How to reduce environmental impact?

As we know our planet is suffering a lot because of our fault and as we have been damaging it throughout many decades now we have to fix it and try to do our best to conserve it. There are many things we could do to help our planet, in group or individually. These are some ways to fix our planet individually:

First of all, and one of the easiest ways to start going green is to recycle, reduce and reuse all of our resources. We can recycle paper, bottles of plastic and glass, plastics, boxes, aluminum, cotton, and so on. We can reduce the use of nonrenewable resources, and reduce our trash. And as recycling, reusing is almost the same, so we can reuse the same things that we can recycle, and many more.

Second of all, the over waste of energy is a big problem in our world. We have the lights on during day, we don’t unplug chargers when we are not using them, and we use air conditioner instead of opening the windows, we over charge our electronic devices, and all of these examples and more are examples of waste of energy.

Moreover, another resource and one of the most important is water, and we are also wasting it to the extreme, so he have to take less time while we are showering, use used water to water the gardens, reduce the water we waste when cleaning cars, washing our teeth, the dishes, etc.

To conclude, I would like to say that if we all try to help our planet, and put our grain of sand we can make a change, so what are we waiting for?

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

Comments to the blogs of my classmates

I completely agree with Damian´s report about the detrimental to ecosystems, it is true that we are destroying our home; its¿ is devastating to think how can someone do such bad to their home, we should be really embarrassed.  All earth has given us is a really beautiful place to live, with everything we need, like food, oxygen, warmth, and so on.

The global warming has become a very big issue through the passing of years. According to this graphic, temperature has had a big change since 1990, and it continues getting worse.

Another problem this days, as Damian said, is the greenhouse effect which is the phenomenon whereby the earth's atmosphere traps solar radiation, it is caused by gasses in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane that allow incoming sunlight to pass through but absorb heat radiated back from the earth's surface.

Moreover, another big deal going on is the extinction of some animals; we kill hundreds of animals each day, and not only for food, also for fashion; such as clothing or even furniture. Some of the animals in danger of extinction are the giant otter and the nile crocodile; hunted or its skin, the Iberian imperial eagle, which there are just 150 pairs left, the sea turtle; chased by collectors and offered in luxury restaurants. These were some of the hundreds of animals in danger of extinction. We have to stop killing too many before they extinct and create a big problem to the food chain in the world.

http://www.canaryzoo.com/Endangered%2010%20species.htm

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/greenhouse+effect

http://globalwarming-2011.blogspot.mx/2011/06/consecuencias-del-calentamiento-global.html

According to David´s blog the worst problem of the global warming is the greenhouse effect, and it is true, it makes the climate a lot warmer than it has to be. There are more problems though, such as deterioration in the ozone layer, biodiversity loss, desertification, acid rain, and so on.

In my opinion the high-rise of temperature is a very important issue, the global warming is not only affecting the temperature; it’s also affecting the oceans (93%), the atmosphere (2.3%), the continents (2.1%), glaciers and ice caps (0.9%), the artic sea ice (0.8%), the Greenland ice sheet (0.2%) and the Antarctic ice sheet (0.2%). This is really bad because the poles are melting and some beaches are disappearing, the animals that lived the poles have to move to another type of ecosystem so that they can survive, whereas if they stay they surely will die.

In addition, the UV rays are other problem; the ozone layer has been deteriorating because of all the dangerous gasses in the atmosphere. Now it’s really dangerous to be out under the sun without protection (sunscreen), it will burn your skin and even you can get skin cancer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

Article on pollution on ecosystems

Nowadays the Earth has suffered a lot of damage, mostly caused by us. Although the Earth is our home we keep trashing it, and as everything has a reaction, our actions have brought plenty of consequences. These consequences are growing and somehow they can destroy our planet if we don't do anything to save it.Pollution refers to all contaminating stuff in the natural environment; it can take the form of chemical substances, energy, noise, heat or light. There are many forms of pollution, such as light, noise, soil contamination, radioactive contamination, thermal pollution and so on.

 Firstly, let’s talk about water. The poles (North and South) have been melting, and the animals which lived there have nowhere to go, the tide has come in and some beaches are disappearing. The water is really contaminated because of the daily use, the household wastes, gas or detergents.

Secondly, the polluted air. The contamination in the earth is due to the smog, which is smoke and fog, aerosols, bad smells, atomic radiation, and so on. The fumes from industries contain sulfur compounds, which on contact with atmospheric water they form acids which hurt the plants. In the months of drought in the highlands and in the high forest grasslands and forests are burned, issuing into the air large amounts of smoke that cloud the atmosphere.

Some other forms of pollution are: light pollution includes light trespass, over-illumination and astronomical interference. The noise pollution en encompasses roadway noise, aircraft noise, and industrial noise. Soil contamination occurs when chemicals are released by underground leakage and spill, some soil contaminants are hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and pesticides; among others.

Finally, it is not fair for the Earth to be treated like that, it’s our home and we have to respect what is being given to us. Go green. Thank you.

CARBON CYCLE

What is carbon?

*Carbon is a chemical element.

*Its symbol is a C and its atomic number is 6.

*It is a member of the group 14 in the periodic table.

*Group 14 is also called the Carbon Group consisting of Silicon (Si), Germanium (Ge), Tin, (Sn), Lead (Pb)    and Flerovium (Fl).

Carbon and its cycle

*The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle in which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere, pedosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere of the Earth.

*The carbon cycle comprises a sequence of events that are key to making the Earth capable of sustaining life, such as the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle.

*It shows us the movement of carbon as it is recycled and reused throughout the biosphere.

The Global Carbon Budget

*It is the balance of exchanges of carbon between the carbon reservoirs or between one specific loop of the carbon cycle.

*It can provide information about whether the reservoir is functioning as a source or sink for carbon dioxide.

Who created the carbon cycle?

The carbon cycle was initially discovered by Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoiser, and popularized by Humphry Davy.

Carbon cycle steps

Carbon  is normally being exchanged among the atmosphere , land water and living things. It is constantly on the move. This is how it works:

1. CARBON IS REMOVED FROM THE ATMOSPHERE:

Plants are constantly removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis. Certain bacteria use carbon dioxide to synthesize the organic compounds they need.

2. ENTRY OF CARBON FROM PLANTS INTO THE ANIMAL WORK:

Carnivorous animals receive food made by green plants which have carbon.  

3. ENTRY OF CARBON FROM ATMOSPHERE INTO THE WATER BODIES:

Carbon dioxide is continuously being dissolved in the seas and oceans through the a process called diffusion. Once dissolved, this CO2 remains as it is in the marine water or may be converted into carbonates and bicarbonates. Photosynthesis is made by the marine plants when  CO2 dissolves. Carbonates are converted into calcium carbonate by some marine organisms, it is used by corals and oysters to make their shells, and when these organisms die, their shells  deposit on the sea floor and turn into sedimentary rocks.

4. CARBON MOVES FROM LIVING THINGS TO THE LAND:

As animals  and plants die, they get buried under the ground, after millions of years, they become fossil fuels due to thigh pressure and other physical  and chemical changes.

5. CARBON RETURNS TO THE ATMOSPHERE:

CO2 is regularly being returned to the atmosphere by the process of respiration in plants and animals. Other examples of carbon dioxide: burning of wood, fossil fuels in industries and automobiles.    

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_14

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetravalence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_cycle

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/the-carbon-cycle-steps.html

CAUSES OF GLOBAL WARMING

First of all, as you can see we had a debate on the causes of global warming, one side was supporting the idea that the sun is the one causing global warming, and the other side was supporting the idea that, both, the sun and carbon dioxide were the causes of global warming. My team supported the idea that the sun and carbon dioxide were the causes of global warming.

As an introduction, I would like to say that nowadays the Earth has suffered a lot, because of all the changes in it and all the contamination we have created; we have been wasting energy, water, trees, and many other natural resources to the extreme, and we make a lot of trash and with all the technology and factories we are damaging our world. We were given this beautiful planet s that we could live in it, take care of it, make the most of it in all good ways of course, and just to enjoy it, but we have been exploiting it and we have not been taking care of it as we should. We have to understand that the Earth is our home and if we do not stop contaminating it we will finish destroying it.

There are many causes of global warming; one are the greenhouse gases, which according to statistics 72% of the totally emitted greenhouse gases are, carbon dioxide (CO2), 18% Methane and 9% Nitrous oxide (NOx). So we can see that one of the problems is carbon dioxide; carbon dioxide has increased dramatically within the last 50 years, and it is increasing by almost 3% each year.

In this chart, we can see that temperature has increased the last century. During the last 140 years it has increased really dramatically, as seen in the chart.

Other sources say that temperature has warmed roughly 174°C over the last century, more than half of this warming has occurred since 1979. The Northern Hemisphere has warmed the most due to the oceans tending to warm and cool more slowly than in land areas.

According to scientists, there could be many causes of global warming, they don´t completely agree with each other; the majority of them say that humans have induced the global warming, and the rest say that it has nothing to do with us. Our team says that indeed we are responsible for all contamination, and the creation of carbon dioxide.

My theory is that humans have built an empire full of contamination; buildings, factories, cars, and so on. I am not saying it is wrong, but we have taken this to an extreme level, all the gases produced on Earth (carbon dioxide mostly) go up to the atmosphere causing some holes on the ozone layer, and due to that the sun rays (UV rays) enter and hit really bad  on the Earth and all living things.

I also thing that the cycle of the sun is affecting because as the sun burns through nuclear fusion, there are energy waves produced and the travel to the Earth released in the form of ultraviolet and infrared lights, which damage and harness the atmosphere. Some scientists says that hydrogen will get consumed into helium making the sun collapse, causing helium to fuse into carbon, and it will cause the White Dwarf, but in the end it will release all the remaining heat and evolve into a cold dark mass called Black Dwarf, causing changes in temperature and the will create a geomagnetic storm for the Earth.

We have had some commentaries coming from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), first of all they said that between 2000 and 2030 the greenhouse gasses will increase between 25% and 90%. They also said that for the next 20 years temperature will increase .2° C per decade.

Moreover, there are many ways of stopping contamination, like, separating the trash into organic and inorganic, saving water, turning off the lights when they are not needed, trying not to use air conditioner and heaters, disconnecting chargers off the current when not using them, etc. Some statistics say that if we continue like this in 50 years, it will be so much harder to live, there will be new diseases, the climate will be extreme and will dramatically increase and decrease, there will be more acid rain, water will be finishing and the will not be enough for all the population, and so on.

To conclude my posture in this debate I would like to repeat that we have to start to make some actions to save our home, the Earth. Stop contaminating and making conscience about it. I would also like to say that I think my team is in the correct position in this debate because both, the sun and carbon dioxide affect global warming.

Throughout the information presented by the team we can see that the sun is sending some type of gases to the Earth and they are affecting our planet really badly and more because of the holes in our ozone layer caused by the emissions of gases, such as carbon dioxide.  The two principal factors given, are just a few of a thousand factors and if we don´t stop we will end up with no home to live, so let´s start making some action.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide

www.epa.gov/climatechange/.../gases/co2.html

cdiac.ornl.gov

library.thinkquest.org/.../global_warming.htm

http://www.globalwarminglies.com/Sun.html