Just the sound of "Badlands" already gives me some sort of glimpse of a slight chill that was clearly shielded by my overall Maturity. It sounds like some sort of Post-Apocalyptic area. There is a game called "BorderLands" that is post-apocalyptic. But "Badlands" takes the trophy.
I've always thought in my head that a landfill is definitely a financial investment, even if they don't charge their "customers" for picking up their trash. First off, most trash will eventually become some sort of marketable fuel. And I'm guessing with enough pressure, we can turn trash into useful fuel in no time, but this nothing knew. But I've never actually seen that put to work, until I went to Badlands Landfill, they use the methane from trash for Marketable energy which they use to power their own facilities, and they sell the rest to Edison. In that light, I really don't understand why people would pay someone else to take their trash.
When I first heard about the field trip to the Landfill, I thought we were going mainly to see where all our trash "ends up"; in effect maybe a few of us would be willing to reduce our waste levels. But when I got there I saw that there was more to this. This place uses the methane from the trash, they recycle all of the scrap metal that they can, and they pretty much recycle everything they can. Maybe it's because of regulation, but they also care about the birds, hovering above, implement a horn to scare them off, and research a horn that gives the sound of a predator to make them scatter.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Fronier Project Field Trip.
I was lucky enough to make it to the Frontier Project; I definitely enjoyed the fact that I had something to do that day; I usually lock myself in my room all day. What was most impressive about the frontier project was the plant life on the roof. WHOA!!! I know I've heard that Green Roofs have many environmental and financial benefits, but I've never seen a green roof in person. The project itself was precisely designed; they even used native plants on their green roof which contribute to low water use as opposed to non-native plants. I also liked the Solar Panels that were installed, however I sort of wish they would install more solar panels, but this amount of solar panels were probably most efficient for their situation. Everything from the Insulating concrete foam to the cool tower was just impressive, seeing it all together like that. Seeing all that just absolutely proved to me that, "It is possible, Sustainability is Possible" I've heard of energy efficient building before, but I've never seen one up close, it definitely gave me lots to think about as well, and it was more than just a day out.
Blog Assignment 11
The most important environmental issue today involves air quality; not in terms of greenhouse effects, but in terms of pollution. It boils my blood learning of the effects of bad air on Human Health. All other environmental issues are either more damaging to humans that are effected, for example, eating fish that has been highly contaminated by mercury, however effects a few people; or are not directly involved in individual health, for example the degradation of biodiversity is clearly a loss for humans, given that a segment of the "earth/life" cycle has been broken, but it's not like someone is going to get cancer for that. Mercury contamination, and degradation of biodiversity are also issues that boil my blood. But most people can choose to avoid Mercury, and most people have the ability to say they did not take part in "destroying the environment" (biodiversity loss). But most people can not escape the horrible air quality.
According to the Air Resource Board, "The prevalence of asthma in the U.S. has increased by more than 75% since 1980." This has more to do with the automobile industry than anything. Something as plain and simple as driving to work has ruined the health of millions across the nation. Even people that don't have asthma are still constantly breathing this horrible air. Pretty soon (especially if we don't do anything about it), for us humans, it will be so clear that the air is horrible that the world we live in will be as polluted as fish swimming in crude oil.
With enough trees, improved technology, and discontinued use of fossil fuels(or anything of the sort), it would still take a long time to clean the earth, but it's worth a shot, and it is very possible. It's almost impossible to rid the world of mercury contamination; and it's even more impossible to recover all the species that have gone extinct due to our (a human collective effort) lack of responsibility. This means that there is still a possibility to live again in a world with air worth breathing, or just "air" for that matter. Perhaps even the fact that the air quality is so Horrible in Riverside, maybe that's why it upsets knowing that that the effects of our modern world gather up in Riverside and can't find another place to go. However, I am referring the Global issue of poor air quality; because there are other cities that get it much more horrible than Riverside, such as Moscow, Russia, and Beijing China.
As an individual I can continue to be conscious of the poor air quality and its effects, tell people about them whenever I get an opportunity, and continue to work on my personal project that involves cleaning the air in Riverside.
I remember in the first half of the semester in this Class, we were discussing Animals and their Roles, and I asked if there were animals of different species that interchange the roles of Prey and Predator, that is two different species of animals that prey each other; Professor Huff Gave the example of Sharks and Octopus, this is very interesting, I thought; just the simple fact that animals can have that ability to dare to willfully attack an animal that has a near 50% chance of successfully countering the attack.
According to the Air Resource Board, "The prevalence of asthma in the U.S. has increased by more than 75% since 1980." This has more to do with the automobile industry than anything. Something as plain and simple as driving to work has ruined the health of millions across the nation. Even people that don't have asthma are still constantly breathing this horrible air. Pretty soon (especially if we don't do anything about it), for us humans, it will be so clear that the air is horrible that the world we live in will be as polluted as fish swimming in crude oil.
With enough trees, improved technology, and discontinued use of fossil fuels(or anything of the sort), it would still take a long time to clean the earth, but it's worth a shot, and it is very possible. It's almost impossible to rid the world of mercury contamination; and it's even more impossible to recover all the species that have gone extinct due to our (a human collective effort) lack of responsibility. This means that there is still a possibility to live again in a world with air worth breathing, or just "air" for that matter. Perhaps even the fact that the air quality is so Horrible in Riverside, maybe that's why it upsets knowing that that the effects of our modern world gather up in Riverside and can't find another place to go. However, I am referring the Global issue of poor air quality; because there are other cities that get it much more horrible than Riverside, such as Moscow, Russia, and Beijing China.
As an individual I can continue to be conscious of the poor air quality and its effects, tell people about them whenever I get an opportunity, and continue to work on my personal project that involves cleaning the air in Riverside.
I remember in the first half of the semester in this Class, we were discussing Animals and their Roles, and I asked if there were animals of different species that interchange the roles of Prey and Predator, that is two different species of animals that prey each other; Professor Huff Gave the example of Sharks and Octopus, this is very interesting, I thought; just the simple fact that animals can have that ability to dare to willfully attack an animal that has a near 50% chance of successfully countering the attack.
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