SYNTHESIS

This is our last blog post for the fall semester. It feels bittersweet; I'm sad it's over but I'm happy I can take all the things I've learned and incorporate them into my life. For the final blog, I have to reflect, and choose one environmental issue, out of all the ones we have learned, that I believe is the most important. The issue I felt I had to choose is climate change. Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing out world today, and it will only get worse if nothing drastic is done. One of the main reasons I chose climate change is because it kind of intertwines a variety of different issues into one. These issues include the use of nonrenewable energy (coal, oil), overconsumption, overpopulation, industrial agricultural practices, habitat destruction, deforestation, and the list just continues. Climate change is very serious, and it can have extreme negative effects on the earth and on its inhabitants. What's worse, is that this issue is mostly human caused, meaning, we are the ones who have caused all this damage to the earth and to ourselves. 

This graph from NASA's website conveys that the current carbon dioxide levels are at the highest level they have ever been. 

Carbon dioxide levels have started to increase more quickly ever since the start of the industrial revolution, which proves there is a positive correlation between urban development and the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Something clearly needs to be done about climate change, but the question is what? Where do we start? Well, on a large scale, society as a whole can make a switch to renewable forms of energy: solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, etc. Lawmakers and politicians would need to make more of a push to create laws that help, rather than hurt the environment. On a smaller scale, as an individual, I can ride my bike more, use less energy, or renewable forms of energy, and I can even look into cars that can fun on bio fuel, or an electric car for my future car. 

We learned so many interesting facts and concepts in this class, it's hard to narrow it down to what I found the most interesting. I really liked all the videos and documentaries we watched. Specifically, "No Impact Man," "The Story of Stuff," and the documentary, "Wasted." No impact man encouraged me to make every attempt to reduce my footprint, the story of stuff surprised me by sharing how much we consume as individuals, and wasted encouraged me to waste less food and to look into composting. I thought our guest speaker's lecture about hazardous waste was really interesting as well. 

We learned so much in this class, and although a lot of made me feel sad and hopeless about our future, I was always encouraged in the end to go out and make a change. I'm really glad I was able to learn as much as I did in Wednesday night's environmental science class.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

SOURCES

In this week's blog assignment I was given the power of being in charge of the United States. And although it is a big responsibility, my first duty as being the leader is coming up with an energy policy for the country. This means I have to choose three main sources of energy. The three that I chose are wind, solar, and biofuels. There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these, just like there are for all of the energy sources. For wind, one of the main pros is that it does not cause pollution. However, some people argue that they cause a sort of "sight pollution," and they may ruin the beauty of natural landscapes. Also, wind is a renewable resource so that is another pro that would result in using wind energy. Solar energy is also another renewable form of energy. There is also a wide availability for use of solar energy; it can be used in all parts of the world. One of the biggest cons is that solar energy can be rather expensive. Lastly, biofuel is another renewable form of energy, and it is also more cost effective. According to the energy informative website, biofuel usually costs "about 1/3 less than fossil fuels doing the sam job." For the cons, there is sometimes a lot of spaces needed in order to go through all the processes necessary to create the energy. 

I also have to address energy policy in this blog. How will make sure that the citizens of the U.S. are making changes in order to be more efficient? One way that I can promote energy efficiency is to provide all public areas (schools, community centers) with solar panels and encourage others to do the same on their own homes. Another way would be to encourage citizens to take shorter showers, and cooler showers, and turn lights off in rooms that nobody is in. Lastly, I will encourage everyone to bike as much as possible, especially places that are a mile or less away. I will do all of this by creating commercials, radio announcements, newspaper articles, etc. that encourage citizens to do these things. 

Making the switch to renewable energy sources will have economic disadvantages, but it will also have benefits. Building wind turbines, installing solar panels, and creating more space for biofuel will, no doubt, cost a lot of money, possible negatively impacting the environment. However, once these things are built, they will be there for good, unlike fossil fuels, which require continuous drilling for oil, so this can be seen as a positive impact because it will save more money in the long run. Another negative impact on the economy would be that a lot more jobs would have to be created in order to help keep the renewable energy industry running, however, this can also impact the economy positively, after awhile when these industries start to bring more money back.

Finally, I had to figure out how I would make all of this work. It definitely wouldn't be easy and it might even be something that takes years to accomplish. But, I think the key is to start with educating people, especially the youth. When I was in high school, there was one environmental science class, and it was AP, so a lot of students were turned off by that. I think environmental science should be something that is taught, as its very own course, in as early as 6th grade. Policies and laws will also be important; it may seem extreme, but I would like to make it a law that every home has solar panels installed, starting with certain areas, and working our way throughout the country. These solar panels will have to be paid for of course, so I plan on keeping corrupt companies like fossil fuel companies from getting subsidized, and bringing those subsidies to the companies who are going to work toward promoting renewable energy. According to the IMF "Fossil fuels are being subsidized by a million dollars per minute." We clearly have the money to support renewable energy, it is just being spent on the wrong things.

Sources:

http://energyinformative.org/biomass-energy-pros-and-cons/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/18/fossil-fuel-companies-getting-10m-a-minute-in-subsidies-says-imf

CLIMATE CHANGE

This week we have been discussing climate change in class. This week's blog is supposed to look into climate change, and find some facts on it to figure out why it is occurring. The blog assignment also has us look into why there are still people who do not believe in climate change, despite overwhelming evidence. 

First, we were asked, "Is the climate changing right now?" And according the the evidence from the sources we were given, the climate is currently changing, and it has been since as early as 1880 (Center for Climate and Energy Solutions). It may seem like the changes in climate have been relatively slow, but according to the Climate Change Information Kit, "the climate does not respond immediately to emissions," so the climate will  

continue to change even if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.

(graph taken from the Center for Climate and Energy

Solutions' website)

So, what role do humans play in the changing climate? The main cause of the warming of the Earth's climate is the emission of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere, which is largely due to human activity. C2ES' website states, "Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have increased since pre-industrial times from 280 parts per million to over 400 parts per million." They also included the following video in order to provide more evidence for the effects that are caused by human activity:

Greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere really started to rise after the start of the industrial revolution. This is demonstrated through the use of ice core records. There are even some greenhouse gases that have been found in the atmosphere that are only created by humans, proving that this is a human caused issue.

Climate change will have many lasting, negative affects on us and on our planet is serious steps are not taken. And taking these steps will not be easy; a lot of work will have to go toward reversing the immense damage that we have already caused. The sea level is predicted to rise "by 9 to 88cm by 2100" (Climate Change Information Kit), and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather occurrences are most likely going to change. Those are just some of the impacts that will occur due to climate change. There will also be affects on human health. Extreme heat, poor air quality, and the possibility of different diseases arising are all different impacts that may occur on human health.

If we continue like we are now, I don't even see us having an earth in 50 years. But, if we do have one, I imagine the air quality will be horrendous; it is already dangerous to breathe in the air, in some regions more than others. Many places that we enjoy visiting now will be underwater. We will have more intense and scary weather, that may put human lives at risk. If serious steps are not taken by our citizens and our policymakers, we have a very grim future ahead of us. I hope that serious action can be taken before it gets much worse.

It is very interesting to me that climate change is still not believed in by many people in the United States. It's more concerning than anything else. The Heartland Institute states that there is no specific research that shows a "consensus" on the debates dealing with climate change. Well, there really is no "debate" when it comes to climate change. Just looking through all the well-respected institutions' websites that we were provided with, we are met with an extremely large amount of evidence that climate change is real and it is happening, no debates, no arguments, no question involved. I think one of the main reasons that this skepticism still exists is because there are people in power, who are primarily focused on money and staying as rich as humanly possible, and these are the people that some citizens look to for truth and look at as an example of what to be. It also may be that a lot of people do not want to take responsibility for all the damage that we have caused, or it may just seem like "too much work." It is incredibly unfortunate that there are still a large amount of people who think climate change is a "hoax." And it is even more unfortunate that it is going to take the planet getting a lot worse than it is now for most of these people to realize that something needs to be done.

UNPLUG!

This week's blog assignment was quite the challenge. The topic of the blog is all about saving energy, and more specifically, to see what kinds of things we can do as individuals in order to minimize our energy use in a 24 hour period. We were challenged to drive as little as possible, take shorter showers, use cold water to wash clothes, hang those clothes to dry instead of using the dryer, reduce the use of the A/C or the heater, and, finally, the most challenging part of the it all: avoid using any electronic devices (TVs, iPods, computers and, yes, cell phones) for the whole 24 hours. 

Well, I would say I was semi successful at completing the challenges given to us in the blog assignment. I did not do laundry during this time (I usually only do it once a week), and I typically take short showers (10 minutes at most). So I would say I was successful in reducing my use of hot water. Also, it was extremely cold in my house in the morning, but the heater was never turned on (mostly because my mom wants to save money), but we all used blankets and jackets to keep warm. In that aspect, I think I did pretty well, too. I did drive a bit during this 24 hour period, just to get myself to and from school, and then to and from work. All in all, I probably drove about thirty miles or so within this time frame. Because, it's getting darker earlier, not using overhead lights was harder, but I was at work for most of the evening so we had to have our lights on in there. I usually do unplug the toaster when I'm not using it, but I made sure to unplug other appliances as well. Now, the electronic devices part was a lot harder for me. I was doing well in the beginning of the day; I asked my mom to wake up so I wouldn't have to use the alarm on my phone, which usually leads to me checking social media before I get up and get ready. I didn't really use my phone at all until the evening, but it was mostly just to communicate with family, and I don't think I checked any social networks for the whole day. I did use my laptop for some homework assignments, and I did end up getting a little distracted, but I did not charge it at all throughout this time frame, and used it way less than I usually do.

There are definitely parts of this assignment that I would be willing to continue doing in order to save energy. Since it really doesn't get too cold here in SoCal, the heater is not usually needed, and I found that using blankets or putting on more clothes, really does work just fine. I'd also be willing to only wash my clothes with cold water (which I think I usually do anyway) and hang up all of my clothes to dry, instead of just the ones that aren't supposed to go in the dryer. I already don't love to drive if I don't have to, and I've really been wanting to get a nice bike that I can ride to and from places, so that is something I can work towards as well. I'm a big fan of the internet, so giving up the laptop for stuff other than homework would be a lot harder, but I think it's something I can definitely work on reducing. Same with my cell phone; I'd like to start using it less for fun, and more for necessary communication and pictures.

Of course, unplugging appliances was one way that was already mentioned in the assignment to reduce energy consumption without inconvenience. Another way would be to get solar panels in order to get the energy from a renewable source like the sun. However, this is a little more costly and might be something to work towards rather than being able to do it right away. I could also keep my blinds open on sunny days in order to keep warm, and keep the thermostat down when no one is home, both of which are inexpensive and easy to do. Also, only running the dishwasher when it is full, rather than when there are just a few dished or if it is half full. This is something we already do, but it is a good way to make sure too much water isn't be wasted, and it is easy to do.

This assignment has helped me to learn that it is not too hard to use energy efficiently, and it is worth it to help save money and to help the environment. I will definitely continue to do some of these things in order to increase energy efficiency in my home.

AMY'S FARM

Last Saturday, our environmental science class took a field trip to Amy's Farm in Ontario, CA. I had no clue I live about ten minutes aways from this awesome little farm, and I was so pleased to learn all about the good things that come from this place. When we got to the farm, we were led on a tour and told all about the agriculture and the animal raising that is practiced on the farm. We took a walk through their sustainable garden first. They had a really good variety of vegetables and other crops being grown, such as, grapes, sunflowers, fennel, dinosaur kale, eggplant, pomegranates, carrots, arugula, rainbow swiss chard, and plenty of others. We were even able to try some of the crops that were being grown. The garden was really amazing to experience first hand, because we were able to see that organic farming practices can be really useful and can lead to plenty of really delicious and healthy fruits and vegetable without any of the negative environmental impacts that come from industrial agriculture. You could really see the amount of love and care that is put into the garden there when you take a walk through it. 

After walking through the garden, we were able to feed some rainbow swiss chard to the animals, and pet the goats that they had. You could tell that the animals there are raised well and that they live happy lives. Some of the animals that they have at the farm are goats, geese, ducks, chickens, turkeys, cows, pigs (and a cat that thinks its a pig), and horses. The animals have great big spaces to roam around, unlike industrial farms that keep a large amount of animals in a very confined space. We were able to learn a little bit about each animal, and we got to milk a cow as well, which was a really great experience. 

Overall, I think the most important thing that I took away from our visit to Amy's Farm is that sustainable agriculture is so important in keeping the earth, and those who live on the earth, healthy and happy. Industrial agricultural practices can be so detrimental to the environment, and that is why it is especially important to see farms like Amy's Farm do what they do. Hopefully they can inspire others, like they've inspired me, to either practice sustainable farming techniques on their own, or support places that do.

FOOD!

This week, we're talking about food in our environmental science class. We are supposed to choose a food that we really like and do some research on where it truly comes from. I love a lot of different foods, so it was hard to choose just one to write about for the blog. Ultimately, I decided to go with arroz con leche, which is basically just rice pudding but with cinnamon (and sometimes raisins) added to the mix. Arroz con leche is a delicious dessert that can be served warm or cold, and it is one of my all time favorite foods. But, what does it take for me to indulge in this dessert? What is the exact process? And how much impact does this exact process have on the earth? Well, this blog will be about bringing those answers to light. 

There are only four simple ingredients that are required to make arroz con leche: rice, milk, sugar, and cinnamon. My boyfriend's mom makes my favorite rice pudding, and those are the ingredients she uses. Although as a whole, this food comes from my boyfriend's mom's kitchen, each ingredient comes from different places. 

• Milk: The milk used in this recipe is usually whole milk and it's usually just the store brand from Ralph's or another popular grocery store. I found out that the milk itself does come from California. On the label it says, "Real California Milk" so I researched this and found Real California Milk's website: http://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/dairy-farms/ . On their website, they have several videos and pictures that display their farmers, their cows, and their farms, and all of these seem to be good. They do not have too much information about transportation, or farming practices, but they make a huge deal out of being local and being family owned dairies. The environmental impact may not be as bad in the milk area, because however the milk is being transported (presumably by automobile/truck) it is not coming to me from out of state. They also have a section about being "greener," because they recycle water, and they use solar panels and other sustainable methods for energy.
• Rice: Next is the rice-- the key ingredient. The rice that is usually used in this recipe is Blue Ribbon Rice. This rice was a bit harder to find information on, and their website was much more vague. They did state that their rice is grown in the U.S. which would already greatly reduce emissions from transportation than if it was from overseas. As far as how the rice was farmed, there is really no information that I could find, but I am assuming, since Blue Ribbon is bigger business, that it is processed in more factory-like conditions, and not as much care is put into it. I know that the way rice is grown, it does use a lot of water, because it is flooded. So that is something to take into consideration as environmental aspect as well.
• Sugar: The sugar that is typically used for this recipe is C&H pure cane sugar. After doing some research I found that sugar cane was shipped from Hawaii to San Francisco to be processed by C&H in California. The C&H in the brand name stands for California and Hawaii, because of the long history of the sugar business between the states. However, the factories in Hawaii have shut down due to sugar prices dropping, meaning the sugar cane has to come from elsewhere, like Brazil or Vietnam. The environmental impact of this change will be much greater than if the sugar continued to come from Hawaii.
• Cinnamon: The final ingredient, and the one that makes arroz con leche so delicious, is cinnamon. The cinnamon used is whole cinnamon sticks that are typically bought from the grocery store, Cardenas. After researching it, I learned that most cinnamon comes from Sri Lanka, and some comes from Indonesia. I am not sure exactly where the cinnamon we use comes from, because the packaging does not include and info about it, but I researched the general farming practices for cinnamon. In Indonesia, families will often work together to scrape the bark off of the trees that cinnamon comes from, so it does not seem to be harvested by means of any large corporation. However, it does have to travel far to wind up in California which will cause a great amount of emissions from planes, boats and trucks.

Although this dessert probably is not the healthiest, it is not extremely unhealthy. Most of the ingredients are processed very little, and there is not an overwhelming amount of sugar in the recipe. It does contain 60% carbs and 25% fat, so it is probably best to have in moderation. Arroz con leche is one of my favorite homemade foods and it was really interesting to learn about where all the individual ingredients come from and the impact that they have on the earth.

sources: 

http://www.realcaliforniamilk.com/our-community/

http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/01/19/crockett-last-hawaiian-sugar-ship-bids-historic-farewell/

http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2015/06/25/capturing-the-cinnamon-harvest-in-sumatra/

https://scienceleadership.org/blog/arroz_con_leche

picture: https://www.onehappyhousewife.com/instant-pot-arroz-con-leche/

gif: https://www.google.com/search?biw=1436&bih=705&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=g2P5WaPhMJi2jwTG-5D4Aw&q=twinkling+heart+gif&oq=twinkling+heart+gif&gs_l=psy-ab.3...67446.75594.0.75748.29.25.4.0.0.0.138.2759.0j23.24.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.24.2442.0..0j0i67k1j0i10k1j0i30k1j0i10i30k1j0i10i24k1j0i8i30k1j0i24k1.104.FQ7vRFixBL0#imgrc=cSQLsoZW2GEloM:

BOTTLED VS. TAP


Our blog post this week centers around the pros and cons of bottled water versus tap water. I was really looking forward to doing some research on this topic, because I feel that it's a topic I still don't know too much about, but I would really like to learn. I drink water from plastic bottles pretty regularly, and I always feel guilty about it, because I know there are a lot negative impacts on the earth that come with using plastic bottles. I did some research to find out exactly what those negative aspects are when using plastic
bottles, but also what some positive aspects are, which I also researched for tap water.

I live in both Riverside and Eastvale, but I decided to look at the water quality report for Riverside, since I go to school there as well. Our area receives its water supply from groundwater. The groundwater comes from the San Bernardino Bunker Hill Basin and the Riverside Basin and the water is treated before it is distributed. After reading the water quality report, I learned that both tap and bottled water can be susceptible to contaminants, since they both come from outside bodies of water. These contaminates can include: viruses and bacteria, salts and metals, pesticides, organic chemical contaminants, or radioactive contaminants. Even though there could be trace amounts of any of these substances in our water, the city does enforce regulations on exactly how many contaminants are allowed in water that is distributed for human consumption.

The federal agency that is in charge of tap water/drinking water is the EPA and the federal agency that is in charge of bottled water is the FDA. It seems to me that the EPA is stricter with their regulations when it comes to tap water, and they also place more emphasis and keeping the public educated on what is considered to be safe drinking water. The FDA does not go as in depth with all the different kinds of contaminants and keeping the public informed. However, both agencies do place a heavy emphasis on making sure the water is safe for human consumption.

As I stated above, I do use bottled water very often; plastic bottles are viewed as convenient, and I can see why this is so from my own personal experience. However, there are a lot of environmental

factors that emphasize the drawbacks to using plastic bottles. They do contain harmful chemicals (BPA and Pthalates) which are not only harmful to the environment, but also to the people who consume water from them. Plastic pollutes the ocean and is eaten by sea animals, which is definitely harmful to marine ecosystems. Overall, plastic is long lasting and hard to get rid of, so it is a very prominent pollutant, which is probably the biggest drawback to bottled water.
And for these reasons, I do plan on purchasing a Nalgene bottle ASAP!








SOURCES:
water quality report (Riverside, 2016): http://riversideca.gov/utilities/pdf/WQAR2016_web.pdf
EPA regulations: https://www.epa.gov/dwreginfo/drinking-water-regulations
FDA regulations: https://www.fda.gov/food/resourcesforyou/consumers/ucm046894.htm
tap picture: http://watersofteneradvisor.com/best-water-filter-pitcher-reviews/
bottle picture: https://www.water-io.com/