APES Current Events

The Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its most widespread bleaching treatments due to warm temperatures and warming oceans are threatening the corals. The Great Barrier Reef along with its surrounding areas are facing periods of heat stress in which is causing the third major bleaching in the past five years due to climate change. This is bothersome because coral does not have time to recover and grow back since the destructive events are occurring more frequently than scientists were expecting. Coral bleaching is a response to abnormal conditions that causes corals to expel tiny algae that live in their tissues to become white leaves the corals more susceptible to diseases. The corals are an important part of the ocean ecosystem because it is home to a diverse array of marine life and the bleaching is starting to have an impact on the biodiversity of the ecosystem. Climate change is having a huge impact on ecosystems and actions need to be taken to stop these destructive events from ...

 Australia's Record Heat Means Another Blow to Great Barrier Reef Australia's record temperatures have been doing massive damage to the Great Barrier Reef. These high temperatures are "bleaching" the coral of its color. If this continues to happen the coral will not survive much longer. Global warming continues to threaten marine ecosystems around the world. This "bleaching" has gone on for many years but only about five years ago is when it started to get worse. Coral reefs grow very slowly and most of them can only survive in warm waters, but they are sensitive to hotter or colder temperatures. Especially with the warmer weather from summer the coral reefs will have more damage if the temperatures reach record heat. There is not much we can do to protect the coral reefs except minimize how we change global warming. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/world/australia/bleaching-great-barrier-reef.html

linky Coronavirus in the United States Coronavirus is a highly contagious infectious disease that we do not yet have a cure for. Symptoms include a respiratory illness, flu, cough, fever, and in most severe cases difficulty breathing. Many people believe that it only effects the old and weak, however there have been reported cases and deaths of perfectly healthy people. To stop the spread of the virus, many states are under a stay at home order from the president and local legislatures. It involves only leaving the house when absolutely necessary. In the United States there is currently more cases (164,516) than Italy, China, and Spain. The US has experienced 3,174 deaths.The US has the most reported cases in the entire world. Whether that is due to the specific countries not actually reporting cases confirmed or not, we will probably never know. In Pennsylvania, there are currently 3,419 people diagnosed and there has been 41 deaths. More specifically, in Berks County, there have ...

Hi all, Hope this finds you all safe and well.  I was watching the local PBS station& I saw a trailer for Frontline's newest program, Plastic Wars. Plastic is a huge problem we have as a society.  It is everywhere. I try to recycle, but I am never quite sure if I am getting right or is it just going to the landfill. This is airing on WHYY (channel 12 on Service Electric) or you can stream it, tomorrow March 31st at ten pm. Let me know what you think-  If you find interesting APES related stuff to watch post it on here.  I need something other than sit-coms. Keep on keepin' on :) Mrs. J

Australia's Great Barrier Reef is experiencing a mass bleaching for a third time due to the water becoming extremely warm.  This problem is very concerning considering that the reef is home to thousands of marine species, and stretches for 1,100 miles.  Some coral do survive this bleaching however, the more serious cases do not.  It takes a long time for coral reefs to grow and the Great Barrier Reef has coral that are generations old.  The Australian government is planning to reduce water pollution to lessen the impact on the reef.  Although this will not improve the coral that is being damaged by global warming.  I'm happy that there is some attention on the issue by reducing water pollution.  This action is still a positive response, but it clearly won't improve everything.  Link

In a recent study, it was discovered that Sea Turtles are attracted to plastic not just because they may look like food, but because the plastic smells like food. In the experiment turtles had kept their up three times longer for the biofouled plastics, then for the control plastics and ionized water. The turtles cared more about plastic. This is not good because now we know that Sea Turtles may be seeking out plastic for food because they like the smell. It was already known that the plastic issue was bad, but now we know that animals can be seeking out for it, which leads to their death faster.  This is really scary to know because there is so much plastic in our oceans and if we continue to treat the planet poorly, more and more animals are going to be affected.  link

In Australia another intense heat wave is killing the coral reefs. The coral reefs are one of the worlds most important aquatic ecosystems and the warm water incidents that are killing them are getting closer and closer together. In 2016 and 2017 we saw the same problem in Australia with warm waters killing the barrier reefs. Now only 2 to 3 years after the last one had finished another one has started. The reefs in Australia do not only support hundreds of thousands of fish, it is also a huge economic supporter for Australia. Between tourism and fishing a big part of Australia is supported by these reefs. After the 2017 warm waters a lot of the coral was bleached due to the waters and in poor conditon. It was found in a study that 40% of the reefs coral was in very poor health or dead from the warm waters. If this trend continues to happen, soon the whole barrier reefs could die off, which would cause a major blow for this ecosystem and Australias economy. https://www.nytimes.com/202...

March 30, 2020 Americans have been told to avoid nonessential travel and gatherings with more than 10 people until at least April 30. The virus has been predicted to have its peak by Easter 2020. Unfortunately, with that being said it is said that roughly 200,000 Americans could die even with the aggressive action to slow the spread of the coronavirus. In Spain, over 35 people died every hour this past weekend raising the death toll to 7,000 calling for a period of "hibernation." While this virus is preventing emissions from being released into the atmosphere many are not able to put up the battle of staying inside which leads to the spreading. When the virus is done, many will be out releasing emissions again. When one thing harming the environment ends, another one begins. Want to stay updated? Click  here!

This year, as well as in 2016 and 2017, scientists have noticed a warmer change in the temperture of Australia's oceans. This causes coral reefs to be bleached in the oceans. Some of these reefs can recover if not severely affected, but most often die. These reefs support thousands of types of organisms that live in water. The tempertures have been increasingly warmer, but this year they have been more than five degrees above average. Over eighty percent of corals observed had been bleached. It was also observed that there were a lot of dead or dying coral. The Reef 2050 plan was set to reduce water pollution that could threaten corals, regulate agricultural runoff, port ddevelopment, and dreging. I think that it's good that the government is realizing that there is a problem with the coral reefs dying all over the world, but they are trying to solve it in the wrong ways. The 2050 plan should help the reefs some, but the only way the reefs can stay alive is if the global water ...

Summary: Havin g been published a few weeks ago, when the virus was primarily seen in China; this article goes into specifics regarding the environmental pros and cons of the epidemic in regards to their circumstances, rather than what is now to be considered a worldwide crisis. Being the case, the article starts by saying how, in response to this virus, the people of China have had to change their everyday behaviors and patterns as a ways to contain and eliminate this said virus (COVID-19). Thus, with these changes made by the citizens in their society, inevitably decreases in industrial, transportation, and business activity resulted. Therefore, this had ultimately meant reduced levels of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide ( NO 2) as well as a decrease in carbon dioxide ( CO 2) emissions by as  much as 25 percent over China, compared to in 2019. How the Coronavirus Is (and Is Not) Affecting the Environment Response: While in the chaos of it all, and with many of us experiencing the...

The article in Scientific American first talked about the global pandemic happening around us as of current, the coronavirus, stating that many people blame China for their wildlife markets, which caused the outbreak of this virus. Few Americans are thinking about how we do the same thing, in factory farms, confining many animals to small spaces. This global pandemic is one of many we have had in the last century, including the 1918 flu pandemic, 2009 H1N1 swine flu outbreak, and the 1997 H5N1 bird flu outbreak. The swine flu and bird flu both came from factory farming, resulting in an outbreak of disease within these farms. The writer then describes many ways we could curb the use of factory farms, including more plant-based protein, hybrid proteins, and even growing animal meat from stem cells of animals, relying less on the killing of said animal. I think the writer brings up a valid point, and realizing the severity of our farm system is the first step in creating a more environ...

U.N. officials say record numbers of desert locust swarms have spread from the Horn of Africa to the Persian Gulf region, despite efforts to contain the infestation through mass chemical spraying.  The outbreak was initially confined mainly to Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, but FAO says it’s now tracking 15 countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia affected by the locusts. The swarms have appeared in a swath hundreds of miles wide, from South Sudan in the west to parts of Pakistan in the east.  U.N. officials say the current locust infestation is the worst they’ve seen in 25 years.  FAO and other agencies have been mobilizing funds to help pay for government response efforts. The main tool used to tackle the infestation has been mass spraying of chemical pesticides from aircraft or on the ground, but this began raising concerns over long-term environmental and health impacts.  This infestation continues to pose a big threat to people in Africa, Middle East,...

It has come to a realization that the world is capable of coming together to fight the corona virus, but doesn't seem to do the same for the climate change crisis that has been threatening lives for decades. Scientists have been fighting for the climate crisis to be taken seriously by the government, but still to this day, little to no action has been taken. According to the World Health Organization, air pollution kills about 7 million people every year, while the corona virus has so far killed around 8,000 people. More people are aware of the corona virus because it is more of an immediate threat, and people can see it and take steps to respond. More people should be made aware of the climate crisis and take the steps they need to, to come together and fight it. Click Here For More Information

In this article it talks about the fight to keep animals environments safe and natural as possible so that these animals can live in a habitat that is natural to them and not affected or changed by humans in any way. Specifically chimpanzees  are mentioned in this article and it talks about their nut cracking ability and how they eat their food and that there needs to be a push to keep the habitat natural enough to do this. All animals have some sort of special skill that they use to survive and the ability chimps have is the way they can gather food. The UN is specifically trying to protect these animals in West Africa as it is where the larger populations are and this would the easiest spot to protect. https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/africa/chimpanzees-west-africa-un-conservation-scli-scn-intl/index.html I think that this is really awesome that people are taking a notice to special characteristics that animals have and thing they do that are unique and should be protected. To ...

        In a new study there might be a universal flu vaccine called Flu-v. Flu v caused the immune system to respond better than a placebo. This vaccine is in its final stage of testing after a small trial 175 volunteers worked.  Before the flu seasons the race to predict what strand and the development of that strands vaccine to help prevent the spreed of that type of strand. The way that the fl- v works it that it is designed to target common areas of  multiple strands of the flu. The Flu- v went through 4 test to see if it is a safe and effective way to help prevent the spreed of the flu and this prevention can also be manufactured all year round.           In my opinion this seems to be a very good solution to the flu but my only though is what if the flu were to mutate aging and this solution is no longer effective. Another thing that is that this is only to certain strands of the flu if the certain thing is that what is th...

The Coronavirus has just claimed its second victim in the United States. A man in his 70's recently died of the virus in King County, Washington; the man was said to have preexisting medical conditions. As of Sunday, March 1st, there have been 84 reported cases of the Coronavirus in the United States, and 2 deaths. This is the beginning of a much more widespread epidemic in the United States, many scientists believe, and cases are expected to hit the Northeast within the next month. I believe the Coronavirus is not as big of an epidemic as it is believed to be. The disease itself only really poses a threat to children and senior citizens. The Influenza Virus claims many more victims a year than Coronavirus is proving to infect, and the death rates of Influenza are higher than that of Corona. I believe the Coronavirus is a disease that must be dealt with and we must use whatever resources we can to stop it, but I would not consider the disease to be an epidemic or worthy of mass h...

Aiden Sherman 3/2/2020 Pd. 6 A graph by the  Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, shows a connection between the outbreak of the Coronavirus in China and a reduction in carbon emissions.  This change is especially noticeable because of the timing of the virus's outbreak and the Chinese New Year.  During this time of year, carbon emissions in China usually drop because many businesses are closed for the  holiday, dropping their usage of fossil fuels.  This is followed by a spike in emissions at the end of the celebrations as most jobs resume, but the spike has not happened as of the publishing of the study.  Now, researchers believe that emissions have not increased due to the effect Coronavirus has had on the country.  This is likely from businesses, schools, and other public buildings closing their doors for fear of spreading the virus. I find articles such as this one to really be meaningless.  I belie...

The normal way fuel companies scan an area to avoid polar bear dens works less then 50% of the time.  This put polar bear mothers and cubs in danger because they are hidden under the ice.  The infrared technology that is attached to a plane and misses about 55% of dens that are known to be in the west of the Alaskan refuge.  Some readings even gave locations of polar bear inhabitants where they actually weren't any.  This just shows the misguiding information that is received from these aerial images.  Link We live in the era of technology so it is concerning to see that accurate information is not being received.  The fact that this could harm an already threatened species is even more concerning.  

The fires in Australia are finally beginning to be contained after more than 11 million hectares of land were destroyed.  Animals are finally starting to return to there habitats and greenery is starting to grow back but it is said that the fires may have permanently changed the country's landscape.  I find this very crazy.  While Australia is used to having fires, no fire has ever been seen of this magnitude.  It has destroyed much of the land there and multiple species are either close to extinction or have gone extinct due to this tragedy. LINK

The exorbitant cost to quit coal outright is exemplary of why the world is not already converted to clean energy. It was announced that it would cost Germany approximately 44.5 billion dollars to quit coal use in the next 18 years. So despite near unanimous agreement that coal is a leading cause of climate change people still do not act because of how expensive alternative forms of power are in comparison to completely converting from coal. By avoiding the truth of greenhouse gas emissions businesses continue to control the fate of the planet and discourage people to try to shift power over the environment to scientists. Continued support of companies that choose to save money over improving the eco efficiency of their company perpetuates the issues created by climate change and discourages action against it.  Linky

The amphibians that we have come to know have a little surprise. They glow is the dark! After multiple studies- most if not all tend to glow under UV light even if they have inherently drab colors. This is called biofluorescence, and has been thoroughly investigated in underwater lifeforms, not not so much where terrestrial animals are concerned. 32 common species between nature and pet stores were tested and all resulted positive. Even larvae stages has this ability. It seems this may correspond with the primarily blue light emitted from dawn and dusk which could allow communication or some other unknown function. I find this amazing because for all we think we know about science and stuff we actually didn't even realize that some of the most common creatures we come across have such a cool characteristic. I would tend to believe such a feature would be used for some sort of communication or breeding. Although when I first saw the article I thought it would talk about how humans...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/climate/global-temperatures-climate-change.html February of 2020 is on record to be in the top 10 warmest winters ever and have approximately a 50% chance of being the warmest, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The global temperatures were 2.05 degrees Fahrenheit above the average for the month of February, which is slightly higher than the record holding winter of 2016. Climatologist Karin Gleason believes there is a 49% chance this is the warmest winter ever, and a 98% chance that this winter will rank among the top five.   I think this is slightly alarming as it is just showing that our world is getting warmer and warmer as we keep going and the fact that this is racing to be the warmest winter in 141 years is surprising to me. It is something we can see and feel with the lack of snow and sun shining on us, but it is not something that we like to think of the reasoning behind; instead we are just happ...

The Colorado River is a lifeline. It flows from the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming through five other U.S. states, 11 U.S. national parks and two Mexican states on a 1,450-mile-long journey that supplies water to 40 million people. And the river is endangered. H umans are drawing unsustainable amounts of water from this source, but abnormally low precipitation and hot, dry conditions have been shrinking it for years.  The historical record, for shows it might drop to roughly four million acre-feet in one year and climb to about 24 million acre-feet in another all because of a varying snow pack. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/colorado-river-is-in-danger-of-a-parched-future/ I think that paying attention to and being able to come up with alternatives to things, like in this case if the river dries up, then there needs to be an alternative in place when that happens, and not coming up with one when it's a little late.

Power lines have been proven to have an affect on bees activity. Bees that were tested in the same electro field as being in the ground under a power line were found to preform slower and take longer to learn. They said this could be the leading cause in the decline of honeybee colonies in the world. These bees produce an estimation of 15 billion dollars in agriculture because they are pollinating the crops. They are saying that these powerlines are not killing bees, but they are certainly affecting them. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/power-lines-may-mess-with-honeybees-learning-behavior I think this is interesting. It is definitely something we have to investigate further to find solutions to the behavioral problems. Without bees the agricultural system in this world would really suffer, so we need to find a solution.

The article starts off by talking about how over the past 20 years, the Australian Institute found the summers across the country had become about a month longer than in the 20th century, while their winter became about a month shorter. Just between 2014 and 2018, it was found that summers were about 50% longer than they normally were. The article continues on by talking about wildfires occurring right after the warmest and driest year ever recorded in Australia. However scientist don't believe that climate change caused the wildfires, they warned about climate changing contributing to more frequent and intense fires to occur in the future. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51697803 I believe that Australia's environment could be in real trouble in the near future. Not only are the longer summers frightening, but Australia has one of the worlds largest greenhouse gasses emitted per capita. Also according to the UN, there has been no improvement to Australia's c...

Of 32 gauge stations along the US coast, 25 have found that there are definite increases in the acceleration of the rate of the sea level rising. This will have even more dire consequences for the 40% of Americans who live on or near the coast than expected The increase could be revealing that the the effects of global warming will be on the worse end of projections by scientists. Even the lower ends of predictions would have drastic consequences for major cities, such as New York City and Miami. The higher ends of the predictions would have massive destruction associated with them. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/03/sea-level-rise-accelerating-us-coastline-scientists-warn With the climate continuing to worsen, economic inequality growing, and the coronavirus spreading, it's very difficulty to be positive for the future. The world's condition continues to deteriorate and articles this like beg the question: is there anything we can do about it now? The best...

Scientists have predicted that 2020 will be one of the hottest years on record, and has a fifty percent chance of being the hottest ever. There are records going back 141 years keeping track of weather conditions and temperatures. These predictions are based off of January this year being the hottest January in those records. Tempertures were 2.05 degrees fahrenheit above average. There is also a ninety-eight percent chance that 2020 will be in the top five hottest years. All ten warmest years so far have been since 2004 and the hottest five have been from the past five years. The year 2016 is the hottest year ever on record, but there was also a strong El Nino during the first half of the year, which contributed to the hotter temperatures. The El Nino ended and the tempertures are the same as if it hadn't ended. I think there needs to be more done about the rising tempertures. There have been many studies that show that they're directly related to the increase of greenhouse ga...

With the help of NASA, we have gathered information proving that the earth is increasing in greenness since 2000.  NASA has put together data from a map showing the amount of greenness in the past along with computer data from Tera and Aqua satellites and concluded that the earth was greener in 2018 than it was in the 1980s.  This global greening is due to the amount of the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, making earth temperatures cooler, and allowing plants to consume more carbon dioxide.  This causes evapotranspiration, which is leading to the increase in greenness on earth.  Some believe that this turn of events is ironic, because the carbon in the atmosphere that is causing harmful climate change, is also helping plant growth.  The greening of the earth is becoming favorable to our ecosystem, but in order to maintain the hospitality of earth, we need to reduce carbon emissions from the atmosphere. I believe that the increased greenness ...