The Final Assignment

Sustainability is the ability of earth's various systems, including human cultural systems and economies, to survive and adapt to changing evironmental conditions indefinitely. There are many issues at hand that can unnerve anybody with an educated mind. One of biggest issues I feel is out there is global warming. Despite the banning of CFCs, much of the world is still polluting the atmosphere. Factories, millions of cars, and industry are pumping tons of toxic pollutants and CO2 into atmosphere, killing the Ozone. In unregulated countries such as India, there are no laws that govern the industry there and thus, the factories pump mind boggling amounts of toxic pollutants. The rapidly changing climate is leading to warmer temperature, thus affecting the polar regions. The ice is melting and leaving the animals there, like the polar bear, without places to live. In a video, it once stated that a polar bear once swam many miles just to find dry land. Another issue consuming more than we need, in general, the Earth's resources either it be coal, fuel, food, materials, or oil. Many developed countries, especially the U.S., consume more than they need. The developed countries consume more materials than it can be replaced. At one point in time, we will leave the Earth scarce of its natural goods and leaving the environment scarred.

Poverty is a huge issue, especially in developing countries, or a continent as a whole, especially Africa. Sadly, there one too many times where parents are unable to feed their children or abandoned children are left to die. The lack of food can lead to malnutrition or marasmus.

Another issue at hand is oil. Oil is what drives the American machine and every other country worldwide, but what happens when all that oil is gone? Scientists project that by 2050 that we will consume all or most of the oil on Earth. We must find an alternative from oil, or else war could be well on its way to fight for the remaining remnants of oil.

Another issue directly related with another, is sea level rising. The pollutants we put into the air (CO2, NO2) affect our atmosphere, it destroys our ozone and also our atmospheric temperatures are increasing. The rising temperatures affect the polar ice caps in the polar regions, when ice caps melt all that water is inserted in the rest of the ocean and raises the sea level. Shown in this picture is the state of Florida. On the left shows what it looks like now, and on the right shows what it could like if the polar ice caps keep melting.

Bigger, stroger Shellfish coming around?

Marine biologists predict the coming of bigger, stronger shellfish living in our oceans in today's world. Research from the University at North Carolina at Chapel Hill state in our world's sea water, is becoming more acidic due to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), there is a possibility that shelled fish animals could possibly become bigger and stronger. This greatly affect the oceanic food websand the multi-billon dollar global market for the shellfish and crustaceans also said from the North Carolina University. Photos from this article showed an observed experimentation of two lobsters given a different amount of carbon dioxide supplied to them. The lobster with more carbon dioxide was two-three times bigger than the other lobster, only supporting the statement released by the university that the shellfish could enlarge themselves with the carbon dioxide. However, other research has led to believe that due to the ocean acidification, the carbon dioxide could stunt the growth or weaken the shells of the animals....that wasn't the case in this particular experiment. I think this will alter the shellfish and crucetean industry, but due to the enlargement of the shellfish, it will only benefit the industry.

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2009/12/538-ocean-acidification-causes-shellfish-to-grow.html

Volcanoes Effects on World

Volcanoes turned out to have both positive and negative effects on the world we live in. According to recent studies and records volcanoes emit a staggering amount of greenhouse gas into our atmosphere, but ours is eight times the amount of greenhouse gas volcanoes emit. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the world’s volcanoes, both on land and undersea, generate about 200 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually, while our automotive and industrial activities cause some 24 billion tons of CO2 emissions every year worldwide. Sampling stations show that no spike in carbon emitted by volcanoes is shown, however there is a yearly increase in the amount of carbon we emit. It is also believed that volcanoe eruptions have the ability to cause global cooling. Two massive eruptions, Mt. St. Helen & Mt. Pinatubo, caused short term global cooling when it released sulfer dioxide and other particle into the stratosphere which would casue a cooling effect. Records show that it cooled the earth globally by 0.5 degrees celcius. Scientists Hugh Corr and David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey believe that volcanoes underneath Antarctica may be melting the continent’s ice sheets from below, just as warming air temperatures from human-induced emissions erode them from above.

In my opinion, I think that although scientists maybe able to prove that volcanoes are both positive and negative for our environment, there is nothing we can do to alter the natural course of a volcanoe. Volcanoes will continue its natural course erupting when it is time, but there is no way that any change could be made to stop a volcanoe from erupting. It is something that we will have to deal in our time.