kcolemanenvironmentalstudies

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My Position as an Environmental Stakeholder

Katherine Coleman Prof. Van Buren ENST 1000 12/20/17 My Position as an Environmental Stakeholder To me, environmental studies is extremely important. There are reasons as to why I selected environmental studies as my major here at Fordham. I hope to help change society’s general, negative view on the environment once I graduate to help change the Earth and look towards a better future for all species on Earth. I believe that possessing an environmental worldview is extremely important with our relations to the Earth and other people. With an eco-centric worldview, humans are able to understand the importance of living on Earth and coexisting with all other organisms. We all share the same home and we must respect and cherish everything it offers us for survival. It is difficult for me to see people destroying our home with little care for others or the future of the Earth. With a concrete understanding in environmental studies from Fordham, I look to apply this to my career. I want to become an environmental architect or urban planner to help create greener, more sustainable cities for people to live in. It is evident that the world’s population is migrating to cities, and it is important to adapt to a growing urban population in a sustainable mannerism. In the future I hope that I can properly apply my eco-centric worldview to my career and help many people live more easily and sustainably.

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Images from the Final Practicum Essay

Figure 1 (Bottom Left): The trash room in Alumni Court South on the second floor. 

Figure 2 (Bottom Right): The trash room in Alumni Court South on the first floor. 

Figure 3 (Top): The trash room in Martyr’s Court LaLand on the third floor. 

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Practicum Final Essay

Katherine Coleman Prof. Van Buren ENST 1000 1 November 2017 Learning Practicum Essay For my practicum I chose to participate in the Sustainability Committee in United Student Government on the Rose Hill campus. This is a committee that meets once a week on Wednesdays from 7 to 9. I was happy that I joined the sustainability committee because I knew upon coming to Fordham that I wanted to participate in a program that allowed students to work with each other to help solve environmental issues on campus. This was especially important to me because I am passionate on improving Fordham’s environmental footprint and helping to transform the minds of students into a more eco-centric worldview. The committee meetings usually last two hours, however on some weeks the meetings were cancelled, which leveled out the average amount of one or more hours per week. Being the single freshman present on the Sustainability Committee for most meetings was interesting for me because I was exposed to different perspectives and opinions that were shared to the committee upperclassmen. This challenged me because it forced me to share my opinion on environmental issues at Fordham to a group of students who know the school and campus very well. The positive responses and information that were given to me by the upperclassmen helped me understand the school and student view on environmental issues here. Everyone on the committee is genuinely interested in improving the school’s environmental programs and policies. We recognize that many things cannot be successfully completed here without a strong push from students. There are a myriad of programs and initiatives that the Sustainability Committee partakes in to help improve the environmental and sustainability around campus. For example, one initiative that I am partially involved in is the addition of solar panels on the rooftop of the parking garage. If successful, this project will allow Fordham to become more sustainable and waste much less energy than the university does today. However, this is an extremely large project and will take far longer after I graduated to complete, so we must have help from students who are younger than us once the committee meets again in Fall of 2018. Another project that I am working on is proper recycling programs in dorms. Unfortunately, trash bins are poorly labeled in almost every dorm on campus and therefore students do not understand how to properly recycle, nor where to place their trash. I live in Alumni Court South on the second floor, and there are no directions that help students properly bestow their trash, except for a sign of paper that reads “Please Recycle”. I recognize that many students want to recycle, but it is difficult for them to even do so when no bins are labeled specifically for trash, paper, or plastics. When I enter the trash room, mixed trash is in every bag. I know that the clear bags are intended for recycling, however I knew that from being on this committee. Students who are not on the Sustainability Committee do not realize that black bags are meant for trash, while clear bags are for recycling. This, however, still opens many problems. In my trash room on the second floor there is one clear bag and five black bags (Figure 1). This does not evenly represent the ratio of trash produced on my floor. Each time I enter the trash room, the one clear waste bin is filled with both trash and recyclables. Besides the one clear bag and the five black ones, there is a clear bag with a cover on top of it labeled “Paper”. The hole in this bin is far too small to fit many different types of paper products which should be recycled, such as cardboard boxes. You can easily see in Figure 1 that this is the case. Because there is a cardboard box on top of both the recycling bins. On the left side of the image, one student chose to put a cardboard pizza box in a black trash bag. They most likely did this because the “Paper” recycling bin’s hole is far too small for the box so the student was forced to move it to the trash. Students do not fully understand the parameters to recycling and therefore this is why I believe there should be detailed signs in every trash room. However, some floors have a complete guide on how to properly recycle, yet the individual bins in the room are poorly labeled. For example, the first floor trash room in my dorm, Alumni Court South, has a large poster explaining what is considered what in regards to recycling different objects, yet not all of the bins are labeled. As you can see in the image (Figure 2), there are both black and clear bags. However, the clear bag on the left is not labeled specifically for paper or plastic, so students may just assume this is a miscellaneous recycling bag and thus it will not be organized. Another example of poor trash rooms in campus is the third floor of Martyr’s Court Laland. Here, there is no evidence of how or what to recycle to students, besides labeling the clear bags with covers over them saying “Paper” or “Plastic” (Figure 3). Again, this raises more issues because the small holes in these recycling bins may not be big enough to fit certain pieces of trash in. This forces students to put their waste that is too big for the recycling bins into the black trash bins where they fit, which defeats the entire purpose of having recycling bins in the trash rooms in dorms. In regards to fixing the issue of poor dorm trash rooms on campus, the process has been tedious. I spoke with my RA on the matter and she agreed that this was an issue which must be addressed. However, upon speaking with my RD, he told me that fixing the trash rooms in our building will be a long project because specific posters and bins are needed to go through multiple checks. This is disappointing because we want to have the proper methods of recycling to be known to all students as soon as possible. A further initiative I am currently working on in the Sustainability Committee is having the school and the Office of Residential Life evenly distribute personal recycling bins to individual dorm rooms on campus. Every dorm room on campus is required to have a recycling bin on move in day, and then to return that bin at the end of the year. However, many students don’t even receive the initial bin. For example, my dorm room did not get a bin, however the room next to me received two on move in day. The entire girls floor of Faber Hall did not receive recycling bins upon move in day. This is an issue that required contact with the Office of Residential Life, and the members of the Sustainability Committee and I are working on setting a meeting to meet with them. The Sustainability Committee has been successful with many of their initiatives this year and I am excited to participate more in the committee to help improve the sustainability of Fordham.

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Blog #14

Katherine coleman Prof. Van Buren ENST 1000 12/20/17 Blog #14: The Climate Change Disinformation Campaign: Worldview and Communications Wars—Planetary Management Vs. Stewardship/Earth Wisdom In today’s modern world, it is unfortunate to say that climate change denial exists. Though clear scientific evidence proves the existence of global warming, many still deny it because it agrees with their individual political party or goes against self economic interest. It is extremely important to understand the perspective of climate change denial, why climate change is a world ethical issue, and how to change society’s opinion on the matter. The U.S. Disinformation Campaign is one that misinforms large segments of the public that the scientific basis of human caused global warming is without merit. Disinformation is different than scientific skepticism because skepticism is encouraged and healthy, whereas disinformation is deeply ethically abhorrent. The sociological literature of the Disinformation Campaign describes themselves as a counter movement The Disinformation Campaign is extremely dangerous to the environment because it successfully convinces the public that climate change is a hoax. However, the consensus view here is that climate change is real and many people will be affected by it in the future, specifically poor people. Many scientific groups support this view, such as the American Society of Sciences. Members of this campaign all communicate with each other over the internet and see themselves as “Think Tanks, Front Groups, Astroturf, PR firms, and some scientists who believe that no government action should be taken unless all uncertainties are resolved” (Brown). The Think Tanks are right wings who are against government regulating the free market so they deny climate change for their own good by means of having their respective business thrive. The tactics this campaign uses is a reckless disregard for the truth and focusing on unknown facts while ignoring known ones, which is a dangerous approach when considering the well being of our entire planet and habitat. Many people believe that climate change is a hoax which has an aim at hurting the middle class American citizen. It has been described it as “a trojan horse designed to abolish capitalism and replace it with some kind of socialism” (Klein). Those who are against climate change argue that it has little to do with the state of the environment and much to do with shackling capitalism and transforming the American way of life in the interests of global wealth redistribution. For example, just days into his presidential campaign, with his home state literally burning up with wildfires, Texas Governor Rick Perry delighted the base by declaring that climate scientists were manipulating data “so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects” (Klein). This reflects much of America’s opinion on climate change if a politician takes a stance on a specific issue while campaigning. In the past couple of years, the American public has slowly silenced themselves away from the truth on climate change. This uneasy silence has persisted through the end of the hottest decade in recorded history and yet another summer of natural disasters and record-breaking heat worldwide. The main problem with public opinion on climate change is that much of the public is misinformed on the issue. An advertisement from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity spent its time on the air discussing the benefits of coal as we use it for a source of electricity. In America, coal heats our homes and helps to power our lives. However, the ad failed to mention that even though coal may be the cheapest, it is still the most environmentally harmful source of energy. Most of the American public is oblivious to this fact and therefore does not realize the harmful effect that their usage of coal and electricity has on the environment. Newt Gingrich, an influential Republican politician, was unable to defend his concrete stance on climate change. His opinions reflect how the public sees global warming: as whatever politicians or big companies will tell them it is. Gingrich said that the evidence of knowing that climate change is caused by humans is too early to tell in the 2012 presidential primaries. However, he spoke in a commercial with then Speaker of the House, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, where they both agree that America must take action against climate change together as a country and that reducing carbon emissions over the next 50 years is a sound concept. His opinions on climate change probably confused the American public due to his swinging perspective on the issue. This forces Americans to trust politicians less and have a more skeptical outlook on climate change, which is not helpful in the progress of society. Climate change is an ethical problem. Ethics is defined as the domain of inquiry that examines statements about what is bad or good, or when duties attach to human actions. Climate change should be considered as an ethical question because emitters, specifically in the U.S., are putting other groups of people in the world at risk. These people are often the poorest in the planet who are most at risk of climate change yet did not preform any environmental harm. The harsh impacts on life and ecological systems on which life depends due to climate change have lasting impacts on impoverished communities; It creates catastrophic harm to vulnerable people. The victims of climate change can’t petition their governments to protect them. Their only hope is that people in developed countries will see their struggle and feel they have an obligation to help these victims change their behavior. It is critically important to identify these ethical issues because they are often hidden in scientific and economic arguments on what the right thing to do is. Climate change raises a host of a myriad of ethical issues which raise coinciding ethical questions. It is important to evaluate these questions in order to better understand the reasons behind climate change denial and how to help alter society’s views on an extremely pressing issue.

Word Count: 1,111

Question: How does one properly combat climate change ignorance?

Works Cited

Brown, Donald. “The Ethical Abhorrence of the Climate Change Disinformation Campaign”. Youtube. 12 August 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-5v8GJ-q4fE “Coal Power”. Youtube. 21 February 2008. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=a8vLDxenusE Klein, Naomi. “Capitalism vs. the Climate”. The Nation. 09 November 2011.https://www.thenation.com/article/capitalism-vs-climate/ “Newt Gingrich Still Unsure of Man Made Global Warming”. Youtube. 28 November 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UARAI9Q5Tk0

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Images from Blog #12

Figure 1: This coal burning power plant in India produces large amounts of pollution because it has inadequate air pollution controls.

Figure 2: Both passive and active solar heating systems at work. 

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Blog #12

Katherine Coleman Prof. Van Buren ENST 1000 12/20/17 Blog #12: Nonrenewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, and Renewable Energy Energy aids the world in movement and power. As humans, there are many different ways we obtain energy from the Earth in order to power our lives. In Environmental Studies, it is important to understand how we receive energy from the Earth, the uses we have for this energy, and the coinciding environmental effects of using it. Due to the first law of thermodynamics, it takes high-quality energy to get high-quality energy. Before oil becomes useful to humans, it must be found, pumped up from beneath the ground, transferred to a refinery, converted to useful fuels, and delivered to consumers. All these steps use high-quality energy that was obtained by burning fossil fuels, such as oil and coal. The second law of thermodynamics states that some of the high-quality energy used in each step is wasted and degraded to lower-quality energy. No matter how hard we try or how clever we are, we cannot violate the two scientific laws of thermodynamics in regards to obtaining sources for energy. Net energy is defines as the ratio of energy produced to the energy used to produce it. Today, most conventional oil has a high net energy ratio because much of it has come from concentration deposits of crude oil found in shallow water. Oil producers have to use more energy and money to develop dispersed and smaller deposits which are found deeper underground when these sources become depleted. When this happens, the net energy ratio of  conventional oil declines and extraction costs rise due to the laws of thermodynamics. Due to the second law of thermodynamics, about 41% of all commercial energy is wasted. This happens when people drive gas-guzzling vehicles as opposed to gas-sipping vehicles. In addition, the U.S. utilizes inefficient coal-burning and nuclear power plants to produce about two-thirds of the electricity we use to power the country. On top of this, many American citizens live and work in loosely and poorly designed, under insulated and leaky buildings that contain poor lighting, furnaces, air conditioners, and other appliances. Americans can easily save a lot of money if they sharply reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other air pollutants and decrease their expensive dependence on imported oil by reducing this unnecessary energy waste. It is important to understand the difference between conventional oil and gas and the coinciding environmental effects. Conventional oil is currently abundant, has a high net energy yield, and is relatively inexpensive. However, using it causes air and water pollution and releases greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Conventional oil has an ample supply for many decades and a low land distribution. Unfortunately, it has the potential to create water pollution from oil spills and the environmental cost of producing conventional oil is not included in the market price. Conventional natural gas is more plentiful than oil, has a high net energy yield at a low cost, while having the lowest environmental impact of all fossil fuels. Natural gas is useful and clean-burning fossil fuel. Burning natural gas releases carbon dioxide and several other air pollutants into the atmosphere. However, it releases much less CO2 per unit of energy than coal, crude oil, synthetic crude oil from tar sands and oil shales, and the nuclear power fuel cycle. Due to this, some people view natural gas as an important fuel for making the transition from oil and coal to renewable solar and wind power during this century. On the other hand, conventional coal is plentiful and has a high net energy yield and low cost. However, conventional coal has a very high environmental impact. Coal is by far the dirtiest of all fossil fuels (Figure 1). Before it is burned, the process of making it available severely degrades land and pollutes water and air. When coal is burned without expensive pollution control devices, it severely pollutes the air. In the United States, coal burning power plants prematurely kill more than twenty four thousand people a year. It is important to understand how harmful conventional coal is and the health risks associated to its production. Energy efficiency is essential in the proper usage of it. Each unit of energy saved eliminates the need to produce that energy, while saving money. The energy that is used to heat and cool homes and other buildings, to provide light, and to propel motor vehicles is not free. Thus, saving energy saves money and reduces our environmental impact. If enough people reduce energy use and waste, then pollution will also be reduced. This could save us even more money by lowering health care and insurance costs and taxes used for pollution control and cleanup. In addition, there are many new technologies which sharply increases the energy efficiency of industrial operations, motor vehicles, appliances, and buildings. One way of using effective methods of energy is through solar. Both passive and active solar heating systems can heat water and buildings effectively (Figure 2). We can provide some homes and other buildings with most of the heat they need by using passive solar heating systems. Such a system absorbs and stores heat from the sun directly within a well-insulated structure. In addition to solar power, humans can utilize water flowing over dams, tidal flows, and ocean waves to generate electricity. However, environmental concerns and limited availability of suitable sites may limit our use of these energy resources. Hydropower uses the kinetic energy of flowing and falling water to produce electricity. The most common approach to harnessing hydropower is to build a high dam across a large river to create a reservoir. Hydropower is the world's leading renewable energy source used to produce electricity. When we include the environmental costs of using energy resources in market prices of energy, wind power is the least expensive and least polluting way to produce electricity. Unlike oil and coal, wind is widely distributed and in-exhaustable. Wind power is mostly carbon-free and pollution-free. Scientists are currently working on ways to store wind energy. Electricity produced by wind can be passed through water and used to produce hydrogen fuel, which could be thought of as “stored” wind power. We can make the transition to a more sustainable energy future by greatly improving energy efficiency, using a mix of renewable energy resources, and including the environmental costs of energy resources in their market prices. Humans must develop energy policies with the future in mind, because experience shows that it usually takes at least fifty years and huge investments to phase in new energy alternatives. It is interesting to learn about the environmental effects of energy because these effects are usually out of sight out of mind for the common citizen. Creating energy policy involves trying to find solutions for energy alternatives is important in the environmental future of our world.

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Images from Blog #13

Figure 1: Traffic in Delhi, India, which helps increase the amount of smog in the city each day.

Figure 2: The process of the creation of photochemical smog.

Figure 3: Indoor air pollutants expressed throughout the modern home.

Figure 4: My personal home’s CO2 emissions compared to the national average.

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Blog #13

Katherine Coleman Prof. Van Buren ENST 1000 05 December 2017 Air Pollution and Climate Change Blog Both air pollution and climate change are serious issues that effect the Earth today. Air pollution is a direct cause of climate change as it harms and helps to warm the environment. In environmental studies, it is important to understand the effects that air pollution and climate change have on our Earth and different, sustainable solutions to these issues. The atmosphere contains all the chemicals needed for life. The two innermost layers of the atmosphere are the troposphere, which supports life, and the stratosphere, which contains the protective and vital ozone layer. The movement of air in the troposphere play a key role in the Earth’s climate and weather. In fact, about 80% of the Earth’s air mass is found in the troposphere. The ozone layer in the stratosphere keeps 95% of the sun’s harmful UV radiation from reaching the earth’s surface. However, due to air pollution, harmful chemicals that are released into the atmosphere have begun to break down this critical and protective layer. Air pollution is defined as the presence of chemicals in the atmosphere that exist in concentrations high enough to harm organisms, ecosystems, or alter the climate. Air pollution consists of industrial smog, photochemical smog, acid deposition, and indoor air pollutants. Pollutants mix in the air to form industrial smog and photochemical smog. Industrial smog is primarily a result of burning coal, and photochemical smog is caused by emissions from motor vehicles, industrial facilities, and power plants. Air pollutants come from both natural and human sources. Natural sources include wind blown dust, wildfires, and volcanoes, while human air pollutants happen more so in urban areas from burning fossil fuels in power plants and from using cars. Primary pollutants are chemicals or substances emitted directly into the air from natural processes and human activities at harmful concentrations, where secondary pollutants are formed from these primary ones interacting with each other. Major air pollutants include carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulates, methane, ozone, and volatile organic compounds. Industrial smog is a mix of sulfur dioxide, suspended droplets of sulfuric acid, and a variety of suspended solid particles. It is still a serious issue in most urban areas in developing countries that burn coal for power. Touching again on my experience in India, while we stayed in Delhi we were advised to only go on excursions in the morning and night because the smog became so powerful during the day. Figure 1 demonstrates the insane amount of traffic I saw in Delhi during the morning, which helped create the immense amount of smog during the day. On the other hand, photochemical smog is a mixture of primary and secondary pollutants formed under the influence of UV radiation from the sun. Volatile organic compounds combined with nitric oxide, heat, and sunlight create ground level ozone, other photochemical oxidants, aldehydes, and other secondary pollutants (Figure 2 - Page 3). The beginning of photochemical smog starts when morning commuter traffic released large amounts of Nitric Oxides and VOCs into the air over a city. These combine with other primary pollutants through heat and sunlight, creating harmful chemical smog, which is much more common in cities with warm and dry climates. Acid deposition, another form of air pollution, is caused by coal burning power plants and motor vehicle emissions. It threatens human health, aquatic life and ecosystems, and forests. Large smoke stacks increase regional air pollution downwind, and as they travel they form into secondary pollutants and descend into the earth as acid precipitation. This can harm the soil and thus an entire ecosystem downwind of a smoke stack. The prevention of acid deposition includes reducing coal usage, burning low-sulfur coal, increasing use of natural gas and renewable energy sources, and taxing emissions of Sulfur Dioxide. In regards to indoor air pollutants, the most threatening are smoke and soot from the burning of wood and coal in cooking fires in developing countries. In developed countries, the threat of indoor air pollution exists in chemicals used in building materials and cleaning products (Figure 3 - Page 4). Air pollution can contribute to many health defects such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, lung cancer, heart attack, and stroke. The prolonged exposure to air pollutants can break down the body’s natural response to air pollutants and thus make someone very sick. According to the EPA, each year more than “125,000 Americans get cancer from breathing soot-laden diesel fumes emitted by buses and trucks” (Miller 483). 95% of these cancer cases are from urban areas. Legal, economic, and technical tools can help us to clean up air pollution; however, the best solution is to prevent it. The EPA has established “national emission standards for more than 188 hazardous air pollutants that may cause serious health and ecological effects” (Miller 485). Prevention of air pollution includes walking, biking, utilizing mass transit, and removing cars that pollute from the road. Cleanup consists of requiring emission control devices and setting strict emission standards. If air pollution was improved, the health of many individuals and the Earth would be in safer hands. Scientific evidence states the earth’s atmosphere is warming due to a combination of natural effects and human activities. The period from “1983 to 2012 was likely the warmest 30-year period of the last1400 years in the Northern Hemisphere” (Synthesis Report 2) and is expected to lead to significant climate disruption over the next century. In the U.S., the “average temperature has increased by 1.3°F to 1.9°F since 1895, and most of this increase has occurred since 1970” (Climate Change Impacts in the United States 1). Over the past 3 billion years, Earth’s climate has changed drastically. It is concerning now because it is changing faster than ever before due to human activity. A natural process called the greenhouse effect warm’s the Earth’s lower atmosphere and surface, thus effecting the climate. Similarly, air pollutants have damaged the greenhouse effect by increasing it due to the amount of pollutants in the air, which help rise the overall global temperature. The projected rapid change in the atmosphere’s temperature could have severe and long-lasting consequences, including increased drought and flooding, rising sea levels, and shifts in the locations of croplands and wildlife habitats. Increased atmospheric warming can possess severe consequences, such as drought and more ice melting, which would increase sea levels and displace people living in coastal communities. In order to slow the projected rate of atmospheric warming and climate disruption, we can increase energy efficiency, sharply reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rely more on renewable energy resources, and slow population growth. Our widespread use of certain chemicals has reduced ozone levels in the stratosphere, which has allowed more harmful ultraviolet radiation to reach Earth’s surface. To reverse ozone depletion we must stop utilizing ozone-depleting chemicals and adhere to the international treaties which ban such chemicals.

Question: How do we aid developing countries in sustainably converting to sources of energy that decrease pollutants in the air and our global, human effect on climate change? Word Count: 1,304 words

Works Cited 1) Blue, Yellow. “Sources of Indoor Air Pollution”. YellowBlueTech. Web. 2017. https://yellowbluetech.com/2017/07/24/sources-indoor-air-pollution/ 2) Climate Change Impacts in the United States. “Overview and Report Findings”. U.S. Global Change Research Program. Amazonnaws. 3) Miller, Tyler G. Spoolman, Scott E. “Living in the Environment”. Cengage Learning. Print. 2012. 4) UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). “Synthesis Report”. Summary for Policy Makers.

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Images from Blog #11

Figure 1: Signs of coal ash swirl in the water in the Dan River in Danville, Va.

Figure 2: An arial photo demonstrates the farming in arid Riverside County, California.

Figure 3: My personalized water footprint. It is far below the average because I am a vegetarian and therefore consume less water from the production of meat. 

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Blog #11

Katherine Coleman Prof. Van Buren ENST 1000 29 November 2017 Water Resources and Water Pollution Blog Water is an essential chemical that maintains all life. Freshwater is one of the Earth’s most important forms of natural capital, yet humans are managing it poorly by wasting and polluting it. Fresh, usable water is a natural, irreplaceable resource that creates many environmental and global issues when not used or treated properly. It is important to understand the effects of water use and pollution in environmental studies, and how our use of water impacts the Earth’s essential resource. Access to fresh water is an extreme issue throughout the world, especially in developing or third-world countries. Many people lack access to clean water, which makes it a global health concern. According to the textbook, “one out of every six people doesn’t have access to clean water” (Miller 319). Lack of water is an economic issue because access to water is vital for reducing poverty and producing food or energy. It is a concern for women and children because, in many developing countries, domestic duties of women and children require them to walk many miles in one day in order to obtain water to help sustain their families if it is not piped to their homes. There is increased tension between various countries over access to limited, shared water sources, creating national security problems. Lastly, access to water resources is an environmental issue because excessive withdrawal of water from rivers and aquifers result in disastrous consequences, such as falling water tables, decreasing river flows, and disappearing wetlands. A concerning issue regarding water use is groundwater. Groundwater that is used to supply cities and grow food is pumped from aquifers in some areas faster than it is being renewed by precipitation, which begins to diminish the source. Chemicals used in agriculture, industry, transport, and homes can spill and leak into groundwater and make it undrinkable. Common pollutants such as fertilizers, pesticides, gasoline, and organic solvents can seep into groundwater from people dumping gas, oil, or other organic solvents onto the ground (Figure 1). Once it contaminates groundwater, it fills the aquifer’s porous layers of sand, gravel, and bedrock the same way as water saturating a sponge. Groundwater is useful for drinking and irrigation, exists almost anywhere, is renewable if not over pumped or contaminated, and cheaper to extract than most surface waters. However, using groundwater can risk aquifer depletion or sinking of land from over pumping, and pollution of aquifers can last decades. There are both simple and complex ways to purify groundwater used as a source of drinking water, yet protecting it through pollution prevention is the least expensive and most effective way. Building dam and reservoir systems has greatly increased water supplies in some areas, yet has the potential to disrupted ecosystems and displace people from their homes. Dam and reservoir systems provides drinking water, are useful for fishing, and provide hydroelectricity. On the other hand, the flooded land destroys forests, deprives downstream cropland of estuaries and nutrient rich silt, and can disrupt spawning of some fish, such as the salmon. Another way to combat freshwater is by transporting it. Transferring water from one place to another has greatly increased water supplies in some areas, yet has also disrupted ecosystems. Water transfers can be wasteful and environmentally harmful. Using a lot of water to produce a particular type of food or other product should be done in an area where water is plentiful and waste is controlled. Unfortunately, this is not true in some cases. For example, the arid climate of southern California is completely not ideal for growing crops that need an extreme amount of water, yet big name food companies still grow their crops in this backwards mannerism and dry climate (Figure 2). Water used to irrigate lettuce and other crops in California is transported there through huge aqueducts from the Sierra mountains. These water transfers benefit a lot of people, but waste large amounts of water and degrade ecosystems because of the negative A possible solution to the lack of freshwater on Earth is by converting salty ocean water to freshwater. However, the cost is high and the resulting salty brine must be disposed of without harming aquatic or terrestrial ecosystems. This process is called desalination. The most widely used forms of desalination are distillation and reverse osmosis. It is expensive, using chemicals to sterilize the water and keep down algae growth kills many marine organisms, and produces salty waste that must go somewhere. We can use water more sustainably by cutting water waste, raising water prices, slowing population growth, and protecting aquifers, forests, and other ecosystems that store and release water. According to water experts, the first major cause of water waste is it’s low cost to users. Higher water prices encourage conservation yet make it difficult for low-income farmers and people who live in inner-city areas to buy enough water to meet their needs. It is important to understand our personal effect on water resources and how we can help save a vital resource (Figure 3). Water Pollution is an extreme environmental issue. It is defined as any change in water quality that can harm living organisms or make the water unfit for human uses, such as irrigation and recreation. Water pollution can come from a single point source or a larger, more dispersed non point source. It causes illness and death in humans and other species while also disrupting ecosystems. The primary sources of water pollution are agricultural activities, industrial facilities and mining. However, growth in population and resource use makes water pollution increasingly worse in our modern day. Streams and rivers around the world are extensively polluted. Fortunately, these natural bodies of water can cleanse themselves of many pollutants if we do not overload them or reduce their flows due to pollution or human activity. In most less developed countries, stream pollution from discharges of untreated sewage and industrial wastes is a growing problem. Personally, I saw this issue first hand when I visited India. The banks of the Ganges River in Agra were covered with trash and pollutants that had been flowed downstream from other cities and factories. It was really saddening to see people fishing in this river; one that was full of toxins. For many of these Indians, the Ganges is their only source of food or water. In addition, I did not have access to clean water during this trip while hiking for one day because the water we needed to drink had to be boiled, and we did not have access to a heat source. Fortunately, laws from the 1970’s have decreased the use of point source discharges of harmful chemicals into surface waters in the United States. It is important that developing countries attempt legislation that prevents pollution of water sources before the sources become completely inhabitable. The movie viewed in class, “Blue Gold”, discusses that the bottom line of water issues is that we need it to survive. In the future, water will be divided into those who can afford water and those who cannot.  Reducing water pollution requires that humans prevent it, work with nature to treat sewage, cut resource use and waste, reduce poverty, and slow population growth. Laws can help reduce water pollution from point sources and improve ecosystems effected by the pollution. It is important that people understand the environmental impact this vital source of life has when we refuse to share or treat water the way it should be in our modern, global world.

Question: How do developing countries adapt healthy and sustainable water consumption habits?

Word Count: 1,307

Works Cited Miller, Tyler G. Spoolman, Scott E. “Living in the Environment”. Cengage Learning. Print. 2012. Weiss, Mitch. “Duke Energy Must Clean Up Contaminated Groundwater”. Save the Water: Water Research and Education. Web. 6 March 2014.

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Images from blog #10

Figure 1: Demonstrates how bacteria are increasingly becoming resistant to antibiotics. 

Figure 2: Both different methods of ridding trash are seen above: burning trash and filling landfills.

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Blog #10

Katherine Coleman Prof. Van Buren ENST 1000 15 November 2017 Environmental Hazards, Human Health, Solid and Hazardous Waste Blog Humans are exposed to millions of harmful chemicals everyday. These chemicals can cause serious health issues for humans later in life, and scientists are currently trying to answer critical questions on human health with contact to these chemicals. In environmental studies, it is important to understand the effect that these hazardous chemicals and wastes have on both general human health and the well-being of the environment. Humans face health hazards from biological, chemical, physical, and cultural factors. By taking risky choices in our everyday life, such as choosing to drive in heavy traffic, eating fatty foods, and lying in the sun, we risk harm to our body due to the exposure of chemicals that these activities contain. Biological factors of exposure to chemicals include pathogens that cause diseases in other organisms, such as bacteria and viruses. Chemical factors are harmful chemicals that are seen in the air, water, soil, and food. Natural factors in exposure to chemicals can be floods, earthquakes, and hurricanes. It is important to evaluate how serious the risks are that we face and if the benefits of these risks outweigh the chance of harm from chemicals. The biological hazards of most concern to humans are infectious diseases. This includes the flu, AIDS, tuberculosis, diarrheal diseases, and malaria. Infectious diseases happen when a pathogen, such as a bacterium, enters the body. In 1900, infectious disease was the leading cause of death in the United States. Since 1950, the cases of infectious diseases and the death rates from them have greatly reduced. This has been achieved mostly due to a combination of better health care and sanitation, the use of antibiotics to treat infectious diseases caused by bacteria, and the development of vaccines to prevent the spread of some viral diseases. As a result, the average life expectancy has increased in most countries. However, infectious diseases still remain a big threat in developing countries. Genetic resistance to antibiotics is increasing due to the reproductive rate of bacteria that allows them to become quickly genetically resistant to an increasing number of antibiotics through natural selection (Figure 1). Figure 1: Demonstrates how bacteria are increasingly becoming resistant to antibiotics.   There is an increase in concern about chemicals in the environment. This concern is specifically on chemicals that can cause cancers, birth defects, and disrupt the immune, nervous, and endocrine systems. Carcinogens are chemicals that are a type of radiation which promote cancer, such as formaldehyde, radon, and tobacco smoke. This is dangerous because cancer is a serious issue for which there is no definite cure. Mutagens are chemicals or forms of radiation that cause the frequency of mutations in the DNA molecules found in cells, which may lead to some cancers or other disorders. Teratogens are chemicals that cause harm or birth defects to a fetus or embryo, such as alcohol. This leads offspring with a number of physical and behavioral issues, which is why all women who are pregnant are warned against drinking alcohol. Though we are exposed to these harmful chemicals everyday, humans must be aware that the risk of exposure can be very high and lead to serious health issues. Scientists evaluate chemical hazards by using live laboratory animals, case reports of poisonings, and epidemiological studies. This estimates the toxicity of chemicals yet these methods contain limitations to studies. We are exposed to small amounts of harmful chemicals everyday in the air water and food that give us life. It is hard to determine at what level of exposure to these chemicals causes harm on the human body because of the many variables involved in estimating the effects of human exposure to chemicals. These variables can depend on specific factors, such as age and specific body resistance to chemicals. In lieu of these issues, many health scientists call for much greater emphasis on pollution prevention to reduce our exposure to potentially harmful chemicals. We can reduce the major risks we face in regards to harmful chemical exposure by becoming informed, thinking critically about risks, and making careful choices. The greatest risks come from poverty, gender, and lifestyle choices. By understanding that there is a risk in many of our actions we can become aware of the impact that these harmful chemicals can have on human health. Waste is an increasing global issue on our planet and it is extremely important that humans understand the impact of our waste on both human health and the environment. Solid waste contributes to pollution and represents the unnecessary consumption of resources. Hazardous waste contributes to pollution as well as to natural capital degradation, health problems, and premature deaths. Modern humans produce huge amounts of waste material that goes unused and pollutes the environment. Solid waste is unwanted or discarded material we produce that isn’t a liquid or gas. The United States leads the world in total solid waste production and solid waste per person. With only 4.6% of the world's population, the United States produces about one-third of the world's solid waste. Hazardous waste threatens human health and the environment because it is poisonous or chemically reactive. A sustainable approach to solid waste is first to reduce it, then to reuse or recycle it, and finally to safely dispose of what is left. Through waste management, we attempt to control wastes in ways that reduce their environmental harm without seriously trying to reduce the amount of waste produced. This involves mixing wastes together and then transferring them from one part of the environment to another, usually by burying them or shipping them to another location. Through waste reduction, humans produce much less waste and pollution. Here, the wastes we do produce are considered to be potential resources that we can reuse, recycle, or compost. Most analysts call for integrated waste management: a variety of coordinated strategies for waste disposal and reduction. Reusing items decreases the consumption of matter and energy resources, and reduces pollution and natural capital degradation. Recycling does so to a lesser degree. In today's modern societies, we have increasingly substituted throwaway items for reusable ones, which has resulted in growing masses of solid waste. Reuse involves cleaning and using material items over and over, and thus increasing the typical life span of a product. This form of waste reduction decreases the use of matter and energy resources, cuts waste and pollution (including greenhouse gases), creates local jobs, and saves money, which makes it an extremely beneficial method of waste usage in our modern era. Technologies for burning and burying solid wastes are well developed, but burning contributes to air and water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and buried wastes eventually contribute to the pollution and degradation of land and water resources (Figure 2). Figure 2: Both different methods of ridding trash are seen above: burning trash and filling landfills.  Burying solid waste includes low operating costs and handling large amounts of waste. Filling land can be used for other purposes, but it releases greenhouse gases and eventually leaks can contaminate ground water. Burning solid waste has advantages and disadvantages. We can use heat generated from this to boil water and make steam for heating water or space and producing electricity. However, it is expensive to build, it emits air pollutants and encourages waste production. A sustainable approach to hazardous waste is first to produce less of it, then to reuse or recycle it, convert it to less hazardous materials, and finally safely store what is left. This is an integrated management approach to waste. Shifting to a low-waste society requires individuals and businesses to reduce resource use and to reuse and recycle wastes at local, national, and global levels. Providing environmental justice for everyone is an important goal; an ideal whereby every person is entitled to protection from environmental hazards regardless of race, gender, age, national origin, income, social class, or any political factor. We can make a transition to a low-waste society by understanding and following some key principles. Everything is connected. There is no away for the wastes we produce. Polluters and producers should pay for the wastes which they produce. We can mimic nature by reusing, recycling, composting, or exchanging most of the municipal solid wastes we produce.

Word Count: 1,393 Question: How do we successfully produce sustainable waste with out growing population?

1) “Landfills”. Delaware Solid Waste Authority. DSWA. 2017. 2) Miller, Tyler G. Spoolman, Scott E. “Living in the Environment”. Cengage Learning. Print. 2012. 3) Thompson, Andrea. “For Air Pollution, Trash is a Burning Problem”. Climate Central. 2017.

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Images from Blog #9

Figure 1: The porous tephra allows for new soil and new life to grow after volcanic eruptions.

Figure 2: A diagram of the nitrogen cycle demonstrates its importance to entire ecosystems.

Figure 3: The reality of meat production: hundreds of chickens stacked on top of another awaiting death for consumption.

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Blog #9

Katherine Coleman Prof. Van Buren ENST 1000 15 November 2017 Soil Science, Industrial and Food Agriculture Blog Soil is arguably the most important abiotic feature on Earth because it provides life for all terrestrial organisms. Without soil, many earthy processes could not be possible. Most of the planet is abiotic, but through the thin layer of various soil that exists around the Earth life is made possible. The natural capital of soil, built over the past 65 million years, is the basis of plant and animal life on Earth. Soil is formed from nutrients in rocks that are transported into the ground, giving life to lichen and small organisms. This makes soil as living things growing upon themselves, which makes the object of soil completely biological. For example, the movie viewed in class, “Symphony of Soil”, discusses a particular volcano in Hawaii that erupted in 1959 and destroyed all forms of life in its path. New life was able to grow after the eruption due to the deposition of tephra, which is the solid material that was thrown into the air after a volcanic eruption (Figure 1). Once Figure 1: The porous tephra allows for new soil and new life to grow after volcanic eruptions.  the tephra settles, its proud qualities allow for new life and bacteria to grow, creating soil. The movie notes a point source of the creation of soil: water trickling down and eroding a rock in Norway to create a clay-like substance. The process of making soil can take hundreds of years; one inch of top-soil can take five hundred years to create. Soil that has been maturing for twenty thousand or more years has the capacity to support many forms of life in its abundance and richness. Soil also exhibits the capacity to shape the topography of the Earth. As more clay packs into the soil, there is less of a chance that water can move through the soil. This will drive more erosion and create steep canyons that widen from the walls. Therefore, you can see the volcanos become more eroded over time, and this is due to the change in the structure of the soil. Soil can be seen as the interface between biology and geology because it allows for life. Within the pores of soil is where small organisms thrive. This leads to the creation and health of entire ecosystems. The soil is a very production location for nitrogen fixing. Here, plants provide an environment for certain bacteria to grow, which allow the bacteria to produce nitrogen into the atmosphere. The nitrogen-fixing bacteria do this by decomposing the nitrogen from dead organisms and releasing it back into the atmosphere (Figure 2). This Figure 2: A diagram of the nitrogen cycle demonstrates its importance to entire ecosystems. critical nitrogen cycle that occurs within the soil is important to the environment because it contributes to the continuation of life on Earth. In order to continue a prosperous way of life for all organisms, humans must mimic the diversity of the soil of regular plant species. For example, the film compares traditional growth of strawberries and modern farming techniques. Strawberries naturally grow in the understory of forests; yet now agricultural practices push for the growth of strawberries with sand and pesticides for higher crop yields. Growing this plant in sand and open sunlight does not allow for the strawberry to grow as fast or as well as it should. Modern farming can help worsen the state and quality of soil. The best way to embrace the living capacity of soil is to return all of the things we get from the soil back to it. This is called the law of return and will help lead our civilization into a more sustainable society. As humans, we naturally gravitated towards soil as children. However, modern society views soil as ‘dirty’ and ‘improper’ and thus living soil is frowned upon. Farming techniques and soil treatment have greatly hindered the productivity and quality of the world’s soil. One-third of the world’s land has been loss due to soil erosion. Improving soil means there is less runoff. The loss of soil due to salinization is a problem as humans use freshwater to water crops in arid regions. The U.S. Department of Agriculture states that we have an overgrazing problem, which also leads to soil degradation. By alternating cover crops with cash crops and introducing this into an annual rotation, soil in farms will experience less harm. Soil is not dirt. It is extremely rich and recycles bodies into the materials of life, allowing for all forms of terrestrial organisms to thrive. Soil is undoubtedly the foundation for all forms of terrestrial life on Earth. It grows the food that animals consume, which eventually humans consume. In our modern society, industrial agriculture and meat consumption have overtaken consumerism. It is important to understand the implications of eating meat in America, the monopoly of companies that control our food, and the coinciding environmental impact of this consumption. The average consumer in America is fed false images of farming. The classic image of a mid-western farm along with a red barn and picket fence of far from the truth of what our production facilities truly look like. There is an increasing gap between the food industry and consumer knowledge; if consumers knew the truth about their food production they would not buy it (Figure 3). Now, food comes from assembly lines where both animals and workers are abused. There are a few number of large corporations that control what we eat and what we know about our own food, such as Tyson. These companies are harmful and keep meat Figure 3: The reality of meat production: hundreds of chickens stacked on top of another awaiting death for consumption. farmers in debt by keeping them under their thumb. To have no say in their own business is degrading to these farmers because the large companies demand upgrades to farms which they cannot afford. The diversity in supermarkets are an illusion of few companies and few products. Most products are derived from corn because of its starchy power. The government subsidizes corn farming because they are actively promoting it; producers feed corn to cows instead of grass because it is cheap and fattens the animals faster. The industrial food system began with fast food and the creation of the drive-in in the 1930’s. McDonald’s, the countries most popular fast food location, is the largest purchaser of ground beef and potatoes in the United States. Unfortunately, even if consumers chose to not eat at a fast food restaurant, if they purchase meat from big name producers they are still supporting an inhumane system of production. The film viewed in class, “Food Inc.”, discussed how many farmers in the southern U.S. changed to chicken farming after the decline of tobacco. The film mentions McClean County in Kentucky. My mother is from this county, and every time my family visits we drive past miles of slaughterhouses. Most of the economy of McClean county has changed from agricultural and farming to meat production within the past 50 years. It is really upsetting to see an entire area change due to the consumer demands of the country. The movie focuses on a chicken farmer who questions why she is farming these animals as mass production. Many of the animals shown could only take a few steps before walking again because they are so unnaturally proportionate. An environmental wisdom worldview of the food production situation in America would be that business is the reason for these environmental issues associated with meat production and consumption. Personally, I choose to eat vegetarian because of the harmful environmental effects that meat production has on our Earth, such as methane released from cows. I also believe that the act of growing these animals in inhuman conditions with the only intentions of fattening and killing them is terrible and extremely unbearable. If more people became vegetarian, there would be a lesser demand for meat in the market, causing these large, heartless corporations to produce less. I hope that in the future more Americans become aware of the harm that meat production has on the environment, the animals, and the workers or farmers associated with the industry.

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Mid-Semester Practicum

For my practicum I chose to participate in the Sustainability Committee in United Student Government on the Rose Hill campus. This is a committee that meets once a week on Wednesdays from 7-9. I was happy that I joined the sustainability committee because I knew upon coming to Fordham that I wanted to participate in a program that allowed students to work with each other to help solve environmental issues on campus. The meetings usually last two hours, however on some weeks the meetings were cancelled, which leveled out the average amount of one or more hours per week. Being the single freshman on this committee was interesting for me because I was exposed to different perspectives and opinions that were shared to the committee upper-classmen. Everyone on the committee is genuinely interested in improving the school’s environmental programs and policies. We recognize that many things cannot be successfully completed here without a strong push from students. There are a myriad of programs and initiatives that the Sustainability Committee partakes in to help improve the environmental and sustainability around campus. For example, one initiative that I am partially involved in is the addition of solar panels on the rooftop of the parking garage. If successful, this project will allow Fordham to become more sustainable and waste much less energy than the university does today. Another project that I am working on is proper recycling in dorms. Unfortunately, trash bins are poorly labeled in almost every dorm on campus and therefore students do not understand how to properly recycle or where to place their trash. The Sustainability has been successful with many of their initiatives this year and I am excited to participate more in the committee to help improve the sustainability of Fordham.

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Images from Blog #8

Figure 1: A trawler net catches fish while destroying the ocean floor.

Figure 2: Guanzhi Village of Dongbang town, Changshu City; a village built on top of a wetland in China.

Figure 3: A cattle farm in the Amazon, taken during documentation of man made forest fires to clear land for farming and cattle.

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Blog #8

Katherine Coleman Prof. Van Buren ENST 1000 1 November 2017 Aquatic Biodiversity, Soil, Agriculture, and Food Blog Though most of the aquatic systems on Earth are primarily unknown to humans, we do know that we are degrading the ecosystem and the organisms that use it as habitat at an alarming rate. Aquatic systems provide important economic and ecological services to humans, and these ecosystems are being degrading due to human activities the destroy the aquatic habitat and biodiversity. Today, organisms that live in aquatic ecosystems are threatened by habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, population growth, climate change, and overfishing. This causes can be condensed into the acronym ‘HIPPCO’, which was discussed in the previous blog as used by conservation biologists for the six most important secondary causes of premature extinction. We should care about the rising rate of extinction and avoid speeding up the extinction of wild species because of the economic and ecological services these critical species provide. Unfortunately, scientists reported in 2006 that “these coastal habitats are disappearing at rates two to ten times higher than the rate of tropical forest loss” (Miller 252). This should be extremely concerning to the greater population because of the critical economic and ecological services that aquatic ecosystems provide to humans. Though humans don’t know much about the ocean when compared to other ecosystems, we can recognize that human impact on the ocean and organisms that reside there is greatly increasing. Sea bottom habitats are suffering from dredging and trawlers that disrupt the ocean floor when used (Figure 1). According to the textbook, each yea “thousands of trawlers scrape and disturb an area of ocean floor many times larger than the total global area of forests clear-cut annually” (Miller 253). This indicates how humans are unaware of the negative impact our actions are having on the ocean because we do not see these harmful fishing methods at work. Coral reef habitats serve many diverse marine species, yet are threatened by shore development, pollution, and ocean acidification which is resulted from a great increase in carbon dioxide levels emitted through human activities. All species who reside in the ocean are threatened with biological extinction due to overfishing, water pollution, and wetland destruction. Fortunately, humans can help sustain marine biodiversity through using laws and economic incentives to protect species in danger. This includes setting aside marine services to protect ecosystems and using community based coastal management. For example, the 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the 1979 Global Treaty on Migratory Species protect certain marine species in danger by law. On the other hand, sustaining marine fisheries requires an improvement in monitoring fish and shellfish populations, cooperative fisheries management among communities and nations, reduction of fishing subsidies, and careful consumer choices in seafood markets. The primary method to protect fisheries is the regulate fisheries, such as implementing catch-share systems, where each fisher gets a share of the total allowable catch. However, large fishing industries have hindered communities abilities to properly implement sustainable fishing methods. To maintain the ecological and economic services of wetlands, humans need to increase preservation in existing wetlands and restore those wetlands that have been degraded by humans. People have drained, filled in, and covered swamps and marshes to generate new croplands to accommodate expanding cities (Figure 2). Unfortunately, wetlands can soon be underwater due to human activity and environmental degradation. However, we can preserve wetlands through legislation that pushes development further inland. Freshwater ecosystems are strongly impacted by human activity, and protecting these ecosystems must include protection of their watersheds. Sustainable management of freshwater fisheries involves supporting populations of commercial and sport fish species, preventing these species from overfishing, and reducing populations of harmful invasive species. Sustaining the world’s aquatic biodiversity is extremely important. By using an ecosystem approach, we can successfully reverse the growing human effects on biodiversity. The agriculture and food industries are extremely impactful on our society and the environment. It is important to understand the effect that humans have on these industries so that we can properly produce food for the growing human population sustainably. Access to food in developing countries is a global issue. Many people in less developed countries have health problems from lack of food, whereas people in developed countries have health problems from too much food. Food security is a term defined as when most of the people in a said country have daily access to enough nutritious food to live healthy lives, as opposed to food security by creating programs to reduce poverty and chronic malnutrition. This includes relying more on locally grown food and cutting down on food waste. Governments can control prices to keep the cost of food low, yet this will hurt the business of farmers. The government can also provide subsidies to farmers for sustainable practices which would encourage more farmers to do so. Unfortunately, many people in developing countries experience food insecurity due to lack of nutrition or access to substantial food. However, humans can improve food insecurity The greatest obstacles to providing enough food for everyone are poverty, corruption, political upheaval, war, bad weather, and the harmful environmental effects of industrialized food production. Today, developed nations produce enough food to fill everyone on the planet. However, many people still go hungry because developed nations waste almost half of what they produce. It is really upsetting to watch food be thrown away without a second thought when there are people in developing nations who struggle every day for another bite of food. The agricultural industry has the largest ecological footprint today. This includes food production, soil erosion, and pesticide use. Future food production may be limited by soil erosion and degradation, desertification, water and air pollution, climate change from greenhouse gas emissions, and loss of biodiversity. Producing food has major environmental impacts on climate change. This includes agricultural activities that harm the environment, such as the production of air pollution through methane and burning forests. More sustainable food production will require humans to use resources more efficiently, which will sharply decrease the harmful environmental effects of industrialized food production and eliminate government subsidies that promote these harmful impacts. Reducing soil erosion is important in improving the environment of agriculture. Because it takes topsoil hundreds of years to form and humans can diminish it very quickly, farmers utilize terracing by farming into mountains, strip cropping, or alley cropping. The best way to maintain soil fertility is through topsoil conservation. In regards to pesticide use, humans can sharply cut the wasteful use without decreasing crop yields. We can complete this by using a mixture of cultivation techniques, biological pest controls, and small amounts of selected chemical pesticides sometimes (also known as integrated pest management). The consumption of beef in developed countries is an issue of great importance to me. I choose to not eat meat because of the harmful environmental effects that meat consumption has on the environment, in addition to a couple of my personal humane preferences. The immense amount of carbon dioxide and methane produced by meat production, especially beef, is alarming. By choosing not to consume meat for these environmental reasons, I am taking an ecosystem approach towards my personal diet. By eating less meat or organic meat, purchasing organically, eating local, composting food, and cutting food waste, we can successfully change our society into one that utilizes sustainable methods of farming and agriculture, thus helping out the future of food on out planet.

Question: How can we successfully feed our world’s exponentially growing population when almost half of our food is wasted or thrown out in developed countries?

Word Count: 1,284

Works Cited: Miller, Tyler G. Spoolman, Scott E. “Living in the Environment”. Cengage Learning. Print. 2012.