Environmental Science

  To go along with posts by Ryan McLean (http://rmclean.wordpress.com/) and Mary Alice Acton (http://macton.wordpress.com/) I have found an article that deals with a new option for fuel in the near future. It deals with the popular growing idea of biofuels, like ethanol made from corn, to run vehicles and appliances.  Currently, biofuels “account for 4% of U. S. energy” but that number is rising.

Could this be running your car?

(Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Indian_corn.jpg)

These biofuels have been around for quite a while. The article says how the Japanese used them to fuel some of their jets in World War II.

There are problems with the idea though. There are limitations on ethanol like ethanol has ”66% of the energy content of gasoline”, which means more would be required and engines might have to be modified.

As new types of fuel are needed in almost dire numbers both environmentally and economically, changes must be made soon. Researchers believe that “some time after 2020, biofuels could account for as much as 30% of the globe’s transportation fuel.”

Sources:

• “Fortune” Magazine. October 2006 Issue
• http://www.nal.usda.gov/ttic/biofuels/res.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biofuels

   In our recent discussions in class we have been talking about invasive species and the destruction of habitat and their effects. I found a recent article and report about how both of these factors have come up  and really hurt the current crop market.

   Pollinators, mainly bees, birds, and bats, have recently been negatively effected and are dropping in numbers. Mainly, the honeybee, has been effected by a new parasitic mite and the destruction of the pollinator’s habitats. This has resulted in much less pollintaors, who are necessary for the growth and richness of plants and crops. Honeybees, “which pollinate more than 90 commercially grown crops, are one of the most affected pollinators.” It was also said that ”honeybees had to be imported from outside North America last year for the first time since 1922″ due to the decline in numbers.

    Farmers have now had to resort to “leasing colonies of bees” and must be taught ways to keep their crops and land area more bee-friendly. The best way to do this is to grow only native species, which should cut back on the number of invasive species.

    Although not many Fenwick students have farming families so we are not directly affected, we may see in the future a major decline in the quantity and quality of the foods we eat.

(Picture Credit: Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Apis_mellifera_2_Luc_Viatour.JPG)

• http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061018/ap_on_sc/birds_and_bees;_ylt=AoU5KFtHWK5YLVwZ76zBl_Ebr7sF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM
• http://www.thedenverchannel.com/money/10103900/detail.htmlrss=den&psp=money
• http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061018/sc_nm/environment_pollinators_dc;_ylt=AlVluV7xe0dmszQljWyjaEYbr7sF;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM

    Recently it has been said that worms in the work place are a great way to cut back on food garbage and an easy way to make fertilizer. Some people have started leaving a box of worms at work and will throw most types of food in the bin of worms instead of the garbage. The worms then finish the partially eaten food and eventually produce compost/fertilizer.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Vuilnis.JPG)    

    The average U.S. citizen is said to produce from 3.5 to 7 pounds of garbage per day. Having wormsa to consume the majority of that food wast will really cut the amount of waste that is needed to be disposed in landfills and other environmental areas.

    California has jumped right on this idea and is hoping most businesses will start keeping bins of worms in the workplace. Websites have been created, which give the specific type anf location of the “red worms” which are best for this situation. The California state Waste Management Board recently created the “Top Ten Ways to Recycle on the Job” and this idea of worms was number 2.     Although the idea of a bin of worms next to your desk is a pretty gross idea, supporters have said they eventually get over it and dont even notice it.    

    Apple cores and coffee grounds are said to be the favorite meal for the worms and certain types of deli meat begin to rot and smell so they are not recommended.    

    This new idea is rising in the West and I expect soon enough we will hear about “worms in the workplace” in the Chicago area.

• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15224793/

     Recently planets have been a major conversation among scientists. A while ago the planet Pluto lost it’s planet status and has been renamed 134340 and is now a ”dwarf planet” instead of a planet. The reason is because a recent meeting by over 2,500 astronomers decided what exactly a planet was and Pluto did not meet the requirements. The new and first definition of a planet is “a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a … nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.” “Pluto doesn’t qualify because its orbit is inclined relative to the rest of the solar system and crosses over the orbit of Neptune.” This leaves our solar system with 8 planets instead of 9.

     Along with Pluto’s demotion, a newly discovered planet called HAT-P-1 is said to be “both the largest and least dense of the nearly 200 worlds astronomers have found outside our own solar system.” And it is so light that astronmoers said it would be able to float on water if there was such body of water. Also, our planet obviously takes a year to fully orbit the sun but this one takes about 4.5 days to fully orbit it’s star. That means if i lived there i would be almost 1460 years old if 1 orbit = 1 year. “Astronomers used a network of telescopes in Arizona and Hawaii to discover the planet. Its parent star is too faint to see with the naked eye but can be spied with binoculars.”

• http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/24082006/3/world-pluto-demoted-under-new-definition-planet.html
• http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060911/sc_space/plutoisnowjustanumber134340
• http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_on_sc/puffy_planet

I recently read an article about global warming because that is one of the most widely talked about issues in our world today. Before i started reading i had never really understood what people meant when they talked about global warming, “greenhouse gasses,” fossil fuels, etc. And i never really cared because things seemed fine to me: it was cold in the winter, warm in the spring, hot in the summer, and a little cool in the fall. i figured it was just some new topic that a bunch of scientists were a little too excited over, but i was wrong. The article i read explained what global warming was:a rise in the Earth’s temperature due to an excess in the burning of fossil fuels such as Carbon dioxide, Methane, and Nitrous oxide.  According to the EPA the major causes of Global Warming are

• Electricity Generation: 33.9%
• Transportation: 26.8%
• Industry: 18.8%
• Agriculture: 7.6%
• Residential: 7.6%
• Commercial: 4.7%

Not only is a rise in temperature an effect of global warming, but other effects include rising sea levels, increased extreme weather events, harmful effects on certain ecosystems, and the expansion in range of tropical diseases.  Major changes in transpotation and energy need to be made ASAP if the “slippery slope” of global warming is going to end. Hopefully in the near future new types of vehicles and fuels will be created so global warming will end or at least slow down.

So, for me, what first seemed like a just some topic off in the science world, is now a major factor in what i do in every day life. Just driving my car and being on the road with hundreds of other people proves that pretty much every person is a contributor to this rising situation. Global Warming will be a great topic to watch develop and continue on in the next few years.