Psa- Child Soldiers
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
The Pacific Trash Island
Old sea legends are coming true! For several hundred years a human made monster has been growing larger and larger in the North Pacific Ocean. This monster is an island of trash that has formed because of trash in the ocean and the Northern Pacific sub-tropic gyre. According to “The Trash Vortex” it is as big as Texas. Trash island consists of 90 percent plastics and 10 percent other large trash items such as creates. This trash island is deadly to animals and even humans and must be taken care of as soon as possible.
The Pacific Trash Island is one of the many trash islands around the world. It is located between Hawaii and California. While it was forming, shippers and boaters both felt that it was just a phase and the trash would eventually disperse. Then as the years went on and the trash continued to pile, they asked where it came from. Well 80 percent of the plastic in the ocean comes from land sources. For example, a plastic water bottle is tossed down a New York sewer and then that sewer leads off to the ocean. The other 20 percent of the trash comes from ships at sea. This island has been overlooked because it has had direct impact to humans or that’s what we thought.
Trash Island consists of many different forms of plastics ranging from netting to bottles. This is why it is so dangerous. According to Amanda Briney, when plastic decomposes in the water it splits into millions of pieces of shinny plastic pellets, each one having a toxic quality. Everyone knows how much fish enjoy eating small and shiny objects. Knowing that, the sea food industry will be and is already selling semi-poisoned fish. How was your last fish fry? Although not all the fish that have encountered the poisoned plastic survive. According to” The Trash Vortex”, many sea turtles in Hawaii have been found off the coast dead with plastic in their stomachs. They are just one of the countless numbers of marine life that are directly affected by the trash islands. If this continues then there will be no fish in the sea to eat or enjoy. Another thing is that the larger chunks of trash can often become shuttles for animals like barnacles to hitchhike on. This is bad because evasive species are dangerous to the ecosystem. They could become new, fierce predators or eat the food chain dry in an ecosystem.
According to John Trimmer, the US Coast Guard is the only organization that is working to clean up the Pacific Trash Island, but they have stopped due to lack of government funding. An estimate of a cost the government would have to pay out in the clean up of the Pacific Trash Island is the equal to the wages of one Coast Guard crew. We believe that this is not enough help for all the trash islands all over the world. The U.S. should invest more money into finding a way to make recycling more convenient. This would encourage people to recycle the plastics so they never end up in the ocean. According to Christopher Chantrill, the U.S. government is spending $18.7 billion on the general research department, and 10 percent of that could go toward the clean up of the Pacific Island, which is sitting in our back yard.
If America does not take control of this trash collection, it could grow to reach the coast of California. Think of all that fish that humans consume then ask yourself if you just ate plastic. Humans eat what their food eats, one way or another. Think of all the whales, sea turtles, and other sea animals that are dying, and ask yourself how you have helped to keep trash out of the ocean. My partner and I use about two bottles a week, and we are going to recycle each one every time. How many do you use, and most importantly, how many do you recycle?
Briney, Amanda. Trash Islands: Trash Islands of the pacific and Atlantic Oceans. About.com. New York Times Company, 5 May 2010. Web. 2 March 2011.
Chantrill, Christopher. Government Spending Details. U.S Government. 2 Wednesday 2011. Web. 2 March 2011
The Trash Vortex. Greenpeace.org. Greenpeace. Web. 2 March 2011.
The Tech Museum. This Year’s Challenge is Trash Island: The Great Pacific Gyre. TheTech.org. The Tech Museum, 1994-2010. Web. 2 March 2011.
Trimmer, John. Floating, Texas-Sized Garbage Patch Threatens Pacific Marine Sanctuary. Arstechnica.com. Condé Nast Digital, 23 October 2007. Web. 2 March 2011.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Water Conservation
Did you know that 97.5% of all the water present on Earth is not drinkable? Did you know that only about 2.5% of water is consumable, and roughly 1% of that is
available for human use? Due to global warming, the weather and rainfall patterns have changed throughout the world. As a result there has been water scarcity throughout many countries (“Water”). With this in mind, it is now time for citizens all over the world to realize the importance of water conservation. According to Answers.com water conservation is the protection, development, and efficient management of water resources for beneficial purposes. If we plan to continue to use water in their daily lives, we need to find alternative ways to use water properly with our now limited resources.
One misconception that a lot of people have about water is that it is a renewable resource. In reality, this in fact is not true. This misconception is the main reason why many people have failed to pay attention to this issue in the past. If people are not made aware of the possible shortage of water in the future, then they will continue to waste this essential resource. With the help of global warming, this problem has just continued to get worse .It is time for water conservation to be addressed now.
Many people may want to know why we should conserve water when it seems to be available anywhere and everywhere. According to the Environmental Protection Agency at least 36 states will be facing water shortages by 2013 (“Water Conservation”). Keep in mind that this is less than two years away. Water is more than just a resource. It is a necessity for daily life. Water makes up about 50%-70% of a person’s body weight (“Why do”) and it performs other jobs such as flushes out toxins from vital organs, carries nutrients to cells, and it also provides a moist environment for the ear, nose, and throat tissues (“Water: How”). Without water there would be no human life.
Surprisingly, there is a lot being done about water conservation. There are hundreds of websites available that give helpful ways to cut down on the current waste of water. Some of these tips include simple things such as cutting your shower down by a minute or two and turning the water off when brushing your teeth (“100”). It is small tips like these that make it easy for everybody to help in the effort. Also, the United States government has given funds and grants that help possibly cut down on this problem. We believe that enough is being done as far as funds are concerned, but there could still be more education on this affair.
According to Usgovernmentspending.com the U.S government spent about $63 billion in funding for water conservation last year. However, this funding is not enough and should be increased. In 2010, $100 billion was spent on fuel and energy. If you ask us water, fuel, and energy are all of equal importance, so why not also increase the amount spent on water conservation to $100 billion too. All of these items are necessary for our daily living and without them life would be difficult, probably even impossible.
It is important that everybody help in the water conservation effort. If we as citizens do not help resolve this issue quickly, then life as we know it would not be the same. All you have to do are little things such as turning the water off while brushing your teeth and cutting one or two minutes off your showers. All it takes is one person at a time to do his or her part and eventually over time there will be an abundance of people helping out in the situation. After all, water is an essential part of our lives, and life is always worth living.
Monday, March 7, 2011
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