APES Current Events

In today's society we are reliant on producing energy to fuel our lifestyles, but by doing so we create pollutants that are a leading cause of global warming. A normally overlooked possible after effect of these pollutants is global dimming. Being such a seldom covered topic I found this article to be highly informative. Between 1950 and 1990 scientists discovered that there were both small and large changes in the amount of sunlight reaching the earth. This decrease in sunlight is called global dimming, which is when pollution from the consumption of energy becomes trapped in the atmosphere and reduces the amount of sunlight available. Some believed that global dimming had caused multiple droughts around the world. Although global dimming is an issue, it also protects us. Immediately after 9/11 Dr. David Travis collected records from various weather stations and found that the temperature range had increased by over one degree Celsius during the three days that all flights were g...

Open defecation has been a major issue since humans started to overpopulate the world.  Doing one's business outside in public was not such an environmentally and sanitary risky thing to do until the Earth was not able to safely absorb feces at the rate humans were making them.  This article follow the open defecation problem in India, one of the most prominent places in the world that allows it.  Statistics of the article show that nearly one billion people still regularly practice open defecation.  The problem does not reside in the fact that the people of India do not have the resources and skill set to go to the bathroom in a toilet, but more so the overall issue with India's sanitation.  Due to India being the second most populated country in the world, their hygiene is not the most reputable.  Their latrines are so uncleanly and overcrowded to the point where people feel better going to the bathroom outside.  The downside to people openly defecat...

The main way fish are able to find food is by smell. Anchovies are now unable to tell the difference between pray and the smell of plastic. It's not just fish that are being affected by the plastic. Anyone who eats seafood can be affected also. Scientist conducted an experiment on anchovies, by using krill and plastic to see which one the anchovies would choose. Which can possibly lead to harmful affects on people. If people would stop throwing trash in the ocean or leaving it close on the beach, close enough to the ocean it could decrease the amount of plastic in the ocean.   https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bait-and-switch-anchovies-eat-plastic-because-it-smells-like-prey/

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach In this article it explains why the thought of building walls to stop flooding is an issue. I found it interesting in the different ways environmental scientists and engineers have found to prevent coastal flooding. The article also devotes a section to the topic of "Going Green" and how it can aid coastal communities. I also found it interesting that studies show that if global sea levels were to rise just one foot in the next 20 years the number of overwhelmed communities would rise from 90 today to 170. "More than 100 of these communities would see up to 25 percent of their livable land flooded." The environmental scientist in the article conclude that "the best way to help coastal communities is to implement the Paris climate agreement and keep global warming down." We, as a country need to heavily start thinking about our future and start taking action to end Global Warming and stop ocean levels from rising.

https://extension.psu.edu/what-to-do-if-you-find-spotted-lanternfly A new speice which was introduced to the states in 2014 is starting to take over. The Lantern Fly is native to Vietnam, China and India. You are suppose to kill the insect as soon as you  spot one. They are reported to have a vast population in Pennsylvania. They are a treat to the crops such as grapes, timber trees, and peach trees. They will kill everything in a area. If you see one you need to kill it, it's almost time for them to start laying eggs. A female can lay as many as 100 eggs. The population of these insects needs to be killed off in the states especially PA. If you see this insect kill it. follow this link to see what they look like. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.agriculture.pa.gov/Protect/PlantIndustry/spotted_lanternfly/PublishingImages/Dorsal.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.agriculture.pa.gov/protect/plantindustry/spotted_lanternfly&h=850&w=1485&tbnid=ryzjj6sbEz71hM:...

Pandas Article Giant pandas up until recently have been known to be very close to going extinct. Since the early 2000's the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) has been trying to turn the population of the pandas around, protecting the bamboo forests in which they live. Whats good is new methods of studying the panda's habitats allow us to keep a closer eye on the panda's population number. With this new method we now know that the pandas are now longer endangered, but are vulnerable. The process used to determine this is based on satellite imaging of the forests that they live in. The panda's aren't just getting their numbers back up, but also spreading slightly to new places. Giant pandas population growth does effect the other animals in the ecosystem, because most of the area where they live is protected all animals see less threat to human interaction. Hello

A recent study shows that dual- fuel vehicles are benefiting the population but, turns out they are costing the environment. While substituting gasoline for ethanol gases, it causes an increase of ultra fine particle matter, with a 30% increase of atmospheric concentration. The problem is that they are less then 50 nanometers in diameter. The nano particles are also not track or regulated by the environmental agencies. We inhale these gases everyday, inhaling ethanol. The most practical way to reduce greenhouse gases is using electric, hybrid and biofuel care.   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170828124546.htm

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-41107862 I believe this article is very eye opening. It shows us that there is so many species of animals that we haven't even discovered yet. It also shows us that we are wiping out species of animals that we didn't even know were out there in the world. I believe this shows us that as humans we need to be careful on what we are taking from the environment and how it can affect other animals. This is also nice because who knows what other information we can learn from these animals.

Recently the dead zone has been measured to be about 8,776 square miles long, or about the size of New Jersey. A dead zone is an area of water where nitrogen and phosphorus flowing into the area from the pesticides used on crops gets washed into the streams. Ultimately, this starts a process that deprives the water of oxygen. This then effects how the ecosystem works and in the current dead zone there is almost no fish that are present. This is definitely a bad thing for the environment not only because of how it makes the water inhabitable for the creatures that live in the area, but it has also grown immensely in size since 1985. The "dead zone" according to NOAA was "had an average size of just over 5,800 square miles over the past five years" which is a still a large number. This affects many variables of the ecosystem, too. For example, shrimp who depended on the area affected now may have to go around or over the dead zone which may result in an abnormal st...

McGuire Galing Ms. Haegerty APES 31 August 2017 Global Warming is Nothing New It's interesting to see an article talking about a former global warming that the world went through. Scientists believe that this global event occurred due to carbon entering the atmosphere from different natural occurrences such as volcanic eruptions. I believe that in our society today we act like global warming has never happened before and our world is entering a possibility of destruction. People, this has happened before, it's not new, the world will begin to adjust to this warming and the world will revert back to its natural state. 😊😊😊 The Article

Dozens of different animals, including tube worms and some creatures new to science, were discovered in the Gulf of California. Multiple companies are starting to apply for permits that will allow them to mine the Gulf of California. Mining could easily destroy the population of these creatures. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bizarro-life-forms-inhabiting-deep-sea-vents-may-be-at-risk/

A recent study was done on "mega cities" around the world regarding the positive effects that trees have on cities and the environment. the cities involved in the experiment included London, Cairo, Beijing, Los Angeles, Moscow, and Mexico City. The study revealed that trees actually provide a host of positive effects on cities that are largely overlooked. For example, trees planted in cities actually act as a means for buildings to be more easily heated or cooled by deflecting cool winds in the winter, and providing shade in the summer. Besides the fact that trees produce oxygen, they also filter the air in cities and rid it of particles that are harmful to humans. Overall trees are hugely beneficial to the environment and to human productivity. I think we should plant more trees. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170822104849.htm

This article is interesting as this haze is seeming to be more harmful that the usual gas cloud that western countries are used to seeing. This haze is very telling because of how it is actually physically affecting people in a negative way. Just like smog, this gas cloud is composed of gas produced from industrial smoke. Advancement in technology can cause an advancement in pollution which is what I believe is occurring. This is worrying because if this trend continues, gas clouds created by man can become even worse. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/chemical-haze-drifts-ashore-near-birling-gap-england-n796536

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/blasts-%E2%80%98chemical-reactions%E2%80%99-rock-storm-crippled-chemical-plant-in-texas-as-harvey-flooding-persists/ar-AAr0JBx#image=AAqEBwG|2 Hurricane Harvey still making millions of people struggle it Texas and just gets harder. In Crosby which is on the outskirts of Huston a chemical plant left without power had explosions. It sent one deputy from Harris county to a hospital for inhaling chemical fumes and other checked as a perceptions. The chemical was a Organic Peroxide which is a nontoxic irritating. It affects skin and eyes. The flood waters are going down slowly but most part have mass flooding and there are hundreds helping with donation time and boats.

The Song Bird is having a very difficult time living on its home land with sea levels rising up onto the Bahamas land. The sea levels are rising above 400 feet all the way around the Bahamas leaving them with less than a ten fold of land. They vanished around 12,000 years ago which means our climates have been getting more and more hot which is bad for out whole planet. The Bahamas are getting smaller and smaller due to the rising tides and the melting icebergs. The abundance of fossils they found from the song birds rose confusion and care for how it happened, and it led to finding out how fast our planet has been heating up more and more. These birds have been completely extinct for many years and more and more species continue to disappear as the climates change and move around.

NY Times article I think it is a little strange because they said we should expect heavier rainstorms and we have been experiencing heavier rain lately. They said heat waves would rise and I don't think it has been to hot lately, I think it has been more cold than hot. They are writing an article on climate change and they change to treatment of family's with sickness. Continuously the scientist keep giving of more things to predict. They say we have a good chance causing a sixth mass extinction with plants and animals.

Not going to lie, but I was going to write about how climate change affected Hurricane in Houston. Then I saw this article. https://www.livescience.com/60266-fire-ants-form-floating-rafts-in-houston.html So I've seen Ant Man  and I know that Fire Ants used themselves to build bridges and rafts to survive. However, it didn't come to me when I thought of the recent Hurricane that hit Huston. What happens to the chipmunks, worms, fleas, and the ant? I never thought too much about these things before I saw this article. So apparently they do this when ever there is a flood. Up to 8,000 of these little guys just row row rowing past your flooded house without even batting an antenna at your ruined life. Just don't touch them because apparently they'll just disperse and crawl up you. Metal I know. Then again these Fire Ant live in the South East of the US. So you know what this means? A species of near dessert life ants, are used to and know how to survive a flood! This ...

Lucas Santos August Current Event The floods i n Houston caused hospitals to take precautions, including even evacuation. Hurricane Harvey  drowned tens of thousands of laboratory animals and forced patient evacuations. This Hurricane also caused a lost of decades worth of research. In my opinion, hurricane Harvey is one of the most tragic natural disasters I have ever witnessed. Watching the disaster on the news really shows  how awful it was. The streets are flooded to the point where people need to drive boats. Many houses have been destroyed and it's damage is an estimated 160 billion dollars. I feel very sorry for all of the people who were effected by this hurricane. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/08/27/houston-flooding-pushes-hospitals-act/606802001/

After reading these two article's, I wonder if maybe electric isn’t the most feasible option at this time period. It is hard to replace something that has been around for over a hundred years, that being the simple combustion engine. Here Honda has developed a combustion engine that is capable of 78.5 mpg which is astounding in comparison to many vehicles. I wonder what would happen if this new engine used with a cam-less style valve-train , where the manufacturer has the most control out of the valve lift, giving you the option of performance versus economy. The control over this give you the option to lessen the emissions. This is how a traditional combustion engine works. Notice how there is no altering the valve lift, as its lift is dependent on the lift of the cam. However, a cam-less engine removes the camshaft completely, allowing control over emissions by limiting the fuel and air intake.

     According to the University of Delaware, the Chesapeake Bay is becoming acidic as it has gone to 7.4 pH from an average of 8.2. The oxidation of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide may be the factor that is leading to the higher acidity levels in coastal oceans, but it can eventually lead to more of open oceans. Naturally the waters of the Chesapeake Bay have a regulatory system that holds back the increase of acidity levels in the area, and this works as the dissolving of living shells, non-living aragonite, and calcite minerals. Though nature has a path to keep the waters in the Chesapeake Bay, humans should take more care of our Earth as we have a role in polluting the water and rising the acidity levels in coastal oceans. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170828093737.htm

Trees are very important to our daily life and for our future. These beetles are moving up the east coast, tunneling  through the bark of trees to gain the nutrients. This invasion in the north is caused by the drop in winter temperatures because of climate change. Climate change is caused by a lot of different reasons but it also causes more than just warmer temperatures. My main thought is that the more the climate changes the more beetles that will survive and  kill the pine trees. Like all other tress pine trees and very important for oxygen, paper and just wood in general. these bugs could take away a lot of the trees that make up the forests in the north.  New York Times Article

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/08/30/charting-hurricane-harveys-jaw-dropping-size-and-destruction/617923001/ This article is discussing the horrendous hurricane that is occurring right now in Texas. Many peoples homes were thoroughly damaged and destroyed from the massive amounts that accumulated there. It said that they got up to 51.9 inches of rain and even more coming. The storm is less then an inch away from breaking the record for the most amount of rain water causing a flood. Hurricane Harvey has dumped 19 trillion gallons of water on Texas. Winds reached 132 mph.

In January of this year, El Niño brought unusually warm weather in the middle of winter. Now, scientists have discovered a 300,000 square mile part of a West Antarctica Ice Sheet is melting. El Niño pushed warm water underneath the ice sheet and a fluke rain fall also occurred, creating a slush-like coating on the top of the ice sheet. A posing threat from the rain fall and slush is the melting could lead to a weakened ice shelf in similar areas in West Antarctica which would force the ice sheet to break and create large rivers or waterfalls. Once the water breaks through the ice shelf it will rapidly heighten sea levels, posing another threat, obviously. http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/19/weather/antarctica-melt-texas-rain-climate-change-trnd/index.html

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170816084929.htm   This article is talking about how Hurricane Harvey was mostly caused by climate change. Scientists say that no storm is altered by climate change but this one was. Hurricanes are powered by the evaporation of water. It evaporates faster on a hot surface than a cold surface. Scientists at M.I.T. studied past hurricanes and the studies showed that hurricanes are slower once they hit landfall. Hurricane Harvey however somehow gained more speed once it hit land. 

The heating up of the cold regions of the Arctic had an affect on Hurricane Harvey making it much worse then it should have been. Scientist also say that destructive hurricanes like Harvey could happen more often if the oceans continue to heat up. The warmer temperatures and the increase in surface area of the ocean forces more water into the air. This causes more rain to come down during bad storms like Harvey. If we can not do anything to slow down the affect of climate change these storms can cause billions of dollars in damages sometime in the future. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/climate-change-hurricane-harvey_us_59a6f6a3e4b00795c2a35c15

If what the article says is true, then our oceans could be in great danger. If the bigger fish are dying due to lack of oxygen in the water, then we have more species eventually going extinct. That also leaves a large amount of dead fish bodies lingering in our oceans. That is disgusting. The smaller fish will continue to reproduce and multiply, while the larger sea creatures are dying off. I don't have the knowledge to suggest anything to help this problem. But we do need to find a solution.

Mindy Gerlach https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/environment/2017/08/28/alaska-youth-environmental-group-asks-state-to-start-regulating-greenhouse-gas-emissions/ Teens across Alaska have teamed up to to petition the limits of greenhouse gasses being emitted into the environment. Local and national environmentalists are supporting the teens as they took an 100 page document supporting the limits on greenhouse gases. Gases we are putting into our air needs to be in limited quantities because it is effecting the health of people and the Earth.  We only have one Earth and need to take into consideration there is not another one for us if we don't take care of it properly

My first reaction came just by reading the title.  "Wow those numbers are off the charts."  Upon further investigation I found out that the study predicts 152,000 deaths a year between 2071 and 2100 due to weather related disasters as opposed to the 3000 per year between 1981 and 2010.  The article is very concerning and brings up the question, Is there anything that can be done to prevent this? https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/08/04/weather-disasters-to-impact-2-out-of-3-europeans-by-2100-study-says/

In this article it talks about the illegal fish dumping. There are invasion of nine-inch northern pike fish invading, the fish originated  at Comins Lake. Nevada is offering 10,000$ to anyone who knows who is responsible for this. When and if the person is found they will be fined between 25,000 and 250,000$.  https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wanted-illegal-fish-dumpers/

This Ted talk by Triona McGrath discusses how carbon emissions not only impact our atmosphere, but also negatively effect our oceans. I found this to be very surprising as well as informative and interesting. While climate change and carbon emissions seems to be discussed frequently, we seem to forget about how this will effect our oceans. Even though water covers two thirds of our planet, how global warming or other harmful human activities could potentially hurt our oceans does not seem to be discussed nearly as often. McGrath talks about ocean acidification and how in recent years there has been a substantial decrease in pH levels which is caused by the increase of carbon emissions from human activity. She states that this has happened previously at a much slower rate, and even then many marine species had become extinct. Based on this Ted talk, I think it is crucial that we as humans not only continue to talk about climate change and carbon emissions, but also begin the conversatio...

This article touches on the fact that many oceans and large bodies of water are now becoming warmer. Along with this change in water temperatures the sea life also have a significant impact in reaction to this change. Many fish are and are expected to shrink due to the higher temperature of water. The higher the water temperature is the lower the oxygen level is, the lower the oxygen level the harder the fish have to work to create more oxygen. This then creates smaller fish in hopes to ease the more necessary production of oxygen. Many fish have already experienced this shrinkage and many more are likely to experience it. Here is the article

Everyday human activities are affecting populations on the seafloor, like pollution, deep sea fishing, deep-sea mining, and climate change. These are impacting more species than we thought we could. The things we do has not affected deep sea life drastically but scientists have not explored enough to know how much damage can be done or has been done. However, with the new technology being made everyday around us, there is a big opportunity for scientists to learn more about what is going on and they can discover so much more information. Researchers and scientists are not too worried at the moment about the damage if any has been done. However, the more exploration and activities in the deep sea there is, the more it will be affected, which will cause more difficulties and long term problems in our environment. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170821183350.htm

The additional studies that have all but concluded the reason behind the Antarctic ice sheet melting is the West Antarctic Rift is certainly eye opening and, just as the article mentions, furthers the notion that our climate can certainly be (and likely is) controlled by natural occurrences, not trace gases. The findings of this article can be tied to so many other claims of natural climate change as well that the mainstream media and even scientists miss and disregard. Furthermore, this discovery allows for the inference that our sun and solar impacts are much more important and the primary climate driver for our planet. This aspect is mostly completely ignored by everyone, but mainly by the fear-mongering Alarmists that call everything, including now Hurricane Harvey, caused by human activity. Overall, I hope more articles and studies like this can be made to further our knowledge behind the main reason of Climate Change. Article Found Here

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/seagrasses-boost-ecosystem-health-fighting-bad-bacteria?mode=topic&context=60 I think that if researchers and scientists figure out that seagrass can fight against bacteria it is great for people to know when they get into oceanic waters. If seagrass helps kill bacteria more people can swim safer and healthier on beaches containing seagrass. It's also great that the seagrass can not only make the water healthier for humans but also for the marine life in the waters. Maybe seagrass will benefit more than just being in the water.

The Spotted Lantern Fly native to China, Vietnam and India has come over to the Berks county area a few years back and to this day they keep on increasing in numbers. These Lantern flies may not be harmful to the health of humans, but they are very harmful to the plant and tree life in the area. These flies target trees, grape vines, and tree fruit. So local wineries such as Clover Hill Winery or Vynecrest Winery are at great risk. The Lantern Flies could eat away at the grape fines and take away business, leaving the wineries stuck with no grapes to make the wine. The Spotted Lantern Flies keep on eating away at our trees and we cant do much about it at this point, so even though they aren't a huge threat to our everyday lives they may affect us in the long run. http://www.agriculture.pa.gov/protect/plantindustry/spotted_lanternfly/Pages/default.aspx

My reaction on this article is worried because of all the people that are being hit by the storm. It is destroying towns and cities, it destroyed many people's houses and right now they are just trying to survive. Hopefully the storm lightens up and goes away quick, but they are predicting for parts of Texas to get 40 to 50 inches of rain.  https://www.livescience.com/60238-hurricane-harvey-texas-photos.html

Climate change could lower the quality of your coffee Studies have been shown and it now has been found that in Ethiopia which is the world's fifth-largest coffee producer could lose 60% of its land for coffee farming because of the climate change. With the warmer weather occurring over this past year the coffee quality has been decreasing, so coffee is poorer. So, this could be a big impact on Ethiopia economy and prices could drop on coffee there on anywhere in the world. So, in my opinion the climate change can have a big affect on everything in the world and we should be worried about the future ahead.

Article Here           The article talks about how a wooden toes has recently been found by researchers. Apparently its main function is to be a prosthetic for a priests daughter. It was discovered in a tomb in an old burial chapel. It is also apparently the oldest prosthetic to be ever made at the moment. I think this is really cool and shows that the Egyptians were very skilled people. I'm also very surprised that it was still around due to how old it was but the tomb managed to preserve it very well. I think that this is very cool and would like to know what else they discovered in those tombs.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/08/climate-change-study-ocean-fish-size/     This article talks about how fish are shrinking from small to large fish due to warming temperatures and loss of oxygen. I find this article to be really interesting especially because it effects all fish. The article mentioned that soon fish trying to breathe would be like us trying to breathe through a straw. I wonder if the fish keep shrinking that in the future if there will even be fish. Then we could see a shark that was only 1 foot in size. I also was thinking for people that fish if this would effect their sport at well. And when people catch fish are they safe to eat anymore? This might effect the health of the fish and they might become more dangerous to eat. So I really like this article and want to learn more about this subject of fish shrinking.

Hanna Gralinski https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/27/renewable-energy-generates-enough-power-to-run-70-of-australian-homes New figures show that the energy sector of Australia is able to generate enough power to run 70% of homes. Not only is this amazing, but it is predicted to rise to 90% once the wind and solar projects are under way in 2017-2018. This renewable energy is not only good for the environment, but is also good for the economy. Most of the energy is formed by hyrdo-electricity, wind, and rooftop solar panels. This booming renewable energy market is also good for jobs, providing many people with employment opportunities. I think that this is absolutely great for the environment, the people of Australia, and the economy.

Article Here Because of the amount of flooding due to Hurricane Harvey many people are evacuating their homes. Officials and the Coast Guard have been helping people to safety, however, now that the worst of the storm has stopped, I think more people should be in Texas helping people and helping to restore the towns from the aftermath of the storm. I think it is a good thing that President Trump is in contact with the governor of Texas and that he is planning to travel there on Tuesday. After a disaster like this the people of the United States should come together to help restore the environment and help people whose homes were destroyed.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/08/houston-flooding-hurricane-harvey-video-spd/   This article is about a Texas native who is a photographer named Erin Trieb. She was visiting family in Houston when she was caught in the storm. In my opinion I think the people that stayed in Houston are crazy. You would think that Katrina would have given them a wake up call. You have insurance so your house can be repaired. You can't repair life. The people are crazy that stayed in Houston.

Farm lands have been relentlessly abused from storms recently. In an effort to retain precious phosphorous, farmers have had to change the practices they've followed for generations. It has been warned that phosphorus losses from the soil will continue to increase unless adjustments are made. Some options in reducing the amount of phosphorous runoff are: more sensible use of fertilizer to use soil  phosphorous or physical efforts. With the aid of the warm and wet winters, it is projected that there will be more runoff that will be led to rivers and effectively into the ocean. Farmers may be doing what they can to stop this but there is no way to stop 100% of the runoff. Nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen are essential to the growth of crops and livestock, yet too much can cause an abundance of algae. This Algal blooms can suffocate fish and demand remediation by water supply companies. Climate projections show that the largest contributing factor to increased future phospho...

With climate change growing and environmental disasters continuing, it's no surprise that fish and other marine life are being affected negatively. Fish have responded to many small changes in negative ways but this may be the most negative of them all. When the water temperature changes due to recent higher temperatures, even by minuscule degrees, the fish can shrink down enormously due to low oxygen supplies in the water. While reading this article, I felt that is was quite upsetting to hear about because the fish not only allow other animals to eat, but they control other populations of species. If the fish become smaller and they begin to die off, the food chain will be thrown off balance leaving the waters everywhere full of algae, and full of other smaller species leaving no more food for the larger species that consume them. This is just one of the many articles about climate change and how it is negatively affecting the world and the species in it, and it will unfortunately...

I had always wondered what role wasps played in the environment other than being a pest. This article clarifies the false belief that many people have, which is that wasps don't have a vital role in the environment. Wasps are predators and control the number of other potential insect pests that can damage our crops. They are also pollinators. Without wasps we would have a larger number of other insect pests, which would probably be more annoying than wasps. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41042948

This video is very informative and creates a conversation about the state and condition of our reefs and what people are doing to help. The tactic of using smaller coral plants to re-build the coral reefs is a great idea due the damage that was impacted to the reefs.  Here's the Article

https://www.livescience.com/60188-eclipse-corona-simulations.html The latest environmental occurrence everyone is talking about is the solar eclipse. Prior to the event happening, scientists used supercomputers to produce pictures of what they predict the sun’s corona would look like during the eclipse. If the pictures they produced are correct, weather and storms that happen in space could be detected easier by the scientists. I really like how the article includes images of what the scientists believe the sun’s corona would look like during the eclipse. It allows the reader to get a sense of what scientists are able to do to bring their predictions to life. I think that including quotes from different researchers and scientists also makes the article more interesting. It provides the readers with different facts and opinions of the individual who is quoted and allows the reader to truly connect with the story. 

Ted Talk: Seas of Plastic This Ted Talk from Charles Moore tells the truth of the harmful course that we as humans have put on our oceans and marine life. I enjoyed this video, because it kind of puts an extremely negative view on the way that humans have treated our planet. Moore talks about in one point how what we have done to the oceans is now irreversible and is too expensive for any country to undertake the cleaning up of. I hope that this video is felt in full affect and humans truly start to realize that we need to change our ways as soon as possible or else there will be no wildlife and our oceans will just be a large landfill.

Currently, a "dead zone" with the area size of New Jersey lies in the Gulf of Mexico.  This larger than normal dead zone is a area of water severely deprived of oxygen and marine life.  The Gulf of Mexico's dead zone is a result of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers flowing into the water off of local crops.  This summer, the dead zone's area is the largest its ever been due to the above average rainfall that fell in the Midwest.  The heavy amount of rainfall washed more nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients from farmer's crops into streams and river than it has in past summers.  Since these pollutants deprive the water of oxygen, marine life avoids the area.  This affects local fishermen and shrimp businesses because they have to traveled further offshore to catch fish and shrimp.   The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico forces to the surface one of many problems causes by the use of nitrogen and phosphorus based fertilizers.  These fertilizers are a...

The article talks about how Lake Trout are now changing their habits and behaviors during warmer times in the year. In northwestern Ontario, an 11 year long study was completed in order to observe the fish and how they react. I found this very interesting that not only they did the experiment for over a decade, but I think that it is good that the scientists are trying to see and prove that climate change is bad and can affect many different populations. Link to article

Native American groups and outdoor activists promised to improve on their efforts to protect public lands and sanctuaries, since U.S. Interior Secretary Zinke threatened to adjust/ shrink the boundaries of some national monuments. In addition to the advocate's efforts, many people are petitioning against the Trump Administration's threats to shrink the boundaries of many public sites, which includes, but is not limited to, Native American lands. The Washington Post reported that the monuments that may be in danger of shrinking are Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, which are both located in Utah, and Cascade-Siskiyou, located in Oregon. This is such an important issue because national monuments are significant sites of either historical, cultural, or scientific importance managed by the federal government. Click here to learn more about why this is such an impactful issue.

In 1997 an orange manufacturer named "Del Oro" began production in Costa Rica. As a result of production "Del Oro" covered a barren pasture in orange remains. This caused many rival companies to sue "Del Oro" for "defiling a national park". That is when Daniel Janzen and Winnie Hallwachs stepped in. Years after the defiling of the park Janzen and Hallwachs went back to the park and found out as a result of the orange remains the land was left richer than before. The orange remains saved the land.  This research can be used for future use to help our environment. I found this article interesting because saving the environment can be as easy as dropping your orange peel. I loved seeing the before and after pictures of the land once in ruins and now saved. Its a great article to read. To read the whole article click  here  !

This article talks about the new proposal by the Head of Interior, Ryan Zinke, to cut down the size of 27 National Monuments. This should be taken very seriously because if we do not continue to preserve the land of the United States, they will be ruined. I think that we should not cut the size of these Monuments because each of them hold information about science and the cultures of other people. These National Monuments have historical value to the United States and I think that it is important to protect and preserve these beautiful areas. National Geographic Article

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/08/blue-dye-dogs-india-mumbai-video-spd/ This article should raise much concern for water treatments and factories especially in India. This goes to show the minimal protection used to keep people and animals out of the water. Not only is this a safety violation but also untreated waste is now discovered. This untreated water and waste is harming multiple living things on this earth. We only have one Earth that needs to be taken care of properly. 

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/arctic-final-garbage-dump-ocean-plastic?mode=topic&context=60 This article relates to the little reading we had to do about environmental problems that are going on. There is pollution going on and it is filling the oceans, we need to take care of the earth and environment because we all live on it and it needs to survive.