Throughout the Environmental Science.

While I was taking the Environmental science class for Fall 2013, there were several environmental issues today such as Climate Change, Energy, Waste, Water, Food, Consumption, Ecosystems and Endangered Species, and so on. Among all the issues, in my opinion, Climate change is the most important issue today.

Our Earth, the entire world, is warming. 

Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.4°F over the past century, and is projected to rise another 2 to 11.5°F over the next hundred years. Small changes in the average temperature of the planet can translate to large and potentially dangerous shifts in climate and weather.

“Why is the climate change the most important?”

There are TWO Main reasons why.

1.      “Climate change affects everyone”

Climate changes could very well lead to the spread of diseases such as dungy fever and malaria into more northern regions. Tropical storms and hurricanes will not only increase but may also become more intense. If the changes manifest too quickly, it is feared that animal and plant species may not be able to adapt fast enough and could become extinct.

2.      “Our lives are connected to the climate.”

Human societies have adapted to the relatively stable climate we have enjoyed since the last ice age which ended several thousand years ago. A warming climate will bring changes that can affect our water supplies, agriculture, power and transportation systems, the natural environment, and even our own health and safety.

The Earth's climate is changing. Temperatures are rising, snow and rainfall patterns are shifting, and more extreme climate events—like heavy rainstorms and record high temperatures—are already affecting society and ecosystems. Scientists are confident that many of the observed changes in the climate can be linked to the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, caused largely by people burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, heat and cool buildings, and power vehicles. Carbon dioxide can stay in the atmosphere for nearly a century, so Earth will continue to warm in the coming decades. The warmer it gets, the greater the risk for more severe changes to the climate and Earth's system. Although it's difficult to predict the exact impacts of climate change, what's clear is that the climate we are accustomed to be no longer a reliable guide for what to expect in the future. Global warming has been concerning scientists for decades. From the melting polar ice caps to catastrophic weather and threatened ecosystems, not only is climate change real, scientists agree that humans are influencing climate change with our production of greenhouse gases mainly stemming from carbon dioxide and methane.

What can we do about it as a society?

Greenhouse effect caused largely by people burning fossil fuels. There is one thing that really good for wasting fossil fuels. Many people drive their car without carpool, but sometimes a person has to go somewhere alone. Think about this.

Make a voluntarily policy “No driving for the day of week.”

What government can do is, if a person does for the policy, he will get some discount for car registration or car insurance. Basically one person chooses one day of the week when he does not drive at all the car. This policy will reduce a lot of gas emission from car.

Here is one example what is going on in china about the policy.

Beijing Traffic Management Bureau

http://www.bjjtgl.gov.cn/publish/portal1/tab167/info10142.htm

Announcement on Rotating No Driving Day Per Week by Tail Plate No. of Motor Vehicles

We hereby announce that,

it is decided that, in accordance with the provisions of the Circular of Beijing People’s Government on the Implementation of Traffic Control Measures on regularly rotating No Driving Day on a weekly basis by the tail plate No. of motor vehicles, from February 2 to March 1, 2009, the tail plate No. of the no-driving motor vehicles from Monday through Friday shall be 2 and 7, 3 and 8, 4 and 9, 5 and 0, 1 and 6, respectively (including the temporary plate numbers; provided the tail plate No. of any motor vehicle is an English alphabet, it shall be treated as 0).   

                                                                                                                            January 16, 2009

How does it sound?

I think if all American States do the same, it will be huge reduction of gas emission. As an international student, I always felt that all the pollution from car gas emission is because of America because there are so many cars, and they are not even driving on carpool lane which allows a car to come in when they have only TWO or more people in the car.

In my country South Korea, we have a similar kind of car pool line, but we call it Bus line. A car which can take more than 9 people and there must be more than 6 people in the maximum occupancy of 9 people only can take Bus line which is similar to Car Pool Lane.

The policy “No driving for the day of week,” will be a good way to reduce gas emission from cars.

What can I do for the climate change as an individual?

I always go to school by my car although there is a way to get there by bus. I like to go school by my car because it is more convenient. However, I can take bus like half days or all days of the week.

Also, I can do carpool wherever whenever I go. I can be more close to my friends if I take them together with my car instead of meeting at the place using our own car.

Although I would be the only one person doing this, it would be good for environment. I hope other people think the same as me, so the climate changes slower at least.

Carbon dioxide can stay in the atmosphere for nearly a century, so Earth will continue to warm in the coming decades. The warmer it gets, the greater the risk for more severe changes to the climate and Earth's system. Although it's difficult to predict the exact impacts of climate change, what's clear is that the climate we are accustomed to be no longer a reliable guide for what to expect in the future. Global warming has been concerning scientists for decades. From the melting polar ice caps to catastrophic weather and threatened ecosystems, not only is climate change real, scientists agree that humans are influencing climate change with our production of greenhouse gases mainly stemming from carbon dioxide and methane.

THE MOST INTERESTING THING IN THE SEMESTER !! LANDFILL~~~

Through the entire semester, I have learned a lot about environmental science. The most interesting thing I have learned this semester was the field trip to Land Fill which was my first visiting to see the mountains of trashes.

I went to the BadLands Sanitary Landfill in Moreno Valley in California. I could not imagine how big the landfill is, and I also did not expect to see a HUGE landfill.

When I arrived there, I did not really realize that I was on landfill because it seemed just like mountain without any smell. A tour guide came, and all people went some places around landfill such as where trashes are gathering, where they make some energy, and where they separate trashes.

The landfill is permitted max tonnage of 4,000 tons per day, and they receive average of 2,200 tons/day. I did not know that trashes what I throw away a little per day becomes a part of 2,200 tons of huge trashes. It was amazing and I got shocked how much people throw away things.

There are also people who are monitoring the landfill, and they get inspection every single month that they are still good to keep landfill. There are several monitoring programs such as national Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System, Groundwater Monitoring, Gas Monitoring, and Gas Collection System. Based on how their system works, I could see that even throwing away trashes have very strict regulation.

However, the interesting thing in the landfill was the landfill itself can makes some energy from the Methane gas. They can produce 1.2 MW/hr. I really did not know that they can make energy from trashes.

I was sometimes standing on the mountain of trashes, and sometimes not. They were expanding the landfill since they need more space. The tour guide said that they are planning to expand more even they are expanding right now. How big it is going to be? It was already big to not be able to see the end from my own eyes. I had to walk some places to see other places, and it did not even seem like the end. The tour guide said that if they get more land, they could use the landfill more than 150years. It was amazing that how fast they fill the land with trashes. However, even if it doesn’t smell and we as a human being can use landfill almost forever for ourselves. We should not throw away everything. They also get something almost new working perfectly fine. It shouldn’t happen. One should try best to reduce, reuse, and recycle. 

Although the environmental science class itself was difficult for me as an international student, I have enjoyed class the most among other classes in this semester. The professor taught well for me to understand the lecture. I am still having hard time because of may vocabularies, but it is still fun to learn. I was not interested in Environment before; however, now I feel like I know more than other regular people, I am so into the environment. I try to explain everything that I learn from class to other my friends. It was nice for me to meet AWESOME classmates too. This is my last semester, and I will go back to my country with an associate Degree if i pass this class. haha. It was nice meeting all classmates, and hearing all good ideas and opinions from smart people. My best wishes to all people, and Thank you for reading my last blog for the class.

Thank you again. 

Young.

“24 Hour Energy Saving Day.”

How much can you minimize my energy usage as much as possible for a 24 hour period?

Have you thought of this Idea? 

It could not be very significant for energy saving; however, when one reduces even a little of energy usage, the added up reduction will be huge.

Here is what I did for “24 Hour Energy Saving Day.”

          From Friday night until Saturday night I did absolutely nothing. I took a quick 5 minute shower instead of 15 minutes. I did not use my computer for the 24 hour time frame. Instead of using my computer to watch shows and be on the internet going Facebook and such, I just watched 2 hours of television. I only used my phone when someone would call me or if I need to call someone. I did not use my phone to text, go on my social media networks or check my email. When I would get hungry I would eat snacks that I had in the cabinet. Also, I only ate instant ramen instead of cooking a meal that would use a lot of electricity. As it got dark, I stayed in my room and turned on my desk light when I need to look for something. I ended up sleeping early due to the fact that I was tired. I did not turn on the heater; instead I just grab another blanket to cover myself.

I realized during this exercise the hardest thing for me to give up was my cell phone. My cell phone is basically my life because I use it for social media, check internet, text or call people and play games when I’m bored. To keep myself away from my cell phone I did other assignments for my other classes that did not require me to go on the internet or use my computer. Also, I began to read a book called Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I read up to chapter 3 because I only read it when I was bored and did not want to do school work. The second thing for me to give up was my heater. During the day it is not cold enough to turn on the heater, but at night it becomes cold. Every night I turn on the heater and turn it off right before I go to bed since the room is already warm.

There are things that I’m not willing to give up permanently, but I have cut back down on the amount of electricity I use at home. During this exercise I only used one light and that was the one that was located in my room. Usually I use more than 5 lights in my house and I don’t turn them off until I go to sleep. I decided to change my study location from my room to the living room, since the living room is connected to the kitchen. I decided to have the kitchen light on in my house because it is bright enough that it covers the living room as well. Also, I have decided to cut back on the amount of times I turn on the heater in my house. I have decided to only turn it on when I have guest over and turn in off when they leave, since I realized I can sleep with an extra blanket and it keeps me warm.

          Without me giving an effort I have reduced the amount I charge my laptop and the amount of time the lights and heater. I think if I continue this routine I would naturally do it. Also, I will see the difference in my electricity bill and the water bill. Normally during this time I use more water than any other season, since I shower with hot water. Since I shower with hot water, I take longer because I do not want to go out to the cold. Realistically in the future I would probably use less electricity, laptop and cell phone because I would no longer be a student thus not having a reason why to spend so much electricity. Also, when I have children I would teach them not spend so much electricity because it is not good for the environment and they need to do when the lights go out.

           I had great time doing this project even though it was very difficult for me. I would like to do this maybe every month when I feel like doing nothing I will try to do it. It was very good for me to take a rest and think about myself more. I realized a lot about what I am doing, why I am doing, and how I am doing.

Once you have done this, you would feel good that you tried to save OUR EARTH.

Climate changes even NOW when you are reading this.

What is Climate?

Climate is commonly thought of as the expected weather conditions at a given location over time. People know when they go to New York City in winter, they should take a coat. When they visit the Pacific Northwest, they take an umbrella. Climate can be measured at many geographic scales by statistics as average temperatures, average number of rainy days, and the frequency of droughts.

What is Climate change?

Climate change refers to changes in above statistics over years, decades, or even centuries.

Is Climate changing RIGHT NOW?

YES. There is no doubt that Climate is changing or not.

Our Earth is warming. Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.4°F over the past century, and is projected to rise another 2 to 11.5°F over the next hundred years. Small changes in the average temperature of the planet can translate to large and potentially dangerous shifts in climate and weather.

The evidence is clear. Rising global temperatures have been accompanied by changes in weather and climate. Many places have seen changes in rainfall, resulting in more floods, droughts, or intense rain, as well as more frequent and severe heat waves. The planet's oceans and glaciers have also experienced some big changes - oceans are warming and becoming more acidic, ice caps are melting, and sea levels are rising.

The Earth's climate is changing. Temperatures are rising, snow and rainfall patterns are shifting, and more extreme climate events—like heavy rainstorms and record high temperatures—are already affecting society and ecosystems. Scientists are confident that many of the observed changes in the climate can be linked to the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, caused largely by people burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, heat and cool buildings, and power vehicles.

What does evidence say about humans’ roles in the changing climate?

Over the past century, human activities have released large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The majority of greenhouse gases come from burning fossil fuels to produce energy, although deforestation, industrial processes, and some agricultural practices also emit gases into the atmosphere.

Greenhouse gases act like a blanket around Earth, trapping energy in the atmosphere and causing it to warm. This phenomenon is called the greenhouse effect and is natural and necessary to support life on Earth. However, the buildup of greenhouse gases can change Earth's climate and result in dangerous effects to human health and welfare and to ecosystems.

How is climate change like to affect our society and our world?

“Climate change affects everyone”

Climate changes could very well lead to the spread of diseases such as dungy fever and malaria into more northern regions. Tropical storms and hurricanes will not only increase but may also become more intense. If the changes manifest too quickly, it is feared that animal and plant species may not be able to adapt fast enough and could become extinct.

Our lives are connected to the climate. Human societies have adapted to the relatively stable climate we have enjoyed since the last ice age which ended several thousand years ago. A warming climate will bring changes that can affect our water supplies, agriculture, power and transportation systems, the natural environment, and even our own health and safety.

Some changes to the climate are unavoidable. Carbon dioxide can stay in the atmosphere for nearly a century, so Earth will continue to warm in the coming decades. The warmer it gets, the greater the risk for more severe changes to the climate and Earth's system. Although it's difficult to predict the exact impacts of climate change, what's clear is that the climate we are accustomed to be no longer a reliable guide for what to expect in the future.

What will the world be after 50 years if we continue with our current path and do nothing to slow the rise of CO2 levels in the atmosphere?

Obviously, climate will be changed. The sea level will be different. The whole ecosystem will be different. We also will be able to see only some certain kind of animals. We might not be able to see snow any more. There will be no ice berg. We will loss the amount of crop we get. We will have only some certain crops, so we will not have this present variety food naturally. No organic farming.

Climate Change

Here is Links Below:

Climate Change at the National Academies

http://nas-sites.org/americasclimatechoices/

United States EPA Climate Change Site:

http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/index.html

United Nations Climate Change Information Kit:

http://unfccc.int/resource/iuckit/cckit2001en.pdf

Center for Climate and Energy Solutions

http://www.c2es.org/

My first landfill visit: Badlands Sanitary Landfill

In the Friday early morning on November 15, 2013, I went to the BadLands Sanitary Landfill in Moreno Valley in California. Before I left my home, I could not imagine how big the landfill is, and I also did not expect to see a HUGE landfill. It took around 20 minutes from Riverside City College, and I went there with classmates for carpool. It was cold to be outside.

When I arrived there, I did not really realize that it was landfill. A tour guide came, and all people went some places around landfill such as where trashes are gathering, where they make some energy, and where they separate trashes. I heard about History first. The landfill opened in 1966 as a burn site, but they switched to landfill in 1970 because burning trashes pollute environment. The landfill designated as Class 3 facility by Title 27 California Code of Regulations. The landfill is permitted max tonnage of 4,000 tons per day, and they receive average of 2,200 tons/day. The mountain of trash in landfill was covered by tarp. They can save money by suing Tarp instead of filling with sands. Once landfill filled up with trashes, and there is not any more space, they close. Also nothing goes out of landfill. Everything stays inside except thing that could be recycled. The liner system layer of landfill structures was 7 layers for typical bottom liner system, and 5 layers for typical side slope liner system.

There are also people who are monitoring the landfill, and they get inspection every single month that they are still good to keep landfill. There are several monitoring programs such as national Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System, Groundwater Monitoring, Gas Monitoring, and Gas Collection System. There shouldn’t be any drainage such as hazard, methane, and water. I felt that water leaking is the most important for them to make sure there is not drainage of water, so the other places’ water don’t get any polluted water from the landfill.

They are Not only being careful for drainage, but also paying attention for collecting gas. They collect Methane gas to make energy, and then they sell it to the purchaser, Southern California Edison. The Gas-to-Energy Facility constructed in 2001, and they just made new engine this year. They can produce 1.2 MW/hr. I really did not know that they can make energy from trashes.

I was sometimes standing on the mountain of trashes, and sometimes not. They were expanding the landfill since they need more space. The tour guide said that they are planning to expand more even they are expanding right now. She said that if they get more land, they could use the landfill more than 150years. It was amazing that how fast they fill the land with trashes. However, even if it doesn’t smell and we as a human being can use landfill almost forever for ourselves. We should not throw away everything. They also get something almost new working perfectly fine. It shouldn’t happen. One should try best to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Here are Links :

http://www.moreno-valley.ca.us/resident_services/waste/landfill.shtml

http://www.rivcowm.org/opencms/landfill_info/pdf/Landfill-TS-FacilityFlyerPDFs/88492-Badlands-Landfill-Flyer.pdf

 

No Impact Man: no effect to the environment for an year.

The film, “No Impact Man,” is a documentary that is about family who lives in one of the biggest cities in the world doing an eco-friendly project. In the movie, an environmentalist and also a writer ‘Collin Beavan’ is showing a project that does not affect the environment through practical actions. The phrase itself, ‘No Impact Man’, means that one does not affect anything to environment at all.  Collin did this project for a year. Here are several things what he and his family did.

1.      Do not make trashes

2.      Do not use any transportation such as bus, car, elevator.

3.      Eat food from local

4.      Do not buy things unless really needed

5.      Reduce the amount of electronic energy(using candle)

A common person makes average 0.7ton of trash in a year, so Collin’s family decided to reduce everything which they can. They do not use disposable things, do not buy clothes, do not use transportation, and do not make trashes.

The most impact scene was a radio program that Collin was in. He went to 24^th floor by stairway. It was amazing how he was passionate to do the project. Also, he and his wife ride bicycle instead of driving car or taking bus. Later on, his wife and daughter ride a bicycle together which they got as a support from someone.

The longer mileage that food move increase in greenhouse gas emission, so Collin’s family go a local market in city. They buy local organic food to reduce the greenhouse gas emission by “Food Mileage”, and they also get fresh and inexpensive value of food.

Sobiji move from producer to food street food that much mileage the longer the increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Colin 400km within the family , because I only buy fresh local food to eat. Local organic food to reduce food miles , as well as fresh and inexpensive value . In fact, without the use of disposable food sameokgi region began eating a vegetarian dish is also being replaced are taught never shuts. By doing so, his wife started to learn how to cook with fresh food from local food which she has never made before. In addition, the habit of their eating even changes.

From the beginning, they removed TV in their house, so family and neighbors sit around together and talk most likely catching up and playing a game. It seems very nice that they have time to spare at home because these days it is an issue that there is almost no conversation between families and neighbors. Even after they shut down the whole electricity at home, and they are only living with candle lights. However, they should do their laundry in a bath tub using their feet stepping on clothes because they also stopped using washing machine and refrigerator. They also tried to make a Nigeria refrigerator system which is using two pots, but it turned out that the system is not really working well. In the middle of the project, they were having too much hard time and inconvenience, so they had argument and they were talking about why they should do this. However, they never give up and success the one year project success.

After one year, after the project ends, they start to not doing the project anymore, but his wife said, “Although the project ended, I will still ride bicycle, and I want to go to the local market. No TV.” Although they had really hard time themselves doing this project, they finish the project successfully and they became popular and famous as people who have done eco-friendly environment action.

The movie, “No Impact Man,” has a strong message to regular people that how much the awareness of practice and behavior that actually DO are important. At the end, Collin ended up with conclusion that waste and pollution, greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human nature, but rather is a matter of habit in our society collectively. As he said, it is short cut that one changes his minor habit of individualism reduces pollution.

I had really great time watching the whole movie. I enjoyed and realized how much I am polluting our space. We should try at least few days what Collin’s family did.

We need to protect our EARTH~

One of the healthiest food in the World: Kimchi

Hello, everyone.

Today, I want to introduce a food which I enjoy almost every day. First of all, I am from South Korea. I am not sure that you guys know about a traditional Korean food called Kimchi or Gimchi. Kimchi, also spelled kimchee or gimchi, is a traditional fermented Korean side dish made of vegetables with a variety of seasonings. It is often described as "spicy" or "sour". In traditional preparation Kimchi was often allowed to ferment underground in jars for months at a time. It is Korea's national dish, and there are hundreds of varieties made with a main vegetable ingredient such as napa cabbage, radish, scallion, or cucumber. Kimchi is also a main ingredient for many Korean dishes such as kimchi stew (kimchi jjigae), kimchi pancake (kimchijeon), kimchi soup (kimchiguk), and kimchi fried rice (kimchi bokkeumbap). Almost all Koreans enjoy this food as a side dish in each meal. There are many kinds of Kimchi, but I will introduce the most common one, napa cabbage kimchi. The reddish fermented cabbage (and sometimes radish) dish—made with a mix of garlic, salt, vinegar, chile peppers, and other spices—is served at every meal, either alone or mixed with rice or noodles.

Ingredients
1 (2-pound) head napa cabbage
1/4 cup sea salt or kosher salt
Water
1 tablespoon grated garlic (about 5-6 cloves)
1 teaspoon grated ginger 
1 teaspoon sugar
2-3 tablespoons seafood flavor or water (optional)
1-5 tablespoons Korean red pepper flakes (gochugaru)
8 ounces Korean radish or daikon, peeled and cut into matchsticks
4 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

 

Kimchi Nutrition

Kimchi is prized for its nutritional benefits. Because kimchi is a vegetable based dish, it is high in fiber, vitamins A, B, and C, and minerals yet low in calories. Lactobacillus, the same bacteria used to make yogurt, is used in the fermentation of kimchi. Lactobacillus is valued for its ability to aid in digestion and keep a healthy balance of bacteria in the gut. This good bacteria also seems to help stop and even prevent yeast infections, according to a recent study. And more good news: Some studies show fermented cabbage has compounds that may prevent the growth of cancer.

With the average Korean consuming nearly 40 pounds of kimchi per year, many attribute the good health of Korea's citizens to the many benefits of kimchi. Usually kimchi which Koreans eat is home-made. For example, in my home, my grandmother and mom make kimchi together after buying some ingredient from a local market. Cabbages are grown up in a farm, or imported from china. Other ingrediants are also from local market where around my home. However, since I am in America, it is not easy to get kimchi from the other side of earth. I would like to get shipped by plane, but it costs a lot. Therefore, I always buy Kimchi in a Korean market in Diamond bar or around Los Angeles. Kimchi what I buy is made by a big company, BCD Food INC. The company location is in Gardena California. They make in a factory, and then send it to all grocery markets. It is in a reusable container box. I usually re-use the container after eating all kimchi.

It is great that I can eat fresh kimchi even on the other side of earth.

I highly recommend you to try Korean traditional food Kimchi.

Thank you for reading~ Ask me if you have any questions !

Here are some websites which explains about Kimchi more.

http://foodreference.about.com/od/traditional_foods/a/Kimchi.htm

http://www.health.com/health/article/0,,20410300,00.html

http://www.chow.com/recipes/29505-basic-napa-cabbage-kimchi-kimchee

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

Waste in our life

Have you every though how much you throw away wastes? 

Try this !! 

For Two days just live in regular life throwing away things without thinking how much you throw away.

For another two days, pay attention for waste such as trying not to throw away and try to use reusable things, and do recycle.

Here is my trial ~

I measure the waste two days on November 1 and 2, 2013. I had three bags of 13 gallon trash bags in two days. I just put all trashes in bags all together which means I did not have any bag for recycle. I just threw everything away without thinking the amount of trash such as beer bottles, can beers, water bottles, food etc. There were not so many kinds of trashes although I did not buy anything else except for living. However, there were some disposal boxes which from some restaurant that I took it to go. Also there was some leftover food that went bad.

I could have reduced garbage doing recycling. There are many good points of paying attention. Here is a list that I can do to reduce my trashes.

-       Make a shopping list that I really need

-       Do not buy or cook too much food.

-       Do not try to use one time used stuff(disposable stuff: plastic things, cans, bottles)

-       Make a different trash can for recycle.

After I checked for two days without thinking of the amount of trashes, I tried to reduce trashes for two days which was November 3 and 4. During these two days, I was really paying attention what I throw away, and I also tried not to buy things. Also, I made a trash can for only recycle. As a result, it was amazing that I reduced the half of trashes and I could make a little money back by recycle. Although it was only two days efforts, I realized that I reduced a lot of trashes. If I keep paying attention to my trashes, it will be great to reduce waste. It was great experience doing four days different activity for trashes.

Let’s explore the world of water ~

Where do you live? Do you know where your home’s tap water comes from? I live in Riverside, and my home’s tap water comes from groundwater system. According to Riverside Public Utilities’s Water Quality Annual Report, Riverside’s water begins as rain and snow that touches down in our local foothills and mountains and flows down through the earth into underground aquifers. With every storm, these water sources, located throughout the Riverside and San Bernardino basins, receive new water that is filtered through percolation, a naturally occurring purification process. They are saying that water in Riverside is safe to drink because water surpasses all state and federal standard set by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA). Also, they are saying that we do not need to filter our tap water to make it drinkable because a safe amount of chlorine is used to purify your water and prevent harmful bacteria and viruses from growing in water. The smell that one can smell from the tap water is because of chlorine. Although the Riverside Public Utilities say that the tap water is safe to drink. I personally do not want to drink because it seems not purified. The tap water in my house has some grey color and some smell like pool. I cannot believe that it is safe to drink, so I would drink bottled water.

Who is in charge of the standard of tap water and bottled water?

In 1996, the U.S. Federal Government re-enacted the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). This act sets the minimum quality standards for municipal drinking water throughout the United States. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the responsibility to set the minimum standards on a national level. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set standards for bottled water based on EPA standards. Although bottled water, for the most part, is used for drinking water, it is considered a food product and is subject to the regulations guiding food stuffs.

Bottled water is convenient because one can basically just go to the grocery shopping and buy it. However, there are some concerns that the package of bottled water which is a bottle has been wasted because not all people recycle it.

Here are some problems with bottled water in environment.

• Plastic bottle production in the United States annually requires about 17.6 million barrels of oil.
• Worldwide bottling of water uses about 2.7 million tons of plastic each year.
• Transporting bottled water to market produces air pollution and emissions of carbon dioxide which contribute to global warming.
• The energy it takes to transport the water to market, to chill the bottles, and collect the empties is the energy equivalent of filling each bottle a quarter of the way with oil.
• About 86 percent of empty plastic water bottles in the United States land in the garbage instead of being recycled. That amounts to about two million tons of PET plastic bottles piling up in U.S. landfills each year.
• Many plastic bottles end up being incinerated, releasing toxic byproducts such as chlorine gas and ash laden with heavy metals into the air.

How "Green" is Your school?

Saving energy and going “Green” has been trend for public areas.

On the last Thursday, I walk around Riverside City College where I go to look for how the school is doing a green campaign.  

The campus has gone green because it uses the automatic system in the bathrooms, more recycling bins and provide transportation for students. In the Math and Science building, when going to the restroom the lights automatically turn on and off because the lights have a censor. When leaving the restroom, the lights turn off because the censor no longer senses a human. The bathroom also has automatic censors for the water and the paper towels. The water only turns on when the censor senses human hands. By having the automatic system it controls how much water is being used and how much electricity is being used. When someone is using a regular bathroom that has no automatic system uses more energy and water. When someone is washing their hands over the sink and turn on the faucet they keep the water running until they are done using it.

By having recycling bins around campus and the cafeteria it helps the environment and at the same students can say they help the campus become green. At the same time students can use full advantage of their tuition since the school provides transportation for them. Why waste mileage and gas when the school uses a small amount of tuition to provide free transportation. About 5 years ago, the school came up with the system because the school saw many students drive to campus and polluting the environment.

As I continue to walk around I could not find any sustainable effort in the classroom and grounds.

Lane Community College in Oregon, for example, has composters in its kitchens and holds clothing exchanges to reduce waste.

In Lane Community College in Oregon has found a way to reduce waste in the world. The school decided to have composters in order to turn food waste into manure. At the same time the school holds a clothing exchange that helps reduce the amount of trash clothing each year. By them having this exchange people get to meet other people and help the environment.

There are some restrooms still has not been changed to the automatic system. Currently, the school is changing some of the restrooms, but I do not know the process of which the school is doing them. In order for me to find out, I will go to interview Cynthia E. Azari, the chancellor of Riverside Community College District. I will ask her if it is okay to check the difference of a month bill of the building including water usage and electricity between the building having automated restrooms and non-automated restrooms. Also, to see how effect the change is I will create a simple survey containing age, year, and two questions asking the students how many times they use the restroom and if they believe if the automatic system works. Having this survey I will then sent it to Cynthia E. Azari to show her that this change is effective and should be used in all the schools.

Let's Try to Be Friend with Nature !

Everyone is getting stress when they focus on doing something. Naturally people want to take a rest. The same thing happened to me last weekend. On Saturday on September 28, 2013, I decided to go out to take a rest and walk around to stress away since I could not focus on studying. I had so much to do, so I just wanted to take a break doing nothing.

It was sunny nice Saturday.

I unintentionally walked to the International Village, around my apartment, which is a dormitory for international students around University California of Riverside. After I saw the place, I wanted to go to the behind of the building where the soccer and basketball field are.

Then I suddenly wanted to sit on the grass to feel the nature and think nothing like meditation. I wanted to try not to think about anything and tried to feel the nature and refresh myself.

I was sitting there more than 20 minutes, but I did not realize that I was sitting there quite long time. I was feeling good by doing nothing.

While I was there, I sometimes closed my eyes and opened my eyes to look around me.

I think I was closing my eyes about 5-10mins.

While I closed my eyes, I felt wind a little touching my skin; grass was moving around me and made some noise a little. There were also trees behind of me making some noise with their branches and leaves. I heard a bird sound around me, but I was not sure what the bird is.

Also, because of the clouds I could feel that I am under the shade although I was not sitting under a tree. When I was under the shade because of clouds I could feel that the air around me was a little cooler and I wanted to be out more. However, it was really hot and I felt I was burning when I was not in the shade.

Even though I did not move at all sitting at a position, the nature itself was moving and making some different. I was imagining the huge picture of nature, so I realized that I am a very small “thing” in the nature.

After I tried to feel the nature with closing eyes, I opened my eyes to look around what I felt.

There were many biotic things around me which I could not actually see them.

I tried to see the nature as much as I can see the details.

There were some small flies flying around me and annoying me.  

There were many ants working such as bringing some sweet things from unknown place.  There was a lizard was on the tree, and the lizard did not have the tail. I thought he had a hard time to survive.

Some birds were flying around the building and there were some people looking at me a little bit strange.

Some people were about to play basketball probably to stress away like me, or to have fun with friends.

It was nice experience trying to be a small natural thing. I would never know what are around me if I do not really care or try to feel. After being together with nature for my break, I could have been focus more for my study.We should not forget that we are a small species in the nature. We are living in the world with many things together including biotic and abiotic things. A lot of bugs and flies flying around me were moving from tree to other trees(mutualism), and ants working on walking in the nature and taking food from other area(commensalism). I could find easily producer such as grass, primary and secondary consumers in the food chain.

Air Pollution is Killing People

Hello, Everyone !!

As time goes by, the air pollution is being more serious problem. We all know that it will be worse than now.

Do you know how bad the pollution is in the Earth, and how the pollution effect to our life?

Have you ever thought that people are dying because of air pollution?

I found an interesting article, “Air pollution killing over two million annually, study says,” in CNN, Cable News Network.

The article link is below:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/16/world/air-pollution-killing-study/index.html?iref=allsearch

This article was in Going Green which is a series of special programs on CNN international reporting on some of the world’s most environmental issues.

In the article, Mattew Knight is saying that air pollution is effecting people's dying. According to a new study, people are dying every year because of the effects of outdoor air pollution, and the climate change does not impact much on effects of air pollution. Also, the worst affected areas are in East Asia. It has several examples based on statistics in studies.

The studies are new, but it is reliable information source since the article is in major broadcast company CNN. The information this article is giving could be too much, but it is understandable and believable. 
The air pollution is not killing people directly, but the pollution effect on people to get a disease with more chance.

I actually did not think that the air pollution is this much serious, so people could die because of air pollution, but it is very serious problem. After reading this article, I realized that the air pollution is more serious than I thought.

Air pollution is an important problem for everyone in the world for the future and one of the important environmental risk factors for health. Therefore, we need to try to keep our environment clean. It is not easy to make it cleaner than now, but we all should put our effort to keep our environment clean for our future after we are all gone.

Thank you for reading,

Young Ik Son

FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR

 If everyone lived like me, I would say that at least 5 Planet Earths we would need to supply resources.

In process FOOTPRINT CALCULATOR....

HERE THE RESULT IS !!

At the pie chart, the part of services has the most part, a little more than half.
In addition 3.8 planet earth need to supply in MY WORLD. It is pretty interesting.

After that, here are something that I can do to reduce my footprint!

So, I checked everything that I can do, and see what happened was that I can reduce 0.6 planet earth by doing those above.

I enjoyed doing the footprint and fun !! I want to talk about this to my friend, so they also realize a little about environmental situation.

Thank you.