APES Current Events

The majority of the water found in the world is salt water. Freshwater is found in glaciers, in the ground and smaller bodies of water on the surface of the Earth. Access to fresh water is what makes a strong economy for a nation. Limited fresh water has caused western states in the United States to work and preserve fresh water sources. As the population increases weather patterns will change along with accessibility of fresh water.  Read More Here!! Fresh water is the most valuable resources on Earth for human survival. Every cycle and organism needs water to survive and function. The resource can not be taken for granted and ways to share the resource needs to be found. Access to water creates a strong economy, population, and nation.

      The Arctic is getting greener and prettier, however this is not a good thing. researchers are gathering satellite data, quadcopter measurements, and data taken from manual ground findings. The data gathered about the Arctic over the past few years shows that the grasses and shrubs in the Arctic that would grow every year are getting taller and more abundant year after year. As temperatures rise in the Arctic, the layers of snow and frost that would normally keep the landscape frozen are being taken over by the increasing abundance of tall shrubs in the Arctic. Those packed down layers of snow hold tons of the Earths greenhouse gasses, and if they melt they will release those potent gasses and severely harm our carbon cycle. The sudden release of these greenhouse gasses will be too much for the plants to take in and the gasses will be released into the atmosphere and further increase the rate of global warming.     It may be qu...

       India  accounts for seven out of ten cities in the world with the worst air pollution.  According to Greenpeace and AirVisual, Gurugram is the world's worst polluted city. It's air quality index is three times  the level which the US Environmental Protection Agency regards as  healthy . Gurugram's air quality level averages at 135.8. Scientists say  air pollution will cause around 7 million premature deaths globally and will have a major economic impact.   "Air pollution steals our livelihoods and our futures," said Yeb Sano, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.  Eighteen of the world's top 20 most polluted cities are in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh, including the major population centers of Lahore, Delhi and Dhaka.  Climate change is making the effects of air pollution worse by changing atmospheric conditions and is increasing the chances of forest fires. The World Health Organization says poor air quality ...

      There are more than 150 coronavirus vaccines up for development around the world. The U.S. government's Operation Warp Speed initiative wants to produce an effective coronavirus vaccines by January 2021. The World Health Organization is coordinating global efforts to develop a vaccine. Vaccines usually take 10 to 15 years to go into the market. Vaccines go through a three-stage clinical trial process before they are sent for approval. Then there is the issue of who will get the vaccine first.       To be honest, this is all very surreal knowing that there will be a vaccine no matter what. Even if it will take a few more years to get this vaccine safe for the market, it still will happen. There are a lot of questions with this new vaccines. For example, will it be 100% safe? Especially with having this vaccine rushed to be done, will it be sage for the average person.  Link to article

    Food production is second only to transportation in terms of human greenhouse emissions, and is responsible for roughly 30% of global warming. Among the worst offenders are agricultural land use and production/use of fertilizers. According to the journal "Science," greenhouse gas emission originating from food production and consumption will likely make the world exceed its 1.5 C limit by the 2050s, as outlined in the Paris Agreement. This data even took into consideration cutting out all use of fossil fuels. Unfortunately, emissions from food production aren't completely avoidable, but there is one known solution that could make a considerable difference in reducing emissions. That being, eating less meat. Going full vegetarian is not necessarily the answer, but limiting the amount of red meat we consume on a weekly basis. Replacing it with vegetables or meats like chicken and fish will help reduce greenhouse gas effects caused from the deforestation used to make cow...

 Wildfire season in California and much of the West Coast lasts for 6 months of the year. September was a hard hit month, especially in Northern California. Skies turned orange as over two dozen wildfires burned through 2.5 million acres of land. Warming temperatures are leading to an increased risk and result of these fires every year. The Earth is warming, extending the threat for fires to continue to grow. Winds increased the spread of the fires and spreading ash and particles throughout the air. Evacuations were are needed throughout the season to keep people safe and because living conditions can become an extreme hazard. When the gases and particles mix from burning vegetation and buildings, it makes breathing conditions extremely bad for your lungs. Wildfires are extremely dangerous and scary for people to face every year at the same time. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/09/foreboding-orange-skies-cast-more-than-pall-over-northern-california/#close

 This artical was talking about the affects of soot, bonfires, and black carbon. Researchers have found that black carbon from bonfire have risen up into the atmosphere. This then causes ice droplets to form in cloud and could potentially freeze the clouds. The results of this can cause climate change. Finding this out about the black carbon has lead the reachers to find out more information about ice nucleating particals. Ice nucleating particals are a key research are for climate change. Clouds are one of the most important thing to research when it comes to climate change. Another thing that can casue ice nucleating particals in the atmosphere is areosol products. When the combustion process happens in the products these then can form ice nucleating particals. While reading this artical I realized the importance of figuring out these things about our planet. I would never have thought that aresol products or bonfire could provide this much climate change. I would like to researc...

 In our solar systems younger days, the Sun was surrounded by a rotating ring of gas and dust which could form into planets. The circular rotational motion of all the gas and dust formed the planets that we know today. There are thousands of formed planets in the Milky Way, but the formation of the planets in our oen solar system was unusual. Planets like Jupiter and Saturn are interesting in its self because the amount of times they orbit around the sun has changed throughout the years. Also planets like Uranus and Neptune were shaped by the mass of the Kuiper Belt, an icy region of our solar systems edge. This belt made a bunch of dawf planets, like pluto. For Earth tho, it is still a mystery with how it formed where it did with the massive planets of Saturn and Jupiter behind it causing big gravitational fields from the Sun, becuase those planets were in our solar system before Earth was. I believe that knowing how our planets were made, and when they were made is very important...

 Climate change is a very real and dangerous thing, that is coming upon us faster than we think. It is our fault as humans that our environment is going to go through this. The article says by 2040 there could be some major devastating changes happening to the environment that will be out of our control. There could be disasters  including food shortages, extreme weather, wildfires, and a major decreation of coral reefs. This will all be because of the greenhouse gas emissions. They need to be majorly cut to give us more time.  I think this situation is very devastating  and disappointing. Knowing that humans have gotten our planet to the point there is not returning back to normal, only getting worse, is heartbreaking. And we aren't only bringing these changes among ourselves, it will effect animals and there habitats , and plants as well. https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/tag/climate-change/

 Often times, the amount of plastic trash found on our coast and in our beaches gets blamed on Asian countries due to them having a large part in extreme plastic waste, however, with reexamination, that is not always the case. China generates plastic, but the United States is the highest contributor of wasting that very plastic. At the highest spot in 2016, with 46 million U.S. tons the U.S. tops all other countries. Not only are we in the top of plastic waste, but we are also in the top three of litter contribution in general. For years we sent most of our plastic waste to China, and only recycled about 10% of it. Adding to the obvious problem, a lot of finger pointing is going on. Asian countries blame the United States and vice versa, both with very different data to back themselves up. Just last week,  The National Academies of Sciences held a meeting for an 18 month research into the amount of waste being dumped into our oceans. At 4% of the global population, the U.S. ge...

     If habitat destruction continues without prevention, pandemics will happen more often and will be worse each time. There are 1.7 million unknown diseases living in wildlife now. Most pandemics are caused by a disease that spreads from animals to humans. When humans invade and come in closer contact with wildlife that should remain wild, we are increasing our chances of being exposed to one of these diseases. Wild animals losing their habitats means they have t move to more urban and populated areas. There are some preventative measures being taken.For example, financially incentivizing companies to protect biodiversity.     I believe that deforestation and habitat destruction obviously has many negative effects on humans and the earth. There are countless examples of this. This article shows one example that we can all relate to currently. This is important news that should be shared because ignorance is not an excuse. If people see that it i...

 Summary: This is an article about Musk Ox and how they are able to eat enough food to survive the harsh winter life in the Tundra. The article goes on to talk about how the Ox may have  circadian clocks that allow them to regulate sleep time to a  minimum. In order for them to spend almost all day and all night grazing on the Tundras grass lands before they completely freeze over for the winter. I can relate this to class since in our previous lesson we were talking about different habitats in biomes. Also how animals in these specific biomes adapt in order to survive. This is a prime example of an adaptation adopted thousands of generations ago. -Colin Schaller   Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/science/musk-ox-circadian-rhythm.html

The rules of recycling in America have already gotten more complicated ever since China put restrictions on what it'll import from the U.S, in its own attempt to further its own recycling programs and avoid environmental damage within its own borders. That, and the economic difficulties resulting from COVID-19 only end up making recycling more expensive. Some cities cut spending on recycling, and some curbside pickup programs were cancelled as well. Even without China's restrictions, The U.S' overall recycling rate was less than 50%, and the amount of materials that did get recycled was far from what one would hope for. Some less-populated areas also don't offer curbside pickup for recyclables, and the rules and methods of recycling can vary and become difficult to remember and keep track of. One response to the issue was to create more recycling facilities, which can help in taking in more trash to recycle. However, another issue in recycling is the types of materials ...

Summary: The tobacco ringspot virus is spread through the pollen of plants, but most notable being from the blight, or fungi, found on soy plants. Through different studies by the US Department of Agriculture Laboratories, the virus appeared to be spreading through mites that move from bee to bee. The decrease in the honeybee population caused an almond industry in California to rent a bee hive. The cost for hives was about $239 million to rent.  Click Here!! Honeybees are an underrecognized factor to a successful economy. They pollinate the crops that turn into money and food. If the population continues to decrease, a new method for pollinating plants will need to be found. I hope that something is found that will help prevent or stop the spread of the virus and aid in keeping the honeybees healthy.