The beloved polar bear has seen better days. The loss of Arctic sea has has doomed polar bears for extinction by the year 2075. As a result of all the greenhouse emissions being let out in the atmosphere, the sea ice polar bears need to survive are melting. Polar bears hunt their main food source exclusively from the surface of the ice. Without these ice caps polar bears are unable to hunt the food they need to feed themselves and their families. Polar bear populations have dropped significantly in the last couple of years and are continuously dropping. Between 2001 and 2010 forty percent of polar bears in the south Beaufort Sea were lost and their numbers in
the west Hudson Bay have dropped by a fifth in the last two decades. There is no imminent danger of extinction for the polar bears, but if things continue to go as they are currently then we can guarantee an even bigger drop in the polar bear population and eventually extinction for this species.
Killers whales are known as the ocean's most intelligent species and have often been closely studied. A new way marine biologists in Vancouver, Canada have been studying killer is by drones, or more specifically UAV hexacopters.
Using drones to monitor these whale's lifestyle does no damage to the whale at all. In fact, according to independent.co.uk, the whales do not even notice the drone. By capturing thousands of pictures and hours of video, the drone gives marine biologists a better view on how killer whales live and an problems that may be affecting them. These scientists look at the pictures and video the drones have captured from above and closely study the whale. They look for things such as how much blubber a whale has, conditions of the environment, and which whales swim with each other. Amazingly, tree hugger even reported that while studying the whales by using a drone, marine biologists caught a pregnancy that probably would not of been noticed if it weren't for the drone.
Why is using drones a good thing? Unlike humans, drones can get up close to the whale and capture its way of living without harming, or scaring the whale. Marine biologists have been taking the information gathered by theses drones and have been using it to form conservation plans. Hopefully, with this new information it will protect and recover the killer whale population.
You better enjoy them when you can. The Living Planet Report done by WWF has showed that the total population of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles has decreased by 52 percent in only two generations. This is not just a national problem, wildlife numbers all around the world are being affected in negative ways. According to newscientist.com, in Latin America animal populations have decreased by 83 percent and even animals living in fresh water have declined by 76 percent.
Why should we care? If numbers continue to drop like they have been over the past years, many animals will become extinct. This doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is. The extinction of one animals species can leave another without food and eventually cause another species to become extinct. By just taking one group of animals species out of the food chain leads to problems. The predators of that animal die off because they are left with no food, but the prey of that animal being to overpopulate, since they are no longer being hunted. This will be an ongoing cycle if we do take a stand and help. These changes in the food chain will come back to hurt the human species. There will be no more food, not just for other animals, but for humans as well.
Believe it or not humans are the ones at fault here. The biggest threat to animals is loss of habitat and degradation. We are consistently polluting, cutting down, and farming habitats of different animals for our own needs. Over-hunting and over-fishing are also big threats, along with climate change.
A little change is good, especially in this case. In order to save animal species and get the number of them to increase, we need to change something. We can start by using less herbicides and pesticides. Herbicides and pesticides are ultimately hurting those animals that ingest it. Groups such as amphibians are especially vulnerable to these harmful chemicals. Even just by slowing down while you drive can make a difference and possibly save an animal's life. We've all seen dead animals lying on the side of the road. This change is small, but can eventually build up and pay off. animals.about.com give many other helpful ways to save animal populations.
At the end of the day, we need to stand up and make a change. If we do not start helping animal populations will continue to drop. Remember what the triceratop looked like? Yeah, neither do I, but try imaging having to explain what a polar bear looked like to your great-grand kids.
When we think of recycling we think of a worldwide activity done to convert waste in reusable material, but little do we know, recycling is not worldwide. In other countries, like Russia, recycling is not a very popular thing to do. Very few citizens in Moscow put effort into recycling items that could be recycled. The majority of people there let their household garbage make its way to the landfill and simply go along with their lives. They do not understand how much damage this is causing to the environment. NY Times includes a paragraph on this topic and says that most of Moscow's landfills are from the Soviet period and does not meet the modern environmental standards. It is estimated that all of Moscow's landfills with be full within the next two to four years. If your really put this into prescriptive, it's pretty scary!
There is always a group of people doing the right thing in a crowd that is doing the not so right thing. Very few people in Moscow see the environmental issues, but the people who do go to great lengths just to recycle their trash. They see the landfills are being filled at an alarming rate and they also see that no one seems to care. People like the Protasov's will save up their household garbage, such as paper, and make trips to the recycling center every two months. Since recycling centers are not common in Russia, the closest recycling center they could fine is 40 minutes away.
Today, Russia is making three times more trash they did in Soviet times. According to rt.com, 18 out of 41 landfills in Russia are overfilled. With them being filled, changes are being made. Instead of building new landfills there will be 11 new garbage recycling plants and 4 garbage sorting stations in Russia. They are also working on new approaches to waste recycling, like plasma gasification (converting organic matter into synthetic gas, electricity, and/or plasma). Russia is facing a pretty tough regional environmental problem that may be hard to fix. If they change their ways while they still can they can get Russia back to its clean self. News like this will help those who were recycling their trash from the very start, like the Protasov's, sleep easier at night.
Personally, I really think something needs to be done about this situation. Currently this is a regional issue, but could, at some point, it because a global issue? I feel not only should recycling plants and sorting stations be built in Russia, but also new landfills. People throwing away household trash is one thing that will be continued for many years to come. I think if Russia were to have the extra landfills they would be ready, just in case, for anymore overflowing. Since in class we were talking about global, regional, and local environmental issues, when I came across this article I noticed it was a regional issue for Russia. Eventually though, could it turn into a global problem? Could the trash overflowing from the landfills get into the ocean and pollute the oceans? It's scary to think about, but in my opinion, it could happen.
My name is Sara, but at this point you probably already know that. I just looked at some of the other blogs people wrote and they started with their names, so I thought I might as well too. I'm currently 16 and a terrible driver. Honestly, there are times when I am driving and I forget which pedal is the break and which pedal is the gas. I cruise around town in my mom's mini van because that's what all the cool kids are doing.
Unlike every other teenage girl, I hate shopping. It gives me anxiety and makes me realize how broke I really am. I have an older brother who is going to college out in Colorado. I want to say I miss him, but I don't actually. I just miss the midnight Taco Bell trips we would take on a regular basis in the summer.
I want to say I'm athletic, but I'm not sure if I fit that category. I play softball and only softball, but I play it all year round. My life is pretty much softball. I know that sounds lame, but it's true. I'm a pitcher, a shortshop, and an outfielder. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I've played for 10 years, so I'm pretty good. I'm also a black belt in karate and I use to play field hockey. I'm also on the school gymnastics team, but I'm not actually good. I just figure I should get as involved as I can while I still can.
I have more medical problems than one 16 year old girl should have. I've gotten six concussions from field hockey and softball. While playing softball I took a line drive to the face, which resulted in a swollen face, broken eye socket, and six stitches around my eye. And oh yeah, I don't have an appendix either. I have plenty more medical issues, but I don't want to bore anyone with that long list.
This year in environmental I want to learn about the problems our environment is facing and the different ways to help it. I think it is very important for us to do as much as we can to help the environment.
The beloved polar bear has seen better days. The loss of Arctic sea has has doomed polar bears for extinction by the year 2075.
the west Hudson Bay have dropped by a fifth in the last two decades. There is no imminent danger of extinction for the polar bears, but if things continue to go as they are currently then we can guarantee an even bigger drop in the polar bear population and eventually extinction for this species.
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