still being analyzed.

C. I choose this article because I like the concept that nature and calculus intertwine. I think this article provides an insight on where technology is going and where it will be in the future. We are more and more frequently studying nature and creating technology around it and I think it will benefit everyone to learn more about it.

D. Gorman, James. “Flies That Do Calculus With Their Wings.” NY Times 19 3 2014 20 March 2014

[Kaona Ayres]

A) Sustainable Use of Natural Resources

B) The idea that proper redistribution of food surplus will solve the issue of food insecurity and food waste has been circulating for some time. Seems like the simplest, most reasonable solution, right? However, according to this study in north east England it may not be that easy. One issue is that it would be difficult to maintain quality during surplus redistribution. Also, unless a distinction is made between waste to be recovered and surplus to be redistributed for community benefit, it is unlikely for surplus food to be used to its full potential.

C) Redistribution of surplus food seeeems like an easy and sure fire way to deal with the worlds food insecurity so its pretty shocking to me that it is not the answer. Instead of everyone else getting to be fat and greedy, it makes sense to give away the extra to those in need. Its saddening that it's not that easy but I'm sure this problem will soon be overcome seeing how food is such a necessity in the world.

D) Taylor & Francis. "Can redistribution of surplus food really improve food security?." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 24 October 2013. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131024090047.htm>. 

[Shannon Simko]

1. Environment, pollution on human health

2.  This article was written very recently. Recently as today. It talks about how air pollution kills about 7 million people worldwide every year. With more than half of these deaths due to fumes from inside, like stoves, gas fires, etc. They say that air pollution is the cause of 1 and 8 deaths and has become the single biggest environmental health risk. Scientists are leading to believe that pollution is causing inflammation of the heart and heart problems or heart attacks. Most of  these deaths are taking place in developing countries because the women and children are cooped up inside most of the day cooking or cleaning. Since you can't cure this and stop people from dying, we need to change our life entirely to reduce pollution.

3. When I read this article, I was shocked. I knew that pollution was a problem for any place. But I didn't know that it was killing 7 million people a year. Although most of these deaths are taking place in developing countries unlike America, it still is a problem that us Americans can help resolve too. Its not just the indoor pollution that is killing the people the less than half is air, and last time I checked air is all around the world. It could be something as simple as taking the bike or carpooling to work that could save someones life. It may not be much if one person changes but if one person does others may follow and understand the seriousness behind the murdering of 7 million people a year. 

4. 

Gerken, James. "Air Pollution Kills 7 Million People Every Year, World Health Organization Report Finds." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

[Abby Lipscomb]

Abby Lipscomb

1: Natural Hazards

2: I read an article about a deadly mudslide that just happened last Tuesday night in Seattle.
So far they have found 16 dead bodies with a possible 8 more to be found. The location is buried under more than a dozen feet of soft, unstable mud, significantly complicating the operation. They are continuing their search in hopes of finding survivors, but the chances are slim.

3: The definition of a mudslide is a mass of mud or earthy material that has or is falling down a slope or hill. My reaction to this article is definitely to think of what we could have done to prevent this. Just like any other environmental disaster there's usually some sort of sign of something about to happen. Land falling like that so quickly must have been caused by lots of rainfall or precipitation. This shows us that we need to watch the world around us more closely. We can only create the future if we're working for that goal in the present. Just like global warming, everyone has been doing a lot of talk about it and saying that they're scared, but no one has really tried to reverse it and make an impact. There are some things of nature that we cannot change and are meant to happen, but for example things like air pollution, we do to ourselves. 

4: Johnson, Alex. "Deadly Mudslide"NBC News. N.p., 25 March 2014. Web. 25 March 2014.

     

[Sarah Hale]

A.Natural Hazards

B. Biologists at Syracuse University have confirmed something that many conservationists are afraid of. The Roseway Basin, which is a heavily traveled shipping lane, has been confirmed as a vital area for the breeding of endangered North Atlantic right whales. They have technology which can monitor the acoustic sounds of animals- which can also lead to hints of why and how exactly they're communicating. They have concluded that the area which is heavily used by commercial ships is indeed a feeding and mating area for these whales, which only have about 400-500 in existence. There have already been several fatal collisions with these ships and whales, and the Canadian and United States government is already making plans to re-direct their shipping routes, which may have the potential to save and restore this dying species.

C.  I chose this article because it interested me. These whales- which are close to extinction- are also being threatened by something that can easily be fixed. I think it's very important that scientists and even regular citizens take every measure they possibly can take to save species that are dying out.

D."Biologists Use Sound to Identify Breeding Grounds of Endangered Whales." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

[Ryan Jacobson]

A. Biodiversity & Ecosystems

B. This is a rare case in that there's more problems than just pouching and habitat deforestation that effect's the panda's existence on our planet. The panda population has a special niche in that they fed on bamboo and live on hills with slopes. Scientist noticed even with certain laws that preserve the bamboo for pandas, the plant was still disappearing. Finally, they came to the conclusion of horses. Farmers in China have been letting their horses roam unsupervised forests that happened to be where the panda's inhabit. There has been a significant increase over the past year in the horse population trolling the panda habitat. Horses are eating the hay which takes care of their food so the farmers don't have to feed them.

C. Its crazy to think how much the panda has to deal with. Not only do they have to worry about people wanting to hunt them, but now they have to compete for their own food. I know there's really no label but when farmers are letting their horses roam around on the panda's ground, it's very easy to point the finger at them. The panda population is shrinking and we need to enforce stricter laws that preserve our planets biodiversity, as well as their own lives.

D. "Horses Threaten Panda Population." Environmental News Network. Ed. ENN. N.p., 26 Mar. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

[Hannah Bingler]

A. Biodiversity

B. On a blueberry farm in West Olive, Michigan researchers introduce strips of wildflowers in between the blueberry plants as part of an experiment to see if the wildflowers can encourage pollinating insects and, hopefully, start to reverse the worldwide decline in beneficial insects. The experiment on this farm went well, resulting in the increase of bees, and a few other pollinating insects arriving. Some pests came too, but to solve that problem researchers planted other wild plants further away from the blueberries. When the pests stopped showing up so often they reduced the amount of fertilizer that was used by up to 80%. There are some drawbacks to this plan though, because sometimes buying the right wildflower seed mix and preparing an acre can cost up to $2000 dollars. Farmers are also struggling to grasp that there can be such a thing as beneficial insects.

C. I think that it's crazy that pollinating insects are declining at such a fast rate, and also to think that they can be replenished by doing something as simple as planting wildflowers with crops! This process also eliminated most of the need for pesticides, which is also good for the environment! I think that farmers should reduce their use of pesticides and increase their use of wildflowers and natural pollinators.

D. "Growing Insects: Farmers Can Help to Bring Back Pollinators." RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014. <http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-02-04/growing-insects-farmers-can-help-to-bring-back-pollinators>.