Saturday, May 9, 2015

Waste Not Want Not (Rotten Truth)

After reading the website, I learned that garbage represents the junk we believe to be useless or of no use. Furthermore, the garbage stems from or comes from our apartments, condos, businesses, government facilities, schools, homes, hospitals, and almost everywhere on Earth. Moreover, garbage has its another name called municipal solid waste. In addition, in today's society, Americans on average produce two hundred ten million tons of garbage or municipal solid waste annually. Not to mention, the materials or components that our trash are made up of include things like: textiles and paper which generate about up to approximately forty two percent of our garbage or municipal waste. Additionally, plastic, glass, and metal generate approximately twenty three percent of our garbage or municipal waste. Moreover, yard waste generates about eighteen percent of our garbage or municipal waste. Not to mention, food waste or waste from the food or stuff we eat on a daily basis generates approximately seven percent of our garbage or municipal waste. Furthermore, we bury most of our municipal waste or garbage in landfills where it may not decompose at all and just stay there for eternity or forever. More importantly, we humans burn waste or trash. Unfortunately, burning trash or waste can harmfully pollute the air with toxins if not regulated or controlled properly on a daily basis, and it also sends ash into the air which also can be damaging to our health. Moreover, we can recycle and reuse so many materials and things on Earth, but even the process of recycling materials needs the essential energy to start or begin the process. On the contrary, these processes also are capable of generating waste and polluting the air which can be damaging to people's health. Not to mention, there appears to be no solution or way to absolutely get rid of all the waste on Earth with one solution. In the end, the best solution in my opinion is to do the three r's which are to recycle, reduce, and reuse all the materials we have in possession. More importantly. we humans in the United States burn approximately seventeen percent of our garbage or municipal waste in machines such as combustors and burning these wastes can help cut the amount of garbage by means of up to sixty percent to ninety percent. Unfortunately, this method or cutting down waste sends ash into the air we breathe and generates toxic gases and particles that are damaging to the health of every living thing that breathes the air including humans and animals. Although we are suffering from a crisis, a lot of people don't do the three r's which are to recycle, reduce, and reuse. In reality, we only recycle approximately fifty percent of our aluminum materials , thirty eight percent of our paper materials, twenty percent of our glass materials, and only five percent of all plastic materials. Even though recycling takes up a lot of energy to use and even generates pollution to our atmosphere, recycling in the end still has its benefits. On the other hand, some of the materials that undergo the recycling process lose its appealing characteristics and may even need to be thrown out. Therefore, we can't depend one hundred on the process of recycling materials. In the end, we need to go on an alternate route to better and more efficient methods of cutting down our municipal waste. Even though a lot of people advise you to recycle, many individuals still are indifferent and doesn't do anything to help fix the issue. For instance, although there are numerous recycling bins on campus, there still seems to be many plastic bottles in the regular bins of trash even though they are not suppose to be there. In conclusion, i believe that we need to take a step for change and help the mother planet Earth that we live in because we will eventually run out of room to store our waste that we accumulate and add onto the waste on a daily basis.





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Friday, February 20, 2015

Weather Movie #3: The Perfect Storm

The movie: The Perfect Storm is about a tropical hurricane that started at Bermuda in the year 1991 of October in which the hurricane came in contact with the Great Lake's cold front that basically caused a perfect storm to form that is capable of causing enormous damage and destruction to everything in its path such as causing one hundred foot tall waves. In the movie, a fishing boat crew was basically trapped in the middle of the dangerous storm and a lot of intense action occurred in that one scene where the crew tried to go into the high wave or tide but they failed and their boat got flipped over and fell into the water. The movie about the determined and fearless crew that is ready to take on anything is based on the book by Sebastian Junger. Furthermore, the fishing boat crew decided to take the waters when they received news that the fishing season has started.  Not to mention, numerous rescue efforts also occurred in the same storm and occurred nearby. In summary, I learned that being trapped in the middle of a superstorm in the ocean is extremely scary and your life will be in danger due to the extremely high tides that occur due to the high intense winds of the storm along with rain, thunder, and lightning.












Weather Movie #2: The Day After Tomorrow

The movie: The Day After Tomorrow shows a planet earth in which an sudden change of climate happened due to global warming and caused a superstorm to occur around the globe that is capable of causing never before seen types of damage. For instance, in just a couple days, Los Angeles becomes destroyed by tornadoes, Tokyo is hit with a strong hail storm, and New York gets attacked with huge tsunamis and blizzards. Furthermore, the movie showed and displayed that the current type of weather or climate we have in present day is relatively unstable to the point that the weather considered rather normal for planet earth is when the jump fluctuates up and down. Not to mention, the movie stated the global warming could cause our weather system to cross the line to the point where a shift in climate would happen that could not be altered to its original state. The reason for this occurrence would be for the higher level of precipitation and ice melting causing higher sea levels that is capable of flooding the entire North Atlantic. Furthermore, changes or alterations in the jet stream is capable of causing dangerous and very dry droughts and floods that are capable of doing large amounts of damage in places that are not used to these types of conditions leading to shortages of certain types of food and supplies of drinkable water around the globe. The superstorm in the movie brings large amounts of the freezing air in the upper levels of the atmosphere down to surface level and freezes everything that is outside of it. Furthermore, clusters of storms merge together to form an enormous deadly storm that does extremely damage to everything in its path. In addition, the Manhattan is caught in a superstorm with super strong wing speeds and blowing everything out in its way.










Weather Movie #1: 2012

After watching the movie 2012, it was interesting how everything started out as little things like small magnitude earthquakes and land separation that was left unnoticed. Furthermore, in my opinion, the overall weather in this film displayed a lot of chaos and turmoil. Furthermore, the numerous natural disasters that is displayed in this movie began through the slightest and slimmest events. Moreover, numerous earthquakes happened here and there, but people did not take any action at all if the earthquake happened on the other side of the planet. On the contrary, it is the little things that start to build up over time into serious weather problems along with formations of land. In short, unusual or abnormal things start to occur. Not to mention, the weather conditions start to worsen to due hurricanes and winds of high speed on the areas near the coastal lines. In addition, the numerous earthquakes that occurred caused the ground of earth to crack and fall into pieces while also lead to the formation of tsunamis and high tides to attack the coastal lines around the world. Additionally, areas surrounded by the oceans start to submerge into the ocean and becomes an area that is underwater. Furthermore, the skies went and transformed from being clear and blue to becoming dark with a gloomy mood that also had stratus nimbus clouds. Moreover, the wet areas of land were attacked with strong rainstorms while dry areas of land were hit with persistent powerful types of wind. In summary, the weather started to become a powerful and strong cataclysm or mass destruction of earth.




Monday, February 9, 2015

Weather Career: Meteorologists (Weather Blog 3)

A meteorologist's job or duty is to analyze, record, and observe the weather on a daily often hour by hour basis. Most meteorologists works at the government agency or the National Weather Service. Without a doubt, there are numerous companies that hire meteorologists to predict weather. Moreover, meteorologists do research on weather patterns, studies the atmosphere, the changes in climate in certain areas, problems in the environment, studies weather, analyzes the weathers effects on the environment, predicts the weather for a local for the next five days, and analyzes trends in climate. Furthermore, some of the specialties for meteorologists include: climatology, weather broadcasting, weather forecasting, working in the military, and meteorological oceanography.
Not to mention, meteorologists uses data from radar, satellites, sensors, and computers to make their weather predictions. Moreover, meteorologists who work at a local news stations will need to work on the weekends and weekends and sometimes at night. Furthermore, meteorologists who work in a small office will often work alone instead of working in a team. Additionally, meteorologists will need to travel or do fieldwork if he or she is employed in a private company. Meteorologists often times uses computers to analyze weather data such as wind speed, dew point, humidity, pressure, temperature, and wind direction.
In addition, some of the essential subjects that meteorologists need to take include: math, computer science, english, physics, chemistry, environmental science, and biology. Basically, it is important to be well educated in the math and science fields. Meteorologists should be proficient at using the computer because much of their work involves using the computer. Furthermore, it is essential to know to communicate your thoughts and ideas that could be easily understood by the audience.
Above all, a bachelor's degree in meteorology or atmospheric sciences is often required or highly recommended for working in the field of meteorology. A masters degree of PhD is often needed for researching or management position jobs. Some of the courses that meteorologists take in college include: physics, calculus, chemistry, biology, environmental sciences, and computer programming. Furthrmore, economists expect the jobs available or open for meteorologists to grow through until 2020. There is going to be a lot of competition when looking for a job and it would give one an advantage when he or she has a graduate degree. The largest amount of jobs available for meteorologists would be in the private market that demands specialized weather forecasts. However, if one wants to become a technician in the field of meteorology, then a bachelors degree in the field of meteorology is not required. Furthermore, these meteorological technicians needs to take and finish courses that are in the technical level of difficulty. Moreover, meteorologists often does research on the oceans and the atmosphere of the planet earth and their main job is to forecast the weather diseases such as storms, hurricanes, blizzards, snow storms, tornadoes, and thunderstorms to the best of their ability.
In addition, the average annual salary according to the bureau of labor statistics for meteorologists is $89,260.

References: http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/meteorology/?ar_a=1
                   https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/careers/science-meteorologists




atmospheric scientists including meteorologists image

















Biggest Air Issue: Ozone Hole (Weather Blog 2)

The layer of ozone is suppose act as Earth's protection from the sun's ultraviolet rays. Atmosphere pollution caused by the chemicals such as bromine and chlorine has ultimately been the main cause for the depletion of the ozone layer. Furthermore, the ozone layer is made of ozone, which is also know as a protective layer that covers and surrounds the surface of earth. Moreover, ozone is composed of 3 atoms of oxygen for each molecule. Above all, a huge hole located at the ozone has occurred in the hemisphere in the southern region. In addition, the ozone layer depletion lets in large amounts of UV radiation to earth which is coming from the source of the sun. Not to mention, radiation from UV rays is a factor in causing types of skin cancer in numerous individuals and also disrupts the food chain of the aquatic system such as the cycles of life for the procholorococcus or phytoplankton.
Above all, our layer of ozone is currently depleting because of the actions done by the humans on earth. Substances capable of depleting the ozone were created by man or man-made. Furthermore, more ozone depleting substances such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons, chlorofluorocarbons, and other organic compounds that are volatile come from the daily human activities because those substances are produced in industrial processes, vehicle emissions, aerosols, refrigerants. Moreover, these substances get broken down into pieces by the sun's ultraviolet rays when reaching the stratosphere level, which in turn slowly depletes the layer of ozone. Not to mention, there are several chemicals such as CFCs that can stay in the atmosphere for almost one hundred years after being emitted into the atmosphere. Above all, breathing air from the depleted ozone of a ozone with a hole can cause damage to people's health. Moreover, these harmful chemicals irritates our lungs and throat, causes pain in the chest area, and causes damage to the lungs. Not to mention, the ultraviolet rays that go through the hole in the ozone can cause skin cancer, sunburn, and cataracts in many individuals. Above all, ozone depletion affects us humans and the environment also. More importantly, the Earth usually has a balance between the energy that comes out of the earth's surface and energy from the sun. Additionally, greenhouse gases are produced when harmful pollutants are emitted into the environment by daily human activities. Furthermore, greenhouse gases slowly add up in the atmosphere and are capable of changing the composition of the Earth's atmosphere and can cause alterations in climate. Moreover, these greenhouse gases take in heat that would usually leave through the lower atmosphere and would later end up in the upper levels of the atmosphere. As times passes by and years passes by, the more gases released from the ozone, the more health that is trapped in by the the blanket of gas in the atmosphere, which in turn causes a disruption in the energy flow around the world due to the fact that the gases absorb and later releases the energy. Eventually, there would be an inconsistency or a level of inequality created by a lower temperature and higher temperature in the upper levels of the atmosphere. When the stratosphere cools, ozone molecules that is unstable is created, which in turn speeds up the process of the ozone depletion. The depletion rate of the layer of ozone increases as the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is increasing in capacity. Furthermore, the warming of the troposphere causes the arctic ice cap to melt at a faster rate.
On an end note, a really big issue that would affect many people around the globe would occur due to the warming and melting happening all over the world. Moreover, there is a relationship between the cooling stratosphere and ozone depletion along with global warming. Furthermore, areas that have an active stratosphere will become warmer due the fact that the stratosphere that is not active will become cooler. Not to mention, the United States could potentially have a really cold winter while other countries will be having a relatively hotter winter than the United States. Moreover, the EPA is implementing stricter standards to improve the quality of air and help stop the process of ozone depletion occurring.
Reference: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/ozone-depletion-overview/





Sunday, February 8, 2015

Weather-Related Disease: Asthma (Weather Blog 1)

An asthma attack can be caused by certain weather conditions ranging from being extremely hot to extremely cold and from raining to having a thunderstorm. Furthermore, environmental pollutants and allergens can be the cause of an asthma attack. Some of the allergens or environmental pollutants include pollen, dander from animals, and smoke. Not to mention, changes in weather conditions such as a change in humidity can also cause an asthma attack. Moreover, changes in temperature could a cause in the irritation of the airways in the lungs. In addition, changes in temperature in the lung airways could be the cause of inflammation in the lung airways. Additionally, people who have asthma and mainly uses their mouth to breath and have more irritants and pollutants that enters into their airways than people who breathe their nose. Due to the fact that people who have asthma already have lung airways with inflammation, when higher level of severity of the asthma, and high chance that weather could affect their health. 
Furthermore, common weather triggers that could make asthma symptoms worse include: heat (higher levels of heat during the summer, high levels of ozone from fumes of exhaust, smog, and from pollutants can cause symptoms of an asthma attack), wind and rain (winds are capable of blowing pollen and mold around in the air and rain causes spores of mold to stir up and build up in capacity), cold air (temperature drops can trigger asthma attacks), lightning (thunderstorms can develop ozone), and flunctuations from air pressure (barometric pressure and cause episodes of sinus which in turn causes sinusitis which are often capable of causing asthma attacks).
Different Seasons of Year
Spring:
Spring is the season that symbolizes the pollen season. Furthermore, pollen is an allergen can cause inflammation in the lung airways and is a culprit in the cause of asthma attacks when it is inhaled into the lung airways. Higher levels of pollen counts during the spring cause are correlated with a larger amounts of visits in the emergency room at local hospitals due to asthma-related incidents. Above all, pollen represents the main cause of the increasing asthma attacks during the spring season.
Summer:
Incidents of asthma attacks seems to be and is usually the lowest in the months of summer. However, some people still suffer from asthma attacks during the summer season because those individuals have sickly reactions to higher levels of humidity and heat which varies significantly for each individual. Not to mention, there are also people who can have asthma attacks in areas with high levels of humidity and some individuals do not have any reaction in those same exact areas. Furthermore, summer weather often seems to be related with unhealthy air quality in the urban areas with high levels of density. Pollution from all the cars due to traffic and sunlight are the perfect combination for the ozone production which are capable of triggering asthma attacks in individuals. The heat waves with high levels of humidity in the air during the summer months are capable of trapping pollutants and causes those pollutants to become more concentrated in the air. Above all, the poor air quality and air days can cause asthma attacks in certain individuals.
Fall:
Cooler climate, colder air, and cooler weather causes individuals suffering from asthma to have their lungs tighten up or swell. Furthermore, people who suffer from asthma have a more severe illness when infected with a virus than individuals who do not have a virus. Not to mention, infections in the respiratory tract and exacerbate the levels of inflammation of the lung airways in individuals with asthma and cause symptoms of coughing, wheezing, having a difficult time to breathing on a daily basis, and asthma attacks.
Winter:
When people with asthma breathe in large quantities of air that is cold and dry at the same time can exacerbate their health and causes the already inflamed lung airways to swell up and could cause wheezing in some individuals. During the winter, people suffering from asthma needs to be more careful when going outdoors especially for people living in the east coast. Not to mention, indoor allergens can cause asthma attacks for some people due the fact that the heaters are turned on while all the windows are closed.
Reference: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/asthma







Monday, February 2, 2015

ATWTTB Ch.9 Book Frame

In chapter 9 of ATWTTB (And The Waters Turned to Blood), the book discusses about the symptoms that Howard Glasgow experiences after getting exposed to Pfisteria. Furthermore, a new facility was built to make sure that the researchers were safe in the lab, but the job was not completely efficiently. In addition, the equipment for safety was not equipped efficiently.


ATWTTB Ch.8 Book Frame

In chapter 8 of ATWTTB (And The Waters Turned to Blood), the book talks about the safety concerns that occurs in lab of JoAnn Burkholder's and also discusses the actions that were took to solve these problems. In addition, the book talks about the university's non-effective system.


Friday, January 23, 2015

Water Blog 4

Cholera is a deadly bacterial disease located in the small intestine that is usually caught from drinking infected supplies of water.
Causes: 
The infection is first caused by a bacterium called Vibrio cholerae. Unfortunately, the disease has dangerous effects in which a dominant toxin called CTX is produced by the bacteria located in the small intestine. Furthermore, the CTX secures itself onto the walls of the intestine and hinders the normal flow of chloride and sodium. Moreover, this causes the body to emit large quantities of water that will in turn cause diarrhea and a loss of electrolytes. Not to mention, the main cause of cholera is contaminated water supplies. Additionally, common sources of cholera include grains, seafood, fruits, and vegetables.
Symptoms:
Muscle cramps or leg cramps, shock, watery diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration, nausea, coma
Treatment:
Immediate treatment is required to treat the cholera disease because the disease could cause fatal illness or even death if left untreated for many hours. A form of treatment include infusion of intravenous fluids. In addition, another form of treatment include antibiotics such as a single dose of doxycycline or azithromycin have proven to be effective in killing the bacteria. Furthermore, rehydration could be form of treatment to replenish the lost of electrolytes and fluids in the body through oral rehydration salts. Not to mention, zinc supplements are also helpful in shortening the length of diarrhea in children diagnosed with the cholera disease.
Reference: http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/cholera-faq
                 http://www.medicinenet.com/cholera/article.htm






Water Blog 3

Numerous and countless species that live in the water or sea call coral reefs their home, which symbolizes something of value to numerous organisms located on Earth. Furthermore, approximately four thousand types of fish live on coral reefs, and researchers estimate that there could be about one to eight million types of species that live around coral reefs that remain undiscovered. In addition, coral reef plants help in the development of drugs that are capable of fighting viruses, diseases, and bacterial infections. On the other hand, coral reefs that are healthy are capable of preventing property damage, loss of life, and surface erosion. Unfortunately, the coral reefs face many threats to their survival on the daily basis. In conclusion, a law that should be passed to address the threat is the limit the amount of overfishing that occurs in today's society and pollution caused by the fishermen. For instance, fishermen should be fined a certain rate ranging from $1500 to $5000 whenever they overfished a certain type of fish for a specific lengthy time period. In addition, fishermen are not allowed to use dangerous methods to kill or capture fish such fishing with the use of dynamites. Moreover, there would be huge fines for those people who throw garbage and other certain types of litter onto the sea or ocean due to the fact that the debris damages the coral reefs. On an end note, fishermen should obey these regulations or laws to help keep the waters of the ocean and sea clean and free of pollution.


Water Blog 2

Water conservationists act as scientists in the field of conservation who give people technical help to fix water conservation problems or difficulties. Furthermore, water conservationists provide recommendations or words of advice on quality of water, maintaining supplies of water, avoiding contamination of groundwater, protecting water to assist governments and independent landowners.

During the training or instruction of becoming a water conservationist, he or she becomes skilled or trained to assessing patterns of water use; expand, start, advertise and preserve programs of water conservation; carry out public informative sessions; advise techniques of being water efficient; incorporate sources of water as alternatives; and accomplish investigations of systems to answer types of problems. At least a bachelor's degree is needed to become a water conservationist. A master's degree or PhD degree would be necessary for a research position or an academic position in the field of water conservation. 

As issues related to water carry on and augments, more spontaneous or willing and required conservation of water are being developed that would need skill in the technical field like that which is provided in this program.

The median annual wage of a water conservationist is approximately $48,000.


References: http://www.workforwater.org/resourceforwaterprofessionals/page_int.aspx?id=254
                    http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/19-1031.01




Water Blog 1

In today's society, water symbolizes an essential component of life in general. Furthermore, it represents the most plentiful compound found out of all organisms. Moreover, water varies from sixty four to eighty nine percent in different organisms. In addition, water is present in most or all the reactions that take place in the cell. Not to mention, land vegetation would be gone; oxygen would also be gone for people to breathe, and the planet would differ in appearance without water. Without a doubt, people need water in order to survive or prosper and water is needed to keep the environment healthy. In conclusion, water needs to treated as a valuable natural resource that shouldn't be used in a wasteful way. 

In my opinion, water represents resource that could be replenished because the cycle of water cycle could be carried over and over again such as the rain cycle. On the other hand, there is evidence that water could indeed one day become a resource that could not replenished due to the severe drought that is happening in the state of California. In summary, the expansion of our population at a quick rate puts some sort of pressure on all of the natural resources in the world.


Not to mention, water contains numerous different characteristics that enable life to continue or exist. Some of these characteristics include the water's density, cohesion, high specific heat, and polarity. When water is in its solid state, it is more dense and is capable of floating over water. When large amounts of water turns into a solid state, the ice still remains above the water, which allows many different types of organisms to stay alive rather than freezing to death. Due to water's cohesion, it enables water to move up from the roots to the top of the plant because cohesion symbolizes the water molecules' attraction to each other in terms of polarity. Due to water's high specific heat, lakes, oceans, and other large bodies of water enable life to continue because it allows earth's temperature to remain relatively constant or fixed. Not to mention, water's polarity enables itself to dissolve many different types of substances in which reactions sometimes occur.