Unit 8 Blog

Freshwater Resource Discussion

Underground aquifers: Because of where underground aquifers are located, groundwater typically is protected from pollutants while normal surface waters usually are not. Because of the slow movement of contaminants and subsurface water, there is not a requirement in cleaning the water which saves money. Also this underwater resource provides clean water for many. Approximately two billion of the world's population rely on underground aquifers for clean drinking water. 

Also, aquifers provide water for surrounding ecosystems. They actively contribute to giving water to the ecosystems through springs. Trees are able to live and grow through underground aquifers. 

Human impact: Certain irrigation practices can increase groundwater salinity and can increase nitrate and pesticide leaching. 

Lakes: Many lakes benefit ecosystems by provisioning both food and water and buffering flood flows. Also, lakes support extensive biodiversity and some species are only found in lakes and nowhere else on the planet. 

Lakes support transportation, recreation, and other cultural amenities. Because of the Lakes' beauty, many tourists come to visit them positively contributing to the economy. Also, lakes provide food and fiber to many communities and attract many tourists.  

Human impact: The extensive use of industrial and agricultural chemicals contaminate the water. Excessive nutrients can lead to eutrophication which is the over-productivity of organisms in water. This leads to the creation of algal blooms and the depletion of oxygen concentrations threaten many animal and plant species.

 

Rivers: Because rivers are readily available and easy to access, more than two-thirds of terrestrial species use them for daily use. Rivers also provide for global biodiversity attracting many species to their freshwater.  

Some rivers carry historical importance such as the Mississippi River which increases the attraction of the river causing people to come and visit them. Also, rivers serve as a way to transport goods. 

Human impact: From agricultural runoff and domestic wastes, rivers are negatively affected by humans. Agricultural runoff and domestic wastes causes alterations of the rivers and allow pollutants to disperse throughout the air.  

Wetlands: Wetlands store nutrients and pollutants in the soil by trapping and holding water. This allows for cleaner water to flow. Also, wetlands moderate water flows, providing for sediments to settle out before the water is released to other wetlands, lakes or streams. Because there is less sediment, the water is cleaner and it provides a better environment for aquatic life. 

Additionally, wetlands are great places to canoe, hunt, fish or explore and enjoy nature. They provide economic commodities such as cranberries and fish. They also provide spatial amenities to developments. 

Human impact: Widespread land development and clearing of trees have caused increased erosion in upland areas leading to increased sedimentation in lowland wetlands.   

Water Diversion Discussion

Colorado River: The Colorado River aqueduct is a canal that carries water 400 km from the Colorado River to Los Angeles. The water go to the cities but so much water is removed from them, at multiple locations, that they go dry before they reach the ocean. The creation of aqueducts costs a lot of money and requires the use of many resources. Through construction of the aqueducts, various natural habitats are disturbed. On the other hand, because these structures are more efficient in carrying water, more water can be carried out providing for more people. People not only buy this water for drinking purposes but they also buy it for agricultural use. Many species live along these aqueducts or come to these aqueducts for water. These aqueducts allow for species to remain in their habitats. 

India-Bangladesh rivers: India proposed a large-scale water diversion project, involving more than fifty rivers, that has caused Bangladesh some major concerns. These rivers originate in the Himalayas of India and flow into Bangladesh. By diverting water from these rivers, India benefits greatly by increasing their water supply for agricultural and household use. While India benefits from this diversion, Bangladesh suffers. From losing massive amounts of water, their local fish population depletes and negatively affects their river navigability for commerce. The project may reduce the flow of fresh water and salinity may rise. Species in India benefit from this diversion while species like fish don't. 

Aral Sea: This is the most infamous river diversion project that happened in the 1950s. This is when the Soviet Union diverted two rivers that fed the Aral Sea in Central Asia. Diversion of the rivers dramatically decreased freshwater input into the Aral Sea. Therefore, leading to the increase of salinity in the remaining lake water. The diversion also drastically reduced the surface area which caused the Aral Sea to split into two. Although there were many costs associated with the diversion, there were many benefits too. The production of cotton increased creating a greater demand for it and an increase in supply of the cotton. Also, many species benefited from the split of the sea. They don't have to share as much water anymore.

Water Quality Discussion

We did a pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, nitrate and phosphate test to access the health of the ecosystem and observe the water quality. 

We took a slip of pH paper and dipped it into the water and determined what it was on the pH scale based on the color. This test is to show how many things are in the water such as rocks. If the pH deviates from seven then is it same to assume that the water is not clean.

Then, we took a thermometer and put it into the water for thirty seconds then took it out and recorded the temperature. This test indicates the affect of thermal pollution on the water.  

The dissolved oxygen consisted of the temperature and pH. 

For the nitrate test, we took a sample of the water and put into a vile and then put nitrate in it. After that we shook the vile for five minutes for the nitrate to dissolve into the water. This test helped show the affect of chemical fertilizers on the water. 

For the phosphate test, we followed the same procedure as we did for the nitrate test except we put phosphate into the vile instead of nitrate. This test helped show all the forms of phosphorus present in the water. 

An example of a biological indicator species is fish tissue contaminants. It detects contaminants such as a number of organochlorinated pesticides, PCB congeners, and heavy metals including mercury. If there is an increase or decrease of these contaminants then the scientists will know that there is an increase or decrease of fish tissue. 

Water Conservation Discussion

Agriculture: Two ways to conserve freshwater better agriculturally are through Zai Pits and through drip, or micro-irrigation. Zai planting pits are hand dug holes about ten inches wide and deep. They are three feet apart used to trap water and increase soil fertility, especially in arid regions. When digging the pits, the excavated soil is used to make a small ridge around the pit to help capture rainfall. Drip, or micro-irrigation delivers water and fertilizer on the soil surface or directly to the roots of plants through systems of plastic tubing with small holes and other restrictive outlets. By distributing these inputs slowly and regularly, drip irrigation conserves fifty to seventy percent more water than traditional methods while increasing crop production by twenty to ninety percent. The water and fertilizer are also more easily absorbed by the soil and plants, reducing the risks of erosion and nutrient depletion.

Industry: Two ways to conserve freshwater through industry are to buy less things and knowing the source of your drinking water. By buying less things, less things are produced and less factories are needed for production. Also by knowing the source of your drinking water, you are less likely to waste water since industries are the reason our water is fresh.

Household: Two ways to conserve freshwater better at home is to recycle and install a low-flow showerhead. By recycling plastics, glass, metals, and paper, reusable products are being made and not wasted since it takes water to make mostly everything. By installing a low-flow showerhead, hot water is saved and so is money. 

BIG Picture Discussion

Human Impact: People built Levees, Dikes and Dams. Leeves were built to prevent rivers from flowing over their banks and onto the floodplain. Dikes were built to prevent ocean waters from flooding to adjacent land. Lastly, Dams serve as a barrier that runs across a stream to control the flow of water. Also, people came with up new ways to alter water. For example, fish ladders were created to help migrate fish upstream. Also, aqueducts were made to serve as canals and ditches to carry water from one location to another location. Additionally, people came up with the process of desalinization. Desalinization is the process of removing the salt from water to obtain more freshwater. New ways to alter water proved to be beneficial in many cases but one flaw in altering water was diverting water from rivers and seas. This caused many devastating impacts on the rivers and seas. 

Environmental Impact: There is a surplus of mercury dispersed throughout the air as a result of the burning of fossil fuels. Exposure of the mercury usually occurs through the consumption of fish which is an example of bioaccumulation in aquatic food chains. Also, acid results from the burning of coal from industrial plants. These compounds react with water in the air making sulfuric acid and nitric acid which falls back to the earth as acid rain. It also lowers the pH in large bodies of water. The low pH of water causes iron to precipitate out of solution and form a rusty red oxidized iron. This problem destroys many streams also disturbing the habitat of many species. 

Economic Impact: There has been a massive development of technology over the past few years to treat wastewater. Wastewater treatments are needed and bought by large communities with dense human populations and less open land. Since these technologies are more environmentally friendly, they are more likely to be purchased and used aiding the economy. Also, because of periods of high industrialization there is a widespread pollution. In efforts of getting rid of this pollution, people try to improve the quality of their waterways. They do this by purchasing the technologies necessary to do so. 

Government Legislation: The Clean Water Act (1972): This act supports the "protection propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and recreation in and on the water" by maintaining and, when necessary, restoring the chemical, physical and biological properties of natural waters. 

The Clean Water Act issued water quality standards that defined acceptable limits of various pollutants in the U.S. waterways. 

The Safe Drinking Water Act (1974, 1986, 1996): This act sets the national standards for safe drinking water. Under this act, the EPA is responsible for establishing maximum containment levels (MCL) for 77 different elements or substances in both surface water and groundwater. 

Water regulations have greatly reduced contamination of waters and nearly eliminated major point sources of water pollution. 

Unit 7 Blog

Forestry Discussion

Benefit: There are many benefits in deliberately setting fires. For example, when a fire gradually makes its way through the forest, it liberates nutrients tied up in dead biomass. These nutrients help in enhancing the forest by creating a nutrient-rich habitat for early-successional plant species. These plant species attract many animals such as elk and various herbivores.

Not only did these prescribed burns benefit the species in the forests but they also benefited the people encompassed by these forests. For example, there were more resources available to them like the species and plants found in these forests.

Moreover, there is an economic impact to prescribed burns. Since Yellowstone National Park was founded then later burned, 58 national parks have been established. The exposure of these parks lead to tourists which assist in profiting the economy.

Cost: Prescribed burns can always go wrong. Instead of burning a desired area of the forest, there is always a chance of the whole forest being burnt down. The whole forest being burnt down can lead to many deteriorating effects. For example, the heat caused by the fire can remove certain necessities from the ecosystem such as nitrogen and and sulfur.

Also, the people that once relied on the trees of these forests can't anymore since trees take time to grow. They have to wait until the trees are fully grown to cut them down and use them for various things. This also impacts the economy by people moving away from such areas because they are not able to acquire the resources that are essential for them.

Global Nutrition Discussion

The agricultural resources that should be diverted to people are instead diverted to animals. Since animals consume about forty percent of the grain grown in the world, there are less amounts of food available for people.

Meat production is more costly than gain production because of the amount of land required. One person eating only corn can obtain sufficient calories from 0.02 ha (0.05 acres) of land. It would take twenty times that much land for one person eating only beef.  It takes twenty kg of grain to produce one kg of beef. So it would take 0.4 ha (1 acre), to feed a person who ate only beef.

Also, the amount of energy and resources needed for meat production is a lot more than the amount needed for grain production. There is a loss of land, food and other essential resources that are being absent due to the production of meat. Raising animals for food now uses a staggering thirty percent of the Earth’s land mass. Approximately two hundred and sixty million acres of U.S. forest have been cleared to create cropland to grow grain to feed farm animals.

Furthermore, raising animals for food is grossly inefficient. This is because animals eat large quantities of grain, soybeans, oats and corn but can only produce comparatively small amounts of meat, dairy products or eggs in return.

There is also a negative impact of meat production on the environment. It takes more than eleven times as much fossil fuel to make one calorie from animal protein as it does to make one calorie from plant protein. In result this burning of fossil fuels pollutes the air and when people breathe this air the pollutants get into their system.

Genetic Engineering Discussion

In genetic engineering of food plants, scientists remove one or more genes from the DNA of another organism, such as bacterium, virus, or animal, and “recombine” them into the DNA of the plant they want to alter. By adding these new genes, genetic engineers hope the plant will express the traits associated with the genes. This modification of food plants can have various economic and environmental advantages and disadvantages.

Environmental

Cost: Genetic engineering of food plants is risky because when the genetic material is inserted into the plant, you have no idea where it will go. In result, the food plant can cause many health issues. Also bees are hugely important in the pollination of many food crops, but are extremely endangered by Gm crops. Monarch butterflies are specially at risk from GMO maize plants. These bees and butterflies are at risk because of the toxicity caused by the surrounding chemical pesticides and herbicides that are commonly used with GMos. These chemical pesticides and herbicides not only affect us but they affect the other organisms living in the environment.

Benefit: Genetic engineering can increase food production in several ways. It can create strains of organisms that are resistant to pests and harsh environmental conditions such as drought or high salinity. They also produce essential nutrients for humans. Also, the need for the use of pesticides can be resisted since certain genes are inserted into the new organisms.

Economic

Cost: Recently, there has been a decline on the amount of GMOs that are being purchased. This has resulted in farmers being unable to export their produce. Also GM seeds are more expensive and the technology used for GMOs increases the farmers’ fee by forty percent. For the farmers, this is a very bad thing since the technology is costly and they are not exporting what they produce.

Benefit: Because pesticides are very costly, GMOs have the potential to reduce these expenses as they do not need the use of many pesticides. In addition, because GMO crops often produce greater yields, there is also the potential for an increase in revenues. Both of these changes can lead to higher incomes for farmers, lower food prices for consumers or both.

Sustainable Agriculture Discussion

Two farming techniques that can be used to prevent soil erosion and improve soil quality are crop rotation and contour plowing. Crop rotation rotates the crop species in a field from season to season. On the other hand, Contour plowing helps prevent erosion by water while still allowing for the practical advantages of plowing.

Benefit of Crop rotation:

You can take the same species and rotate them in a field which helps in your overall program of avoiding diseases and pests. This is because crops in the same botanical family tend to suffer from the same pest and disease problems. By crop rotation it is easier to avoid potentially harmful diseases.

Benefit of Contour plowing:

Contour plowing can reduce soil erosion by as much as fifty percent from up and down hill farming. By reducing sediment and runoff, and increasing water infiltration, contouring promotes better water quality

Pest Management Discussion

IPM stands for Integrated Pest Management. It is an environmentally effective approach whose programs use current, comprehensive information on the life cycles of pests and their interaction with the environment. This information is used to manage pest damage by the most economical means, with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment.

Two examples of how the IPM works is the Set Action Thresholds and Monitor and Identify Pests.

Before taking any pest control action, IPM first sets an action threshold. This threshold encompasses areas in which potential pests can be found. Just because one pest is caught by the eye does not mean that control is needed. The level at which pests will either become an economic threat is critical to guide future pest control decisions.

Also, not all insects, weeds, and other living organisms require control. Monitoring and identifying pests is an alternative to this practice. Some organisms can be beneficial so it would be naive to kill all the organisms. By monitoring pests, it's feasible to identify which of the pests are innocuous and which of the pests are beneficial. Action is taken according to the identification of the pests. Monitoring and identification removes the possibility that pesticides will be used when they are not really needed or that the wrong type of pesticide will be used.

Both of these examples are environmentally friendly because they improve the quality of the food supply by not adding a surplus of unnecessary chemicals into the environment. They also save many resources that we can use for other things.

These practices are more effective than the use of pesticides because pesticides bear many disadvantages. For example, pests may evolve resistance to pesticides over time so it is a waste to put such harmful pesticides in the environment. With IPM, the right pests are wiped out without being able to resist. Since pest populations are large and contain significant genetic diversity, it is essential to not only identify them but it is also essential to eliminate them.

BIG Picture Discussion  

Human Impact:

Many people think that resources are unlimited which is false. There is a lack of incentive for people to conserve common resources so they overuse them. After consuming these resources, they do not bear the cost of using the resources which leads to depletion of these resources. This is called tragedy of the commons. Also, a rapidly growing population needs increasing amounts of food to sustain it. There is more of a need in the agriculture business. Since farmers have been practicing agriculture for centuries now, farmers have been able to increase the world's agriculture output with improved technology. The need of more food aided in improving technology.

Environmental Impact:

Various operations and aquaculture facilities allow for efficient animal growth and inexpensive food production, but can have negative environmental impacts. For example, the concentrated animal waste and the introduction of antibiotics and other waste products into the environment can lead it to deteriorate.

Also, the urban sprawl has environmental consequences. The urban sprawl leads to the dependence of cars which leads to traffic congestion. More cars are being used to for greater periods of time and these cars release hazardous gases to the atmosphere.

Economic Impact:

Because of the Green revolution, agriculture has been transformed from a system of small farms relying mainly on human labor into a system of large industrial operations relying mainly on machinery of fossil fuels. This industry leads to available and sufficient jobs for many people. Also, this machinery causes the ecosystem to be damaged and the arrival of pests. To get rid of these pests, people hire people that work in agencies like Terminix to come and rid their houses of pests.

Government Legislation:

There are many laws and regulations that are ratified which influence the use of private and public lands.

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) mandates an environmental assessment of all projects involving federal money or federal permits.

The Endangered Species Act is a law designed to protect species from extinction.

Also, Urban sprawl has been influenced by federal and local laws and policies.

The Highway Trust Fund pays for the construction and maintenance of roads and highways.

The Federal House Administration (FHA) was established to jump-start the economy by creating new demand for housing.