An End to Oil Drilling?



U.S. offshore oil fire.

Richard Charter wrote in an article about the announcement made on December first that the Obama administration will not allow offshore oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico or off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as part of the next five-year drilling plan. Although this sounds like a huge step forward the plan still allows Arctic drilling to move forward.

I feel like this is a good step forward after the BP oil spill disaster. There is already so much oil in the water from run off that we really don't need to be adding any more. I just can't imagine that anything bad can come from NOT drilling from oil.

This material relates to class because we are talking about aquatic ecosystems right now which can be highly affected by oil, especially oil spills. A stop to drilling will be a great thing for many aqatic ecosystems around America.

Why Save the Polar Bears?

In the article I read this week I've learned a few things about polar bears. You always hear people going on and on about polar bears and why we need to save them from extinction, but why? I understand that any animal going extinction is a big deal, but animals all across the world are in danger of being extincted so why are polar bears getting so much attention? Well I think I finally understand why.

Do you know that polar bears are the largest predations on earth?! They are twice the size of a tiger! Polar bears only weigh about one pound when born, but they can weigh up to 1,700 pounds as adults! This definitely seems like one of the reasons that polar bears get so much attention. I feel like these are the kinds of things that they need to talk about whenever they say how much troubles polar bears are going through with their habits being destroyed.   

This article discusses what can be done to help save the polar bears from extinction. There are many actions being taken to try to stop this from happening. Many different acts are trying to be passed that will help save polar bears from all of the troubles they are facing that are causing their species to dwindle.

 

Recently in class we've been talking about food chains. I have to imagine that if the largest predator were to go extincted that it would severely negatively affect food chains. Populations of animals would probably go crazy! Without polar bears who will eat the seals? And if seal populations go up then the fish populations are sure to go down, so what will happen then?  

I think this article finally clears up the questions I had about the importance of polar bears in the animal kingdom. It's obvious to me know why it is so important that will keep polar bears from going extincted. Save the polar bears!

"Protect Polar Bears" Video

WARNING: video a bit graphic at some points!

How NOT to Clean Up an Oil Spill!

Today I learned from Brian Merchant's article "People are Dropping Dead" from BP Dispersants: Toxicologist how the BP oil spill is being cleaned up. Now I think everyone knows about the tragic oil spill in the Gulf and how much difficulty there was with trying to clean it all up. Well it seems that the solution found for cleaning up the spoil has turned out to have negative effects.

A chemical cocktail called Corexit, which is untested, has had 1.9 million gallons dumped on the Gulf in an effort to break up the oil. There's only one problem, the chemical has turned out to be toxic. Local residents are being afflicted by respiratory sickness and worse, some people have DIED from exposure! The symptoms being experienced include: "headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains, chest pains, respiratory system damage, skin sensitization, hypertension, central nervous system depression, neurotoxic effects, genetic mutations, cardiac arrhythmia, and cardiovascular damage."

I think this is completely crazy! I also can't believe that I haven't heard about it until now! I just can't believe that they would try to solve this problem by using untested chemicals! It's completely irresponsible and insane!

I think this relates to class because the way we solve problems now is going to affect future generations. We need to be more careful or there could be no environment left for the future!

Where to Find the Greenest Cars



In Megan Treacy's article 'Honda Crowned Greenest Automaker' she writes about the fifth annual ranking of the greenest automaker. With 2008 being the most recent year that they had complete data models from Environmental Protection Agency and Transportation Department it is possible that the outcome of the research is a bit out of date, but at the time of 2008 the greenest of the automakers was Honda. Of the top eight automakers selling cars in the United States, together making up 92% of the vehicles available in the United States, Toyota trailed in second with help from their Prius and Hyundai was in third; following behind the top three was Volkswagen, Nissan, Ford, GM, and Crysler. 

The Honda Insight



To calculate these results the predicted impact of the automakers' fleets on global warming- based largely on miles per gallon- as well as the smog-forming emissions of the engines were taken and compared. The study said that "selling a modest number of clean and efficient models" was not enough to be considered a green automaker; all of their vehicles had to do well. In all five years of the study each year Honda was come in first. 



I find this information to be very interesting. I never realized that they did an annual ranking of the greenest automaker, I thought they only did them for the cars themselves. I think this is a good way for people to see where it is best to get environmentally friendly cars which is great for anyone who is trying to find a way to be more green.

This relates to class because being more green is obviously what the world needs to all be shooting for. Everyone needs to do what they can to lower pollution and the use of resources so that Earth will go a little less negatively affected. Another thing this got me thinking about was what we talked about in class on Wednesday involving the amounts of oil in the water. 51% of the oil in the waters comes off of the land; main example used in class is when we go to fill up our cars and a drop or two of oil comes out of the hose and follows onto the ground. If everyone drove greener cars that get better miles to the gallon then we wouldn't have to fill up our tanks as much which should lead to less oil being spilled onto land and then washing into the waters.   

So if you're looking for a green car you might want to check out Honda!

Video from 2007 when Honda won Greenest Automaker:

Video found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qXfYVMMHnc

Sunny California



One of California's many solar farms.



All of us know that our now acquired need for electricity takes up a lot of resources to be provided to us, so my question would be, Why aren’t we trying to find different sources of power? There are natural resources that can be used to provide us with our electricity, so why are we not all switching to these ways? Well one state is moving forward and it’s California.

California is the nation’s largest solar producer and are moving forward to have one-third of the state solar powered by 2020. I feel like more states should be taking this step forward to switch to natural resources of power, and thanks to California’s aggressive move forward with solar power the rest of the U.S. is now realizing “that solar is here, not a technology of the future.” I’m glad that California’s use of solar power is encouraging other states to move forward with the use of alternative sources of power.

This article relates to class because resource depletion is one of the six major environmental problems. I believe that switching to solar power would lower of resource use and help out the environment dramatically.

Our Air is Being Polluted!

How would you like to be breathing in this air?

I have never really given any thought to the air that I am breathing in every day, but after reading this article I have started to. What is in the air that we are breathing, and is it killing us?

It is true that in Texas alone (Texas containing the most operating plants in all the nation) there are 400,000 tons per year of ozone-forming pollution, more than 227 million tons per year of carbon dioxide, huge quantities of soot and other fine particle pollution, and almost 14,000 pounds per year of mercury. So with pollution being one of the top environmental problems why is nothing being done to stop it? There has been something done. A suit was filled on behalf of Sierra Club for Texas's evasion of the Clean Air Act that has been in affect for forty years and is to be followed by all of the nation. Earthjustice associate attorney Khushi Desai had this to say about the lawsuit: 

"We maintain that Texas's continued evasion of its Clean Air Act obligations has unduly compromised the health of its own citizens, as well as those residing in downwind states, for far too long. Our suit says that EPA must, as the law requires, finally address Texas' failures and take action to implement national air quality standards in the state."

After talking in class about our top six environmental problems I was surprised to hear that Texas was contributing so harshly to our pollution problem. I was also unaware of the Clean Air Act. With pollution essentially being against the law then how has Texas evaded it for so long? And how is it that pollution is still such a major problem?

It is true that breathing in this polluted air can make you SICK! A girl by the name of Raviya Ismail went to a hearing in Texas about air pollution (How ironic is that?) and after only a few days was beginning to feel run down with burning eyes and labored breathing that she believes it was caused by breathing in this polluted air! With this problem putting people at risk I am glad to hear that it has finally been acknowledged and will hopefully be dealt with very soon because it is not only the occupants of Texas that are suffering but also all the occupants in states surrounding it. That's a lot of people breathing in polluted air!

About Me

As a class each of us have to start a blog and make posts throughout the year. Our first post has to be about yourself. My two favorite things to do is reading and writing; I would love to get one of my books published some day. I also spend a lot of time watching TV, movies, and videos on Youtube. I don't really like school because of the early mornings. In environmental this year I want to learn about the world and the environmental problems we are encountering right now.