What happens after we (MA) flush our toilets? Where does everything go?
- After we flush the toilets at MA the water is pumped into a settling tank and then it goes through the Regional Wastewater facilities.
- Flows through a series of pipes until it hits The Central Marin Sanitation Agency (CMSA), where the waste will be pumped, processed, and disposed
- Then it flows into a primary settling tank where solids settle out of the sludge.
- It then undergoes a secondary sewage treatment plant in which bacteria is removed.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Children's Books Lose Touch with Nature
Lizzy Elliott
March 16th
"Children's Books Lose Touch with Nature"
(photo of Blueberries for Sal won't upload! so here is the link):
http://www.carlemuseum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/472.jpg
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=26685
http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2007/english/introduction.html
Purpose:
- A group of researchers examined pictures found in the pages of Caldecott Medal-winning books from 1938 up till today. They looked for images of a natural environment (as opposed to a built or modified environment like a house or park) and of wild animals (rather than domesticated or anthropomorphized creatures). They discovered that natural environments disappeared.
- The fall of the depiction of the natural environment comes alongside our increasing isolation from natural environments as a whole. Our world is rapidly becoming urbanized. In 2008, more than half of the world’s population was living in urban areas, either towns or cities. (found through further research). As the population grows and we use more natural resources, the natural environments will continue to disappear. With the economic crisis, beautiful and highly biodiverse state parks are facing closure. In California, 70 of the 278 state parks will be forced to close, leaving them unmaintained and unprotected. That means that this land could be bought and developed. (found through further research).
** Connection to HCI curriculum**- how media alters human behavior (as it relates to the environment).
Establishing an emotional relationship with nature as a child, be it through physical interaction with nature or through reading picture books and using the imagination, motivates children to help save, protect and respect their environment.
Discussion Questions:
The fact that our changed interaction with nature is reflected in our children’s books is not surprising – but should it be disturbing?
1.How will the lack of nature-filled books affect our generation and future generations of children in terms of their relationship to the environment? Will this fact contribute to a failure to protect it? Will they lose interest in the natural world?
2. It is an interesting coincidence that the Green movement has become so prevalent, yet children’s books continue to focus on man-made environments and consuming.
Do you think action should be taken to change the children book “industry” so that there are more nature-filled books?
3. In the future as a mother or father if you plan to have kids, will you make an effort to establish a relationship between your child and nature? Will you seek out books that include pictures of nature? Or do you think it has little to no impact on the child’s future actions regarding the environment.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Luke's News Report
Luke Winfield
Date presented: 3/7/12
Burmese Pythons Taking Over the Everglades
I chose this topic because I never knew about the severity of these pythons. It is a relatively quiet problem so I wanted to share it with the class.
Discussion Questions:
How accurate do you think these road tests are in determining the affect of the python?
Date presented: 3/7/12
Burmese Pythons Taking Over the Everglades
I chose this topic because I never knew about the severity of these pythons. It is a relatively quiet problem so I wanted to share it with the class.
Discussion Questions:
How accurate do you think these road tests are in determining the affect of the python?
Do you think this ban on importation of pythons in the Florida Keys will stop this problem?
Do you think the everglades can adapt to these invasive snakes eventually?
Follow up Research:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/01/burmese-pythons-invading-the-everglades/
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2010/06/30/python_prohibition_bong_ban_among_new_fla_laws/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/01/120130-florida-burmese-pythons-mammals-everglades-science-nation/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1006_051006_pythoneatsgator.html
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Ben's News Report #2
Ben Miller
2/13/12
Lake Vostok Breached!
Purpose: The purpose of my presentation was to make people aware of this groundbreaking event but at the same time, discuss the possible negative side effects of the project.
Discussion Questions:
- Do you think this was an irresponsible decision on the Russians part to break the ice? Would you have broken the ice to test the water?
- Do you think this should have been a global decision rather than a Russian one?
- Do you guys hope that we find new life species?
Additional Info: Prehistoric lake
- Trapped under 12,300 ft. of ice for 25 million years
- Lake Vostok is actually the third largest lake in the world
- The lakes are rich in oxygen (making them oligotrophic), with levels of the element some 50 times higher than what would be found in your typical freshwater lake. The high gas concentration is thought to be because of the enormous weight and pressure of the continental ice cap.
- Will be sampling water in November/Sending robots down to sample water.
Links/sources:
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Andrew's News Report #2- 2/3/12
News Report Spring 2012: Pythons!
· Good news: There are no large snakes native to North America- no boa constrictors, no anacondas, no pythons
· The bad news: There are currently between 30,000 and 100,000 (150,000) enormous Burmese pythons roaming around Florida (The Everglades) and they’re pretty much impossible to control.
o 12 feet long and eat almost anything, up to and including alligators. Recent study shows raccoon and possums are down more than 98%, bobcat down 87%, and rabbits and foxes are gone.
· Obviously present a huge threat to the ecosystem here, but how did they get here?
o Nat Geo video ( http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2010/01/25/florida_python_hunter/ )
o 1:00-2:20
· Pythons are known for being very adaptive to their environments, almost undetectable by prey, and deadly for the fact that can attack from land or underwater.
· Efforts are underway to control population by barring python importation.
Questions:
· What should be done to solve this problem? How do we get rid of 30,000+ snakes?
o Offering rewards for hunting them may be effective
· Though nobody knows for sure how this happened, and it was probably accidental, is there anything we can or should be doing to prevent invasive species from creating a situation like this?
o Probably not: another theory is that pet owners dumped their unwanted exotic pets nearby, which may have caused this problem and the introduction of a number of other non-native species. There are just too many variables, but perhaps the only option, though imperfect, is to just try to be vigilant.
· Have you heard of any similar stories?
Adam’s NR comes to mind
Conclusion:
· Obviously this is kind of a sad story that doesn’t have any clear solution. I think this will be important to watch as an example to deal with situations like this that may become more common in light of climate change’s impact on ecosystems.
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