When it comes to the use of plastic, we use them all the time in objects that contain the drinks to the laptops that we use for schoolwork. Once they are thrown away, sometimes they can land in the oceans especially when they can leave close there. Because of this, it has caused a big harm to the marine life environment as more plastic debris has enter the ocean water. It can also cause a harm in the birds as well as thousands of birds can ingest the plastic in confusion of food. This was mention in a study by Jose G.B. Derraik, an study that was mention was in 1995 when Robards et al. examined the guts of seabirds two different times during an interval or 10-15 years that there was an increase in plastic ingestion between the year gaps. Now this is not only implying to birds, but they can also be found in the marine life as well. The reason for this is because not only can they be found in the ocean floor, but they can also be mistaken as food for some of the lifeform as well. Th...
Posts
By: Maggilyn Cardenas Savannas found in West Africa have been converted to croplands and are one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change. The deterioration of soil fertility and the decrease in crop yields seen in this area has been a threat to food security and human livelihoods. The annual population growth in Ghana from 2000 to 2008 was 2.81%, while the annual food increase rate was 1.26%. Therefore, the availability of water and nutrients is thought to be critical. This not only affects West Africa but the whole world, given that Savannas are globally important ecosystems vial to human economies, cover one-fifth of the earth's land surface and support a large proportion of human livestock and wild herbivore mass. Because of climate change, the changes in the distribution and dominance of different species and constraints from soil nutrient availability could change the savanna for the better. Soil nitrogen is thought to have decreased. If this limitation to land produ...
Figure 1: Fruits Renewable alternatives to reduce the usage of fossil fuels are being generated. Fossil fuels are a harmful pollutant in the environment as they lead to global warming. Alternatives have been created by using different parts of plants, wood, grass among others as research has shown they share similar properties to fossil fuels. These properties include low viscosity and boiling point enhancing the evaporation of these biofuels. Examples include eucalyptus, pine, lemongrass, and turpentine oil. One remarkable finding is using fruit peels for biodegradable fuel more and more research is going into replacing fossil fuels with these biodegradable renewable sources. In this study, scientists focus on using lemon peel oil as diesel fuel. Lemon peel oil was tested at different concentrations and compared using different parameters including brake thermal efficiency (BTE), specific fuel consumption, and heat release rate. In the results, lemon peel oil worked ...
With the continuation of pollutants entering our environment, starting with soil, creates a huge impact as we rely on soil for vegetation and agriculture purposes. With contaminants seeping into soil specifically petroleum, our livestock and crops would be affected, affecting us in the end as we eat them including other soil dependent organisms. Decreasing contaminates in the soil goes through a process called bioremediation, being the most effective way of removing pollutants in soil. How would this work though, what machine can do such a thing? That’s where mushrooms come into play, specifically Agaricomycetes mushrooms. In this study different concentrations of spent mushroom compost were tested in removing petroleum in contaminated soil with or without added soil enriching compounds. By increasing the amount of mushroom concentration, the lower amount of petroleum was found in soil after. With 10% of spent mushroom compost and fertilizer removed 65% of tot...
By: Victorhugo Campos "Figure1. Examples of Aquaculture regulation (Hallie Templeton, 2020) There is a certain feeling of security when it comes to the fish that we eat. Its comforting knowing they always sell fish at Walmart or H-E-B. But will there ever be a lack of fish, or even how we are currently affect the populations of fish and marine life by eating them? Due to the high demand of fish and the constant need for more, various species have already been impacted in a negative way. So what can be done to stop this? Well there is a big demand for fish farms or hatcheries. These farms essentially keep fish in protected enclosures until they reach a desired number and are healthy enough to be released into the wild. Lots of big companies feed the idea of how the aquacultures have so much potential to deliver a constant stream of food security. But in reality i...
By: Jasmine Rodriguez Organic farming as we know it is has taken off as the main system to diversify plant production to a global standard. The innovation and attention to small details of a sustainable metric excels on all four cylinders such as productivity, environmental impact, economic viability and social wellbeing. With high demands globally, there is certainty to a good balance in how farmers produce crops to meet every sustainable goal required. However, the importance in maintaining sustainability is required to for infrastructure to the economic barriers of organic practices to diversify agricultural farming systems. Some practices that lack sustainability include lack of information and knowledge, unreliable infrastructure and economic halts, and misperceptions to cultural biases. A challenge to the farming system is policymakers forming a certain environment to a greater complex arrangement to a standard sustainable distribution of policies with food and ecosystem security...
Although it’s been clear that human activities have been and continue to be one of the biggest influences on climate and the environment, it is time that we give importance towards microorganisms, ‘the unseen majority,’ and how they too are being affected by climate change and human activities. It is clear that human activities have caused a loss in biodiversity, an extinction in plant and animal species and a loss of different communities and habitats. Nonetheless, microorganisms are not usually taken into consideration in the context of climate change, but their role is to maintain a healthy global ecosystem. Even though the effects of human impact are not visible on microorganisms, it is vital to recognize the importance of microbial processes in regards to creating an environmentally sustainable future. Figure 1. The effects of human activities and agriculture on microorganisms. Microorganisms are involved in carbon sequestr...
By: Leticia Perez Countries in the Middle East and North Africa are often faced with a challenge that affects 4 of their ecological footprint. The impacts that these countries have were calculated through total and blue water, energy use and the greenhouse gas emission which were all affected by food consumption. Interestingly enough the Middle East and North African countries have switched forma traditional diet that consisted of whole grains, fruits and vegetables to a westernized diet that involved the over consumption of red meat. The demand to satisfy these countries' need for red meat and a more western diet has not only imposed a significant environmental cost but has increased the rate of diet related non-communicable diseases. In this study, researchers attempted to calculate how efficient or not a diet change in these countries would affect their ecological footprint. There are limitations to the study but a yield of next expenditure in those four footprints would be due ...
By: Ritzuko Gutierrez Unfortunately, there are flaws in our system. One of these flaws is the lack of access to high-quality, affordable health care in rural areas. People who suffer from this issue, may be incentivized to rely on illegal activities. For example, illegal logging in order to get cash to pay health care needs. Tropical forests are mainly affected. The loss is greater than gain and it leads to a change in landscapes, livelihoods, biodiversity, and climate change. Providing high-quality health care to rural communities with limited resources and income options living nearly a tropical rainforest benefits both conservation and human health. Globally, 35% of protected areas are managed by local communities and when designing a conservation program, they are rarely considered in it. Although, this idea has benefits for humans and the environment, it also has its negative consequences. When applying, incentive-based conservation approaches, it can either go well or bad. B...
By: Alondra Cecilia Niño The f igure shows the trend and effectiveness of plastic biodegradation in different environments. In recent years, the single use plastic production industry has grown in great numbers. Due to their versatility to everyday life, the amount of plastic usage around us has grown immensely. With such high number of plastic availability and lack of plastic regulation, countries have seen how plastic greatly contributes to the pollution seen in landfills and marine environments. Plastic in its entirely takes a long time to decompose when disposed of correctly; however, recent scientific innovations have allowed for the creation of biodegradable plastics that can greatly help with the ongoing plastic pollution crisis and allow for a faster degradation of plastic. Recent studies have shown that the production of biodegradable plastic can positively impact e...
Plastic and other of its variables have been very useful through decades since its invention, but the cost of it, has brought little or ineffective benefits to the environment. A single plastic cup can take up to 1000 years to degrade, this, with the ascending population in the world has become a serious problem because this doesn’t enable earth to keep up with the degradation process. The use of disposable items has become a reliable source in a way that people avoids the struggle of cleaning used tableware. Plant based polymers are an alternative that have become a useful alternative to petroleum based derivates. A biodegradable item takes months to degrade compared to a plastic derived product. A resent research conducted by the Instituto Politecnico Nacional in Mexico City has used garlic skin, potato starch, gellant gum and glycerol to create a cellulose microfiber paste that is efficient in the degradation process and is an environmentally friendly waste material. Results u...
By: Jessica Medina Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science concerned with building smart machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. It’s interesting how AI applies deep learning and machine learning, which refers to how computer algorithms improve at performing assigned tasks with increasing experience. The researchers had utilized AI to estimate pollution levels throughout the U.S. and were able to gain results. However, they are still progressing in terms of quantifying how good the guesses from machine learning are because it is unreliable outside the areas where the model was initially trained. The unique aspect of this research is that AI is so versatile that it can be useful in many ways and can have multiple purposes, such as mapping mosquito habitats and floodplains, finding patterns in time-series data, and assessing air quality. AI advances environmental ...
By: Daniel Trevino If you get hit by a rock what would be the first thing that would come to your mind? “Who threw this rock at me” would probably be the first thing to come to mind. Well what if you cannot find where the rock came from? Then, that would raise even bigger aching questions. Now this concept works rather well when speaking about the way industrial pollutants can come out of seemingly nowhere and cause major damage to environmental systems. Furthermore, if you cannot find their sources then what does this mean for environmental sustainability? Now what is interesting is that there is a group that researched a method in identifying some of these pollutants. According to Sun et al. they have developed a modeling method known as, “deep convolutional neural network (DCNN)” that can track down these pollutants. Figure 1: This is the DCNN model and it takes a chemical, runs it through a set database, and makes 2D models in order to identify the chemical. The accuracy and a...
Is Hydroelectric Power actually a "Green" Energy Source? Source: Tennessee Valley Authority (public domain) Greenhouse gases are gases that trap heat in the atmosphere, and the three major greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Natural sources of these gases consists of lakes, rivers, streams, and ponds as well. Lakes are environmentally beneficial because they are active, changing, and are important regulators of the three major greenhouse gases. That being said, lakes and reservoirs are known to be built for the purpose of generating power. So much so that water has been retained by dams that the global sea level rise has lowered approximately 0.02 inches per year in the span of 50 years. And since fossil fuels are not utilized to to produce hydroelectric power, lakes are known for their "green" energy sources alternative. Which is a common misconception because it is those lake and reservoirs that release powerful greenhouse gases into t...
By Jose T. Rodriguez For some time now microbial electrochemical systems have been looked at as a future technology that seems promising for how we could remove organic pollutants in an energy efficient way. However, all past studies have been on a small scale looking at the future applications of microbial electrochemical systems, but not improvements on the system itself. Dong and colleagues focused on integrating microfiltration membrane into the system rather than using it as a pre or post treatment to make the whole system more efficient overall. What was found was that the bioelectrochemical membrane reactor was capable of removing chemical oxygen demand with a great efficiency that led to a better quality effluent. The efficiency of the oxygen that was utilized did present a downward trend. An energy balance analysis was conducted and since the gas water ratio fell with in the correct range, the system is a net energy producer. This system can make great strides towar...
By: Elizabeth Juarez One essential component in the daily routine of people is tap water. Its many uses like cooking or drinking, make it important for the survival of humans. Therefore, the water quality of tap water can improve or deteriorate human health. Tap water is disinfected and sterilized before it reaches the homes of many people; however, in this process not all microorganisms are eliminated. Opportunistic pathogens are an emerging public health threat because they can cause diseases affecting people with immunodeficiency. A recent study in the Yangtze River, China, shows the diversity of opportunistic pathogens in tap water, and how antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and metal resistance genes (MRGs) are related to these pathogens. In this study, 26 tap water samples were collected from 13 cities along the middle and low reaches of the Yangtze River. The results showed 8 opportunistic pathogens in tap water: Bacillus anthracis , Clostridium perfringens , Escheric...
There are new alternatives to fossil fuels which makes it possible to produce hydrogen using solar energy by breaking the chemical bond between oxygen and hydrogen. Some examples may be solar thermolysis, and solar thermal hydrogen via electrolysis. In this way it is possible to obtain economic and ecological hydrogen for its later use as fuel. Also, these alternatives are environmentally friendly, and ensures long-term energy security. Additionally, these advances represent a simple and inexpensive alternative to carry out the photoelectrochemical decomposition of water, since they can be used indefinitely, and they are composed of simple low-cost materials. Obtaining hydrogen efficiently is presented as fundamental for the development of renewable energies, and the reduction of CO2 emissions that, until now, were associated for obtaining this gas. The hydrogen obtained with this process could be used in the generation of electricity, burning it to produce heat or internal combustion ...
By Magdalena De La Cruz For decades now, greenhouse gases have continuously warmed our planet by several degrees which has led to a negative impact on our oceans, plants, animals, and human population. There are many sources of greenhouse gases but those negatively impacting our environment the most have been human-generated. One of the most prevalent gases taking up more than half of the greenhouse gas emissions in 2018 was carbon dioxide contributing to 81% of greenhouse emissions. Following carbon dioxide is methane taking up 10% of emissions. Carbon dioxide enters our atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels, and methane is emitted during the production and transport of fossil fuels as well as the decomposition of our landfills. While carbon dioxide makes up the majority, methane’s ability to hold heat is much larger. In fact, it contributes to global warming 25 times more than CO2. Total Emissions in 2018 (Figure by ...
By: Aleah Gonzalez Figure 1. Regional-Scale of Minimal Forest Extent and Maximal Forest Extent in Forest-Rainfall Feedback. (Staal, 2020). The role in which tropical forests play within the environment and the globe as a whole is an important factor in the regulation of global climate. The modification of the environment in which tropical forest influence are dependent on the varying spatial scales in which influence the history of tropical forests. The role in which tropical forests play are important for the mediation of their own regional climate where the forests can enhance atmospheric moisture recycling in which in return enhances rainfall levels within seasonal and annual time scales. An interesting factor within the research is the role of tropical forests and their functions that are dependent on feedback mechanisms which are not only affected by but also affect the distributions of tropical forests. Within the study conducted the use of remote sensing, a global hydrolog...
By: Miroslava Hernandez The precipitation plays a very important role in different ecosystems like the arid and semiarid. Climate change models were used to predict the precipitation around the world. In this article they used two type of weed species which names are S. faberi and C. album and they conducted three greenhouse experiments, the green houses are in a controlled environment which temperatures ranged from 29.4 C to 15.5 C this was to have the temperatures of the spring and early summer. Based on the results of the experiment it was discovered that in fact precipitation did affect the weed species but not in the same way. According to the article it was shown that for the S. faberi the biomass decreased due to longer intervals of precipitation while the C. album did not have that much effect in the biomass it remained the same. The weed species germination had to do with whit the mass of the seeds in this case the C. album had the lower seed mass m...
By Anahi Tinajero Fungi as a Solution to Our Landfill Problem A rise in population has increased the demand and waste of childcare products such as diapers, especially in urban areas. On average, a child uses 6.9 diapers per day (4.6 of these contain only urine) and most are disposed with general waste and accumulate in landfills and dumps, however, diapers can be degraded with the help of a fungi. Pleurotus ostreatus is an edible fungus that is able to degrade agricultural waste such as the cellulose that is found in diapers. In fact, 50.2% of most diapers are composed of cellulose pulp, which P. ostreatus can degrade with common co-substrates found in urban cities. A study conducted in Mexico city investigated P. ostreatus as a biological treatment for used baby diapers and found that diapers (without plastic) as substrate and wheat straw used as co-substrate had a median reduction weight of 70.8%. Since wheat straw is not ...
By Joel H. Salinas A New Spin on Nuclear? Thorium Reactors May be the Key to Future Nuclear Reactors Nuclear Reactors have faced scrutiny since its inception and is widely regarded as a dangerous method of generating power compared to other renewable resources. Starting alongside traditional uranium reactors, thorium powered nuclear reactors were of interest from the 1950's until the 1970's, with a few in use today. Unable to be refined into fissile material for weapon potential like uranium233, thorium was quickly ignored by the United States at the time, but was never completely discarded due to being thee to four times more abundant. Additionally, thorium is capable of generating the same, or more energy than uranium, with the bonus of generating greenhouse gas emissions to that of solar and wind technologies. Not only that, but thorium is more stable than uranium, producing less radioactive materials with faster half-lives. Alongside safer conditions, thorium can also be ...