scrAPES 11 - "Look At This: Rain Forest Here"

Look At This: Rain Forest Here by Lourdes Garcia - Navarro, is about the effects and what has happened to the rain forest in South America. The Amazon river is so big that it is half of the planets rain forest. Most of the Amazon is in Brazil, so what ever Brazil does, it matters, a lot. A fifth of the Amazon is already completely gone, which is ridiculous, only due to the size of the Amazon. By taking a huge amount of the Amazon out, it greatly effects the people and the environment. At the constant rate of deforestation in the Amazon, it will not affect the Earth but it will greatly affect us, humans. 

I chose this article because of the cover image. The cover image is a setting of burning grass and leaves with the words "Good Job, Brazil." written across the middle of the image. This struck an interest in me because it made me ask myself, how is burning leaves and plants a good thing? The  rate of deforestation has gone down substantially. 

This article relates to environmental science because of the deforestation happening. We all know that trees are a huge source of our oxygen, so by taking them away it greatly affects us. A fifth of the Amazon already have been wiped out which is roughly the size of West Virginia. Now that's just crazy. It is very difficult to stop people from deforestation but it can happen.

scrAPES 10 - " Coffee spill: Thousands of coffee cans wash up in Indialantic "

Coffee spill: Thousands of coffee cans wash up in Indialantic, by J.D Gallop is an article about an abundance amount of coffee cans that were found, washed up, on a beach. These coffee cans were all sealed and were all scattered on the beach for at least a mile. The coffee most likely came from a container the fell overboard. Containers that fall overboard are actually pretty common. Many people are helping out by picking up these coffee cans everyday. There was so much coffee cans that more and more coffee cans kept reappearing on the beach.

The reason why I chose this article is because I, myself, is a coffee lover. So when I saw this articles title about huge coffee spill it automatically caught my eye.  I wanted to know more about what happened, and before reading the article I predicted that these coffee cans were washed up on shore because of a container that went overboard, I was right.

This article relates to environmental science because these containers that fall overboard are not always going to be coffee cans. And if they were, what would have happened to the ocean if these coffee cans got opened? What would have happened to the fishes? These items spilling out of containers can be very dangerous to the environment it fell in and can greatly affect it.

Blog Post Reflection- "Cornucopia"

The pervasiveness of corn kn out diets is at an all time high. Corn is used in 90% of the products we buy and eat. For example, high fructose corn syrup , cornstarch, corn oil, and etc. It is a major problem that corn is used in 90% of our food. Most the corn used in the food is chemically altered and can be very dangerous to our health. Sometimes these companies are able to not even tell us about these chemicals in the products. For us to be more informed we need to always read the ingredients on the product and search for these chemicals. In some cases, the companies would try and hide these ingredients by abbreviating them, making it seem it is a different ingredient. I feel as if everyone should have the right to know what is in our food. We are the ones consuming these products and we should know what we are putting in our bodies. It is the companies responsibility to inform us, the consumers, about what is inside the food.

Blog Post Reflection- "Dollar Menu Reflection"

In today's video I think subsidizing food is affecting our nation in a very negative way. I believe this because the family in the video were saying that they would rather go eat this very unhealthy food because it was cheaper than buying vegetables. I think that is just ridiculous. In my opinion, I think people should have eating healthy as a right. I think this because with out force, we would not even think about eating healthy. Today my eating habits are very different from my grandparents. The reason for this is because my grandparents are not from America. Back when they were my age, they did not have fast food restaurants like we do. Also in the Philippines, most of the food we cook is organic and not tampered with chemicals. Because of the era of food I was raised in, which is about artificial coloring and flavors,  at a young age I did not eat as healthy but know because I am more athletic and want to be fit I tend to eat more healthy but I have some tendencies to eat unhealthy. Right now, my family is actually very healthy. My dad and my sister started to force the family into eating less and eating healthier and know its our way of living. But buying and growing vegetables organically is very expensive we do tend to go out and buy something cheap like McDonald's or Burger King.

scrAPES #16 - "Greenland's Melting Ice Problem May Be Far Worse Than We Realized"

Greenland's Melting Ice Problem May Be Far Worse Than We Realized, by Lydia O'connor is about Greenland's massive ice problem. The ice sheet, in Greenland, might melt and have the whole island to shrink.  This may happen because of the increasing global temperature. If all of the Ice sheet was to melt, global sea levels will increase almost 23 feet.  The only reason it has not happened yet is because of the firn. The firn is the sponge like snow a top of the ice sheet. The firn traps and holds any melting water that would otherwise run into the ocean. This would help maintain the ice sheet in the summer temperatures. The firn has not been diminished and is still able to help the ice sheet but In the past few summers, there have been unusually high temperature summers. 

This article caught my eye because I have always been interested in global warming and the effects it could have on the Earth. I think that it is very cool that there is this massive ice sheet that can raise sea levels as up to 23 feet. To me, that is mind boggling. Also, there is something called a firn. I just thought it was fascinating to know there is the spongy snow that help collect melted ice before it goes into the ocean. 

This relates to Environmental Science, because of how it can affect the Earth and it's surroundings. Knowing that global warming is effecting the environment but not only us directly relates to environmental science. Global warming has always been a big problem for us and scientists are doing what they can to help stop it or at least slow it down.    

scrAPES # 15 - "There are sharks living in a volcano, and this is not a drill"

In the article, "There are sharks living in a volcano, and this is not a drill" by Amelia Urry, it talks about an underwater volcano and the species inside it. 60 feet underwater, off the coast of the Solomon Islands, there lies a volcano under the sea. The volcano is named Kavachi. Kavachi is notoriously known for erupting frequently, which worries the group of scientist who want to explore the volcano with an underwater camera. Not only is the volcano frequently erupting, the water is very hot and acidic. Luckily, on this day the volcano was dormant and it was a perfect day to run the experiment. They go to Kavachi, and drop the camera inside the crater. After an hour, the group of scientist come back to grab the camera and see what the camera picked up. The camera picked up small fishes, sting rays, and the most surprising, full grown sharks!

The reason why this article got my attention is because of the title. Not everyday you read there are sharks in a volcano, which can get anyone interested. Not only is it intriguing but it is just really cool. Reading about sharks is interesting to me enough, but now there in a volcano. My imagination went wild when I read the title.

This relates to environmental science because of the specific area that these sharks are in. By studying these animals more extensively we can unlock more mysteries on Earth. Also, by knowing how these animals can live in these conditions, we can use this new information and potentially learn how to put it in our very own lives.

Hw - Aquarium " Save an Animal"

During the aquarium there was a section that showed me these animals that were in need of our help. The giant manta ray caught my eye because they looked the most interesting to me. The giant manta ray is very vulnerable to extinction due to the high demand of manta ray gill rakers.  They use those gill rakers to feed by straining  out the food from the water using sponge-like tissue.  The way these large fish reproduce is between two individuals, a male and a female, by the male putting sperm inside the females cloaca. Even though manta rays are fish, meaning they are born in eggs, the manta rays have the eggs held in them and the babies will hatch there, being born alive.

There have been many programs to help the endangered manta rays, such as (CITES) Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species, (CMS) Convention of Migratory Species, and much more. These groups specifically want the killing of the rays for there gill rakers. They are trying to officially stop the trade legally. What I can do to help is to stay informed about what is happening to the manta rays and spreading the word about these animals being endangered. I am not surprised this is happening to these animals because some humans just do not care. These people conducting these hunts to find and kill these animals just care about the money and not about the actual animal.