Profit for Good: Carbon Credits Bring Clean Water to Rural Kenya

Author: Rachel Cernansky Date: June 28th 2011
http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/profit-for-good-carbon-credits-bring-clean-water-to-rural-kenya.html?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+%28Treehugger%29

Photo: In this photo, a woman tries out her new LifeStraw filter in her home. 

Summary:
 In many rural communities in Kenya, the water supply is very scarce. With the water they can collect, most of is is highly contaminated with chemicals and pollutants. This is increasing over the years and is started to become a huge problem. More and more families die from either lack of water or diseases they contracted from drinking contaminated water. Thankfully, an organization has stood up to support those struggling in Kenya. This organization is called the Carbon for Water campaign which is run by Vestergaard Frandsen. They offered water filters to many families in the city, Kakamega. These filters, also called LifeStraw, can give a family of five clean healthy water every single day. Since these filters have been sent out to various families, less and less people are dying due to water related illnesses.

Reaction:
I think it is great that more and more organizations and campaigns are finally helping those in need in places like Kenya. However, there are so many other families that must also be helped throughout the world, and these people need to be helped quickly. I think that many many more organizations should help out from every country that can. We need to stop being so wasteful of our water, and realize that many people are without this precious necessity every single day. This article reminded me of the videos we watched in class this week.

Questions:
1. Do you think the installation of LifeStraw will make a huge difference?
2. Do you think that rural communities like the ones discussed need more help?
3. How do you think school students could become involved in such a big issue in the world?
4. If given the opportunity to help improve water quality, would you?
5. Do you often waste water?

Green Issues and Greenbacks: Occupy Wall Street connects the dots

http://www.grist.org/climate-energy/2011-11-01-green-issues-greenbacks-occupy-wall-street-connects-dots-video

Occupy Wall Street is a movement that has spread across the United States and has protested against American politics as they are and large corporations and banks. One of their arguments now is the negative effects on the environment of the things that many of these companies do. Fracking, deep water drilling and many other practices are among their chief concerns. Many connections were made between the economy and the environment. A protest against Delaware River fracking will be held in Trenton, New Jersey on November 21.

I think that it is a good thing that many of these issues are being brought to light. This group protested against the economy which is a huge problem, and it is good that they are focusing on another huge problem, the environment. I think that many comparisons can be made between the poor economy and our environment, as many large corporations use techniques which put the environment at a greater risk.

1. Do you agree with these protesters putting a lot of the blame for our environmental problems on big businesses?

2. Do you believe that these protests will help the problem and are a step in the right direction?

3. What other steps do you think should be taken?

4. Other than big businesses, who else do you think is at fault for our environmental problems?

5. If big businesses started using processes that were better than the current ones, do you think our environmental problems would be better?

Lead pollution: Urban gardeners beware!

http://www.macroevolution.net/lead-pollution.html

(The picture to the right is a map of soil lead pollution in Indianapolis. Dark orange: more than 200 parts per million (ppm) lead in
soil; light orange: 125-200 ppm; yellow: 75-135 ppm)

Summary:

Urban gardens today are becoming almost at popular as Victory gardens were during the World War II era to survive food shortages. Gabriel Filippelli, professor of earth sciences at the School of Science at Indiana Universtiy, warns that urban soil used for gardening may be tainted by lead pollution. "Most surface contamination in urban settings like Baltimore, Brooklyn, Detroit or Indianapolis is from harmful metals, especially lead, and tends to be found near roadways, older homes or lead smelters. Sources of contamination can be automobile exhaust, degraded paint, tire and vehicle debris, industrial emissions or other products of human technology," says Filippelli. He suggests that urban gardeners to determine the potential lead pollution risk in their gardens by proximity busy streets, major roadways, freeways, dilapidated painted structures or older industrial facilities. Gardens with no or low levels of contamination (200 parts per million (ppm)) can be abundantly planted. Gardens with medium levels of contamination (200-500 ppm) are recommended to be planted in raised bed settings, and mulching between beds to reduce the risks of tracking lead-rich soil onto the pots or into the home is recommended. Gardens at high risk level (500+ ppm) should only grow tall fruit plants, not root vegetables and leafy greens like lettuce due to the difficulty of cleaning the produce before consumption.

Reflection:

I think that lead contaminating our soil is a very big issue. Consumption of lead can very well lead to lead poisoning which comes along with symptoms like head ache, abdominal pain, memory loss, kidney failure, and weakness, tingling, or pain in the extremities. If any of these people are growing their produce with the intentions of selling it could cause big legal issues, similar to when toy manufacturers in China were sued for using paint with lead in it on their toys, which the children were eating and getting lead poisoning from.

Questions:

1)Do you think that it's possible for soil around the world, not just near cities, to be contaminated with lead and we don't know it?

2) If you were an urban gardener, what precautions would you take to make sure your soil did not had lead in it?

3) Considering that consuming only a little lead is not terrible for you, would you feel comfortable eating a vegetable grown in a garden with low lead levels?

Endangered Species Act has 'room for improvement'

http://summitcountyvoice.com/2011/10/23/report-endangered-species-act-has-room-for-improvement/

Picture: The Bald Eagle is one of the endangered species that has recovered.

Summary: The Endangered Species Act has no doubt saved many endangered species like the Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, American Alligator and many more. Still, many say their is room for improvement. Many people have gotten involved to express their feelings about what should be added. Among these people are the Center For Biological Diversity, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service, Republicans and many more. With the

exception of the Republicans, these organizations ideas have been simple improvements to help the animals even more. For example, increase funds to organizations, designating critical habitat locations for these animals in the next ten years, require recovery plans for these animals to be set within three years and others listed in the article. However, Republicans have expressed concern on the scientific certainty of how the Act helps. Many believe that by challenging the Act the Republicans have alliterative motives, that they only want to lower funding to save money. One thing is for sure, change is due within the Act.

Opinion: The Endangered Species Act is one of the greatest things to happen to animals. It has saved hundreds and my question is why fix something if it isn't broken. This "improvement" discussion is starting to cause controversy in congress and is making trouble that I am not sure we need. Although we are trying to help the animals that live in this Biosphere, we need to worry about ourselves too. We can not over due funding. I will also say this article seems it may have bias because they do not mention Democrats or any other parties opinion. They seem set on giving the Republicans a bad wrap.

Questions:

1) Do you think any improvements are needed?

2) What do you make of the Republicans feelings on the Act.

3) What improvements would you suggest if any?

4)Are their any details in the Act you feel are unnecessary?

24 Endangered Birds Gifted Their Own Hawaiian Island

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/09/24-endangered-birds-gifted-their-own-hawaiian-island.php?campaign=th_rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehuggersite+%28Treehugger%29

Picture: The endangered species, the Millerbird

Summary:
For numerous years now, the Millerbird has been on the brunk of extinction. Originally from an island off of Hawaii called Nihoa, these birds have an individual amount of only 600 birds. They have battled with droughts, fires, and foreign species threats throughout the past few years. The U.S fish an Wildlife Service and the American Bird Conservany realized that this species was going to die out and needed to be saved immediately. Thankfully, they came up with the idea of moving them to another remote island off of Hawaii, in hopes that the Millerbird will be able to repopulate. The birds are now living in their new home, and will be monitored for about a year.

Reaction:
I always am so sad to hear that a species is endangered, let alone extinct. I think that it is great that more and more organizations are saving so much of the dwindling species. I hope that this can continue for other species who are still on the endangered species list. I think that relocating the Millerbird is an excellent idea and I hope that they are successful and that their species will thrive again.

Questions:
1. Do you think that relocating these birds was a good idea?
2. Do you think it is unfair to other endangered species?
3. Are you interested in the topic of saving endangered species?
4. How do you think we can prevent the endangerment of animals?
5. Do you think that all of this time and money spent on relocating is worth it?

Why are the rainforests disappearing?

http://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/2011/09/rainforests-disappearing/

Rainforests are an extremely valuable home for thousands of different species. They also produce many drugs used in advanced medicine. However, they are disappearing and it is the fault of humans. Most of the deforestation is done by farmers. They cut down a portion of rainforest to raise their cattle on. The rainforest though is self-sustaining, and when the trees are cut down it turns into a dry wasteland. Farmers then have to cut down more rainforest for their cattle. The rest of the deforestation comes from loggers who cut down trees to sell or trade. To make that even worse, they have to destroy more of the rainforest to build roads to take ttansport the logs out of the rainforest. Mining, agriculture, global warming, dams, and oil exploration also contribute to the destruction of the rainforests. The World Wildlife Federation says that in twenty years, two thirds of the world's rainforests could be destroyed.

I think that this is a huge problem. I think that Americans should ban or stop buying cattle grown on these farms. This is a shocking article. I knew that this was a problem, but I had no idea that it was this serious. If in twenty years, two thirds of the rainforests are really wiped out, that would have massive consequences for the whole world.

Questions

1. What is your reaction to this?

2. What do you think normal people should do about this?

3. What do you think nations should do about this?

4. Do you think that this problem can be related to any other environmental problems?

5. How do you think this can be stopped?

Innovators make a business of friendlier fracturing

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/08/15/innovators-make-a-business-of-friendlier-fracturing/

Flotek, a Houston based oil field supply company recently patented a new fracturing fluid aimed at reducing the potential for groundwater contamination. The new fluid replaces some toxic chemicals with extract from orange peels. The new fluid "sweetens" the controversial process of fracturing rock to extract natural gas by reducing contamination as well as leaving a citrus like scent in the air around the well. Although the cost of the new Flotek fluid is more than traditional fracturing fluids, it is being used more frequently as natural gas mining companies give in to pressure from environmental advocates to take steps to limit potentially negative environmental impacts of the process known as "fracking".

Reflection: I think that this is a great substitute. Not only is the oil becoming more environmental friendly, but it is also adding a sweet scent to make it more bearable! I think that it is completely worth the money because- hypothetically- if there were to be another oil spill, it would be cause less harm, potentially saving money on the clean up in the long run.

Questions:

1) Do you think it would be a good idea to keep researching and see if we could use more substitutes other than just oranges?

2) Is this worth spending all the extra money on? Do you think that it is really THAT important?

3) Would you prefer this oil over traditional oil? Why or why not?

ps... Sorry for posting so late, I got home way later from my game than I expected!!