Entry #7: So Much to Learn, So Much to Do

So Much to Learn, So Much to Do

               I have learned a lot in the last few weeks, engulfing myself with information from National Geographic videos and other videos, including The End of the Line, and reading articles and the book The Weather Makers.  I'm about half way through this book and have found that we need to majorly reduce our carbon dioxide emissions.  Carbon dioxide is one of the major reasons the earth is heating up and causing bad effect the oceans, melting ice and snow, and causing many different animals to become extinct.  The world is changing for the worse.  Animals and plants are taking the hit for humans' irresponsibilities.  We're fishing too much, putting outrageous amounts of chemicals into the ground and waters around us, littering the earth with harmful, contaminating materials, and putting hefty amounts of gases into the atmosphere.  There has been major research that confirms our earth is warming and our actions are harming plants and animals, yet I noticed in the videos I watched, the narrators repeatedly said the studies are controversial.   Why?  Why are the studies controversial?  Is it because of money, people's businesses, and people's greedy well-being, or because some people don't want to be the blame of hurting the environment?  We have found these problems and know some ways to fix them.  I thought it was amazing to find out there are certain plants that can withstanding and soak up different types of chemicals and poisonous liquids.  For example, ferns can deal with arsenic and mustard plants can handle lead.  The environment has ways of protecting itself, but I think we are making changes too quickly and disturbing the environment too much to let things develop and fix themselves naturally.  For example, as Tim Flannery points out in The Weather Makers, the population of the great white bear is declining fast and marking "the beginning of the collapse of the entire Arctic ecosystem."  Problems similar to this, and other types of environment problems, are happening all over the world.

               I am going to continue to educate myself on these issues and ways I can help.  I hope you do the same.

~Max G.

Entry #6: Dirty Secrets

National Geographic’s Strange Days on Earth.  Episode: Dirty Secrets

          I now know why it’s said to not drink the water in Mexico.  Mexico has underground rivers and you may think these rivers have water that is okay to drink- it’s fresh water and is not subject to contaminants of the air.  However, the water becomes contaminated from chemicals and sewage from humans that seeps down into the rivers.  Not only are people and businesses are tapping into these sewage rivers, but the water is flowing into the ocean.  It’s causing devastation to the reefs, plants, and fish.  They have a bad cycle happening in Cancun, Mexico that looks like it will end up badly.  The reef there is a main attraction, so more people visit there, creating more construction and a population that creates more wastes, which then seeps down and flows into the ocean, ruining the reef.  Tourists may not want to go to Cancun anymore if the reef is lifeless.

          The following quote from the movie, National Geographic’s Strange Days on Earth: Dirty Secrets, is a great one: “Every action we take creates ripples and ripples can build into disturbing waves of change.”  These ripples are causing horrifying effects in the Chesapeake Bay.  Fertilizers, chemicals, and nutrients we use, and oil dripping from our cars all get washed into the bay and have caused their famous Atlantic Striped Bass to become infected with disease.  The movie noted one study that found more than half of the bass show signs of infection, having red legions on their body.

          I also pondered on the idea from the movie that we (people) make items out of materials that can last forever (like plastic), yet we only use many of those products for a very short period of time (drinking water from a plastic bottle and then throwing it away).  Some of the plastic we use ends up in the Pacific Ocean.  Birds think the plastic is food and eat it or feed it to their babies.  Then those birds’ stomachs fill with plastic they can’t digest and they die.  It’s a very sad thing that should not be happening.  Humans are not living up to their responsibilities. 

          One of the biggest things that stuck with me from this movie that I will do more research on is that Phenyl A leaks from plastic, even the supposedly non-toxic baby bottles.  I have an eight year old and a four month old daughter.  Like me and everyone I know, they also drink from plastic containers. 

          After watching this educating movie, I will definitely make changes in my life.

~Max G.

Entry #5: Troubled Waters

What I think about National Geographic's Strange Days of Earth: Troubled Waters

               The main concept I learned from watching this movie is that chemicals end up in waters all around us- marshes, creeks, lakes, rivers, oceans, and even the water we drink.  There have been numerous studies on the effects of chemicals on animals and plants. 

               One study was in the marsh waters in Eastern Wyoming on Northern Leopard Frogs.  After many experiments, researchers found that the chemical atrazine is causing the male frogs to develop eggs in their testes, becoming hermaphrodites.  The atrazine is flowing into the water from the corn fields in that area.  The researchers also found that if they gave the frogs high doses of atrazine, then it didn't affect them because their immune system would react to it, but their immune system didn't notice the atrazine in small doses and it has had harmful effects.  The movie noted that at least 20 frog species have disappeared worldwide, even though frogs have flourished for more than 200 million years previously.

               Other studies have been done in the St. Lawrence Marine Park in Canada.  It's in a location far from any town, but it still has our chemicals flowing into it.  This body of water has white whales that have been getting cancer lately.  The researchers found that the mixture of the chemicals in the whales' bodies are hurting their immune systems and causing cancer.  Their bodies usually have more than twelve different types of chemicals in them.  This is very disturbing.  It's also very disturbing that these chemicals are also found in the tap water we drink.  As Shanna Swan said in the movie, "If it affects any animal, it will affect us."  And it has.  Studies have also been done on women who drink tap water with high levels of chlorine by-products and found that these women had high rates of miscarriages.  Humans are drinking toxic chemicals and animals are swimming in toxic chemicals!

               Thankfully, there are researchers and scientists who have found ways for us to help this dire situation.  Richard Meagher, who has seen changes over the years at Lake Hartwell, Georgia, now has a plant that can be planted on banks and coasts to soak up mercury to prevent it from getting into the water.  Vince Vitale, from Queensland, Australia, has been planting trees along his coast to help prevent insecticides, herbicides, nitrogen fertilizers, and fungicides from getting in the ocean and causing damage to the Great Barrier Reef, plants, and animals. 

               We need to take action, and not just trying to prevent more chemicals from getting into the waters, but developing ways to get the existing chemicals out of the waters.

~Max G.

Post #4-Jane Goodall Inspirational Wisdom

                 This post is about a new to me and different perspective I learned about in an excerpt from a book: Healing Earth's Scars: It's Never Too Late by Jane Goodall, Gail Hudson, and Thane Maynard. I really like this read because it was a sort of change of pace and a relieving feeling of pending doom that most Environmental Engineers might hold close to their hearts, including me. The main message was it's not too late, even when it appears that all hope is lost. The authors, went through great trouble to give the reader the very important small bits and pieces of other peoples experiences, as well as their own, concerning the driving forces behind conservationists and what keeps them going.

               Compared to my last post, I feel like this was a better read. The grammar was much better,  less numbers, more of a human heartfelt and compassionate desire to help the reader develop empathy for endangered plants and animals.  Two drawbacks were the overly mentioned traveling via airplane and a web-site. I could have done without the almost bragging of flying all over the world because jet fuel is harmful to the environment and therefore to her cause. Also, the constant referral of a web site the authors set up was annoying and could have had better results in the beginning and end of the excerpt.

               Overall, this gave me hope. Where there once was something great such as a rain forest and is now black rock in the scorching sun can rebound as it was with the proper care and motivated people.  Other locations where there once was abundant wild life but have virtual extinction can also recover when all seems lost through the dedication of caring individuals. The lack of an abundance of life in rivers that are polluted and possibly even considered a fire hazard can eventually be restored to its former glory but at a large cost and time.  

~Max G.

Post #3- Reflection on excerpt from Tomorrow's Biodiversity by Shiva.

      This excerpt contained a wealth of information. Most of which were only slightly opinionated facts and figures. An example of to what I'm referring was when the author mentions a potato famine in Ireland from 1845-1846. She says the famine is the sole cause of as many as 2 million deaths from 1841-1851. That would mean that there started a famine prior to the potato shortage. What that means to me is that the author wanted to include deaths 4 years before the potato shortage because the great numbers would help stretch the truth and make for more alarming figures.
      Other than a little stretching of the truths in this excerpt, I did attain more of an understanding of Gaia, Biodiversity, an approach to Biodiversity: Reductionist, and just how much life is involved in sustaining humans.

I thought I had somewhat of an understanding of how much life we humans co-exist with but the numbers and different types of life that were found in only one cubic meter of soil in a forest blew my mind. It takes so much bacteria, fungi, worms, algae, insects, and mites to break down toxins and produce fertile soil that we all depend very much on.
            The author really wants to educate the reader about what is Biodiversity, the importance of Biodiversity, the causes and effects of a lack of diversity, ultimately motivate the reader to learn more about biodiversity, and possibly get more people to change their ways of thinking.
            Even though I am an Environmental Engineer major, I found this excerpt to motivate me in the direction of the writers intentions, despite many grammatical errors, and exaggerations. I would like to have seen more current and up to date facts and figures. Overall, a good read for anyone.
~Max G.