Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

"Increasing food production to feed an increased population results in yet another increase in population."-pg 139

"And in spite of all the mastery we've attained, we don't have enough mastery to stop devastating the world, or to repair the devastation we've already wrought." -pg 82

"You know how to split atoms, how to send explorers to the moon, how to splice genes, but you don't know how people ought to live."-pg 87

A) Ishmael taught me about biology in a number of ways. It taught me that biology is very much a study of the future. I had always thought of Biology as a factual science. Once things are discovered they become fact and that is Biology. Ishmael showed me that looking into the future is very much a part of Biology and foreseeing problems on the Earth are just as important as the facts.

B) Ishmael changed my outlook on the world by showing that everything we do has a consequence and it is important to realize that so we can make better choices for the Earth. It showed me that sometimes we need to evaluate how much are actions are going to carry into the future. We need the Earth to live and we have to take care of it now. We cannot blindly live our lives causing destruction to the planet.

C) I learned that I need to live my life in a way that takes into account the consequences of my actions. I found that I need to care more about the Earth and the environment because without it there is nothing. I think I will try to make more of an effort to live a life of awareness while still trying to maintain a happy existence. I don't think this will be hard since doing good does bring me happiness.

D) What I learned from Ishmael directly relates to what we have learned in this course. Much of what we have been studying is the problems the Earth is facing and possible solutions. Ishmael just reaffirmed the things I already knew from taking this course. The message from this course and Ishmael seem to be very similar. Both tell us that we need to take better care of the Earth before we cause so much destruction that it cannot be saved.

Dark Side of a Natural Gas Boom

I found an article on The New York Times that told of a family who experience with the natural gas was all but negative. The article states the family moved to the Appalachian hills during retirement and their water was contaminated by methane from all the drilling.
It got me thinking if getting to the natural gas just as bad as what we been doing. Yes they found a technology called hydraulic fracturing to produce natural gas from previously untapped beds of shale which the push has been so successful that the country’s potential gas reserves jumped by 35 percent in two years. But there have been worries about all the drilling to get to these groundwater supplies. The article continues to state that it’s a growing concern to surrounding towns near these wells. The article is available at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/business/energy-environment/08fracking.html?em.

"We Need To Go Far and We Need To Go Quickly"

Al Gore's speech that we watched in class from TED.com was more than inspirational. He is so knowledgeable and he has been in positions of power in our government. Many people are likely to listen to him just out of respect. It seems like he is the only person in our governmental history that I have heard preach on matters of Global Warming. I have heard Obama preach clean coal technologies in his election, but there is no such thing. Watching Al Gore's video in class inspired me to see if there were any other videos of him on TED.com. I found another similar video in which he explains that there is no such thing as clean coal. Coal and other fossil fuel burning in our country is the single highest producer of CO2 emissions along with deforestation. We don't think about it every day, but driving our car every day is equivelent to tearing down trees in the rain forest. We are killing our planet with every tank of gas. I'm not saying that we must stop driving cars but we do need to look to electric cars. In a previous blog I've even talked about electric cars that are going to be made by Tesla Motors for the year 2011. These cars run fully on battery power and can go up to 300 miles on a charge. We need to begin to change our use of these dirty polluting fossil fuels to a cleaner way.

Al Gore proclaims that we must be that hero generation that rise up and meet this crisis. Why can't we? We have the capabilities. We can implement solar and wind and geothermal and every clean renewable source of energy out there. We have the tools to do it. We just need elected government officials to come through for us. If only Al Gore could have won that questionable presidential race in 2000, our country would be in such a different position. As he states, "If we had just one week's worth of what we spend on the Iraq War we would be well on our way to solving this problem." He's right. We need government funding to put in place new powerplants that implement solar and wind technologies. We can change our lifestyles to curb how much energy we use, but we can't really control where it comes from like our government can. If we could replace fossil-fueled power plants we could be well on our way to a "better and brighter future." We need more people in government to be educated on this the way Al Gore is. He knows what is important and that is the future of our human race, which isn't looking pretty if we don't change our ways.

Sources: http://www.ted.com/talks/al_gore_s_new_thinking_on_the_climate_crisis.html and http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/al_gore_warns_on_latest_climate_trends.html

No Slowdown of Global Warming, Agency Says

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/science/earth/09climate.html?_r=1&ref=earth

Well the issue of global warming is one that will never I think go away. I believe that Obama can try to make a change to slow the process and to stop carbon emissions. The real question is: Do Americans want to change? I know that some of us are big believers in this but others do not have an interest in this. People need to gain knowledge of the world around them and see issues that are happening in the environment now. Obama can't do it by himself. Us Americans need to realize what we are doing do our environment with our consumption, with driving vehicles, to mass production, manufacturing goods, everything is tying into one another and leads to me to say that it is our fault that the earth is the way that is it now. Humans have made a huge landmark on the damage that is already done. People keep having babies one by one, but it comes down to a socioeconomic stance. People can't help certain things because it's they way they were raised or where they lived demographically. We can all educate one another and network.
We need make strategic planning for the future. Everyone needs to put a little thought into this.

Hundreds of newly hatched sea turtles that were released on a beach in Playa Junquillal, on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast, quickly made their way into the sea. All seven species of sea turtles are considered endangered, some critically.

Photo: Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/science/earth/14turtles.html?_r=1

These species of turtles and about 6 other species are considered endangered because of global warming. The sand is too hot for the eggs to hatch, they then just become boiled eggs. These sea turtles need temperatures between 83-85 degrees Fahrenheit in order to hatch. They are diminishing in numbers year after year. These sea turtles feed on coral reefs which are being damaged by global warming..warmer temperature seas and acidic seas. We aren't the only ones who being affected by global warming but the other species and the world around us.

Issues with High Frutose Corn Syrup

Health risks:
It causes obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.
I'm sure this comes about if a person consumes a huge amount of HFCS everyday.

Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains Mercury

MONDAY, Jan. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Almost half of tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury, which was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient, according to two new U.S. studies.
This article is from the washington post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601831.html

Health risks of mercury:

Most at Risk

Infant and Children's Health

Mercury is known to cause irreversible damage to the developing nervous system. Mercury in a pregnant woman's body can be passed to her developing fetus. Fetuses exposed to mercury in utero are susceptible to the health effects from mercury which may lead to difficulties in learning, memory, vision, and hearing. Because of the potential adverse impacts on the developing brain, our greatest concern is exposure to the fetus, infant, or young child during the period of rapid brain growth. Therefore, most at risk are women who are pregnant, may become pregnant, nursing, and young children. Key issues influencing the severity of effect include the amount and form of mercury and the age of development. Mothers who eat fish contaminated with high levels of mercury put their babies at greater risk for damage to their central nervous systems. EPA has recently estimated that as many as 400,000 babies born each year in the U.S. are at risk for neurodevelopment damage due to consumption of mercury contaminated fish.

Adult Health Risk
Other health effects have been seen with higher exposure to mercury not only in children but adults as well. Common effects include various neurological dysfunctions such as tremors, changes in vision, loss of hearing, muscle coordination, loss of sensation, and difficulties with memory. At higher exposures, effects on the kidneys, lungs, and digestive system have been noted. These effects generally are associated with high level occupational or accidental poisonings and not fish consumption. Furthermore, concern over possible adverse cardiovascular effects to the general population related to fish consumption has also been raised by recent health studies. National and international research efforts are currently underway to address this concern .http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehp/mercury/healthrisks.htm

If the government knows that mercury is in high fructose corn syrup then why are they still manufacturing those goods? Why don't they just ban making it if it causes so many health risks and what not over a matter of time. This article teaches people to read the nutritional facts label more carefully and to read the ingredients. I personally try to stay away from products that contains HFCS.

Air pollution!!!

Some quick facts about air pollution that I know:
Causes acid rain.
Many huge cities that have smog are cities with large factories and industries such as Newark, NJ, NYC, LA, and others.
Air pollution is mainly caused by human activity such as using cars, electricity or anything that has to deal with carbon emissions.
Air pollution was first founded my Leonardo Da Vinci in the 15th Century,blue haze from trees.
The 1952 London Smog crisis was when air pollution became a more dominant problem.

Facts that I didn't know:

Long-term health effects can include chronic respiratory disease, lung cancer, heart disease, and even damage to the brain, nerves, liver, or kidneys. Continual exposure to air pollution affects the lungs of growing children and may aggravate or complicate medical conditions in the elderly. It is estimated that half a million people die prematurely every year in the United States as a result of smoking cigarettes.
http://www.lbl.gov/Education/ELSI/pollution-main.html

The U.S. is responsible for more green house gas pollution than South America, Africa, the Middle East, Japan and Asia – all put together. http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/pollution-overview.html