12-21-12

It is pretty clear that today, December 21, 2012, is not the end of the world. But don’t think we are completely safe. Scientific research and observations clearly shows that our planet is sick and in dire need of rehabilitation. Is the complete wipe-out of all human kind likely to occur? Probably not in our lifetime, but if you look at the stages of evolution, humans have evolved from so many different species, what makes you think that we aren't still evolving. Say there was something that wiped out a large portion of the human population; eventually the survivors will adapt and evolve through the generations so that we can preserve our genes of human kind.

I believe that the Mayans predicted that mankind will have completely destroyed and abused the earth by December 21, 2012, which is why they felt that they should just end the calendar. I don’t think they understood the deep implications that this had on our society because as of today there are still those people that believe with a burning passion that the world is going to end, and are probably hiding underground as we speak. This brings me to what I believe the true threat on human nature is. I believe that once enough people believe that the world is going to end, the true threat is man himself, as FDR had once stated “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” People having the “I have nothing to lose” mentality will create people doing things that they normally wouldn't do in a civilized society, in order to save their own lives. The Southern region of the United States saw this when Hurricane Katrina hit and destroyed $96-$125 billion dollars of property. People had lost everything they owned and were extremely desperate leading to a sharp rise in crime. Their societal bounds were broken in that period of time and people were only worried about saving their own lives and claiming all of the resources for themselves, such as food, water, blankets, and other essentials. People were carrying guns for protection because when society fails, unfortunately life results in people carrying guns for protection, as seen in many undeveloped countries.  

What can we do as a commutative effort to save our planet and mankind? Well first of all, we have to treat our earth with the utmost respect in order to try and reverse the already occurring destruction of earth. I don’t want to over beat the concept of global warming and climate change into your heads, but it really is important to try and make the effort to understand that our planet is sick and in need of rehabilitation from every person on earth. Reducing your carbon emissions by burning less fossil fuel is one major solution to the ever-growing issues that our planet faces but there are so many more ways that YOU can save our planet. Though our planet did not end today, the quality of life on earth will slowly decline if immediate actions are not made to reduce the destruction of earth done by mankind.

Please comment, I would love to hear your responses. 

Our World Is Changing

Scientists have established a theory called Global Warming where the greenhouse gases create a membrane that traps in the sun’s heat creating a greenhouse effect on the entire world. This is from the detrimental destruction that man has done to the earth since their existence. I believe that Global Warming is the wrong term for this change; it’s more like a global disaster that our entire world will be feeling, with extreme storms in places that generally have temperate weather and extreme coastal flooding.  Don’t get me wrong, I do acknowledge that global warming does exist, but I also see that using this term is numbed in our society where people say, “O it’s just global warming.” Well IT’s NOT! Don’t be naïve, we are destroying our planet and we are going to be affected throughout the rest of man’s existence.

If you look at our weather today, you can definitely see that our planet is sick. As I write this blog, there is a massive hurricane (Sandy) coming my way and we don’t normally get hurricanes on the East Coast of the United States. It is taking a path that has never been seen before and who knows what’s going to happen. There is also a rise in earthquakes all around the world with Haiti, California, Chile, and so many other locations all around the world. The melting icecaps are destroying the habitats for polar bears and penguins. The melting of the icecaps will also cause the rise in sea levels which will deeply affect coastal cities and all of the inhabitants of the coastal regions.

Our world is changing to the fullest, we must actively prepare with the investment of STEM programs throughout the world to educate our youth and find a solution to the problems that they will be feeling to the fullest extent.

What's Littering Our Beaches?

Goddard Memorial State Park Beach, Warwick, RI, USA

Yesterday I participated in the Recycle Together RI Beach Clean-Up, and I picked up 30 pounds of trash. It was a great event where the community came together in the name of Mother Nature. At first the beach looked like a very clean beach but once you start looking, the variety of trash began to collect in my bag.

            One type of trash that we encountered was the awful, destructive, Styrofoam. People brought cups to the beach and just left it on the beach. If you’re going to use Styrofoam and bring it to the beach, just take it with you. What’s so hard about that? There were also pieces of Styrofoam from packaging which I truly hate. Styrofoam should not be used as packaging because it breaks into tiny little pieces and litters the environment.

            Another type of trash that we encountered were cans and bottles, primarily for alcoholic beverages. We found them mainly along the coast where people tend to sit and watch the water. If people are willing to sneak them on to the beach, then they should be able to sneak them back off the beach. Below, you will see a picture of a can that we picked up. It was encrusted with barnacles which shows how nature has been forced to adapt to the unfortunate damage done by mankind.

We also encountered some other strange objects on the beach. There were a surprising number of clothes, including socks, shirts, and flip-flops. Just saying, if you are going to take your clothes off, at least take it with you.

The immense amount of plastic was disgusting. There were candy wrappers, bottle caps, plastic plates, plastic cups, plastic bags, and so much more. While I’m on the topic of plastic bags, there were so many issues presented to me on that day regarding them. First, people would pick up their dog’s poop and then leave the plastic bag with their dog’s waste right on the beach. What is the point of picking up your dog’s poop if you aren’t going to throw it in the trash? Then there were just random plastic bags that people just left on the beach. It brings up the argument that environmentalist fight for all the time, “Should plastic bags be eliminated from our everyday life?” I say, try to use reusable bags and reduce the amount of plastic bags you use. If you are going to bring something in a bag, make it a paper or a reusable bag.

 There were some other cleanup efforts taking place on that day, collecting all of the cigarette butts off the beach. You would be surprised how many cigarette butts people leave on the beach. They are small, but they are still considered litter, especially when thousands of cigarette butts add up. If you are a smoker, bring a jar and throw your butts in there. I’m not going to force you to stop smoking, but at least pick up after yourself.

As citizens of the world, it is important to do your part and clean up our planet. It would be nice if everybody kept our planet clean, but we don’t live in a perfect world. Earth day is a great time to help clean up the environment, but so is every other day of the year. Cleanups like the one I participated in are great ways to do your part with your friends and neighbors. If this trash was left on the beach, animals would try eating it and it could potentially kill them. This is why I stress to you that our environment doesn’t deserve the abuse that humans constantly impose on it. Conservation is our solution…

            

Japan's Earthquake Still Threatening the Environment

Recently the one year anniversary of the Japanese Earthquake passed which allowed us to remember the horrible videos of the defenseless Japanese people being lifted off their feet by huge tidal waves. We watched monumental buildings being torn down by unwithstainable frequencies being created by mother earth herself.

The months following Japan’s catastrophic earthquake, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant threatened the environment as nuclear reactors were overheating and melting the plant due to the lack of a functioning cooling system after the quake. It seemed as if every day we would hear updates on the evening news of the continuing devastation of the power plant and its local environment. The radiation cleanup is still occurring where all debris or dirt exposed to radiation has to be bagged and destroyed.

A more current threat that our ecosystem is being threatened with is the floating debris that is traveling across the Pacific Ocean. This floating junk is moving from the waters of Japan all the way to the California coast line by 2014, as stated in the following article: <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2100784/Map-25million-tons-tsunami-debris-hit-California.html> The plastics and Styrofoam pieces threaten the bird and fish populations of the pacific, where they can eat these inedible, dangerous pieces of debris and die. There really isn’t any threat of radiation in this floating trash because the isotopes should have already aged and died off. In Alaska, the trash has already hit them and in a John Blackstone interview the impact of this debris is prevalently explored. <http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57443283/toxic-japanese-debris-piles-up-on-alaskas-shore/ >

            In a recent episode of Fox’s TV series Touch, there was a mentioning of the debris floating to the California Coastline where a man who was deeply impacted during the earthquake felt obligated to collect all of these sentimental objects floating to the shore and post them online for Japanese survivors to claim. The infusion of the impact of this debris into our society is what we need to raise awareness of the public so that action can be taken to prevent this large amount of trash from destroying our coastline and coastlines all along the western beaches of North America.

The Utilization of Geothermal Energy In Residential Communities

For the past months I have been working on a science fair project titled The Utilization of Geothermal Energy In Residential Communities. I was fortunate enough to be sent to the Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair. At the fair I was able to promote and educate the public on the benefits of alternative energy and how we can use it to save money and to save the environment. I also met so many interesting people and learned so much. The judges were professionals with science and engineering backgrounds which made them an honor to meet and talk to. The projects that were there had some mind boggling concepts but the comradery of science fairs allows for everybody to ask questions and be amused by each other’s projects.

Jobless Rate Could Be Lower

Image courtesy of Sustainability Ninja

In a recent article by the Washington Post, the United State's jobless rate is at 8.2 percent. That may just be a number but I see it as thousands of families suffering in silence, living day by day on unemployment checks. But let me tell you, I have a solution. Much like FDR’s recovery programs, create thousands of jobs to design and build renewable energy centers to power our nation. When it comes to raising wind turbines around the nation, installing solar panels on every household, or creating geothermal power plants: we can bring our nation back to work. Creating these jobs will also pull us away from relying on petroleum, which in turn will prevent us from going to war over this destructive resource. This will also pay itself off by creating energy from the natural/clean resources practically being shined over our heads.  So let’s be a self-sustaining nation! But why haven’t we seen these huge programs bringing mass amounts of renewable energy into our country and employing the unemployed? Good question…

Recycling In Schools

          I am currently going to Seekonk High School and everyday I see numerous students and teachers innocently destroying our planet. The biggest problem that I see in my school and the entire school district, is the disposal of waste. There are recycle bins in all of the classes and the cafeteria but it all ends up in the trash dumpsters. This is a false sense of security making us feel like we are recycling when it really isn't being recycled. I feel that the entire school needs a composting system, and a working recycle system for plastics, metals, and cardboard. The kitchen could donate the compost to local farms and get fresh produce in return. That would reduce the carbon emissions created from transporting the produce accross long distances and it would promote the use of fresh produce in their cooking to serve the students.

           If we dispose of all of our waste in a green manner, it could help everybody become much more healthier and obviously slow down the destruction of our planet. I know that my school isn't the only school that has the problem of a financially sound way to dispose of the large quantites of waste created but hopefully something will change...

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring

http://s3j6xhu.edu.glogster.com/silent-spring-by-rachel-carson-glog/

Earth Hour 2012

Celebrate Earth Hour tonight, March 31 at 8:30pm.

If we all do something we could save the world one person at a time.

http://www.youtube.com/earthhour

http://www.earthhour.org/

http://www.worldwildlife.org/sites/earthhour/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Hour

Welcome!

Hello everybody welcome to my Teen Going Green blog. My whole intention in creating this blog was to create a gathering of people of all ages and educational experiences to talk about their opinions and ideas about the environment. We can talk about recycling, global warming, alternative energy, and other environment related topics. So feel free to drop questions and/or opinions that you have about the environment and receive some feedback from a teens prospective or an educated professional.