Last Bio 36 Field Trip

Today will be my last blog for Bio 36 and I must say that it is coming with a feeling of relief! However I enjoyed myself, and this environmental science blog...

   For this final post I would like to talk about my very last field trip for my environmental science class. This semester I attended all three field trips for my class and I can honestly say that they were all interesting and I learned many new things from them. Our final trip was to an environmentally friendly building called the Frontier Project. We went on a tour of the building which is on a one-acre site, and is literally a 14,000 square foot demonstration building. It displays water-efficient gardens, and rainwater capture systems, permeable concrete, natural lighting, recycled building materials, and much more. The purpose of the Frontier Project is to educate resident consumers, commercial builders, and sustainable advocates about the latest methods and technologies in water, energy, and site conservation. It is open to the public for all members of the community to learn about environmentally sustainable products, systems, technologies, and building design. The building received a  LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in 2010. The tour and the building itself was very interesting. We were able to see new ideas, and technology that are making homes more sustainable and environmentally friendly. On top of being a "green" building the Frontier Project is nothing short of spectacular. The layout and design of the entire building is very intriguing and it makes viewers want to implicate some of the ideas into their own homes. The building itself had an enormous cost of 22 million dollars but at the same time is striving to lead by example. Its purpose is to give builders, and the public new ideas and inspiration to try new environmentally friendly building strategies, and designs. The field trip was a good one to end on, it tied in great with the over all topic of my Bio 36, which really came down to the environment, and the impacts us humans have on it.

The Bandland Sanitary Landfill

What's up everybody!!

    A week ago I went on my second field trip, for BIO36 and lets just say it was a surprising one. We took a trip to the Badland's Sanitary Landfill (where most our trash goes). We got lucky on our visit because we got to see an expansion of the land fill taking place. So basically we got to see some of the engineering that goes behind our landfills to keep them from leaking contaminated water into our ground water. On top of that we got to see the actual depth and starting point of a landfill and how high the pile of trash actually becomes. We were standing on a giant hill of trash looking down at the preparation for another gigantic hill of trash. After seeing the expansion we took a small tour of their recycling center where their main goal was to divert trash from the landfill and recycle it also removing hazardous things from electronics and appliances. Separating metals, car tires, computers, and televisions all so that they could be recycled, keeping them from taking up space in the landfill. As we took the tour there was practically a constant traffic of trucks, big rigs full of trash, and in the background you could see the giant pile of trash being added to, and bulldozed with tractors. We then saw the Gas-to-Energy facility where  methane from all the trash is collected and then converted into energy. The landfill actually puts power back into the grid, with the energy they produce!
   All in all the amounts of trash were very unimaginable to me. It was shocking to see how much trash there was and how much was coming in. However at the same time it was somewhat reassuring seeing that the trash was being managed as best as it possibly can be. I was a great field trip and I learned a lot that day. Most people don't think about where their trash goes, but now I know(: 

CLIMATE CHANGE!!

 Hello world!
    The topic of the week is Climate Change!?!?! what is it? what's causing it? Is it a myth? To be honest I never think about it. People hear climate change and they think of the seasons changing, but that's far from being correct! The bottom line is that our planet is getting warmer, and many believe that us humans are the reason why. However there is a difference in Global Warming and Climate Change, but for the most part the two go hand in hand. This week my focus is answering some questions regarding the topic. Questions like is the climate changing right now? What are  humans’ roles in the changing climate? And how climate change may affect our society and our world?  Some major questions, on a major topic!
So first off, Climate Change refers to any significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time. In other words, climate change includes major changes in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns, among other effects, that occur over several decades or longer.

    To answer the first question, YES!! Climate Change is happening right now! We might not be able to tell but the Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.4°F over the past century, and according to the EPA, is projected to rise another 2 to 11.5°F over the next hundred years. Although 1.4 might not seem like much, small changes in the average temperature of the planet can translate to large and potentially dangerous shifts in climate and weather. So rising global temperatures are only part of climate change, triggering changes in weather and climate of ecosystems. Many places have seen changes in rainfall, which results in more floods, droughts, as well as more frequent and severe heat waves. Oceans and glaciers have also experienced some big changes, oceans are warming and becoming more acidic, and ice caps are melting resulting in rising sea levels. If Earth's climate change stays on its current path with rising temperatures, it will likely present challenges to our society and the environment in the future.


    Over the past century, human activity has been at the forefront of climate change. Our day to day activities and constant growth is beginning to take its toll. We release large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere leading to the Global Warming phenomenon. The majority of the greenhouse gases we release come from the burning of fossil fuels to produce our energy. But just to build our cities and produce our food we emit gases into the atmosphere through deforestation, industry, and some agricultural practices.
These Greenhouse gases we are producing act as a blanket around Earth, trapping energy in the atmosphere and causing the planet to warm. The natural greenhouse effect has been keeping the earth warm for millions of years and is necessary for life on Earth. However, when the green house effect is mentioned today normally it is know as the accelerated buildup of greenhouse gases that are changing the Earth's climate and result in dangerous effects on ecosystems as well as us humans. Furthermore all evidence of recent climate change and global warming points at humans, and our exploitation on non renewable resources.

     The choices we make today will affect the amount of greenhouse gases we put in the atmosphere in the future and for years to come. Climate Change can impact societies and ecosystems in many different ways. For example climate change can increase or decrease rainfall, influence agricultural crop yields, affect human health, cause changes to forests and other ecosystems, or even impact our energy supply. If global warming continues and escalates it could lead to major disasters and possibly human extinction. We need to start being cautious of the way we are living and try to reduce and slow the warming of the earth by making better decisions. It can be done with enough of the worlds efforts put together in reducing fossil fuel consumption. There is some skepticism about Climate Change and global warming and wherever or not it is real or not. The majority of that skepticism is in the United States which one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases. I believe the reason for that is simply DENIAL. People here in the U.S. don't want to believe things like global warming are real because they would rather continue to live their comfy lives. Ill admit it, I'm one of those American's. We see that is a real thing but yet we don't do much about fixing it. 50 years from now I pray that slow or lower our fossil fuel consumption. But given what I learned in my research I don't think the Earth will be the way it is now if we continue to live this way. If no changes are made within 50 years a major disaster a major disaster is bound to happen. BUT  Out of sight, out of mind is how we tend to deal with things like climate change when really it is something we should worry about. So I think that we all need to remember that really we are at bay to mother nature, which is something that has shown to be very unforgiving.

Childhood Snack That is TOO Good to Give Up!

Hello Everyone!

 Well so far so good! Bio 36 is going well and I am learning lots of new things! This weeks blog assignment is a fun one and deals with food! The assignment is too pick a food that you eat on a regular basis or a food interesting and unusual, and then research that food. Find out where it came from, how it was made, what it is made of, the whole works, as much information as  possible. The very first food that came to my mind was a long time favorite snack of mine that we always have around the house and that is fruit snacks!! You haven't had a childhood if you have never had a fruit snack! I am a fan of all fruit snacks but I do have a favorite!

These are my favorite!! Out of the hundreds of fruit snacks I've had growing up, these ones take the cake! They are amazing, and I almost cant help but to eat the whole bag at once. And the value pack is the way to go! But where did these delicious little snacks come from? and how the heck were they made!? Are they good for me? bad for me? what does their production consist of and what all is involved, as well as effected? All this information I went looking for, so let me share what I found out about my favorite fruit snack             

According to Shopwell.com Sunkist fruit snacks have things you would them to have, like low cholesterol, fat, saturated fat, and sodium, and not to mention that they are a great source of calcium! Some things about the snacks that aren't so good are that they have color additives, and sugar is added to them. However Sunkist claims that their snacks have 90% less sugar  then regular fruit snacks. And get this, the actual Sunkist company doesn't even make the fruit snacks, they rent their trademark name to other companies like Snapple, and General Mills, which is the company that actually makes theses fruit snacks. So all this time I thought I was buying a product made by Sunkist when all this time it was General Mills, one of the worlds largest food companies. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just means I fell fool to good marketing. General Mills is actually a company which is striving to be as sustainable as possible. They are here in the United States located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. More than 85% of their packaging in North America is recyclable, and is among the largest users of post-consumer recycled paper packaging in the United States.   The fruit snacks themselves however, do come in individual plastic packaging. They are generally not made from fruit, but rather from sugar and fruit juice flavoring, or artificial flavoring. In this case these fruit snacks have both natural and artificial. Being a fruit snack it is obviously a processed food, that is produced in a factory. How it got from the factory to the shelves of my local grocery store, I am assuming is freight lines, since the company is located in the U.S. Things like how are food gets to our stores and the distances they are traveling is never really thought about we just are happy its their, fresh on the shelf. Weather or not these fruit snacks are healthy is entirely up to the consumer. I believe all food is healthy when eaten in moderation. When something like fruit snacks is over-consumed then of course they are unhealthy. But the way I look at it a pack of fruit snacks a day (maybe 2), cant hurt anyone. All in all it is surprising how much you can learn about an everyday snack when you just take a little bit of time to do the research.
General Mills Packaging Improvments

 



Where My Water Comes From, Tap VS Bottled

What's up world!(:
   My assignment this week is to find where my homes tap water comes from and research just how safe it is. Most people don't like drinking tap water or believe its not safe, but I am going to compare tap water with bottled water and discuss some of the drawbacks to our oh so convenient water bottles.
   
   Living in  Riverside all I know is that my family has a utility bill just like any other but I wasn't concerned with where Public Utilities was getting our water, just as long as our house had water and electricity we were happy. After living in California all my life I just always thought we were getting our water from the Colorado River, but not my city. To my surprise I learned that Riverside's water supply comes from groundwater resources pumped from local wells in the Bunker Hill, San Bernardino, and Riverside Basins. We have our own water basins! The cities water supply begins as pure rain and snow which is naturally filtered through the sand and gravel of the Bunker Hill and Riverside Basins in San Bernardino and Riverside. This water settles in pools deep in the earth and are then tapped for domestic use by 54 wells operated by Riverside Public Utilities.

    Riverside Public Utility customers, on average use 70 million gallons of water daily!! And YES it is safe water!  Safe in the sense that it will bring no harm to people, however the disinfectants found in our water is not safe for fish to live in. When looking at the annual water quality report I found that most of the things found in our drinking water is naturally present in our environment. Erosion of natural deposits make things like arsenic and uranium present in the water. Chemicals like chlorine are used as a disinfectant and stop bacteria from growing in water pipelines. I also learned that each year Riverside Utilities takes more than 17,000 samples to test for more than 200 possible contaminants in our water system. After our water is rigorously tested by a private laboratory certified by the California Department of Public Health.

   

   According to the website drinktap.org, "Nearly all public water supplies in the United States meet the US Environmental Protection Agency's standards for safe drinking water." The environmental protection agency is in charge of drinking water and they have some strict rules on water quality.

Congress passed the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974 to protect public health by regulating the nation’s public drinking water supply and  protecting sources of drinking water. The act authorizes EPA to set enforceable health standards for contaminants in drinking water, as well as:

• Requires public notification of water systems violations and annual reports to customers on contaminants found in their drinking water.
• Establishes a federal-state partnership for regulation enforcement.
• Includes provisions specifically designed to protect underground sources of drinking water.
• Requires disinfection of surface water  supplies, except those with pristine, protected sources
• Establishes a multi-billion-dollar state revolving loan fund for water system upgrades.
• Requires an assessment of the vulnerability of all drinking water sources to  contamination.

   According to the International Bottled Water Association, bottled water was the second most popular beverage in the U.S. in 2005, with Americans consuming more than 7.5 million gallons of bottled water. As opposed to our tap water, bottled water which everyone believes to be so much better, is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. The administration has set Current Good Manufacturing Practices specifically for bottled water. They require bottled water producers to:

• Process, bottle, hold and transport bottled water under sanitary conditions.
• Protect water sources from bacteria, chemicals and other contaminants.
• Use quality control processes to ensure the bacteriological and chemical safety of the water.
• Sample and test both source water and the final product for contaminants.

   The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act provides FDA with authority over food that is introduced or delivered into interstate commerce. Under the FD&C Act, manufacturers are responsible for producing safe, wholesome and truthfully labeled food products, including bottled water products. The downfall to water bottles is the plastic they are packaged in. Plastic water bottle are not biodegradable and are made with harmful chemicals. They become unsafe when exposed to heat, leading your water to potentially be contaminated by those harmful chemicals.

 

   Another downside to water bottles is that they cost us money, and bring us and the earth no benefit!

Bottled water can cost 100 times more than tap water, which is brought right to our homes for pennies a gallon. Bottled water also creates its own share of pollution, the production of plastic bottles requires millions of barrels of oil per year and the transportation of bottled water from its source to stores releases thousands of tons of carbon dioxide all for just to have 80 percent of empty water bottles in the nation's landfills.

  

    So there may not be to much difference in the quality of water between tap an bottled, but there is defiantly a difference. We look at water bottles and we think convenience, we are constantly trying to make things more convenient for ourselves, while at the same time we don't see that convenience isn't always better. In the long run bottled water is coming out of our pockets and not benefiting Earth. Tap water is costing us a small amount each month, coming naturally out of  local water basins, and being strictly regulated. The smart choice is obviously to use tap water but there is no way of changing peoples minds, everyone likes the convenience of "PLASTIC" water bottles.
  



Everything we use in our lives comes from the Earth somehow

Hello Everyone!! 
The topic of this week involves the things we use daily, and how many of those things come from the Earth! The assignment was to record items we saw to be or come from "earth resources" for an entire day. At the end of the day, organizing the  items into eight different categories:  Food and drink, Housing and other buildings, Transportation and roads, Clothing, School supplies,  Personal care products, Leisure activities, Other.  After organizing I will choose one item mentioned and elaborate on the item and go into detail telling of things like, what it is made of, and how it is used. Finally reflecting on the entire task at hand and summarizing my findings. And lets just say what I found was surprising!
I recorded my items on Monday October 14th
Food and Drink:

• Water
• Orange juice- Oranges
• Coffee- Coffee Beans
• Doughnut- Flour, sugar, etc.
• Banana
• Apple
• Ham Sandwich (Bread, Ham, Cheese, Mayo, Mustard)- Pig, Cow, Wheat, etc.
• Arizona Iced Tea
• Spanish Rice and Bread (Rice, Cheese, Meat, Tomatoes)- Cow
• Milk- Cow
• Paper plate
• Silver Ware
• Glass Cup
• Aluminum Can

Housing and Other Buildings:

• My house (everything in it)
• Electricity
• Work (Warehouse)
• School (Quad, Math Science Building)

Transportation and Roads:

• My Truck and its different components  
• Gas (petroleum)
• Roads (asphalt)
• Road signs, stop lights
• Approximately 30 miles of driving

Clothing:

• Towel
• Shirt(2)
• Shorts
• Jacket
• Jeans
• Socks/underwear(2)
• Belt
• Sunglasses
• Shoes(Two Pairs)

School Supplies:

• Pen
• Pencil
• Paper
• Binder
• Note book
• Backpack

Personal Care:

• Water
• Bar of Soap
• Body Wash
• Shampoo
• Deodorant
• Body Spray
• Tooth Brush
• Tooth Paste
• Mouth Wash
• Hair Brush

Leisure Activities:

• TV
• Cell Phone
• IPod
• Car Stereo 
• Bed/Couch

Other:

• Wallet
• Money (Coins, Bills)
• Visa Card
• Keys
• Work Knife
• Fiber Glass Adhesive Mesh (Work)
• Foam (Work)
• Fork Lift (Work)
• Propane (Work/Fork Lift Fuel)

     It is amazing how many things you use and come in contact with in one day. When looking really hard at everything you begin to see that almost everything you use has come from the earth some how. Out of all those items in my list I am going to focus on natural gas, what we use to cook with and heat our homes. Natural gas is colorless, shapeless, and odorless in its pure form. Every uninteresting except,  natural gas is combustible, abundant in the United States, and when burned it gives off a great deal of energy and few emissions. Unlike other fossil fuels, natural gas is clean burning and emits lower levels of potentially harmful byproducts into the air.
     We require energy constantly, to heat our homes, cook our food, and generate our electricity. It is this need for energy that has elevated natural gas to such a level of importance in our society, and in our lives. Natural gas is a combustible mixture of hydrocarbon gases. While natural gas is formed primarily of methane, it can also include ethane, propane, butane and pentane. In its purest form, such as the natural gas that is delivered to your home, it is almost pure methane. Methane is a molecule made up of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms, and is referred to as CH4. Found in reservoirs underneath the earth, natural gas is often associated with oil deposits. Production companies search for evidence of these reservoirs by using sophisticated technology that helps to find the location of the natural gas, and drill wells in the earth where it is likely to be found. Once brought from underground, the natural gas is refined to remove impurities such as water, other gases, sand, and other compounds. Some hydrocarbons are removed and sold separately, including propane and butane. After refining, the clean natural gas is transmitted through a network of pipelines, thousands of miles of which exist only  in the United States. From these pipelines, natural gas is delivered to us, where it will be used.
    Natural gas is nothing new, most of it is brought out from under the ground from millions of years old. It was not until recently that methods for obtaining this gas, bringing it to the surface, and putting it to use were developed.Britain was the first country to commercialize the use of natural gas. Around 1785, natural gas produced from coal, being used to light houses, as well as streetlights.
Manufactured natural gas of this type was first brought to the United States in 1816, when it was used to light the streets of Baltimore, Maryland.
     There is an abundance of natural gas in North America, but it is a non-renewable resource. For natural gas to form takes thousands and possibly millions of years. It is important that we understand the availability of our supply of natural gas, as we increase our use of this fossil fuels. As natural gas is essentially irreplaceable, we need to have an idea of how much natural gas is left in the ground for us to use. However it is complicated but no one really knows exactly how much natural gas exists until it is extracted because it is hard measure how much is in the ground. How the world functions, natural gas has become a necessity. So far we have found no other economical alternatives to replace natural gas. Without it, most of the world would be greatly effected, it is how they cook their food, and heat their homes, no to mention all of its other uses.

  This weeks assignment was surprising. Keeping track of all the items I used in a day seemed to be a challenge. I never knew I used and consumed so many things and keeping close record of those things really opened my eyes. People don't realize that almost all of the things in their daily lives come from the earth in some way or another. The assignment opened my eyes to how much I am consuming. To conserve some of the earths resources I need to cut back on my consumption of unneeded goods, fuel, and electricity. The earth has a limited amount of resources, its only a matter of time before we use them all up.

How Green is my Campus??

Hi Everyone!! This weeks post is on how environmentally friendly Riverside City College really is. I will compare it to other colleges in terms of how sustainable it actually is. I'm going to do my best to assess some of the factors that determine how "Green" the campus actually is. Finally I will focus on a specific factor in the campuses sustainability and attempt to create an assessment plan, and show how I would go about completing my plan. I must not focus on improving or fixing any sustainability issues, I am only trying to find the best way in determining how sustainable my campus currently is.
 When I  looked into what our campus is doing to be "Green" I was surprised to find that RCC has already assessed them selves in sustainability and had developed a plan for improvement. Beginning in 2009 Riverside Community College District launched its Green Initiatives with the formation of a District-wide committee.The committee, led by Vice Chancellor, Ray Maghroori, launched their Green Initiatives website to provide information about the District’s growing and successful Green Initiatives Program. http://websites.rcc.edu/greeninitiatives/ On the website I was able to find all kinds of information on how the campus was doing in terms of sustainability. The main thing that I found that RCC was doing was not  only working toward a more green campus but starting with incorporating in the curriculum, and developing courses and programs to prepare students to live as environmentally responsible citizens. I think that having students that are environmentally aware is the first very important step in being a sustainable campus.
    
  There are some things that other campuses have done in the regard of becoming more sustainable that RCC hasn't yet established. Like its neighboring university, UCR for example has its own buses and bus routes for the students. The university is currently adding and expanding, building new environmentally friendly facilities. Universities like UC Berkley for example push hard towards being as green as possible. Many of the campuses buildings are LEED certified which means they are certified by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED is an internationally-recognized green building certification system that provides building owners and operators with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building designs, as well as construction, operations and maintenance solutions. The university even has its very own water center along with recycling and refuse services. The school is currently working on 5 green building projects and has plans to certify 18 more buildings with additional sustainability plans for 25 other buildings.
  While RCC tries to be as environmentally friendly as it can be there is always room for improvement. Some things I would look at in determining how green my campus actually is would be, its energy usage, how environmentally friendly its buildings are, and its waste management. The one thing our campus is doing right is making its students environmentally cautious, so that in turn the campus will eventually make improvements in sustainability. Things like the new community garden at RCC are signs that the campus is moving in the right direction. What I think I would like to assess about how green the campus is, is the buildings and landscape on campus. New buildings like the math and science building are examples of a more environmentally friendly building but RCC is old and I wonder how "Green" some its buildings are.
 First I would find out how many of our buildings on campus are LEED certified, and the exact qualifications needed to make a building certified. The college is nearing its 100 year anniversary and many of the building are out of date. Although it is very cost effective some environmentally friendly remodeling of the campus should be considered. Measurements of the benefits can be seen when comparing RCC to universities like Berkley when looking at their energy usage and how much better there green buildings are for the environment. The U.S. Green Building Counsel would be who to look to for help in improving the sustainability of the buildings on campus. The chancellor of the RCC district would someone to have a deciding role in determining if renovating and remodeling is something the campus would benefit from. The campuses landscape is covered with trees and lots of vegetation, and a proposal that may not be too costly is converting to a water wise landscape. Replacing some of the existing landscape with drought tolerant plants like cacti and succulents and some of the grass with rock and gravel would reduce the usage of water immensely. It is something simple that the campus can gradually work towards and doesn't have to all be done at once. Support for greener buildings and a drought tolerant landscape is something that will not be hard to get because it is a no brainer, greener facilities would be beneficial to not only the environment but to the college, community and everyone involved with RCC. The problem will always be money, which there is none of.
  Campuses like mine all try their best with the resources they are given to be as sustainable as they possibly can be. Yes they can always improve but economically it is impossible to make improvements. What I did learn in some of this research is that most campuses are striving towards sustainability and setting goals for themselves which is really all they can do.