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...