APES Current Events

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180328143306.htm Human footprints were found off of Canad's pacific coast and it is believed that they may be 13,000 years old.  This provides evidence for the hypothesis that humans took a coastal path from Asia to North America during the last ice age.This contradicts other theories that there was a huge land bridge across the ocean that humans took to reach North America.

Scientists have proposed throwing salt into the atmosphere to aid in stopping global warming. The salt will reflect sunlight back into outer space which help cool the earth. However, some scientists are against this idea because it relates to geoengineering which will change the environment but counteract global warming. This plan may not work because the amount of salt needed to complete this idea or the negative effects this would cause to the ozone layer or the stratosphere. https://www.livescience.com/62140-can-salt-stop-climate-change.html

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180327094001.htm In the article I read a study was conducted and found that 38% of kids with Asthma is caused by air pollution. The study showed that the higher exposure to air pollution a kid has the bigger chance the kid has to get asthma. This shows that all the things that could stop air pollution need to happen to save the kids. For the studies they used models to track air pollution. The one good thing that came out of this is that we now have a reason to take better care of the environment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/23/world/australia/beached-whales.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=5&pgtype=sectionfront In Western Australia there are over 150 whales being beached while bad whether and sharks are preventing rescuers from helping the whales.By the end of the night when rescuers returned to the site where they were beached, only seven of the 150+ whales were still alive. There were at least 100 volunteers, veterinarians, and wildlife personnel on the beach helping to move the several whales still alive to waters where they could move themselves to deeper water.

For years now, the west coast has been trying to improve their quality of life regarding the environment. Within this article, it describes the struggles that California, Oregon, and Washington are dealing with the climate changes throughout the year. Many of these changes include extreme drought along with very heavy rain. The west coast has been pressuring President Trump to reform bills dealing with their climate.

https://www.livescience.com/62140-can-salt-stop-climate-change.html Scientists want to throw salt into the atmosphere!!! They believe that it will cool the earth and help the climate. They want to use salt cause it is highly reflective. I think that this is so wack, I never thought scientists would go this far as to throwing salt into the atmosphere to help our climate change. I am not sure how well it will work, but its a chance. I hope that they do it because I would love to see the results from this.

Compared to 2016, the total carbon emissions from the factories under the European Union Emissions Trading System rose to 1,757.3 mt. This accounts for a 0.5% increase in total carbon emissions. Most of these factories under control of the EU ETS cooperate using a cap-and-trade system. This system was intended to create a continuous lowering of carbon emissions across Europe, but instead did the opposite in 2017. I found this article interesting because the cap-and-trade system came up in our last chapter we studied. Just as we discussed in class, this system can actually raise carbon emissions, especially if the industrial gains from just a few industries outpace the losses from most other industries. Article Found Here

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/orange-snow-russia-sand-spd/ Due to the sand from the Sahara Desert and recently snow starms mixing, a few countries have experienced sand colored snow. This can cause other storms as well with warm and cold air flow which could lead to damage of a country.

   According to research in the eastern U.S. many trees are starting to look different and the way they soak up carbon is being altered. This is due to the drought and shifts in rainfall and temperature. This is also causing a change in the number of tree species. Due to the decrease in rainfall a new species of trees (tolerant to drought but slower growing) we're starting to come into the environment. Thus, this will effect not only the environment the biomass of the forest. The climate change not only effects the forests but the forest effects the climate change. This will also effect men and women who have jobs such as farming or logging since the forest will have a lower biomass. So the drought is definitely effecting the whole environment. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180321155319.html

Bees have begun to react with an insecticide that is known to negatively impact them. While this insecticide has been noticed to decrease the population of bees some have started to make an enzyme to break down those insecticides. Here's the Article

Sudan died at the age of 45 leaving only his daughter and grandaughter behind as the last white rhinos. Sudan was first rescued from the wil at the age of three by the Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic. Afterwhich all the remaining rhinos that were left in the wild, were savagely killed due to the high conflict in their area. The rhinos were being killed for their horns, to be used to make medicine, daggers or even justto be traded for money and war assistance. The only hope for the white rhino race is through thheprocess of in-vitro fertilization, this is a process that could cost around nine million dollars. Even through his death Sudan migh be able to help bring more life into the world. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/03/20/sudan-the-worlds-last-male-northern-white-rhino-has-died-putting-his-species-on-the-brink-of-extinction/

Do you know who owns your bacon? Are We Becoming China’s Factory Farm?

Link Here Ever wonder where does some of our garbage go? Well one place called the Great Pacific garbage patch is where a whole lot of garbage is located. There are about 1.8 TRILLION pieces of plastic that weighs about 80,000 metric tons that are afloat in the Great pacific garbage patch. That is a huge amount of garbage and its even getting worse. In an attempt to fix this problem they use fine-meshed nets but its not that effective. What I would do is to have a big event and have a bunch of people help and get rid of the garbage.

In 2006, scientists watched 2.2 square mile of melted ice drain away in less than 2 hours in Greenland. Due to their hot summers, the ice that forms while the colder temperatures are still present melt away and drain in the cracks in the ice sheet underneath. As time passes, these lakes are going further inland every year because of the interconnected web of cracks below the ice. The higher the temperatures rise, the bigger this web will grow overtime. https://www.livescience.com/62027-greenland-lakes-disappearing.html

Over the years our trash would be taken from our homes put into an open area to waste over the next 100 years. So, over the years many were created and recycling used items to help take out resources thrown away. Well, a doctor of environmental science, Yahya Jani said that landfills could be a potential resource, with the possibly extracting materials like metals. This could bring down the overuse of natural materials, this could help our society tremendously and better the environment and open more land for living and other economic conditions https://phys.org/news/2018-03-landfills-future-source-raw-materials.html

In Sweden, there’s a new fitness craze called “Plogging.” Plogging is just jogging while collecting trash you see on the streets, in a park, etc. The term comes from the Swedish saying “plocka upp,” which means pick up.   If running isn’t for you, you can also bike, walk, hike, or any other activity you enjoy doing. The new workout helps individuals stay in shape while cleaning up the environment around them. The Washington Post article stated that “ According to the Swedish-based fitness app   Lifesum , which earlier this month made it possible for users to track plogging activity, a half-hour of jogging plus picking up trash will burn 288 calories for the average person, compared with the 235 burned by jogging alone. A brisk walk will expend about 120.” While this may seem like an odd “challenge” to participate in, plogging contributes to the overall well-being of the environment, and should be done all around the world. It’s not a hard task to do, so go out and give it a t...

https://www.livescience.com/61548-saving-imperiled-species-op-ed.html Species are rapidly disappearing all around us, which to most people is a problem, but then to the rest we should not be concerned about the loss. Who is extinction affect? We have brought many iconic species back from the brink of extinction, because of their value and we fought for them. Extinctions cause by human actions should never be acceptable, do you think that extinctions should be acceptable if they are caused by humans?

https://www.livescience.com/61864-arctic-temperatures-record-high.html The temperature in the northern arctic during winter goes down to a chilling minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit. This year though the arctic is experiencing and unusual heat wave. Weather temperatures like this have arrived at the Arctic before, usually once a decade. The last weather occurrence like this was during February of 2016, more recently than a decade ago. Arctic temperatures along with rapid sea loss are creating a climate feedback that can push forward arctic warming resulting in the melting of of arctic sea ice earlier than scientists thought. Sea ice covering the arctic is thinning faster than expected and is reaching record lows. An oceanographer says "We may be losing the Arctic faster than we thought." Previous climate forecasts predicted that Arctic Summer ice would disappear entirely by 2060. "We are looking at a sea ice loss within the next 20 years." 

https://www.livescience.com/62027-greenland-lakes-disappearing.html Every year thousands of lakes pop up on Greenland's surface as the surrounding ice melts, the ice would sit around for a few weeks and then drain away in the cracks in the ice sheet underneath. Researchers are starting to see a new pattern for the disappearing lakes, they are starting to drain further and farther inland. As the water drains away from the lake it can destabilize near ice beds. Day by day reaction intensifies as fresh cracks are formed and new lakes are drained. Billions of gallons of melted ice plunge below Greenland's surface every few days, much of this water pours into the surrounding ocean. According to a report in 2017 ice loss in Greenland was responsible for 25% of the global sea level rise in 2014. If Greenland melts it could result in a global sea-level rise of about 20 feet, but even minor increase in sea level could result in consequences around the world, many American coastal cite...

U.S. oil and natural gas is transforming the world’s energy markets for a second time.  The adoption of fracking in the U.S. opened billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas to production. This transformed the global energy sector in a matter of a few years. Now a leading global energy agency says U.S. natural gas is about to do it again.   International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a new   forecast  that  growth in U.S. oil production will cover 80% of new global demand for oil in the next three years. U.S. oil production is expected to increase nearly 30% to 17 million barrels a day by 2023 with much of that growth coming from oil produced through fracking in West Texas. http://time.com/5187074/fracking-energy-oil-natural-gas/ 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is stating that this spring and summer is supposed to be a wetter and warmer one around the northeast. All of the northeast and all around the gulf as well as part of the Midwest is supposed to have above average temperatures. Then from Maine through the Ohio Valley up to Montana is supposed to have a wetter spring and summer than usual. This is interesting that this is detectable this far out. I found it very cool because I like to see what is expected to happen in the spring and summer. This is how I found this article very appealing.

The decline in elephant populations in Central Africa since 2001 (about 63 percent) could cause major changes in forests. The size of elephants allows them to disperse seeds that other animals can not digest. Elephants also contribute a lot to recycling and spreading nutrients and clearing understories. Without these aspects elephants contribute to their ecosystem, a significant change in the composition of Central African forests is likely. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180312150518.htm

Spring is springing earlier in polar regions than across the rest of earth According to scientific reports every 10 degrees you move closer to the equator spring comes 4 days earlier than it did 10 years ago. With an early springtime it causes higher latitudes to become warmer. Springtime provides biological cues for many plant species and animal species, but it is very unclear how a earlier springtime will affect these species. The impact of an earlier springtime on migrating birds is a major concern because of the short supply of food when they arrive.

Fruit, the kinds like grapes, pears, apples, and more. Diversity of these fruits can be increased by how much animals like ourselves eat them, and where. The more we spread the fruits and the more we eat these fruits, the more likely the seeds will be dispersed to new areas. And of course, with new areas, these fruits may adapt. And then...when they adapt, species change and form a much greater diversity. So hey, go buy some more mango and pineapple, maybe one day we'll have a mix of the two.   Click here for more information!

Since the massive amount of hurricanes that have come and gone in the past couple of months, many are without power. Puerto Rico was one of the worst hit, with about 87% of the island is still without power. Just in March the plane is to send around $200 million dollars in supplies to the island in hope of bringing back power. They set a goal to bring back 95% of power by the end of March, and with over 7000 poles and 400 miles of conductor wire being sent, it looks like the might reach it. Before now they have received 38,000 poles and 3,000 miles worth of wire, but still they need more to pretty much completely rebuild their power grid. Many of the supplies being brought over were just made this year, meaning that this has become a main priority for companies. With more than 4000 contractors on the island, they seem to believe that some areas might not have power till April, but most will be done by the end of March. Article

Research has concluded that the San Francisco International Airport is sinking at a quick rate. They are saying that in about 82 years, half of the runways could possibly be underwater if it keeps sinking at the rate it is. Many other surrounding places are expected to have the same outcome as well by 2100.   "Trash Island," which is located between San Francisco and Oakland, is now sinking at a rate of 0.5 to 0.75 inches a year. This sinking along with flooding is all leading back to climate change which many scientists are still trying to solve to prevent events like this from occurring. https://www.livescience.com/61956-san-francisco-s-airport-is-sinking-into-the-bay.html

I found this post very interesting, it is kind of a scary thought. We have always been worried about forest fires burning down  and ruining  the environment. But, as it might cause cooling, I am interested to see what the long term effects will be. Will this smoke in the clouds hurt us in the future or cause some problems for people? https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180305160208.htm

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180301115444.htm Society is using up so many resources that some people don't have the privileges that others do have because of our limits. Environmental ethicists have been trying to provide social environmental justice to counteract this. Hopefully this, as well as preservation of natural resources will help us to better ourselves and the environment as a whole.

Our cell phones are the best thing to be during our day in age. With the technology we have anything can be looked up in an instant or the sharing of a picture around the world. A study was released that our smartphones will be the most damaging technology to the environment by 2040.  To thing about this can actually seem scary, the environment is already damaged in our time how much more damaged can be done by 2020 or even 2040. How much more damage can be created by this time till people actually realize we are killing our only home for not only us, but our future generations. http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/smartphones-could-damage-the-environment/article22937937.ece

A new discovery has been made from looking at fossilized footprints of iguana-like reptiles. These footprints appear to show that a variety of lizard was walking on two feet rather than scurrying on four. Although this discovery is not definite and also does not necessary have a huge impact on modern day life or the environment, I still thought it was a fascinating topic.

National Geographic published an article regarding global sustainability through the actions and innovations of Gothenburg, Sweden.  Gothenburg is reinventing itself through energy conscious projected in all aspects of its lifestyle.  These sustainability projects are heavily produced and funded by Volvo, which was founded in Gothenburg in 1927.  The Swedish city is forwarding this energy-efficient mindset through low-emission zones for heavy vehicles, cars  powered by renewable biogas, and power plants that operate the majority of the city's productions.  As far as public consumption of food goes in Gothenburg, most restuarants and grocery stores are using the Krav label on their food in order to ensure economically, organically, and socially sustainable products for their customers.  Activites within Gothenburg are becoming more green too, with major attractions being the Volvo Centre which provides energy-efficient and battery powered pastimes.  The...

A study found that tropical trees in Paracou, French Guiana developed a new way of becoming more drought resistant.   The trees use living cells around their wood to store and redistribute water during a period of drought.  These living cells, called parenchyma cells, store water, aid in the process of osmosis and redistribute water to the part of the tree that most needs it.  Tropical trees have three time more of these living cells around their wood to help facilitate this process than temperate trees. Before this year, scientists realized there was not as much research or data on the drought resistance of tropical plants as there was on temperate plants.  The scientists main research goal is to be able to predict the amount of little rainfall that would cause tropical trees to die.     This research is important because tropical plants stores about 20% of all carbon in the Earth's biomass.  If these plants deteriorate as a result of a drought, the...

Fish get Pooped Living in Polluted Water                 Fish’s bodies are being forced to work harder in able to survive because of the pollution being flushed into the waters. There are wastewater treatment plants but they can’t remove a lot of the common drugs that come from human’s bodies like birth control and depression meds. These drugs in the water cause the fishes effect the metabolism of the fish and them to have to use more energy to live and keep them at a non-rest state.  I think this article is interesting because no one ever thinks that they are the causes of some pollution and death of the fish. It’s funny that we somewhat take advantage of the fish and fish them faster than they can reproduce, but at the same time we are also killing them if their body cant adjust. 

   Solar and wind power generation can meet the demands of electricity in the United States of America; 80% of electricity can be met by the solar and wind power generation. The scientists at the University of California, the California Institute of Technology, and the Carnegie Institution for Science conducted the research and analyzed 36 years of U.S. weather data. The data from 1980 to 2015 had helped the scientists understand the geophysical barriers to the supply of electricity by solar and wind. The expansion of transmission and/or storage capabilities would need investments; new transmission lines could cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and storing that much electricity with today's cheapest batteries would cost more than a trillion dollars. Geographically, the U.S. can't power well with hydropower generators of pumping water uphill and flowing down for energy because the East has a lot of water but not a lot of elevation, but it is opposite for the West. Many belie...