EcoCMUfall21B

 Fusion Energy by Ava Lairmore We’ve been trying to recreate the usage of cleaner energy through nuclear fusion for decades. This form of energy is most optimal because it creates a better way for us to utilize energy. Scientists face a lot of difficulties trying to create it,  “The first phase of ITER, a vast $20bn experimental fusion reactor being built by a multinational government consortium in France, is due to become operational in 2025.” This would be a huge score for the world as a whole because it would mean the start of a new, easier form of energy. https://www.ft.com/content/af4a3478-cca3-4610-9325-615716f95a71  by John Thornhill

     This will be the last blog post I  do on this topic, I have been researching and learning about the issues of conservation and extinction for several weeks now and I feel a lot more personally connected to this issue. this exercise has helped me gain a new understanding of the threat we face in our world today. Nobody knows how many species are being lost each year nor the  total number of species that inhabit the earth today.   According to wwf panda organization , "Biologists estimate there are between 5 and 15 million species of plants, animals, and micro-organisms existing on Earth today, of which only about 1.5 million have been described and named. The estimated total includes around 300,000 plant species, between 4 and 8 million insects, and about 50,000 vertebrate species (of which about 10,000 are birds and 4,000 are mammals)." these species are considered   threatened  and about 23 percent of these species are at risk or on the...

 Are Microplastics a challenge for wastewater treatment?  By: Avery Bohon  https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwisgNK17qL0AhXWc28EHRoGDJ4YABAAGgJqZg&ae=2&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESQOD2zjxQivEAkuo6FXylWb654D99KNwj3BK1bgreYEuwfeCvQRmT0ExTNP1NMoUDdoWhzRU0BNFnXA8tu10nj0k&sig=AOD64_1sA3ftmMIF6BF6VCVVv0k0rWH81w&q&adurl&ved=2ahUKEwjt-Mm17qL0AhXQQs0KHbRlDoYQ0Qx6BAgSEAE The plastic problem and the toll it has taken on the world’s ocean is massive. There is plenty of images shown in the news and on the internet that shows plastic waste covering the ocean and many marine aquatic animals suffering. Microplastics have been found everywhere: the bottom of seas and the tops of mountains, in the air that we breathe and in rainwater and they also run in our wastewaters. Because if their small size, Microplastics can easily enter the bodies of living things, and we don’t have enough research on the effects that they have on ecosyste...

 More about Vertical Farming:  To add a little more information about my last blog on vertical agriculture since in my opinion this new invention is going to be part of one of the biggest movements to end deforestation and the millions of fields to cultivate will be replanted to stay with many trees in the future.  For this I am going to give the answer to the questions that people usually ask about this topic. How effective is vertical farming? Vertical farming even promotes water recycling.  Municipal waste, including sewage, can be composted and used for agriculture within the facility.  Lastly, vertical farms can produce twice as fast.  This is the main reason why it has been touted as the ideal solution to the food crisis facing some countries. The 10 advantages of vertical farming: Reliable year-round crop production.  Unaffected by adverse weather conditions. Better use of space. Minimise water usage. Environmentally friendly. No chemicals or pe...

 U.S. Infrastructure- Caleb Monnig $1 trillion is being invested into the United State's "crumbling" infrastructure from the Infrastructure and Jobs Acts.Deteriorating roads and bridged cost and average driver $556 a year, with 20% of those roads and 6% of those bridges considered to be in unacceptable condition. Rhode Island is the worst state in terms of road infrastructure, with 50% of their roads are considered non-acceptable. Missouri is the 10th worst state with 25% of their roads being non-acceptable. However, Oklahoma drivers spend the most money on repairs due to its roads, at an average of $900 per person. Missouri is 10th with $699 per person https://quotewizard.com/news/posts/states-with-worst-infrastructure

  On today’s blog I will be talking about the toxic chemicals within agriculture. Now I will first come out and say this is a topic that I am unknowledgeable about. Growing up my dad was a seed  salesman  and did a lot with the chemical affects and how they helped us grow our corn, wheat, soybeans and many other crop products. I never understood how they could be harming our environment. After reading the  https://greentumble.com/harmful-chemicals-used-in-agriculture/#:~:text=Where%20nitrate%20and%20phosphorous%20fertilizer%20is%20used%2C%20it,creating%20an%20oxygen%20dead%20%28or%20hypoxic%29%20zone%20%5Bsc%3A3%5D . I found the said harmful chemical farmers are using is nitrate and  phosphorous  fertilizer, now in my eyes that is not harming our environment. The only way it is harming our environment is when landfill and other things happen that nobody has control of. Farmers are using these chemicals to help produce the best product so that you will have ...

Biodiversity is very essential in large ecosystems. The most noticeable, is the resource availability. With plenty of water, comes plenty of insects. The insects pollenate plants, which bring in amphibians and rodents, and fish. This draws in small predators like birds, reptiles, fox, and many more and this keeps going on and on. As long as the biodiversity is large within an ecosystem, it will continue to grow. Reintroducing biodiversity could rejuvenate a declining ecosystem as well, but this needs to be done very intricately so you do not cause a situation like the invasive species which causes a new issue. Why are our ecosystems dying if they can rejuvenate themselves through biodiversity? Well once again we as humans harvest anything we can from ecosystems. This not only hurts an ecosystems biodiversity, but we also stain the ecosystems with particular means of harvesting. For example, loggers use heavy machinery and power tools to do their job. This leaves oil everywhere, damages...

Reading the article "Falling Rains and Thirsty Cities" from National Geographic informs the reader of the water crisis Australia has been having for years. As you can imagine, Koalas live in a eucalyptus tree slowly eating leaves, but recently, there have been unusual actions Koalas have done. Such as climbing down their tree to drink water from a pool. Usually, Koalas get their water from food and scientists have said that this new behavior comes from climate change.  Since 2018, Australia has started to become much drier and hotter. Because of this, the leaves of the tree are less succulent which makes Koalas have the need to drink extra water. Australia's climate ranges from tropical to a temperature south but the majority is dry. This puts Australia as the world's driest continent who has received less than 600mm of rain each year, half the country gets less than 300mm. As the article quoted "It's a change that seems to reflect a growing awareness among A...

New ideas from all over the world   For this last blog, I am going to keep it on a positive note. I found an article about cities that took action to decrease global warmth. In the article, you find different cities from all around the world, such as Cleveland in the United States of America, Belo Horizonte in Brazil, Vancouver in Canada, Tokyo in Japan, Lund in Sweden, and many more. They all contributed to this big project the change our way of life. For example, in Jakarta in Indonesia, they reduced their emissions by 30 percent compared to 2005 by powering schools, government buildings, and streetlights with solar energy.   I am really happy that a lot of cities are trying to make the world a better place to live and especially because it is all over the world, on every continent. I also hope that more cities will contribute to this project.    https://www.worldwildlife.org/magazine/issues/summer-2020/articles/how-cities-around-the-world-are-working-toward-a-gree...

For the last blog for this semester, I figured that I would go out with a bang. Researchers have found a way to use fusion to test heat shield materials for spacecraft.  According to wired.com, "On December  7,  1995, a NASA probe entered Jupiter’s atmosphere and immediately started to burn." The probe was apart of the Galileo mission at NASA. This prompted scientists to look at their data from the mission and tweak the design of the heat shields.  Wired.com also goes on to state that there had been some testing with lasers, plasma jets, and high-speed projectiles. None of which proved fruitful.  Kostadinova, one of scientists who helped contributed to the fusion alternative said,  “No aerospace facility on Earth can reach the high heating conditions that you experience during atmospheric entry into something like Jupiter." How many reactors are there for such a purpose? According to wired.com, "there are hundreds of these reactors, known as tokamaks, ...

 Minichromosomal Technology - Connor Sullivan     For my last blog I want to do it over minichromosomal, something new that is coming into the farming world as new technology is being developed. The article that I read  which talked about a lot of different technologies and advancements was Ayoka. There website has a lot of cool information on a bunch of different topics that have to do with farming and agriculture.       A minichromosomes is a small structure within a cell that includes very little genetic material but can hold a lot of information.  Using minichromosomes, agricultural geneticists can add dozens and perhaps even hundreds of traits to a plant. In a sense they can turn plants into super plants, making them be able to do all kinds of things  such as drought tolerance and nitrogen use. It also makes no change to the plants original cells which could be a huge increase in use so that people will...

The water crisis    Richaed mckinnies  https://water.org/our-impact/water-crisis/ The power of water  Water connects all aspects of existence. Safe water and sanitation can quickly turn difficulties into opportunities, freeing up time for school and employment while also improving the health of women, children, and families all around the world. Today, 771 million people, or one out of every ten, lack access to safe drinking water, while 1.7 billion people, or one out of every four, lack access to a toilet. This is the type of person we want to help. A women crisis  Women are disproportionately affected by the water crisis because they are often in charge of collecting water. This takes time away from work, school, and other family obligations. Due to a lack of water and sanitation, women are locked in a cycle of poverty. The empowerment of women is critical to overcoming the water crisis. When women have access to clean water at home, they can do more than coll...

                                                                        Extinction  By:Laurel Devenney https://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-1-million-animals-plant-species-face-extinction-due-climate-change-human-activity-population/   Hello today I am going to be informing you all on the amount of species of animals that have died due to suffering the effects of global warming. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, global warming is playing a huge effect on our animals due to many different things. We as humans are destroying their habitats that provide them food, shelter, places to hide from predators, etc. for the expansion of factories or other buildings to bring in more income. Another factor is the temperature changes are having negative effects on animals and their reproduction times as well a...

Preventing land pollution Land pollution is caused by poor disposal of waste, pesticides, and exploitation of minerals. There are many different ways to help lower land pollution. Reducing toxic materials can either be disposed of properly or made to be less toxic. Recycling helps reduce the amount of garbage which reduces the amount of land used by landfills. Buying organic items are biodegradable, so it is friendly for the environment. Avoid littering because it is the most common reason for land pollution. If most people use these ways then the Earth will become less polluted.  Megan Aubuchon https://sciencing.com/solutions-for-soil-pollution-13406884.html

    Mankind is always evolving. We are curious creatures, we are always inventing and changing trying to make things better as we perceive them. This influx of products and things has both positive and negative impacts on our world. When we have an increase in products such as this it can affect the health of our planet. With increased production comes increased waste, which causes entire ecosystems to disappear and in turn wrecking the delicate life of these species. Many Scientists have argued that the birth of the industrial revolution is the leading cause of the begging of mass extinction. (Standford EDU News)endangered species are those who face the risk of extinction on the planet. As we know the industrialization of the land has caused rapid loss of animal species on this planet, but the marine wildlife endangered animal rate is not at the same place because we have yet to industrialize the oceans. The only way to prevent this from happening to the marine life exti...

  Factor Farm VS. Family Farm   https://www.farmaid.org/issues/industrial-agriculture/what-exactly-is-a-family-farm/   The environment needs the farmers and rancher to continue producing all the nutrients and by products that most American take advantage of. When we are talking about Factor farms, only 2% of the farming in the United States fall under that factor. While we were just talking about Factor farms, the family farms are 98% and there are 2.2 million farms within the United States .   While you are taking advantage our farmers  hard  work ,  they are giving everything they  have to  put clothes on your back, food on your table and gas in your car.      The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies CAFOs as large [ 5]  livestock facilities that raise animals in confined settings. According to EPA, these facilities “ congregate  animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals, and production operatio...

Believe it or not there's surprisingly more fusion to talk about.  This week I want to add some additional information that I have found that's relevant to my previous blogs. And hopefully, answer some questions along the way. I would first like to say that according to Monarch Partnership, there are currently a large number of 'test' reactors online across the globe. I don't know if that was something everyone was curious about but, none the less, I wanted to clear it up.  What are these 'test' reactors? As Monarch Partnership puts it, "they don't actually provide power to the grid. They merely serve as proof of concept." Meaning that these reactors are merely being tested to study the overall effects. Where are these test reactors? The Monarch Partnership states, "Currently, the EU (European Union), US, Russia and Japan have fusion reactors. Similar programs are underway in China, Brazil, Canada, and Korea."  As you can see, sever...

 Vertical farming:  Billions of trees are cut down each year to increase the land allocated to agricultural expansion and together with water up to 70% of the total fresh water used worldwide is consumed.  Now thanks to the scientists a new era of agriculture is growing and its name is Vertical Agriculture.  The global vertical farming market is expected to have reached a value of $ 9 billion by 2026:  The purpose of this project is to end the original agriculture and start using this project where crops grow vertically in building species, or containers, reworked abandoned warehouses without sunlight or agricultural land, but in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way. environment. There are 4 different cultivation methods: Hydroponics is a type of horticulture and a subset of hydroculture which involves growing plants without soil, by using mineral nutrient solutions in an aqueous solvent.  Aquaponics is a food production system that couples a...

      The Leuser Ecosystem is the one and only ecosystem left that supports Tigers, Elephants, Orangutans, and Rhinos simultaneously. This ecosystem is located in the Sumatra island, Indonesia. The worst part is that ecosystems like these used to be vast. Now there is only this single one, the only place on the planet with these animals living together in the wild. As you would assume, each animal is in fact endangered, and on track for extinction. This is due to the human interaction with this ecosystem. There are large quantities of profitable materials and products.      Humans have been farming different products like palm oil, rubber, and extensive logging. The same story different ecosystem. Due to the vast quantities being taken from this ecosystem it is unraveling the balance of life. There are thankfully many laws and enforcement being granted to this area, as it hold over 80% of the population for Indonesia’s critically endangered Mega-Fauna (larg...

  Deforestation coming to an end? Caleb Monnig https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/cop26-climate-summit-over-100-world-leaders-commit-19-billion-to-end-deforestation-by-2030-2596395 This past Monday, over 100 global leaders pledged to put an end to deforestation by the end of the decade. This includes Brazil, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo which account for 85% of the world's forests. in 2020 alone, the earth suffered 258,000 square kilometers of it's forests being cut down. this significantly affects the climate because the trees absorb about 30% of carbon dioxide emissions, which prevent warming the earth. Countries have pledged to provide billions of dollars to assure that their goal is met by 2030. many investors also promised to stop investing in activities that are linked to destroying our forests.

 Artificial Intelligence in Farming - Connor Sullivan          In this day in age there are new farming monitoring solutions being created everyday and with this new post from PlugandPlays website they are talking about Artificial intelligence becoming a new way to monitor farms      Remote sensors, satellites, and UAVs can gather information 24 hours per day over an entire field. These can monitor plant health, soil condition, temperature, humidity, etc. The amount of data these sensors can generate is overwhelming. This allows the farmer to get a better idea of what is happening with there crops threw advanced sensing. It can show the user things that it could not of seen his self and also more accurate and quicker than anything that is out right now.     I think that this would be huge for the agriculture and farming  industries making everything more efficient and blowing the old ways out of the wat...

  Weaker and Weaker By:Laurel Devenney   https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-shrinking-animals-2638682794.html    Global warming is an ongoing issue that is progressively getting worse on our animals around the world as time goes on. Why is this? Due to global warming temperature changes it has now become warmer in places where these animals roam. With the heat rising causes hunger to sort of  disappear to the animals because their bodies are focused on cooling off or water. Researchers have found that they are found sleeping instead of eating when in extreme heat and that can cause stunted growth as they are not fueling their bodies the right nutrients it needs to grow and develop fully. Researchers have also found that climate change will possibly end up making animals 25% smaller than their size they are supposed to become. This is a problem we are starting to see with polar bears especially with how thin they are becoming. Global warming is real and ...

Recently, the Middle East has been experiencing many environmental concerns such as water. Their water sources are slowly becoming rare which seeks immediate attention. A big factor for all these countries is the lack of resources and poor management they have with this necessity. The Middle East is one of the largest oil reserves in the world, yet they live in a harsh environment. The land that is available for them to produce food is destroyed by increasing desertification. Desertification is a sweeping environmental problem. Their agriculture uses 85% of the water they have and the rest is misused which in some areas, droughts are likely to happen. No one has created any alternate forms of energy for the Middle East to conserve freshwater. There are several struggles with their water resources and the region needs more than one solution in order to be in good hands in the future.  Source: https://thewaterproject.org/water-crisis/water-in-crisis-middle-east Destiny Perez

  WHY WATER IS A WOMEN’S ISSUE Richaed Mckinnies  5 reasons  https://www.concernusa.org/story/water-is-a-womens-issue/?utm_source=grgs&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=bsd-gsgr-awar-infocontent&utm_content=v3&utm_term=gender-water&c_src=grgs-cpc&c_src2=bsd-gsgr-awar-infocontent-gender-water-v3&gclid=CjwKCAjwoP6LBhBlEiwAvCcthLNj3mGw7UlGC5ej1AG_8vCL-HAPE0HjbSUHRQ4EehPiLJbhR0NDXRoCbb4QAvD_BwE 1. COLLECTING WATER IS PHYSICALLY DEMANDING, ESPECIALLY FOR PREGNANT WOMEN AND GIRLS Water retrieval is a physically hard activity. When full, a standard jerry can (a common container for transporting water from the pump to the home) carries five gallons of water and weighs 40 pounds. If you're a grown woman, that's difficult enough to carry for several miles, especially since many women carry the jugs on their heads, which can cause back and spine problems over time. For many women, the physical and health implications of this chore extend beyond the lifting itse...

Land pollution: causes, effects, and prevention   For this week, I am going to talk about land pollution. When I think of land pollution, I imagine a lot of emissions and waste disposal, but it is so much more than that. The author of this article informs us of all the forms of land pollution.   First of all, land pollution is not only polluting in top of the ground, it is also polluting below ground level. This way it pollutes the fertility, the soil, and the groundwater. As I said before, we all know that litter (wrong disposal of waste products) and gas emissions are the most known causes for land pollution, but there is also mining, urbanization and construction, and even agriculture. I was so shocked about the last one! The author states that "agriculture pollution can occur when c ontamination created as a by-product of raising livestock and growing food crops is released into the environment, and the contamination is vast. " So even growing our own food can pollu...